It's In The Dirt!

[Dover]

It's In The Dirt!

Many people, including me, talk about the restorative benefits of gardening and the reasons why it makes us feel good. Just being in nature is already therapeutic, but actively connecting with nature through gardening is value-added. And why is that? All sorts of reasons have been posited: It’s a meditative practice; it’s gentle exercise; it’s fun; it allows us to be nurturing and to connect with life on a fundamental level.

And some recent research has added another missing piece to the puzzle: It’s in the dirt. Or to be a little more specific, a strain of bacterium in soil, Mycobacterium vaccae, has been found to trigger the release of seratonin, which in turn elevates mood and decreases anxiety. And on top of that, this little bacterium has been found to improve cognitive function and possibly even treat cancer and other diseases. Which means that contact with soil, through gardening or other means (see Elio, above), is beneficial. How did this discovery come about?

cont'd
http://www.healinglandscapes.org/blog/2011/01/its-in-the-dirt-bacteria-in-soil-makes-us-happier-smarter/


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[Dover]

1. Allotment Therapy: More empirical evidence on the salutary benefits of gardening

30 allotment (community) gardeners were assigned to do a stressful task (not related to gardening). Immediately after, half of the gardeners worked in their own allotment plot and half read indoors, both for 30 minutes. With both groups, cortisol (a stress indicator) and self-reported stress levels went down, but they decreased significantly more in the group that gardened. I think I’m going to build me a greenhouse…

And here’s a moving blog by someone who struggles with depression and finds solace in her allotment garden. The blog is Allotment Therapy: A personal view of Ecotherapy, and the post is “The Wisdom of Plants.”

For all intents and purposes I am a failure. I don't work, I don't study anymore, I can barely go out the door alone and I can't think straight a lot of the time. I have chronic depression, an acute anxiety disorder and severe, crippling panic attacks. My days go by as a sort of blur; I wash, read, write my blog, do some housework if I can and basically sit with my dog in the living room, alone. I am lonely and contradictorily, I feel better when there's no one around. I take a good amount of prescription drugs which leave me very tired all the time and to me my future is seen through the cataracts of disillusionment and there is only a distant haze of pale light...

cont'd

http://allotmentherapy.blogspot.com/2009/06/wisdom-of-plants.html

[elleng]

2. Dirt and CHOCOLATE!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-robbins/chocolates-startling-heal_b_825978.html

[OnlinePoker]

5. No Chocolate due to the social implications

A very large portion of the world's chocolate (up to 50%) is produced in the Ivory Coast utilizing children forced into slavery. Once this chocolate hits the market, it is impossible to separate from that which is grown and harvested by adults. Even so called fair trade organizations from that region have been unable to guarantee slave-free chocolate production. Though I love it, I have made a commitment to never eat chocolate again until I can be satisfied the product is not produced by slaves.

[Dover]

6. Oh goody! I feel the urge to eat a chocolate bar while rolling in the dirt!

There are even "chocolate" soils. Chocolate plants too!
Besides the cocoa plant...

chocolate cosmos

Grow A Chocolate Lovers Garden!

-- Chocolate flower (Berlandiera lyrata)
This Southwest native plant features chocolate-scented flowers.

-- Chocolate Vine

-- Chocolate cosmos (Cosmos atrosanguineus)

-- Pseuderanthemum alatum, or Chocolate Plant, is a low growing herb native to Mexico and Central America.

-- Chocolate mint (not to mention mint chocolate!)

ETC.

chocolate plant slide show/identification
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/design/styles/start-a-chocolate-garden/

[zeemike]

3. It is not surprising to me

We came from the dirt and our life is dependent on it.
And anyone who had worked all day in the garden and comes inside to rest feels much better...and I don't think it is all just from satisfaction with what you have done.

[tridim]

4. Completely agree, however I'm no longer allowed to grow my favorite plant.

The state dictates that pursuing my favorite form of stress relief is worthy of prison.

I now live in a state that is significantly less free than my previous one. That is so wrong.