Rachel has been with Vocational Visions since 2015 and she participates in our Emeritus program. Rachel shares about things she really enjoys such as gardening. This article first appeared in our April 2021 newsletter.

During the stay at home orders for COVID-19, Rachel became interested in gardening. It became a labor of love for her. When we say labor of love, we mean she loves to grow things that she can eat but she is less fond of the weeding part of gardening. The story begins with a gesture of kindness.

In the beginning of our lockdown last year, VV employee Pranaya got creative and built a small flower bed in front of her house. It was a great activity to pass the time being stuck at home. In hopes of maintaining her friendships with participants from VV throughout lockdown, she decided to pass on some seedlings from her garden. Below is a picture of the seedling Pranaya chose for Rachel, along with a picture of Rachel and Pranaya together.

At home, Rachel was able to successfully transplant this Lemon cucumber sprout to her family's backyard and harvest some yummy lemon cucumbers to share with family and neighbors throughout the season. Below are photos of Rachel's lemon cucumber garden and some of the fruits that were harvested. Fun fact: Cucumbers are commonly thought of as a vegetable but they are really a fruit.

Another fun fact: Lemon cucumbers do not taste like citrus.

VV has hosted a couple of gardening Zoom classes. Before we were closed to in-person programming, we had thriving gardens at both of our VV buildings. Here is a picture of the Emeritus garden from last year before we closed. We can't wait to reopen and make our gardens flourish again.

Another fun fact: Lemon cucumbers do not taste like citrus.

VV has hosted a couple of gardening Zoom classes. Before we were closed to in-person programming, we had thriving gardens at both of our VV buildings. Here is a picture of the Emeritus garden from last year before we closed. We can't wait to reopen and make our gardens flourish again.

Rachel also loves puzzles and art projects. She is a huge fan of horses as well. She can't wait to get back to volunteering at The Shea Center for Therapeutic Riding every other Friday with VV when we reopen. She has signed up for Summer Horse Camp there in July. This will be her 5th year. She is so happy they are resuming it after canceling it last year due to COVID-19. We're happy too.