Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
Writing by candlelight and fire evokes images of Abe Lincoln or Ben Franklin recording their thoughts at the end of a long day. But there is little else I was able to do after days without power finding myself alone tending a fire to keep the house warm and the pets fed. This trip back […]
Putting up a deer fence was both an end and starting point. It was the end of the carnage by the deer. If the snow didn’t save them from deer last winter, any remaining plants got chewed up in the spring or died during the rainless July this summer. But now we can start anew. […]
Over the past 4 months or so I have been spending a lot of time at Ann’s Place working to build a series of therapeutic gardens. The first phase of this project is almost done after a series of delays that have been caused by the crummy weather we have had this past summer. In […]
One of the more delicious harvests are berries. My wife claims that I must have been a bear in a prior life as I devour anything with berry added to it. For us the berry season starts with strawberries during the first week of June. Strawberries have always been spotty as they require almost perfect […]
A few weeks ago, my daughter Sarah yelled downstairs, “In the back there is a fox!” We went to the windows unable to see any sign of it, which was not surprising given how all the bushes and trees have filled in the back. We went upstairs and quickly spotted what my daughter did: a […]
This time of year I should be deadheading the late spring bulbs, cutting back tulip stems, weeding, harvesting lettuce, mowing the lawn, etc. Instead I find myself crouched in fetal position vacillating between cold shakes and hot sweats. I have wet the bed (with my sweat). Everything is sore. I’ve got fever to burn at […]
Part of the practice of horticultural therapy is to help clients work through or at least realize their challenges. Before you can begin to do that, particularly for emotional or social issues, you must first gain the trust of your client. In working with the children at Green Chimneys I have found that one of […]
The morning was crisp and cold but with cloudless skies promising a much warmer day. The back gardens at Ann’s Place were as I left them last fall with a blanket of straw covering everything I planted last November but with one big difference: daffodils. The 3,400 daffodils I planted last year have come in […]
Working at Green Chimneys is full of paradoxes. One of the biggest ones that I don’t understand is the rationale behind the rule that staff are not allowed to discuss the entire life cycle of animals, particularly when they die. On a farm, life and death is common. Animals get sick and die, chickens that […]
We have started to settle into a new regime with new digs between a donkey and a camel. The stalls are rather spacious though the smell of dung lingers until acclimation sets in. Tables are set up and we have started to decorate. Our berths now are dedicated to “Man-O-Melon” and “Peabiscuit,” our vegan view […]