Homeless to Home Grown
Veteran Pat Cox poses on his front porch with some of his award-winning butternut squash.
Pat Cox, a Veteran in the HUD-VASH Department of Cincinnati VA’s Community Outreach Division, has had quite the Whole Health journey. He was homeless a few years ago and with working with the HUD-VASH department got an apartment and was able to start focusing on his health.
He got connected with his HUD-VASH RN to learn about Whole Health principles including identifying his mission, aspiration and purpose in life to help drive his health goals and make SMART goals towards a healthy lifestyle. Along with these principles he became very interested in holistic approaches to health by learning about aromatherapy, mindfulness and relaxation techniques. To focus more on relaxation techniques to aid in stress reduction he was interested in joining the HUD-VASH Veteran Garden Project two years ago. He has grown tomatoes, potatoes, onions, sunflowers and butternut squash. Last year he started a compost garden after his first harvest and has grown several plants from this garden.
This year his sunflowers grew to 8-9 feet tall, and he was able to grow butternut squash that came from his compost garden that spread to much of his front yard. He decided to take a chance and enter his sunflowers and butternut squash in the 165th Annual Harvest Home Fair in Cheviot, Ohio in the general exhibits section under two categories, 1. Best Sunflowers and 2. Best Butternut Squash. He stated, “I am very happy to be able to enter what I have grown in the front yard of my apartment, this has given me such joy to garden and watch my plants grow.”
He received two ribbons and won third place in each category out of twelve entries each. He also stated that “I am also very happy to donate my squash to neighbors, for healthy food options and have the opportunity to give back to the community.” He is also looking forward to his sunflowers providing another relaxation technique to help feed the birds and enjoy bird watching this fall season.
Pat Cox shows off his award-winning gourds and sunflowers from the 165th Annual Harvest Home Fair in Cheviot, Ohio.
Learn more about how you can get started with Whole Health by reaching out to your local Whole Health Facility Contact.
