Alternative Community Farmer/WPB.FL

Children and the disabled share one thing in common:Difficulty to EFFICIENTLY  utilize body functional movement in gardening chores.Whether it was the tiny hands , weak and still developing muscles and bone structure of children or the physical disability of the adult .The outcome is the same .DIFFICULTY in pushing,lifting,pulling,bending movement.To adress this we need to adjust the garden to fit into the world of both of children and disabled adults.

A)-HAVE A SAFE GROUND LOCATION :

There are many ways to garden for  children and the disabled.Here are some samples of  tips to choose from:

1-Container Gardening or planting box

2-Raised beds , trellises and vertical gardening accessible with special routes for wheel chairs.

3-Hanging baskets sitting on tables and accessible for wheel chairs.

4-Small pots and containers for seeding and seedlings transplant.

5-planting in bags of top soil placed on elevated ground.

B)-APPLY Gardening ERGONOMICS:

ERGON-OMICS is a GREEK word.The prefix refers to" work injuries "and the suffix to the "study of"!

1-ERGONOMIC TOOLS.There are tools in the market that are labeled as ERGONOMIC , take advantage and buy some.

One must pay attention though and double check the tools by trying them first and feeling them!They must be light and bent at certain angles to fit the grab of the tiny wrists of kids and the vulnerability of the disabled.Some tools are labled ergonomic for the purpose of influencing the PURCHASE DECISION more or less.An experienced  certified horticulturist/gardener or farmer should be consulted prior to making the purchase.

2-Follow ERGONOMIC BODY functional movement:Being a certified massage therapist and a certified master gardener, I speak from my personal experience and education .I studied both the anatomy and physiology of the human BODY  in addition to  Plant botany and gardening as well.I beleive that the positioning of the human body is of the essence.Functional movement of the muscles and body postures are of utmost importance to study and apply what is SAFE while in the farm or the garden to avoid injuries .An ounce of prevention is worth more than a ton of medication .A wise advice can bring you a prize!

Most Horticultural educational proograms, I know of, do not include gardening ergonomics in their curriculum.So, it is best to do your own home work or hire someone who has the know how and the HANDS ON GROUND experience to teach you.I stray away from opportunists and self proclaimed organic gardeners who do not have the appropriate LOCAL EDUCATION and EXPERIENCE! Always consult with your health practitioner before engaging in any kind of gardening or physical work .A gardener must not be a substitute to your DOCTOR.A lot of  gardeners I know of suffer back pain from injuries in the garden or other accidents due to IGNORANCE and wrong body movements or tools utilization.

Your human body is the vehicle that moves you around ,take care of your body first.Be safe.Wear safety garden gear.Drink a lot of water.

Have a Happy and SAFE gardening.

There is a child care  close to where I live.Sherry who runs the small day care has a physical disability but loves to garden.I visited her yesterday with some seedlings donations and started a small vegetable garden at her backyard.NO CHARGE!A HAPPY NEW YEAR GIFT!I wanted to start the  year by doing something different to my NEIGHBORHOOD that makes a difference in peoples lives.Children and the disabled skip our attention in our daily marathon to make the buck.We are addicted to so many foods,beverages,malls,relationships,commodities,gadgets and you name it : THINGS .We are busy doing things or talking about ourselves and forget about who are our neighbours or at least :"WHAT ARE WE DOING TO OTHERS"? as Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. once wondered!

Children need our LOVING attention more than the China  TOXIC toys we buy for them to keep them busy and feed their ego with commodities and candies.How about starting a small veggie garden for your little ones in your backyard to teach him or her the basic CREATIVE art of COLORFUL and BOUNTIFUL PRODUCTIVE ORGANIC GARDENING?

There is an outcry of MUCHO illegal immigrants of MIGRANT FARMERS in our backyard and we need to fix this by sending them back home.Good.What about the replacements ?Who is going to pick up the tomatoes and do the DIRT JOB in the field?We are leaving to our children a huge inheritence of  DISORDERS(ADHD). TRILLIONS in DEFICIT and DEBT , MILLIONS of UNEMPLOYED,LACK of HEALTH INSURANCE to the poor and unemployed, to mention the least .How about reversing our  acts or the LACK of it.Starting a veggie garden at a KINDERGARDEN is not a bad idea.I worked once with the 4-H program and the 4-H co-ordinator once brought the little people to the community garden and guess what? They love to touch and play with the soil and plant tiny seeds with their tiny fingers.

ASTHMA,ADHD and other health disorders are now being traced to lack of outdoor FRESH AIR  activities to our children(THEIR BRAINS ARE STARVED FOR OXYGEN) .Wonder why children fail science and math tests and disdain them?Their hands are being tied into the INDOORS CLOSED WORLD of keyboards and TV /computer virtual video games.Instead ,we need to employ their hands in the garden and teach them the art of growing food.The time is ripe NOW with double digit unemployment to start creating ORGANIC  VEGGIE GARDENS and FARMING JOBS in our communities and SCHOOLS .

Hello,anybody home?Are you looking for help to start a veggie garden at your school?Home?Take note of the Organic VEGGIE garden at the White House..There is a positive message from the garden to you!Start Growing your own organic food at home!

Once upon a time I was approached by a director of a Day Care center to be hired to start a veggie garden.I was impressed by the LOOKS and IMAGES that the director portrayed to me about her school but in the end guess what? She hired a lady who arranged for a free donation from a UN program that is 100% fertilizer based soil in plastic containers .Imagine those tiny kids fingers being immersed in chemical fertilizer base soil?It was the BOTTOM LINE which mattered for that school and NOT the PRINCIPLE of SUSTAINABILITY  which they were preaching.LOOKS always FOOL YOU.IMAGE IS NOT EVERYTHING contrary to what the media tries to brain wash us with.There are a lot of OPPORTUNISTS out there who do not walk their talk.Be MORAL VALUE inclined when it comes to selecting what is GOOD for our CHILDREN rather than following the MONEY VALUE !The BOTTOM LINE in such situations could bring our children DOWN TO THE BOTTOM !