As many of you know, I have been working at an organic farm these past few months. I have been refining my teaching methods and knowledge of field grown, as well as nursery crops. I work for the Growing Grounds Farm in Santa Maria, California. The farm is actually a division of Transitions Mental Health Association. This farm is designed to be a work training program to help teach individuals with mental illness how to care for themselves and still be productive citizens in our society. I'm working as the Marketing, Promotions, Sales and Volunteer Coordinator. It is a very rewarding job and I look forward to it every day.
As many of you know, horticulture education is my passion and I am so happy I get to continue this while at the farm. As a result, I'm also building two blogs for the farm. One is our main blog where we post information to connect our loyal patrons of our Farm Stand to the farm. In this blog I give customers the opportunity to be the first to know of items which we will have for sale at our farm stand through a weekly post entitled "In the Fields..." Since we grow our products organically at the Growing Grounds, readers will read postings regarding organic farming and gardening. We wish that our customers have a successful garden, so I also post tips on growing a great garden! Lastly I also post events which affect the Growing Grounds Farm and Transitions-Mental Health Association. Here is a link to our main blog: Click Here!
The other blog I am working on is to share information on the plants we grow at the farm. This website was built to provide our customers with vital information regarding plants that they purchased at the Growing Grounds Farm Stand in Santa Maria. Here is a link to the 2nd blog: Click Here Too!
Working at the Growing Grounds Farm has opened my eyes to the mental health community. It surprises me that there is such a large stigma towards individuals with mental illnesses. Did you know that 1 in 4 people suffer from a mental illness. This means that a quarter of the people you meet suffer in one way or another. Yet discrimination is very strong towards the mental health community. I invite you to pick up a copy of Rosalynn Carter's new book, entitled: "Within Our Reach." In this book the former first lady Rosalynn Carter and coauthor Susan Golant render an insightful, unsparing assessment of the state of mental health. Mrs. Carter has been deeply invested in this issue since her husband’s gubernatorial campaign when she saw firsthand the horrific, dehumanizing treatment of people with mental illnesses. Using stories from her 35 years of advocacy to springboard into a discussion of the larger issues at hand, Carter crafts an intimate and powerful account of a subject previously shrouded in stigma and shadow, surveying the dimensions of an issue that has affected us all in one way or another. She describes a system that continues to fail those in need, even though recent scientific breakthroughs in the origins of and treatments for mental illnesses have potential to help most people lead more normal lives.
Please join me in reading this book. The only way to end discrimination is to educate ourselves about other individuals and in turn help teach others that unfair treatment and discrimination is wrong, but then also be able to stand up and define your arguments with solid facts. Below is a video of the former first lady.
As many of you know, horticulture education is my passion and I am so happy I get to continue this while at the farm. As a result, I'm also building two blogs for the farm. One is our main blog where we post information to connect our loyal patrons of our Farm Stand to the farm. In this blog I give customers the opportunity to be the first to know of items which we will have for sale at our farm stand through a weekly post entitled "In the Fields..." Since we grow our products organically at the Growing Grounds, readers will read postings regarding organic farming and gardening. We wish that our customers have a successful garden, so I also post tips on growing a great garden! Lastly I also post events which affect the Growing Grounds Farm and Transitions-Mental Health Association. Here is a link to our main blog: Click Here!
The other blog I am working on is to share information on the plants we grow at the farm. This website was built to provide our customers with vital information regarding plants that they purchased at the Growing Grounds Farm Stand in Santa Maria. Here is a link to the 2nd blog: Click Here Too!
Working at the Growing Grounds Farm has opened my eyes to the mental health community. It surprises me that there is such a large stigma towards individuals with mental illnesses. Did you know that 1 in 4 people suffer from a mental illness. This means that a quarter of the people you meet suffer in one way or another. Yet discrimination is very strong towards the mental health community. I invite you to pick up a copy of Rosalynn Carter's new book, entitled: "Within Our Reach." In this book the former first lady Rosalynn Carter and coauthor Susan Golant render an insightful, unsparing assessment of the state of mental health. Mrs. Carter has been deeply invested in this issue since her husband’s gubernatorial campaign when she saw firsthand the horrific, dehumanizing treatment of people with mental illnesses. Using stories from her 35 years of advocacy to springboard into a discussion of the larger issues at hand, Carter crafts an intimate and powerful account of a subject previously shrouded in stigma and shadow, surveying the dimensions of an issue that has affected us all in one way or another. She describes a system that continues to fail those in need, even though recent scientific breakthroughs in the origins of and treatments for mental illnesses have potential to help most people lead more normal lives.
Please join me in reading this book. The only way to end discrimination is to educate ourselves about other individuals and in turn help teach others that unfair treatment and discrimination is wrong, but then also be able to stand up and define your arguments with solid facts. Below is a video of the former first lady.
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