From therapy garden to test kitchen

We were blessed last year in the upper Midwest (USDA Hardiness Zone 5b), that the summer garden took off like a rocket. The occasional heavy rains needed supplementing a few days a week with my watering labors...a 2 gallon watering can does the trick, because even though more trips are required to give the plants a drink, there's exercise. Clover made its resurgence, after three years of being dormant. More than 95% of all the seed varieties that were sown, were germinating and thriving! I couldn't ask for more from the soil - it's black, moist, and with strata allowing for plentiful movement of root growth, and - after more than ten years of continual amendment, showing signs of proliferation of good organisms that feed the vegetables, flowers and herbs.

But - when all the produce is grown to its best, harvested and processed; what to do with it all! You gardeners who work so hard, year - round to keep the garden ecology viable and productive, how do you make the fruits of your garden work for the greater good? Those clinical programs in SLP that utilize a garden for training staff; - whether they be future clinicians, current staff or those community volunteers who would like to help - they might benefit from your skill set, and they might further the movement of their mission.

What I am saying, is that CSD training programs that support training gardens should develop, alone or in collaboration with other entities, tasting kitchens that serve consumers, their stakeholders and the community. A "tasting kitchen" will provide the practicing speech - language pathologist, who works with persons having swallowing problems, opportunities to directly train the consumer in the set of swallowing skills desired, with fresh food. The tasting kitchen will afford the SLP clinician to balance the needs of consumers to eat safely, against the need of consumers  to eat well.

Of course, cooking and preparing foods for persons with swallowing needs is significantly outside the field's scope of practice. But there are obvious advantages to having this unique service offered to consumers:

* the consumer is reassured that her/his quality of life - in this case - the desires and needs for nutrition and hydration- may more easily be met.

* the SLP can liaison with professionals in many fields, who have an influence over what we can buy and eat: gardeners, farmers, grocery stores, chefs, nutritionists,  dieticians, food anthropologists, cookbook writers and owners, and restaurants, diners and cafes: they can be the food professionals,  providing the real material for direct dysphagia treatment;

* the 900 pound gorilla in the room (who the heck pays for this?) can be assuaged by a fee - for - service arrangement,  or underwritten by grants, fundraisers and other external supports; 

Let's contemplate how the SLP tasting kitchen might increase the odds,  that our consumers might achieve the swallowing outcomes they desire.