Laramie Senior Wellness Gardens

Laramie Senior Wellness Gardens (LSWG) is a project affiliated with Age-Friendly Laramie and the Eppson Center for Seniors to address mental, physical, and social wellness by incorporating gardening into the daily lives of older Laramie residents. This project attends to 4 of Age-Friendly Laramie’s 8 Domains of Livability: Outdoor Spaces & Buildings, Social Participation, Respect & Social Inclusion, and Community & Health Services (AARP, 2021). Six raised garden beds were added to the west outdoor space at the Eppson Center for Seniors. Older adult patrons of the senior center aided in the building of the raised garden beds, the planting of the various vegetables, and the maintenance of the gardens throughout the 2022 gardening season. A gardening committee, Eppson Center Garden Committee, was established at the Eppson Center so that this project can be organized, managed, and sustained by Eppson Center patrons. There were vegetables of all assortments including broccoli, tomatoes, kale, carrots, onions, peas, and cauliflower grown in the raised garden beds. Various herbs were also grown such as basil, cilantro, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and parsley. Grown herbs were given to the Eppson Center kitchen to incorporate into various meals. Also, many patrons of the Eppson Center took home the grown vegetables in order to incorporate fresh produce into their personal diet. Overall, the purpose of LSWG was to increase physical activity and improve the physical and mental wellbeing of older residents in Laramie, to normalize gardening activities within the community, and to support Laramie’s need to promote food security by providing a garden bed for growing vegetables in the community.