EL PASO, Texas (KIVIA) - Relieving stress can be as simple as getting your hands dirty at the park. If you don't have a green space at home, there's a solution in the form of community gardens all over El Paso.
With the Franklin Mountains as a backdrop, dozens of seniors gathered at the Welden Yerby Senior Garden in northeast El Paso. While some relax and chat in the shade of the club's balcony, others tend to plant their crops.
“You can grow anything. Last year I even grew ginger,” said Martha Caldwell. Her friend Vicky Dye came. "You can grow spinach, onions, lettuce, anything, carrots. Somebody grew peanuts."
Raised on a farm, Caldwell and Dye enjoy returning to their roots.
"It takes you somewhere else," Dye said. "You can get physical, enjoy the weather and get some sun from home."
The National Institutes of Health found that there is growing evidence that exposure to plants, green spaces, and gardening is beneficial for mental and physical health.
This is proved by both senior footballers.
"It gets me out of the house," Dye said. “It connects you with other people. You feel less alone."
"I'm just enjoying it," Caldwell said. When I see sprouting seedlings, it makes me happy and makes me smile."
Ben Avalos started gardening when he left school. She has been a member of the 80 Plot Senior Garden since 2014, shortly after moving to its current location at 9175 Stahala Drive.
"This is my little break. It takes you away from the stress of everyday life," Avalos said. He added that he is the main caretaker of a disabled woman. "When I come here, I only think about growing tomato plants."
For Ovalos, gardening can reflect life's ups and downs, so it's crucial to mental well-being, she explained.
"Sometimes you plant a tomato and a worm falls on it, or a pumpkin catches them. "You have to work, you just have to learn, there will be failures, as in life, failures happen and you overcome them."
Welden Yerby Senior Garden is open to anyone 55 and older.
Find more El Paso community gardens here.
