I spent my Labor Day afternoon in my garden – turning over the soil of already harvested produce, weeding around my still unripened vegetables, straightening my animal fencing, and then planting my cold weather cabbage and broccoli. It was a sunny but fall-like day but there I was sweaty, breathing a little heavy, and even tired when I was done. As an active individual in good shape I was surprised at how I felt from working in my garden!
I realized that I harvest more than fresh produce from my garden, but also health. It starts with the exercise or the physical activity from gardening. Gardening is good exercise!
Tending to plants, working the hoe, moving rocks, pulling weeds, turning over the soil, etc…all that movement, bending and stretching is good exercise and good for our overall health. Gardening builds bone strength and muscles – especially as we age – so getting in the garden for older adults provides great health benefits.
Another healthy benefit from gardening comes with the spiritual feeling that comes from being one with nature – relaxation, stress-relief, and the feeling of joy that comes from the pure, organic nutrient-rich food that you nurtured from seed to ripened vegetable. Any time I get to spend in my garden provides me, just like when I run, bike or swim, an opportunity to “weed” out unproductive thoughts and feelings, clears my head, and even will release any internal gymnastics my emotions may be doing.
This summer, I spent many cool summer evenings on my patio looking at my garden witnessing firsthand the cycle of nature – the cycle of life – the birth of life from a seed, the reproduction cycles as flowering plants attended to by bees, butterflies, and other insects, the transition of the flower into vegetable then into a mature vegetable, harvest, and then death…and from death comes new life reborn.
There is more than vegetables that are harvested from my garden but good health.
Eat Fresh!
