Growth strategy underway

British poet Alfred Austin once wrote, “The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul.”

Gardening is meditative, therapeutic, stress-relieving. The smell of the dirt, the thrill of watching things grow to bear fruit or tender blossoms. Those among us who itch to get their hands into the soil come spring have long known those benefits.

But the value of horticultural education and therapy is becoming more widely recognized.

Last week, Saltwire Network columnist Niki Jabbour suggested parents use the garden as a teaching tool for children, getting them to grow a vegetable or plant they like to eat as a way of learning an appreciation for where our food comes from.

At The Mount Continuing Care Community in Charlottetown, P.E.I., a partnership with two green thumbs who call themselves Burly Farmers has already borne fruit — and vegetables. The Burly Farmers are working land owned by The Mount in return for donations of fresh produce to the longterm care home.

Not only do the residents benefit from farmfresh food, but they can watch the farmers at work, lend a hand tending the gardens or help prepare the food in the kitchen — all activities that bring joy and a sense of satisfaction for all involved.

In St. John’s, a group of seven meets every Monday on Zoom to facilitate the Phoenix Garden Project, a program that introduces gardening and landscaping skills to inmates at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary.

Inspired by a gardening program at San Quentin State Prison in California as well as one at the Nova Institution for Women outside Truro, N.S., the Phoenix Garden Project aims to give those incarcerated a new sense of purpose, as well as practical skills.

Through donations, the group is raising money to create a 20-by-8-foot greenhouse within the prison walls which they hope to install at the end of June.

“It’s an incredible opportunity to empower inmates who recognize that they’ve made mistakes and give them hope that their lives can be renewed and that the community believes that they are worthy of having another chance to get out and be part of something beautiful,” said Jan Buley, a certified horticultural therapist and an assistant professor of education at Memorial University.

And so, right across this Atlantic region, seeds are being planted and hope is sprouting and being nurtured. Hope for a new generation to have greater food security; hope for a better quality of life for seniors in long-term care; and hope for prisoners who, one day, will be expected to be able to adapt to life on the outside.

Here’s to a bumper crop.