100 Perks of Having Cancer: Plus 100 Health Tips for Surviving It (81 page)

Perk #81: A Good Reason to Spend More Time in My Garden

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the mystery was solved. While my flowerbeds were perfectly made, my beds

inside were not. I couldn’t help but notice the look of shock on her face

as a dust bunny the size of a tumbleweed rolled across the hardwood floor

in front of her. As I surveyed the dusty landscape, I could have sworn I

heard the strains of Old West music. I would not have been the least bit

surprised had a cowboy popped out of the closet and challenged us to a

shootout. (I had seen stranger things fall out of that closet!)

In my state of embarrassment, I made a vow to myself that never again

would I be caught in that situation. I would ration my gardening hours to be

used only as a reward for completing housework. For a while, that worked

out pretty good. I could walk across my floor without sticking to it (most

days), the kids had clean clothes to wear, and I rarely ran out of bread or

milk. But then I got cancer.

Cancer gave me a great reason to once again ignore the housework and

hang out in my garden. This time, however, it was totally legitimate. You see,

I no longer gardened for my own selfish pleasure, or even as a means of house-

work avoidance. Instead, gardening became therapeutic, and Horticultural

Therapy became a critical component of my survival plan.

Gardening is known to in crease endurance, flexibility, and strength, pro-

viding me with gentle exercise that I could pursue at my own pace. It also

gave me an enjoyable way to get some

fresh air and increase my poor appe -

tite. Gardening also brought me peace

of mind. It is a known stress reliever,

providing me with a great distraction

from thinking about the “Big C.” In

addition to being good for my body

and mind, gardening also addressed

healing at the level of my spirit. Gar-

dening is an act of faith. When I set

my tulip bulbs in the fall while under-

going chemo, it was with faith that I

would see them bloom in the spring.

First, I set the intent with my spirit,

and then my body followed suit.

Flo’s laundry room in May

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100 Perks of Having Cancer

So anytime you happen to drop by and find my house in a mess while

I am happily puttering around in my garden, feel free to throw in a load of

laundry. Hey, I’m not just “gardening,” I’m getting my therapy!

Housework can wait!

HEALTH TIP #81

No Dirt? No Space? No Problem!

W
ould you like to grow your own vegetables but don’t have adequate

space or soil? You’ll be happy to know that there are many ways to grow

your own food without a traditional garden.

Home gardening is not only fun, but it also makes sense in a world

where you don’t know how safe your food is. I just read an article on “fraud-

ulent economically motivated adulteration” in our food sources. Loosely

translated, this means “putting crap and fake or synthetic fillers in your food

without telling you and passing it off as something else in order to make

more money off you.” This goes on all the time (I had never heard of it

before). The Food Fraud Database (www.usp.org/food-ingredients/food-

fraud-database) is a not-for-profit organization listing all the infractions

from illegal fraudulent food and the specifics of what was found. The site

and the searches are free. (You can sign up with your e-mail for free to get

access to other areas of the site if you want.) When I typed in “olive oil”

and hit “search,” I got ten pages of infractions! Products labeled “100% pure

olive oil” were mixed with hazelnut, corn, soybean, sunflower, and other

oils, and some of them were colored with beta-carotene to get an authentic

olive oil color.

I’m not trying to tell you to avoid olive oil or suggest that you make

your own olive oil, but the point is, large mega producers will feed you crap

to make a buck. But you don’t have to put up with it!

Eating truly “healthy” foods means you should always eat as close to the

source as possible, which means eating whole foods with little or no process-

Perk #81: A Good Reason to Spend More Time in My Garden

343

ing. You should also choose organic produce when you can. Organics haven’t

been exposed to chemical sprays and synthetic preservative coatings. Cancer

causing DDT is still found in foods in the United States from imports and

from the long life that DDT lives in the soil. What better way to ensure that

you are eating healthy, safe, organic food than to grow it yourself!

Gardens are also great to show children that food actually comes from

the earth, not from the produce department or the bottom drawer of your

fridge. Gardening is an educational activity, which gives kids hands-on

science lessons as they participate in the life cycle of a plant from “seed to

feed.” Growing and nurturing a living plant also boosts their self-esteem

and gives them a sense of pride and accomplishment. Best of all, studies

show that kids who are involved in the gardening process are more likely

to eat their veggies. (Wouldn’t
that
be a neat trick?!)

If you are turned off by the thought of how much WORK is involved in

gardening, here are some easy ways to produce your own organic veggies.

No dirt involved. (But hey, if you want to get dirty, go for it!)

Hydroponics

Hydroponics is an innovative way to grow your own food without using

a shovel.

Hydroponics involves using a growing medium

(usually ceramic beads or gravel) and flowing

water to produce and sustain the growth of plants

or vegetables. Growing veggies without dirt has the

obvious advantage of keeping you clean, but when

there is no dirt, there are virtually no bugs and no

weeds! There are many home hydroponics systems

that you can place on your deck or patio. General

Hydroponics (www.generalhydroponics.com) is

This lettuce was grown with no dirt.

one company that offers many options for grow-

Nice head!

ing your own food without soil. These systems

look very easy to set up and maintain, and it would be a good option for city

dwellers with limited space that would allow for expansion when you want

your garden to grow!

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100 Perks of Having Cancer

Straw Bale Gardening

I am conducting a little gardening exper-

iment myself. It’s called “straw bale gar-

dening,” using a bale of wheat straw as