Some days I really, really like my job. A few Fridays ago was one of those days. Todd and I were out doing some home visits to families Knott County. Debbie Wallen was the first person in Mousie (yes that is the name of the town) to contact me about being a part of Grow Appalachia. She had been laid off for a year and needed help putting in a garden to help feed her family. When I went to visit Debbie, I met her mom Verdie who was a stroke survivor which had left her paralyzed on the right side. Verdie loves to garden and Debbie had filled a wheelbarrow full of dirt for her to plant onions and lettuce in. Debbie had asked if there was anything we could do to help her mom get back to her love of gardening. I told her I was sure of it.
A short time later, our Pike County friends, Joyce and Charlie Pinson, posted a handicapped accessible raised bed that Charlie had designed out of pallets. I asked Todd if he thought that would work for Verdie and we started trying to figure out how to put it together. I am not very handy with tools (I know the working end of a shovel but that’s about it) so I was trying to figure out how to do the pallet raised bed with little or no construction. Then I noticed an old patio table at home which had seen better days. I got permission to use it and the rest…well a picture is worth a thousand words.
First, we attached the modified pallet to the patio table with lots of galvanized screws.
Then Todd drilled several holes through the wood and the table top for drainage
We especially wanted the wood to be able to drain
Next we covered the entire pallet with weed block, piecing it around the remaining wood blocks and stapling it to the underside of the pallet for looks
We used lots of screws and lots of staples
Finally we filled the new bed with potting soil and it is ready to plant.
Todd showing Verdie the nice new bed.
As you can see, Verdie was very pleased. Due to the stroke she has a limited vocabulary but of the words she does have, “Lordy, Lordy” about said it all.
Verdie’s patch of lettuce
Great idea!