After a long holiday weekend with snow, the students that participate in the Adaptive Gardens programs where very eager to get back to work!
Our greenhouse was finished and the tables were built! The only thing left to do was start filling them with seed trays!  As we began working with one of our groups this week, it was hard not to see the similarities in the beautiful unexpected weather we had just had and the classes we hold.  The Horticultural Therapy Program created for Adaptive Gardens of the Low country was designed to offer horticultural skills  while accommodating a variety of disabilities and learning styles.  So, we work with a wide range of students.

Greenhouse - just after weathering the snowfall
Some of our students are considered to be severely or profoundly disabled and often have multiple physical and cognitive special needs, others are behaviorally and emotionally challenged and are learning social skills and behavioral control with the help of their aids and teachers.  With each of these groups there are unexpected beautiful moments, like a student who last week had to be taken on a “self checking walk about” after an angry rant, and this week gently fluffed baby lettuce sprouts while watering in the greenhouse.  These moments just shine through brightly, like white snow on the newly built greenhouse on a McClellanville farm!

Watering in the greenhouse
We would love for you to come visit us! If you want to come tour or volunteer email me at: catherine@adaptivegardens.org. Leslie and I cant wait to see you in the gardens!

Catherine McGuinn

Horticultural Therapist and Program Director of Adaptive Gardens of the Low country