- Author: Jeannette Warnert
The Veterans Home of California in Fresno allows residents to adopt small areas on the grounds as their personal gardens, where they can grow fruit trees, vegetables or flowers as part of the organization's efforts to protect veterans' dignity and feeling of self-worth.
Residents of the 300-acre facility cultivate, plant and maintain raised beds, large planters and pots. When the need arose for guidance on plant selection, pest control, fertilization and pruning, the administration turned to UC's Master Gardener program in Fresno County. In 2019, a group of volunteers began making monthly trips to the facility to advise the residents on gardening best practices and teach ways to creatively use their garden harvest, in crafts and cooking, for example.
Veterans' home recreational therapist Laura Chocoteco said the Master Gardeners have been a tremendous help to residents in the assisted living community.
“They have gone above and beyond with guiding our residents with gardens, teaching them how to maintain them,” she said. “We are extremely happy to have a group like them sharing their positive energy. They make a huge contribution in motivating other residents to come out and engage.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the interaction with veterans living in the Fresno facility was put on hold, but earlier this year, a group of volunteers led by two Master Gardeners who are themselves military veterans – Richard Hardwick, Army, and Charlie Hindes, Navy – set about renewing relationships.
In October, the Master Gardeners were at the facility for its Fall Festival. They staffed a booth where veteran residents, their families and the staff were invited to decorate pumpkins with succulent clippings and other materials, then take home their artwork. The MGs also came ready to answer residents' gardening questions with information from the wide variety of gardening publications written by University of California scientists.
In December, the team returned to the Veterans' home for a holiday-themed event, where residents pressed cloves into oranges to make pomanders – decorative ornaments that also release a festive fragrance. In addition, one volunteer brought home-baked ornaments for the veterans to decorate.
After the New Year, the MG team will be back to teach residents how to prune their roses in a way that supports plant health and provides for optimal growth.
Applesauce cinnamon ornaments
1 cup cinnamon
¾ cup applesauce
2 tablespoons white glue
Blend all ingredients until it forms a ball of dough. Roll out like cookies and cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters and place on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Use a straw to poke a hole in the top of each ornament to later attach a ribbon or string for hanging. Sprinkle with glitter, if desired. Dry in a 200-degree oven about two and a half hours. Decorate with puffy pens, paint, beads, etc.
- Author: Christine Casey
On Veteran's Day we honor our military veterans. Like our bees, they work hard and make contributions that many of us take for granted. In recognition of their service, some agricultural and beekeeping organizations provide financial support and training to veterans who would like to make beekeeping their profession.
Our central California weather is conducive to year-round honey bee activity, so including plants that are blooming on Veteran's Day in your bee garden will support honey bees and the occasional native bee that may still be active. On any sunny day with temperatures over 55 degrees Haven visitors will see bees in the garden. Here are some of the red, white, and blue flowers you'll see them foraging on this time of year:
Red (bees do not see red but will use these flowers):
Autumn sage (Salvia greggii) cultivars ‘Hot Lips' and ‘Lipstick'
Zinnia (Zinnia elegans)
White:
Gaura (Gaura lindheimeri)
Zinnia (Zinnia elegans)
California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum)
Early-blooming manzanitas (Arctostaphylos spp.). The cultivars ‘White Lanterns' and ‘Howard McMinn' are the two earliest bloomers at the Haven.
Blue (shades of blue to purple):
Bush germander (Teucrium fruticans)
Rosemary ‘Mozart' (Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Mozart'); this rosemary cultivar has outstanding deep purple flowers
Mexican sage (Salvia leucantha); give it space, as it can reach up to eight feed wide in bloom
Aster (New World species are now in the genus Symphyotrichum, while Old World species remain in the genus Aster). All of the Haven's asters are New World species.
Click here see a complete list of plants in the Honey Bee Haven.