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Wake Up And Smell The Flowers – Why Gardeners Are The Happiest Workers

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There is this hallowed idea among the general working population that some of us are happy. Do you know any of these people? I know a few but I also know a few more that aren’t  Maybe in your social circle job satisfaction is the norm but there are an awful lot of people for whom this is not the case. They may have had ideas and dreams as a child or teen but somehow life didn’t pan out that way. We’ve all heard the cliché that money doesn’t bring happiness. According to a City and Guilds study, gardeners are the happiest workers and the least happy are, wait for it… bankers! What is it that makes us happy and contented in our work and why is it so important? We spend such a large part of our week at work. Even when we’re not there, we’re often thinking about it or preparing to go back, so it makes sense that our feelings towards our work will affect our general well being. Apparently, to be truly happy and contented at work, we need to feel recognised, appreciated and supported. We need to feel as if we’re doing something worthwhile while being able to use our skills every day, as well as receiving training and having the opportunity to learn. Gardeners, it would seem, are getting all of this in spades. Ahem. Read on to see how they manage to tick all these boxes.

Exercise

It’s good for us! We all know that really. Many of us spend the day sitting at a desk and call at the gym after work, or go out for a run. Well, I have heard of such people anyway, but gardening is pretty much hard core exercise all day long. Bending, squatting, digging, weeding, hoeing and raking makes a pretty good workout for the whole body and most gardeners will be fit and toned, presumably adding to their general contentment as well as filling them with endorphins.

Breathe

An added bonus of all of this lovely, happy exercise is that it is executed outside in the fresh air. Plenty of sunshine, vitamin D, and lots of lovely oxygen in the lungs contribute to a healthy lifestyle. The downside is being required to work in bad weather but fresh air is mood boosting even if it is a rainy day.

Creation

People tend to feel real pride in creating things and gardeners are constantly surrounded by the fruits of their labour. Planting a seed and watching it grow into a plant is one of life’s simple pleasures and in gardening this will often be happening on a grand scale. Being surrounded by beauty that has been cultivated and created by ourselves is extremely pleasing, leading to that all elusive job satisfaction.

Nurture = Love

Creating a wonderful garden is an act of love. It requires the gardener to nurture and care for their plants and raise their babies into healthy adults. This is the same for relationships and well, if it can be done in the garden…

Dirt is good for you

As well as the digging part being good for you, there is actually something in the mud that improves mood and reduces anxiety. A particular bacterium has been shown to be present in the soil that can have all sorts of health benefits as well as increasing serotonin. With all of these pointers for happiness and well-being, I, for one, am going to log off now and get out in my garden.

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Sam Wright is happily growing and working as a journalist for HorticultureJobs.






Hard to believe spring will ever come

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It’s hard to believe that in only a month and a half or so I’ll be looking at scenes like this in my front yard. The picture above is of tulips in bloom beside the previous autumns dried up Sedum flower heads. I’d neglected to remove the dried Sedum flowers in the fall and frankly I tend not to remove them as I think they look nice in the winter garden, however I was behind last spring as I’ve usually removed them by the time the tulips are in full bloom! The greenery behind the flowers are clumps of day lilies, not yet blooming, in my planted boulevard garden.

So why am I finding it so hard to believe that Spring will ever arrive? Well look at this:

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I spent at least four hours shoveling snow yesterday and I’m just about to go outside to shovel again. I’ll probably be out there for at least an hour as the snow plows have gone by twice since I last shoveled and the sidewalk plow went by once as well! Groan. My back is aching! At least I’m getting some exercise!

Worse of all is the fact that we’re the second house from the corner and our stupid neighbor always parks his car on the street – especially during big snow storms. So the plow takes all the snow as it passes the side street, our neighbors and our house and then has to swerve out into the middle of the street to avoid our neighbors car. This ends up dumping a ton of snow right at the end of our driveway.

See the right side of the photo? See how the one snow bank leads far out into the street? Yeah … I shoveled that and it reaches almost to the center of the street thanks to our rude neighbor.

My husband out of town this weekend. So I shoveled our driveway and then I even went over to the neighbors and asked him if he’d like to park his car in our driveway so that the plows could clear the street properly. He said no as he thinks his car is too big for our small driveway … but his car is the same size or smaller. Grrr

I think I’ll send him my chiropractor bill as I’m sure I’ll have to go after all this shoveling! LOL

Here’s another look at all our snow from our driveway. We got over 30 cm in the last 24 hours and so far this winter we’re close to breaking the record for most snowfall in Toronto ever!

The snow banks on either side of our driveway are close to six feet tall.

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Hurry up Spring!!!

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information. GTS participants remember to check in at As the Garden Grows each week so that we’ll know you made a new post!

Healthy drinks with a new juicer

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I’m sure that many of you made New Years Resolutions that began on January first. If you did make a resolution have you managed to stick to it?

I kept saying that I didn’t make any resolutions this year, but now that I think about it I believe that I did. The only reason I didn’t realize it is because I made my resolution way back in November. Remember when we got our Lab puppy? Well we got her for a few reasons, the main one being that I wanted a companion at home, but the other big reason was that I knew having a dog would force me to get outside several times a day for a walk.

As many of you know I’ve got Crohn’s disease and it’s been real bad for the last few years, so I’ve basically been living in chronic pain day in and day out. Remember last year I had long gaps where I’d say I hadn’t even been in my garden? That’s so unlike me! My lack of gardening and garden related visits last year was purely related to how bad I was feeling.

Getting a puppy, especially an active one like a Labrador Retriever, that needs to be exercised several times daily would surely force me to get outside and get active no matter how I was feeling right? Well it worked. Plus, getting outside and walking around sort of makes me feel better. It doesn’t help the pain I’m in much, but it takes my mind off of it.

I’ve also lost a little bit of the weight I’d gained last year due to my increasing activity.

Now I’m wondering what else can I do to improve my health? I have trouble eating a lot of foods because I don’t digest food well or some foods just don’t agree with my system, but I’ve been considering getting a juicer again. I was looking at the juicers at Wize.com and I’m pretty sure we’ll get one before the month is over.

We used to have a juicer, but we gave it away to one of my husbands aunts a few years ago as we weren’t using it. However now I’m thinking about all the fresh juices that I can make with a juicer and it sounds good to me. I can also juice carrots and other veggies, some of which are hard for me to eat raw or cooked because of the crohns. I’m sure that my body would appreciate the juiced form!

If you’ve been thinking of looking at juicers visit Wize.com. They have five pages of juicers on their site and each one is rated by consumers. The juicers, and other products on the site, are listed by highest rating. The ratings are made by those who have used the various products so it’s a consumer satisfaction rating.

You can read consumer reviews of each juicer (or other products) in order to see what features other people liked best, view product details and see the price range for each juicer as well as a listing of several online stores where you might purchase the juicer of your choosing.

Take a look at the whole site to find other products that you’ve been thinking about buying and read reviews before you buy.

As for me? I think I’ll take a look at their juicer listings and try to find one that’s been well rated and that fits my budget. I’m really going to work on getting healthy this year and I think a juicer will help as much as those walks with our dog will!

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