My Dad taught his grandchildren a lot about Affordable Health Care and it wasn’t from an act of legislation. It was right in his backyard in a thing called a GARDEN! Plant, grow, harvest, cook and eat health fresh food and the cost: seeds, soil, water and time.
From an apartment patio planter to a backyard plot, it is all good and highly beneficial.Here’s what we get with the garden health care plan:
From an apartment patio planter to a backyard plot, it is all good and highly beneficial.Here’s what we get with the garden health care plan:
- Vitamin D from the sun when we are outside planting or tending to it and after a long winter many of us are Vitamin D deficient
- Physical activity– you work your legs, buttocks, arms, shoulders, neck, back and abdomen as you work in the garden digging, planting, weeding. Plus you will be stretching (as you reach) and lifting (soil, watering can, mulch, etc.).
- Stress reduction – gardening is so different from the rushed pace of life so it gives your mind a break. Researchers are finding that the mental break is therapeutic and practically equivalent to prayer and meditation. And we all know how expensive stress is to our health.
- Children Avoid Nature Deficit Disorder – A term coined by author Richard Louv who maintains that children are disengaged from nature because they are indoors all the time using technology. Young people need this slow down therapy as much as adults. Then who knows, we’ll have a generation of college kids who have fresh herbs and tomato plants in their dorm windows to spike up their ramen noodles and won’t need you to hire a therapist for them.
- Fresh Healthy Food at a Low Cost – the largest investment is time because seeds or plants and dirt are super cheap. Just go armed with coupons and talk to the experts at your favorite garden center about what will be easiest for you to plant and in time you can cross it off your grocery list and eat it fresh.
Okay, I hear you…now days who has time for gardening? Well we have time for whatever we think in important and when you look at the benefits you may find it is time well spent. Plus the initial planting is probably the largest time slot so do it during Spring break or Easter break then it’s all about maintenance which doesn’t take that long.
Check this out…A friend of mine was thinning out her collards and gave me some plants in 2008 that we put in our little garden. They didn’t do so well 2009 but last year we enjoyed them and believe it or not we are eating some for dinner TODAY from that same batch! Cha-ching!!
affordablyhealthylife 