Spring will see return of Cultivating Care Donation Garden

This spring, the Illinois Extension office will restart its Care Cultivation Donation Garden to help feed communities in southern Illinois.

“Food insecurity affects every community in our state, but it’s not just about hunger,” said Heather Willis of the Illinois Extension office. “It’s about having access to food options that meet nutritional needs, which is especially important for individuals and families with limited resources.”

The garden began in 2021 when the Salvation Army of Southern Illinois, Marion First Presbyterian Church, and the City of Marion came together to create the community garden with Illinois Extension.

The garden is made possible by staff and volunteers who plant a variety of fruits and vegetables and maintain the garden during the growing season, as well as harvest and contribute the garden to the Salvation Army Food Pantry .

“Many schools and organizations offer a week of garden service,” Wright said. “When everyone pitches in here and there, it helps ensure that healthy products make their way to grocery store shelves every week.”

According to the extension office, volunteers last year grew 29 herbs, fruits and vegetables, yielding 642 pounds of produce. But, for those who participate, gardening could be beneficial beyond eating.

According to the Healthline article, “Seed, Soil, Sun: Discovering the Many Healthful Benefits of Gardening,” gardening can build strength, promote better sleep, and even help you maintain a healthy weight.

“Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Trusted Source Says Gardening Is Exercise,” reads the article. “Activities such as raking and cutting grass can be classified as light to moderate exercise, while shoveling, digging and chopping wood can be considered vigorous exercise.”

The Healthline article also stated that physical exercise – such as working in a garden – can help offset age-related weight gain and childhood obesity, also citing University researchers of Pennsylvania who reported that people who garden are more likely to sleep for seven hours per day. night.

Studies show that gardening can be good for the mind, too.

“Studies in the United States and abroad have found that gardening improves your mood and boosts your self-esteem,” the Healthline article said. “When people spend time in a garden, their anxiety levels drop and they feel less depressed.”

Healthline reported that in a multi-year study, researchers found that people with depression who worked in a garden for 12 weeks significantly improved their mental health, with improvements lasting several months later.

Healthline reported that gardening can also help the brain grow memory nerves.

“Researchers in Korea gave 20-minute gardening activities to people being treated for dementia in a residential facility,” Healthline reported. “After the residents cleared and planted in gardens, the researchers discovered increased amounts of certain brain nerve growth factors associated with memory in both males and females.”

According to Healthline, a research review conducted in 2014 suggests that horticultural therapy – using gardening to improve mental health – can also be a way to combat severe memory disorders, such as dementia.

Volunteering can be good not only for others, but also for the person volunteering.

“Compared to non-volunteers, volunteers have less depression, less anxiety, higher self-esteem, higher life satisfaction, greater happiness and a sense of meaning in life,” said Jeffrey Burr, professor of gerontology at the University of Massachusetts.

That’s because, according to Eric Kim, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, volunteering increases physical activity and reduces loneliness, a factor that contributes to psychological disorders.

“Loneliness actually has a pretty big negative impact on physical health,” he said.

To help combat loneliness, Kim said volunteering can help build stronger social networks in a way that probably differs from just hanging out with friends. In addition, Kim said volunteering has a “general, externally focused, pro-social motivation,” making it more “nourishing for the soul.”

Whether your New Year’s resolution is to get in shape or take charge of your mental and emotional health, or just get out of the house and meet people, the Illinois Extension community garden is looking for volunteers for the growing season 2024. If you are interested, call the Williamson County Extension Office at (618) 993-3304