By Bob Banks, Paulding County Master Gardener Extension Volunteer
With the Corona virus devastating the elderly across America, one Senior Living facility in Dallas, Georgia is learning to cope with isolation by turning to their garden. Sybil Voss, a longtime Paulding County Master Gardener helped plan and plant tomato plants in two large raised beds at the facility and all the residents became interested and involved in their new gardening project.
Sybil was born and raised outside a small Iowa town, where her family grew their vegetables to feed her parents and four children. She spent many a pleasant afternoon working with her mother canning the crops for the family to live on. “We didn’t know we were poor because we always had our garden”. After a year of college, Sybil went to Kansas City for a job with United Airlines where she met her future husband. With three wonderful children, she stayed at home and her own gardening began. At the beginning of the year, Sybil. Aged 83, moved to the assisted living facility from her beautiful home in nearby New Georgia.
At the facility, there have been no cases of the virus due to strictly enforced guidelines. There are no off site activities and if a resident needs to go to the doctor, as many often do, then they are self-quarantined in their apartments for ten days. Masks are mandatory when they leave their rooms. The tomato garden has become a pleasurable escape from this isolation and people are often seen picking a tomato and eating it right off the plant. As the season winds down, and the harvest is dwindling, the residents can hardly wait for next year’s garden to bring them joy.
