Garden Route Therapy

I was fortunate to get on the coach bus yesterday and tour agri-business industries in York Region with local educators and government officials.  The second annual tour was organized by the York South Simcoe Training & Adjustment Board, York Region & the York Region Federation of Agriculture.

The tour aims to increase awareness of potential career pathways for students in primary agriculture and secondary agri-business by highlighting opportunities in the local labour market.  We had a chance to visit a diverse range of successful operations including Skelton Truck Lines, King Cole Ducks, Hutchinson Farm Supply, Thompson Potato Farm & Kesmac/Brouwer Turf.  Clearly organizers were looking to show the industries scope, beyond the farmer, with technology and machinery being highlighted.  This might be an easier sell than encouraging the next generation of farmers but without people actually wanting to grow food, our community’s food security is at risk and secondary careers in agriculture will be limited.  The tour concluded with a very generous lunch prepared with local foods, including delicious homemade pie for dessert.

Congratulations to everyone involved in making the Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association (CHTA) Annual Conference happen!  It was hugely successful, an impressive showcase of horticultural therapy activities in Alberta and a major accomplishment to have the conference outside Ontario for the first time.  The event was very professionally hosted by the Calgary Zoo and Botanical Gardens and featured an inspiring key note address from Gwenn Fried of the Glass Garden at the Rusk Institute in New York.  The conference provided the wonderful and rare opportunity to meet with people from across Canada who also have a passion for Horticultural Therapy.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to present with Christine Pollard the HT 101 and HT 102 workshops, designed for those new to Horticultural Therapy (HT) to get an introduction to the profession, where it is practiced and educational opportunities.  I spoke specifically about my own journey as a student working towards professional registration with the CHTA and touched on my experiences with the Home Farm Horticultural Therapy Certificate, volunteering with the Julien Project and my six month internship at Providence Farm.  I was pleased to find out afterwards that there were in fact a number of people at the conference who were looking to get started with their HT education and found the information provided very useful.  

The two day conference had a theme of “Building Connections in Horticultural Therapy” and saw presentations delivered by art therapists, music therapists, physiotherapist, recreation therapists, labyrinth facilitators, horticulturalists and landscape architects.

During the conference, the CHTA held its Annual General Meeting for members.  I was nominated for the position of Education Coordinator on the CHTA Board and officially joined at this time.  My focus will be to get Education Guidelines approved before 2009, which I believe is critical to building the credibility of our organization.  I look forward to working together with the Education Committee and Board of Directors to come to agreement on something we can all promote and be proud of.  Feedback from those invested in horticultural therapy in Canada is always welcomed.

As of August, the Alberta Children’s Hospital has hired my fellow classmate, from the Home Farm Horticultural Therapy Certificate, Rebecca Feasby, as a horticultural therapist.  Rebecca is currently working with the Impatient Group Program, Nephrology Clinic and the Dr. Gordon Townsend School on site. The work is part of a larger Therapeutic Arts Program that includes Music Therapy, Art Therapy and Horticultural Therapy.

Last Friday, before the CHTA Annual Conference, I was fortunate to be toured around the hospital by Becky, with Gwenn Fried from the Glass Garden at the Rusk Institute in New York.  We had a lot of fun preparing Greek salad, with students from the school, using fresh herbs from the raised containers (above) and the creative juices were visibly flowing in the Nephrology Clinic as patients began designing a future outdoor garden space.  The Children’s Orchard, right on hospital property, provided a tasty afternoon treat.

I was so inspired after attending a community picnic at the New Horizons Bosnian Garden located in Tom Riley Park (west-end of the city).  I got to take part in the delicious lunch consisting of tables full of homemade Bosnian delights.  Thank you to my friend Zora, who is the Garden Coordinator, for the special invitation.

In only its second growing season, the production of food at this community garden for seniors is incredible.  The main goal of the garden is to reduce the isolation of seniors and from the turnout, picnic tables overflowing, it is evident that a real sense of community pride has been established for all involved.  Funding for the garden comes from Social Development Canada under the New Horizons for Seniors Program and strong support from City of Toronto Parks.

I was just beaming when I received an email update and photo last week from a friend and outstanding volunteer at Providence Farm, who has graciously taken over the coaching role of the running club since the completion of my internship.  The news came that the runners had made it to the first lookout point on Mount Tzouhalem and were rewarded with a great bird’s-eye view of the farm.  They are so very close to the original goal, established in the spring when we started running, to reach the cross on top of the mountain. I felt so proud hearing that the group had been able to sustain itself and of their continued uphill efforts.

The weekly running club was established to provide two young men with a healthy recreational activity and a tool to manage stress.  I was so impressed by their commitment to creating a team and supporting each other despite having very different physical abilities.  They learned to follow a routine, warm-up, run their hearts out, cool-down and stretch.  Within weeks of working out together, they were easily outrunning me and I had to start doing more coaching from the sidelines.  They ran on farm lanes and through wooded areas, each step becoming more familar with the surrounding land.  Running and horticultural therapy came together as there were many great opportunities for identifying various native plants along the way and we would bring back samples of plants unknown to look up in a local plant guide.

I started January on the farm picking lettuce and I’m finishing with a newly transplanted crop under way.

Plant them (beans) with everyone because they will grow overnight and the excitment generated will be contagious.

Genoa Bay, British Columbia.

This is the Tzouhalem Stage set-up in the Providence Farm Nursery for the Island Folk Festival this past weekend.