Gardening as You Age
Hip Pain! Back Pain! Difficulty getting up from a kneeling position!
If those sound familiar then you, like me, are an aging gardener.
Gone are the days when I could hit the garden at 6 a.m., garden an hour or so and then get ready for work. In the evening I’d repeat the process.
Now it’s not so easy. But thanks to speaker Duane Pancoast at the International Master Gardeners Conference I was able to listen to his advice, sign up for his blog and order two of his books on The Geriatric Gardener. His books focus on adapting to age limitations when you garden. Pancoast is a marketing communications expert who has specialized in working on gardening communications. I’ve signed up for his blog and I can’t wait to dig into his books. One thing I learned from his talk is to limit my time outside into short work sessions that allow me to do several during a day.
Frankly I should have been working on this a decade ago - before bursitis first sidelined me. But there’s no time like the present to revise my workstyle and add to my tool collection.
I’ll be reporting my results as I go along. And I welcome your advice on what modifications have worked for you.
Creative and targeted programs that make an impact are the hallmark of experienced marketing professional Ruth Steele Walker. Focusing on results that improve the bottom line, she accelerates projects from conception to implementation with a mastery of writing, production, placement, budgeting and coordination.
During more than 25 years with Foremost Corporation of America, the nation's leading insurer of manufactured housing and recreational vehicles, Walker consistently produced effective communications programs that resulted in increased net written premium. Her expertise in crisis communications was a vital part of Foremost's exemplary customer service in the wake of hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Walker specializes in communications targeting the 50+ demographic, with an emphasis in communications for the 65+ segment.
Among other achievements, Walker developed communications for the merger of Foremost and Farmers Insurance, addressing audiences including customers, employees, trade and consumer media. For Foremost's 50th anniversary, she created a celebration program of internal and external promotions, special events, recognition and a 162-page commemorative book.
Earlier in her career, Walker was a newspaper reporter, a TV and radio producer, and worked in national sales and traffic at network TV affiliates. Walker earned a BA in journalism from Michigan State University and an MS in communications from Grand Valley State University.
She and her husband Scott operate a small vineyard in Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula, producing premium vinifera wine grapes. The vineyard has been the largest local supplier for Suttons Bay wine label L. Mawby, recently named one of the world's top producers of sparkling wines.
