This is a lovely post to follow our last one about grounding and the benefits of gardening.
We have recently moved to a new home in the grounds of Bronllys Hospital. This Community Hospital was originally established as a sanatorium in 1920 to aid patients with tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis). The hospital buildings were designed in the arts and crafts style and situated in the grounds of a mansion house.
Find out more about the history of the hospital and it’s grounds here: (images sourced from High Royd Hospital website)
By 1948 the hospital had come under the umbrella of the NHS. The gardens were kept to a high standard with ornamental areas and productive gardens including orchards. Patients at the hospital worked in the gardens as part of their rehabilitation.
Flora Cultura has a new identity here as ‘Flora in the Orchards’, having taken over the management of 1.5 acres of the orchards which had been left to become derelict due to funding cuts.
We are working with our gardeners to bring human life back into this forgotten corner of the hospital grounds and help people to ground themselves with our gardening activities.
Our knowledge of beneficial microbes is rapidly expanding and we have recently discovered that the bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae, which is ubiquitous in our soil, is absorbed through our skin when we work with the soil. Remember that Bronllys Hospital was founded as a treatment centre for tuberculosis and its name is Mycobacterium tuberculosis! But Mycobacterium vaccae is a little friend, not a threat like the tuberculosis strain, it does incredible work sending chemical messages that cause the release of serotonin, which is sometimes called the happy hormone, and helps to lift our mood.
We all need a lift from time to time, it turns out putting our hands in the soil could be the easiest route to that little lift!
Enjoy your garden, your window box, your house plants and if none of those are available, simply take your shoes off in the park and feel the ground beneath your feet … it is a great salve to the stresses of your day!
