Our Grandma's love gardening and as the years pass, the task gets harder and harder for them to garden and have fresh fruit and vegetables at their fingertips. Many elderly love gardening and growing food, yet it gets harder on them physically and emotionally. The satisfaction of growing what you eat is a boost to their emotions and body. When that slowly slips away, their eating patterns turn to processed meals that can easily be microwaved.
We plan to purchase a Garden Tower that will provide a gardening opportunity where "Grandma's" can grow their own food without the aches and pains of physical labor and preparations. Getting outdoors and growing food can be done from a chair or standing. The Tower will also grow seedlings for containers that Grandma's can take home and grow on a patio or in a window. The Tower will be used for seedlings to kick off the season and converted to growing lettuces, leafy greens, and vegetables for Grandmas enjoy. Beyond the 3 Grandma's that inspired this project, we plan to invite additional Grandma's from our community to garden and do storytelling for neighborhood kids. Creating connection between our youth and elderly will be an additional benefit that expands socio-emotional learning for the youth, while learning valuable traits, such as mindfulness, kindness, and being active listeners.
This project was wonderful. It brought together multiple generations and created a focus and topic to share experiences and gather together. Joy and laughter from the youngest at 6years old to the most experienced at nearly 80.
We learned different styles of gardening (hydro, aero, and soil) and the flexibility of using different types of gardening for our lifestyles, space, and abilities. Harvesting techniques and creating healthy meals from the garden.
I would have starter plants ready for the first session so that every person has a successful plant(s) to take home and care for. We started seeds and most grew, there were a few that didn't.
The favorite part was creating dishes and meals from the garden. It was fun to taste test 4 different types of lettuce and make your salad with your favorites.
Fun Facts: You can use something from your garden in every single meal. We were able to make lemonade and add different herbs or fruit to make 10 different combinations.
