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Is it possible to garden with compromised mobility or limited upper body strength or when in a wheelchair or using a walker? Absolutely!
As we grow older, we experience decreasing physical stamina and/or the development of other limitations in our physical abilities, forcing us to reduce the magnitude of tasks that we take on. We learn to slow down, but we don’t have to give up.
In my lifetime, I’ve worked with several dedicated direct care providers to introduce, or reintroduce, youth, the elderly, and disadvantaged, disabled, and special needs clients and friends to the satisfaction and tranquility of gardening. Cornell Cooperative Extension provided training, informational materials, and limited funding, while local farm and garden centers provided seeds, starter plants, and assorted building and gardening materials.
I’ve also had the good fortune of knowing several devoted gardeners with limitations, who crafted and tended remarkable gardens; cultivating their own food and ornamental plants for years; even decades. They remain an inspiration.
I’ve never been fond of buzzwords. “Organic,” “Natural,” and “Sustainable” lost their foothold in reality decades ago when they were co-opted as marketing labels. Corporate buzzwords, cynical and empty, are often buzz-phrases anyway: “Whole-Systems Thinking,” “Trickle Down,” “Customer Journey.”
I love permaculture, and have a spiral herb garden in which I grow some plants which have traditionally been used for medicine, along with a handful of culinary herbs. I also wildcraft other plants that I use medicinally. For this salve, I use a combination of wildcrafted and cultivated plants. However, many of these plants can also be purchased if you cannot find your own. Use whenever your hands need a little extra care! 
September days traditionally mark a goodbye to summer as warm nights wane and are replaced with the cool mornings and falling leaves of autumn’s approach. As we wave a “see you next year” to summer, many opportunities await us in the month ahead for a more sustainable September.
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No offense, but Franklin D. Roosevelt should maybe bug off with his assertion that “…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” because fear is good for gardeners and farmers.
AdkAction’s Adirondack Pollinator Project will be offering its annual 
Vermicomposting is the process of using worms to digest food waste to produce a nutrient and microbe rich soil amendment known as vermicompost (vermi – being latin for worm).
As one of the only 
Tenth Annual Garlic Festival at the Warrensburgh Riverfront Farmers’ Market is set for Friday, October 11th, from 3 to 6 pm.
General inquiries about the Adirondack Almanack should be directed to editor
Mountain Gardens Galore
By Jackie Woodcock
It’s prime time here in the mountains to witness fruits, berries, and vegetables hanging from lush greenery. In the small towns that make up the western gateway to the Adirondacks, gardens of all sizes are thriving and abundant. There are several reasons people in these small towns choose to garden. Some find it therapeutic and gratifying, with the greatest reason being that we live in what is called a food desert. No, we don’t live in an area strictly covered by sand and scorching temperatures, rather we live in an area where access to fresh food is greatly limited. Thus the action of planting gardens becomes paramount to community health and well-being.
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