At St. John’s Lutheran Home, it’s with the vigilance of 30 residents

By Ed Shannon, staff writer

&8220;Everyone calls me the garden lady,&8221; says Nancy Sather. The reason why can be seen at three locations near the chapel entry to St. John&8217;s Lutheran Home.

Sather, a certified nursing assistant, became involved in gardening activities for the residents at St. John&8217;s last year and expanded the program this year.

&8220;We&8217;re helping residents to get more involved in gardening. It gets people out into the sunshine,&8221; she explained.

&8220;It&8217;s important to help people get some of their independence back by doing something on their own,&8221; Sather added.

The gardens at St. John&8217;s are of three basic types for both vegetables and flowers. Some plots, Sather explained, are &8220;in ground&8221; and not really accessible for some residents. These plots are used mainly for the growing of sunflowers, potatoes, sweet corn and various flowering plants. Other garden areas are based on plastic buckets which work out best for tomato plants. Still other small gardens are based on raised beds which are actually boxes of soil on tables. These types of gardens are really handicap accessible and ideal for residents depending on wheelchairs for their mobility.

Sather explains that this year&8217;s sequence of gardening started with soil preparation and deciding what to plant. The starter plants (like tomatoes and onions) and seeds, incidentally, were donated by St. John&8217;s, plus some items from Sather&8217;s home garden. Next came the actual planting, then watering and garden maintenance, and now harvesting.

Each garden area has been given a name. The ones selected by the residents for this year are: Apple Lane, Up North, Melody Lane, Robin Road, Sunset Drive, Sunnyside and Northtrail.

&8220;Using neighborhood names makes the gardens more intimate,&8221; Sather explained.

She added that 30 residents at St. John&8217;s were very active in gardening projects this year.

The vegetables planted this spring included cucumbers, green beans, kohlrabi, tomatoes (both cherry and larger types), onions, radishes, beets, sugar baby watermelons, green peppers, cabbage, lettuce, potatoes and sweet corn.

The radishes, potatoes and sweet corn have already been harvested and eaten. Now the resident gardeners and their friends are enjoying the produce dividends at salad luncheons and several social events.

&8220;In this way they can eat really fresh produce,&8221; Sather said.

&8220;Many of the residents are former farmers or home gardeners,&8221; she commented.

Perhaps the oddest plant at St. John&8217;s this year is based on a cottonseed experiment. Sather said a visitor, Lois Anderson, had several seeds for cotton. The decision was made to plant these seeds &8220;to see what happens.&8221;

The most distinctive garden area at St. John&8217;s tended by Sather and the residents is located between a parking lot and the chapel entry. This round garden has a fountain in the center and is divided off into eight pie-shaped plots set off by paved paths. Four of these plots are for flowers and the other four of the &8220;in ground&8221; areas are for vegetable growing.

This garden with its statue-fountain is a memorial to C. Scriver Pederson (1903-1980) who was the administrator at St. John&8217;s Lutheran Home from 1960 to 1972.

The fountain was donated by Dorothy and Clayton Johnson.

Several flower and vegetable entries from St. John&8217;s residents were submitted for judging at the Freeborn County Fair and won awards. In fact, new categories were reportedly created at the fair this year for entries from the retirement homes.

The most distinctive entries from St. John&8217;s were two scarecrows named &8220;Ole and Lena&8221; which won grand champion honors at this year&8217;s fair.

Sather said the wood framework for the scarecrows were made by Bruce Buchanan who does volunteer work at St. John&8217;s. He has also created several wooden planters.

The scarecrows with the fabled Scandinavian names were taken to the Minnesota State Fair where Lena won grand champion honors and both also were awarded first-place ribbons.

The scarecrows, by the way, were decorated and named by the residents at St. John&8217;s.

Sather said she is

establishing her registration with the American Horticulture Therapy Association.

She is a Master Gardener who received training from the University of Minnesota, Rochester, in 1988, and has designed and implemented several landscaping projects, the most recent at Salem Lutheran Church.

Sather has a garden and orchard at her home. However, she says, &8220;St. John&8217;s is my priority right now.&8221;

&8220;I love this; I want to do more gardening with seniors. It&8217;s so exciting and so rewarding,&8221; she said.