{"id":4716,"date":"2020-02-06T16:18:44","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T21:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/?p=4716"},"modified":"2020-02-06T16:19:36","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T21:19:36","slug":"presentations-to-gardeners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/2020\/02\/06\/presentations-to-gardeners\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Planning for a Bloomin\u2019 Summer: Maine AgrAbility Offers Presentations to Gardeners"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ellen S. Gibson<\/em><\/p>\n

I love the challenge of having flowers bloom from April to November and cooking with produce from my garden. Yes, well, I usually plant more than I have time to harvest, the grass is constantly infiltrating my flower beds, along with the cat and a family of woodchucks, and I can\u2019t get cilantro to grow to save my life.<\/p>\n

I also have to be really careful of my back. Straightening back up after I\u2019ve been bending over from a kneeling position for any period of time is a lesson in humility. Garden ergonomics\u2014the lifting and the carrying, the bending and the digging\u2014definitely has its challenges as anyone over the age of eight knows.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting that my garden challenges perfectly mirror the breadth of the work we do at Maine AgrAbility. The program is a partnership with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Alpha One Center for Independent Living. The Cooperative Extension can help me with the cilantro issue (and all else related to the biology of my garden), while the Occupational Therapists at Alpha One help me understand ergonomics in the garden workspace and how I can better take care of my body.<\/p>\n

I use both avenues of information in my own garden. I also talk about this in presentations to Master Gardeners and regional gardening groups around the state.<\/p>\n

Garden Ergonomics<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"Master<\/a>Ergonomics is the science of work. It looks at what is the work, where is it being done, and how does it affect the body? Most home gardeners are going to be spending the majority of their time outdoors. Outdoors, one of the first things that comes to mind is uneven terrain\u2014rocky soil, slopes, holes, hoses hidden under long grass, slippery grass that\u2019s wet with dew. There\u2019s work to do standing, like raking or wrestling with a rototiller the size of a small tank. There\u2019s more to do at the ground level\u2014bending over to plant, to weed, to harvest, to deadhead. There\u2019s getting water to your plants, picking off potato bugs, and well, you get the picture.<\/p>\n

How does anyone who\u2019s not young and agile cope??<\/p>\n

There\u2019s exercise and then there\u2019s physical activity<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I think there\u2019s a difference and here\u2019s why. Exercise as a concerted effort\u2014in whatever time you can spare\u2014with the goal of improving flexibility, strength, endurance, balance, and range of motion. Examples are walking, stretching, yoga, or swimming. Exercise in the morning really helps to oil the joints, find the creaky places, and prepare for the days\u2019 activities, which for gardeners might include cleaning up the garden beds or dividing the perennials.<\/p>\n

Physical activity has a different goal. When you\u2019re working in the garden, you need to get things done, like the seedlings transplanted, transplants watered, the leaves raked, and the beans harvested. To do this, you\u2019ll use the strength of your muscles, the range-of-motion of your shoulders, the dexterity of your fingers, and good balance to stay upright. Guess what? Exercise and you\u2019ll be stronger, have better range-of-motion, dexterity, and balance. You\u2019ll have more stamina and will be less prone to injuries, aches, and pains.<\/p>\n

Once Spring arrives and warmer weather beckons us outdoors, it\u2019s easy to become fixated on completing a particular task\u2014if I can just get all these leaves raked up!<\/em> There\u2019s no one to fault you if you don\u2019t get it all done today. It\u2019s more important to heed what your body is saying than to keep working too long and get overtired. That\u2019s when injuries occur.<\/p>\n

Allow yourself a breather and time to assess. Get a drink of water, take a quick stretch break, sit in the shade for a few minutes. Change tasks, or maybe even call it a day.<\/p>\n

My Gardening Forever presentation includes more innovations from the Occupational Therapy folks, cool tools, and whacky gardening adventures. Don\u2019t miss it! I look forward to meeting you.<\/p>\n

Schedule a Gardening Forever presentation<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If your gardening group would like to schedule my gardening presentation, you can put in a request online<\/a>. Just fill out the short request form. If you or someone you know needs farming or gardening assistance, the Maine AgrAbility website<\/a> provides more information on AgrAbility and the services we provide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ellen S. Gibson I love the challenge of having flowers bloom from April to November and cooking with produce from my garden. Yes, well, I usually plant more than I have time to harvest, the grass is constantly infiltrating my flower beds, along with the cat and a family of woodchucks, and I can\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"66","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","spc_primary_category":0},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maine-agrability-blog"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":66,"label":"Maine AgrAbility Blog"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/author\/"},"comment_info":"","category_info":[{"term_id":66,"name":"Maine AgrAbility Blog","slug":"maine-agrability-blog","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":66,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":50,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":66,"category_count":50,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Maine AgrAbility Blog","category_nicename":"maine-agrability-blog","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4716"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4722,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4716\/revisions\/4722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}