After a summer hiatus the Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health's virtual lecture series picks up again on September 12.
Sage Milne is the keynote speaker and the project lead in the Cultivating Memories: A Community Gardening Project. Milne says guest speakers for the virtual lecture will be Ruby Debrouwer.
“Ruby Debrouwer is a Recreation Manager at Harbour Hills Suites. She's actually been help us both years. Betty Hendriks is the President of the Goderich and District Horticultural Society and then we have Michel Melady Young who's a member of the Gateway's Board of Directors and is a Master Gardener," Milne shared.
Milne says the project started with the recognition that many of the people in long-term care homes in Huron County grew up on farms and had gardens around them through most of their lives. But as they grew older it became more difficult to bend down and look after a garden. So they had local residents construct raised garden beds, about waist high, so the people didn't have to bend down.
“So then we went into each of the facilities and talked to the residents about what they would like to grow and there was a real range of interests in what they were growing in both of the facilities and the people there really took on the gardening aspect in being able to do this activity," added Milne.
The raised water beds are now in six homes throughout Huron County.
The virtual lectures run on the second Tuesday of each month, so this season's first virtual lecture will run on Tuesday, September 12 from 12 p.m. until 1 p.m. and the link to join the virtual lecture can be found on the Gateway web site, and it's free.
