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LIFE BEYOND THE MILITARY – OUTDOORS
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As the season turns towards Autumn, the flowers and produce we’ve grown give us many outlets to be creative.

August 25, 2023

Whilst we rapidly move towards autumn, we have spent the rest of the summer harvesting produce. We keep a basket of produce regularly topped up for staff to take in return for a small donation, and invite patients to visit the Greenhouse in search of ingredients to cook at home or onsite, for those practicing daily living skills as part of their rehabilitation. The pumpkins are turning, ornamental gourds are appearing, and seed heads are starting to form. The Cosmos and Nicotiana are still going strong showing summer’s not quite over just yet.

Harvesting

It’s always rewarding to harvest produce or cut flowers whether you’ve been involved with growing them from the beginning or not. I think this is a really positive and hopeful activity and I see the interest and appreciation from our patients time and time again. An opportunity to be creative comes with arranging flowers, drying to use in seasonal crafts, or coming up with different recipes to make use of the produce.

Deadheading

Prolonging the life of flowering plants by removing the faded blooms is a good activity to work on upper limb function. This includes reaching to access the plants, and grip strength to operate the secateurs for cutting. Different plants can also provide different levels of resistance making cutting easier or more challenging.

Making an accurate cut in the correct place provides an opportunity for information processing to follow the correct sequence, discriminate, and weigh up different options before making a final decision.

It’s an activity that can be very mindful allowing time to focus on different senses. Creating a chance to learn a new skill which can be transferred to maintaining a garden at home.

Deadheading can also be a link to learning about the next stage in the life cycle of a plant as the seed pods form and we move towards seed saving ready to start again next year.

Produce basket.

Bee on Cosmos.

Potato harvest.

Pumpkin patch.

Garlic and seed heads