by Melanie Dearing | Mar 21, 2014 | Inspiration
The fast pace and busyness of life can often prevent us from stopping to “smell the roses”. This hurried lifestyle can lead to a variety of issues, but one of the most personal can be health problems. Poor habits in both diet and exercise can have a negative impact in the way we feel and in the way we live out our lives.
The soil for WellStone Gardens was cultivated over many years through a variety of life circumstances and experiences. The path has been winding and rough, but always leading in a specific direction. Education, inspiration and application. I believe years of experience has helped this to be very fertile soil and has created much passion to help cultivate others.
Making healthy lifestyle choices sounds easy if you say it fast. Educating about available options for health can be considered the “seeds” we can help you to decide to plant in your life. We would desire to come alongside individuals, companies, organizations or churches help set goals and educate in healthier eating plans. To educate through a seeing, tasting, doing approach. To help with organization, resources, cost effectiveness and time management.
The inspiration is how we can help to “water the seeds”. We can help with everything from ways to plant beautiful raised bed square foot gardens, or to help design personal lifestyle changes that fit individual needs. The objective here is to inspire “growth”.
The application piece could be considered the “fertilizer” piece. How can WellStone Gardens continue to encourage life- long, on-going, permanent “produce”? We can also help with larger group health event planning with children and adults or host events. The goal is to develop community and provide resources.
Life is a garden. Let WellStone Gardens help you experience it in a whole new and adventurous way.
by Melanie Dearing | Mar 21, 2014 | Inspiration
Entering a new season of life is always an adventure. Through the years I have taught Kindergarten as well as at-risk, inner-city high school students. I have helped to homeschool four of my own five children, as well as help in a co-op to educate children in seven other families. I have worked as a parent liaison with a Virtual School to encourage other homeschool parents. I have worked as a community educator teaching living history in a log cabin as well as in the woods. The common thread is that I have a passion to teach.
Another on-going interest of mine has been dealing with my own personal health as well as the health of my family. As a mom and a grandma, as well as working with a variety of active youth who have frequently stayed in our home, food always seems to take an important role. I am becoming more and more aware of the powerful interplay between food and health. With the rising cost of healthcare, I am constantly researching, investigating and exploring the importance of what I eat. I am truly beginning to understand and believe in the concept of food as medicine. What I eat can be used to either nourish me or not. At worst, it can even do me harm. This process takes much time and energy, but I love what I am learning and experiencing. Like any passionate teacher, my desire is to come alongside other people, companies, or organizations and help teach them what I have learned.
My favorite method of education has always been to see it, taste it, do it, live it. When working through the art of meal planning, I have been frustrated with recipes that are a total failure. I go to all the trouble to search for the recipes, go buy the ingredients and make the meal, only to be very disappointed with the taste. I am launching WellStone Gardens in part to teach using cooking demonstrations so that people can see and taste recipes and decide if they would like to eat it on a regular basis as part of a healthy option.
Another part of my frustration has been where to buy healthy recipe ingredients as cost effectively as possible. I would like to help compile an on-going list of resources for health conscience consumers. Local and organic would be my preference. When you live in Archie, Missouri, that can be a little challenging. Growing your own with square-foot gardening raised beds is something we have developed and can share.
Time management and organization also have needed to be researched and explored. This is an ever-changing process that is tweaked constantly. I would hope others could benefit from things that are helping me in the kitchen as well as exercising.
I am interested in developing a network of people and resources dedicated to helping everyone involved live a more active and healthy life, physically and spiritually. I plan to teach cooking classes, host health events and work at helping others plan their own health events.
