A wise quote says, "Gardening adds years to your life and life to your years." Not only do the gardening sisters get great exercise and Vitamin D adding to their health, but also the other sisters benefit too by eating healthy, organic, fresh food! And it's all free!
Each community has sisters in charge of the garden. For them, it's their pride and joy. Every spring the sisters prepare the garden beds, make the plots, and start digging. By June and July, the yard is a mosaic of colors, smells, and produce.
We thought to share with you a glimpse of what the communities are growing. Each community has a diverse array of vegetables and plants that reflect their taste buds and health concerns.
Most of the communities are growing Vietnamese veggies & herbs such as: water spinach/morning glory - rau muống, Vietnamese coriander/laksa leaves - rau răm, and Thai basil - húng quế. Sr. Irene mentioned, “We want to use our water practically and focus on growing plants that we can eat and enjoy.”
After interviewing all the communities, each community has common veggies and plants they are growing but they also have unique ones too. We made a comparison chart down below. So for some friendly competition, we counted which community grew the most. We do have to admit Kansas City and Irving definitely have the greener thumbs!
The Springfield community received honorable mention. Per their chief gardener, Sr. Martha, “ It was a bit busy this year and the garden got sick too with the pandemic!"
Irving shared they are growing a Coleus plant, một loài hoa môi, and a Rosemary plant, cây lá hương thảo (pictured below). The purpose of these plants are to deter stray cats and dogs. The plants are growing well, yet the cats still come and do their business :-/.
Gardening is an excellent, fun hobby. It’s beautiful to see plants grow. “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow” (Audrey Hepburn). Do you garden? What’s in your garden?
Stay tuned for the next edition! CMR Homes & Gardens Flowers! CMR Homes & Gardens Earthworms!
We learned a lot from making these 2 charts: 1.) Vietnamese sisters eat a lot of herbs/veggies, 2.) The English name for many of the specific veggies/herbs 3.) The communities have different eating habits :-)