“Gardening For Life” Chapter 29

Have you ever eaten something fresh from a garden and wondered why the exact same store-bought item disappoints?

The last few weekends I have been blessed to have all of my girls - Corina, Chantelle, and Dominique - and my son-in-law Henry home, and they've joined me in the garden. They made it wheelchair accessible, planted, and tackled other needed chores. Physically, I can no longer pitch in, but they strapped me into my wheelchair and out to the garden we went.

Over the years, Laura and I have had many gardens. Our first garden was in Texas in the backyard of a rented home. Can you believe that back in 1995 we actually used books to learn how to garden because the information highway was not available yet? If you were born in the 2000s, you probably don't believe me. That Texas garden was a little 8x8 block with various veggies. The biggest challenge of gardening there was the fire ants. They are sneaky little guys that will climb up your legs without you knowing, and then all of a sudden bite the hell out of you, sending pain throughout your body. I don’t wish that on anyone. This was also the start of the kids helping in the garden.

Over several years we would have little gardens that provided some cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. We grew a watermelon in Hawaii when someone spit seeds on the ground and it grew in a crack of the side walk. We had small flower/ veggie gardens in Missouri in the landscape around the house. To be honest, this garden turned into more of a grave site for the kids pets. Corina had a pet rat (yes... I said rat). When it died from a tumor we had a whole funeral for it. There were a few fish funerals there as well. Why the garden? I really don’t know why. Maybe it was the easiest to dig. Whenever a friend bought a home in Missouri I bought them a pick axe because the dirt was so hard. You had to build up not down there. I can’t say for sure if the graves helped or not but things grew really well in those beds.

It was not until our time in Germany when we decided to do another large garden. The home we rented had a large grass area and the owner said we could do what we wanted. The first year, I made a 3x12 garden. Tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, zucchini’s and some lettuce. The dirt I dug out of the hole I put in a pile close by. We got a lot of produce out of that garden. The one thing Laura and I have always done was share with friends the first veggies picked. We believe if you give away the first veggies then you will be blessed with abundance. To be honest, it has always shown to be true. In the fall that same year, we threw away pumpkins and the guts into the dirt pile next to the garden, and wouldn’t you know it, the next year they grew on their own. We had loads of pumpkins.

The next year we expanded the garden with two neighbors into a community garden. That year I planted large pumpkins with the neighborhood kids and we had a contest to see which one grew the largest. The kids and I would go out to the garden and check everyday. That’s when I quickly realized gardening relived the stress from my life.

I realized gardening - which had just been something to do to pass the time - was healthy for me mentally and physically.

Being out in the sunshine, playing in the dirt, and creating a peaceful environment where you grow your own fruits and vegetables has a powerful therapeutic effect.

Gardening has been proven to reduce the severity of stress and anxiety. It's also known to help people foster a sense of community, build new social connections, and boost their social confidence. According to research, getting your hands in the soil and making contact with a specific soil bacteria called Mycobacterium Vaccae triggers the release of serotonin in our brains. Serotonin is a natural anti-depressant, and it also strengthens the immune system. By sharing the fruits of our gardens, we became friends with all the families in our neighborhoods over the years, thus increasing our social connections.

Gardening involving fruits and vegetables can also help us improve our overall diet by encouraging healthy foods and boosting our overall health.

When we moved to Virginia, we knew we wanted a home that would give us room for a garden. What we didn’t know was how much God was going to bless us with a home that had everything we needed for the garden we wanted. Laura might change that sentence to everything David wanted, but she loves it too.

To start, it had raised bed boxes and a green house before we even moved in. The yard also had a beautiful rose garden, which I have always wanted. Laura and I plant veggies and herbs, tend to the roses, and we share it all with our neighbors like we always do.

In 2018, I first started volunteering with The Mission Continues (TMC), and my very first project was at a garden. It was there I realized how much the work in a garden and outdoors really helped myself and the Veterans around me..

Not long after, I was selected as one of four TMC Platoon Leaders (PL) for DC in 2019. We led groups of veteran and civilian volunteers in under resourced areas in and around DC. My very first project as the PL was at Mount Vernon HS. We had over 100 volunteers working in their garden which supported several school programs. This project deepened my understanding of the importance of how volunteering and gardening positively affects individuals.

Over the years I ran monthly projects, several of them working in the gardens around DC. It was not until March 2020 when the true affects of gardening would be revealed. COVID hit and by April, the world shut down. Soon, we would find ourselves stuck in our homes and being locked in started to show its effect. People who could not turn to yards and gardens had little relief. By April, I was the only active PL in DC, but what can I do if I could not go outdoors? Seeing the effect gardening had on me and others, I developed an at home garden program. Volunteers received a seed starter kit and grew garden plants to be given back to the community gardens. This program gave volunteers the stress relief needed to focus on life and benefit from a productive distraction from COVID. Through this program, over 500 plants were grown and donated to community members and organizations. The remarks from the volunteers were very similar to the volunteers from the outdoor projects in the past.

At home, I improved my personal garden by adding four raised beds and a tomato bed. Laura and I worked outside every day in our garden, and together we maneuvered through the restrictions of COVID with limited issues. Feeling the dirt in our hands, smelling my garden, and eating the food we raised saved our souls. The produce we gave to others helped their grocery needs and continued to grow our connection to our community.

The last few years, I've been the only PL in DC with hundreds of volunteers on the rolls. I continued my work via zoom events until we were able to meet in person for monthly projects again. We were able to plan events around various tasks, but the projects that always seemed to have the most volunteers involved gardening. Many of my volunteers would tell me how the gardens help emotionally and physically.

It was not long after when the affects of ALS were kicking in and I stepped down as the TMC DC PL. Fittingly, in Nov 2021, my last project was at the garden where I served the first time I volunteered with TMC. My speech was clearly affected and I could see the writing on the wall, so handing the platoon over was the right thing to do.

Last year, I worked more on my home garden and volunteered when I could. Every year, I always grow more than I need in order to ensure that I have plants and veggies to give away. Gardening must be shared with our communities even when there is little to give away. Even when plants do not do as well as you wish and the yields are low, the process of sharing can heal your soul.

Now it is time again to start my garden, but ALS has taken away the ability to garden on my own. You already know I am blessed to have my family support me. So I started planning and did some online shopping to get things going. With the new seeds and equipment on hand, Dominique was my hands and we started. Four weeks ago, we started planting our seeds. Lettuce, kale, beets, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant and more. Over 200 seedlings were started. Some for the garden and some to give away.  Over the preceding weeks we prepared the garden beds, up planted the seedings to larger pots, and planted the cool weather plants into the beds. I was able to guide my family like a conductor of a symphony as they worked making beautiful garden music. Every day or so I asked for updates and they take pictures for me and discuss the good and bad. We plan and correct our next steps together to make sure it grows.

A few years ago I also started a worm farm. I raise and feed them and they gift me with worm castings I use in my garden. Now I am teaching my family how to raise worms.

I realized that as much as I loved working in the garden myself over the years, I now see how much my family loves and benefits from the garden as well. I am getting more joy, mental healing, and stress relief watching my family in the garden than I ever before when I was doing it alone. Now we share the plants - and experience - together. My hands are clean now, but soul is dirty.

My hope is that everyone can find their garden, whether you have access to a small pot on the balcony or a large plot in the ground. I hope by sharing your fruits with your neighbors you create your own communities. If COVID showed us anything, its that we need to be connected with each other and to have the earth between our fingers.

If you have a question about where to start, I would love to help. Please share your comments so that my passion can become yours!

Love and blessings