The person behind AmargiaExp lives here also. She considers her walker a garden tool also. She doesn’t really need it for walking, but she uses it to keep her balance when she stands up or kneels down.
She says she suffers from T.M.B. (Too Many Birthdays).
I like the design of some of the new accessible showers. Someone finally realized that something could be both functional and stylish.
There are some good books on gardening with physical challenges and they are a great source of ideas. I think The Accessible Garden by Joann Woy is one of the best ones that I have read.
Threads like this are useful because there are some challenges the books don’t cover or a personal gardening style doesn’t jive with the authors ideas.
An example that comes to mind is how many books suggest blind gardeners use straight lines and right angles, but hard lines and angles are not right for every garden situation.
Experienced blind gardeners don’t necessarily need the technique to keep up with what is planted where. I think it’s like cooks and cookbooks.
I have cookbooks I would not want to part with, but I rarely follow the recipes in them once I am confident making the dish.
I enjoy having a place to celebrate when things work, commiserate when things are frustrating and just have some fun with people who understand what I’m doing.
I’m relatively young, (late 20’s), but I don’t have much physical energy. I work from home, so I don't have as much time outside as I would like, either. So, to keep gardening, I find ways to work smarter, instead of harder.
The people who live on site with me include a blind woman who is old enough that she refuses to reveal her age. Her main interest are native plants and permaculture.
Also, a retired Airforce sergeant who thinks structural and foliage plants rule. He has degenerative disk disease in his back.
Then, there is a 30-something who has little interest in plants that aren’t edible and contends with a serious hip injury from a bicycle accident. If the four of us were told we each had to write a book on gardening despite physical disabilities, I have a feeling they would be four very different books. But, we still learn a lot from one another. Threads like this widen that learning circle.
