Dedication (written by RoniKramer)
This leaf is dedicated to Amit Vaks and Avi Hindi, two Beit haGalgalim volunteers who were victims of the outrageous terrorist attacks that have taken place in Israel over the last few days. They died defendingtheir families and community. The endless light and love they brought to anyspace they entered. will be cherished forever. We are still praying for the safe return of Yarden Roman who was taken as a hostage among hundreds of other people.

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We are in troubled times indeed, so I searched the Internet for something calming and plant related.  There are, of course, plenty of mood-altering phytochemicalsto be found, but what I came up with was something quite different. You don’t have to ingest, inhale or inject anything to enjoy plants; it is enough just tohandle them.

The first item I found was a blog on “The therapeutic benefits of gardening in troubling times”. Obvious really but being a scientist I then looked for the solid “clinical evidence”, findingthe study by Odeh (2022). Reading the article was less calming than gardening, and the conclusion disappointing, with gardening proving no better than artactivities. Nevertheless, both art and gardening appeared to be therapeutic, despite the absence of a “control” (PLACEBO) group for comparison. Besides, who needsscientific evidence that certain activities are mood altering?

So let’s leave the science and get back to the enjoyment part. Some time ago, my colleagues and I visited to Beit haGalgalim (House of wheels), and that provides social programming and enrichmentactivities to disabled Israeli youngsters. One of our activities that day was to re-pot plants. The young man I paired with was severely disabled physically to the extent that we had trouble communicating. But I quickly realised that he wanted some “hands-on” involvement and was rewarded by a big smile as I made rather a mess pushing his hands into the potting soil (a double dose of therapyfor me)!

Let’s pray for better days and keep our calm till they arrive.

Further reading

▶ The therapeutic benefits of gardening in troubling times. By Marie, October 18, 2022 https://accessiblegardens.org/the-therapeutic-benefits-of-gardening-in-troubling-times/

▶Odeh R et al(2022). A pilot randomized controlled trial of group-based indoor gardening and art activities demonstrates therapeutic benefits to healthy women. PloS one, 17(7), e0269248. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269248