Dedicated to a Healthy Lifestyle
Grace Inspired Living takes pride in our commitment to promoting healthy living for our residents. Getting involved and connecting with nature is one of the many ways residents choose to dedicate themselves to a healthy lifestyle. From helping in the community garden or identifying fauna on a walking trail, residents can experience the many benefits that nature has to offer through our horticultural features and activities on campus. Research shows that spending at least two hours a week in nature means you are more likely to have good physical and mental health than those who don’t. In terms of physical health, being in nature lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormone levels and strengthens your immune system. When considering mental health, reduced anxiety and improved mood are two positive impacts of time in nature. By offering a variety of green spaces for residents to spend their time, we hope they can reap these important health benefits.
Planting Roots at Lutheran Community at Telford
Lutheran Community at Telford (LCT) has a variety of ways residents can immerse themselves in nature on campus. For instance, the Horticulture Club meets bi-monthly to share in their passion for the art of garden cultivation and management. Elsie Bartram, LCT resident and member of the Horticulture Club, says their monthly meetings are a great place to exchange knowledge and pictures of new plants, while working in the community garden allows them to hone their skills hands-on. Elsie (pictured left) believes it enriches a resident’s life to be able to contribute to the community’s greenspace and form strong bonds with like-minded people.
Koby of Pensylvanica, an expert that specializes in native plants, plans regular visits to further educate residents on all things horticulture. Recently, Koby gave a lecture on how to create a pollinator garden. The club is currently working on planting herbs and vegetables that they can donate to the kitchen at Telford! In the past year, Elsie and other Horticulture club members have donated their surplus of plants to adorning the community’s common areas. The club has also organized group walks around campus to identify native trees and plants. They hope to continue to beautify the campus as more people join in their efforts. Whichever ways residents desire to practice horticulture, LCT has the resources for them. The greenhouse (pictured below) is outside the Chapel wing, and there are eight community garden plots outside Harbinger Terrace and even more across State Road at The Meadows.
Happenings on and off the Telford campus have also piqued the interest of our resident horticulturists and budding botanists. Our very own LiveWell series emphasizes different areas of Wellness—July 30th holds a Farm Fresh Summer Produce Cooking Demonstration. Within the borough, the Telford Night Market is easily walkable from campus. This open-air market runs from the end of May to the end of August every Wednesday evening (5:30-8:30pm) near the Telford Train Station at Penn Ave. & Main Street. In addition to enjoying food trucks and live music, residents can shop plenty of vendors to purchase fresh vegetables as an alternative to growing their own. Our in-house Culinary Team sources much of its produce locally, from this and other markets in the area.
Cultivating a Green Thumb at The Community at Rockhill
The Community at Rockhill (CAR) also provides many ways to develop one’s green thumb. Our on-campus greenhouse is on the fifth floor of the canopy building past Josey’s store. Resident Joe Deiner, head of the greenhouse, helps to ensure the greenhouse runs smoothly year-round. He says they are typically very hard to maintain, but many dedicated residents like him spend long hours ensuring it stays healthy and green. Joe grew up around gardening and has continued to cultivate this passion his entire life. Many species of plants can be found within the CAR greenhouse, including various succulents and a large crop of amaryllis!
Rockhill’s horticultural “hub” is home to a resident-run gardening committee (pictured below) that meets a few times per year. These dedicated and environmentally conscious horticulturists run the Community Garden and work especially hard on composting.
Between the Canopy Building parking lot and the walking trail around the perimeter of the community (see map), a large garden flourishes under the watchful gaze of our residents! There are flowers, fruits and vegetables growing in the many plots that make up the CAR garden. Radishes, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, strawberries and peppers are just a few examples of residents’ crops every year. The gardens are “buzzing” the most during the spring and summer months.
Being active in horticulture can foster socialization—those involved with the gardens have built strong bonds over the years. Resident Stan Hagberg (pictured left), for one, says he has developed many close relationships with other gardeners, which began with conversations about what plants they were growing. After kindling these friendships, the door opens to deeper bonds. Once our residents become more familiar with one another, some even begin to swap different foods they have grown so that everyone can have a bit of everything they need!
After years of perfecting their craft, CAR residents created a system of composting that makes their gardens thrive. Their personal plots are in raised beds containing soil produced from those who compost year-round. There are several large compost bins aging at various stages as it takes a three-year period to achieve the perfect soil, according to our knowledgeable residents. Whether one is actively involved in horticulture or not, many people throughout the community help with the composting effort. 
The Culinary Team at Rockhill as well as a few residents actually donate their own kitchen scraps to those who maintain the composting bins. Additionally, residents and maintenance staff sweep up leaves in the fall and bring them to the compost, keeping our campus clean while making use of what we already have! Composting is a yearlong commitment that residents like Stan Hagberg are devoted to.
If you are interested in identifying trees and plants at Rockhill that are not grown by the residents in these two areas, you can walk the 0.8-mile walking trail that surrounds the community. There is even more foliage to see on its path! Check out our Media Gallery for photos of these beautiful grounds. You can also read our CAR Birdwatching blog as anthecology, or the study of pollination, can sometimes go hand-in-hand with horticulture.
When residents get involved with Life Enrichment on either of our campuses, it warms our hearts to see them master long-standing skillsets or witness new hobbies bloom. With so many opportunities to learn, such tangible, palatable profits and even more underlying benefits, it is clear why Horticulture is one of their many choices!
