In the News

Christine Pollard - Horticultural Therapy News

What a beautiful June we are having!  I am sitting in my new office/garden shed with the doors wide open, looking out on a beautiful garden through the Wisteria arbour.  How lucky am I?  This month we have put 25 roasting chickens and half a pork in the freezer.

We already have frozen rhubarb for next year, have just finished eating asparagus, and are now eating peas, swiss chard and kale.  And I just noticed this morning the first round of broccoli ready to pick.  I have started drying cilantro, dill, oregano and parsley and have potted on 36 basil plants for the greenhouse.  The garden is full!!

This spring witnessed the launch of the first Home Farm Live Online Horticultural Therapy Certificate!  Not just an online course but live.  We meet in a virtual classroom and use the computer screen as a white board with the ability to web surf and watch movies together.  I really like it.  For someone who is not particularly good with computers, I must say it is quite simple.

Our first 5 graduates will be realized next month!  We are going to have a second run of courses starting in October.  For this set, Emma Rooney will be co-instructing.  Very exciting for both of us!  Also Home Farm has the fortunate opportunity to partner with Sharon Stewart at the Julien Project for the practical training part of the on line certificate.  So this September will be an opportunity for not only the on line HT students, but any other HT’s looking for some practical experience and professional development.

Another great opportunity was to be able to create and instruct an HT Certificate for VanDusen Botanical Gardens.  The first two courses have been offered with the last two to be offered this fall.

VanDusen are committed to HT and will be expanding their programming into 2010.  Harry Jongerden has been the Garden Director there for a year now.  I had the pleasure of getting to know Harry and his wife Verna very well through the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton where Harry and Verna were willing to billet me.  So Harry is very aware of HT and is planning to incorporate HT well into the VanDusen future.

Becoming more involved in HT in the Maritimes was a great opportunity this spring. Getting to know the folks in PEI and Nova Scotia was so great.  There is a strong interest in Canada now in Care Farming, something that Providence Farm has been practicing for 30 years.  Let’s hope that more farms will be made available to our community to support us in our health!

More community gardens are popping up every day!  Being able to go to the Ahousaht community was such a privilege. Getting to know all the gardeners was a real treat for me.  There cannot be enough gardens!

Calgary Zoo will host the Home Farm HT Certificate again starting in the fall.  Unfortunately I will not be going back to Santiago this year as the economic crunch has hit many a pocket book in Chile.  Marie continues to practice HT at her Herbarium, making her garden available to many people in Santiago!

My work at Vancouver Island University continues with the Horticultural Therapy Diploma! We have 6 more students enrolled this January for their 2 ½ year commitment to HT. We will be graduating 5 more students in the spring of 2010!!! Thanks to the HT Diploma Advisory Board and the Dean and Associate Dean of Health and Human Services of the Vancouver Island University for their continued support.

Home Farm is as beautiful as ever! I am enjoying just walking across the driveway to my new office. Oban, our dog, loves to come in the office and in the winter place himself between me and the heater. It is not a very big office and he is 100 pounds! I look forward now to a great summer and an even better fall and winter! Christine