She’s not exaggerating. On any given day, the garden’s harvest finds its way into Cedarhurst’s lively calendar—from green tomato salsa served at Happy Hour to zucchini bread enjoyed during bingo. “It makes the activities feel special,” Oriana adds. “The residents know they helped make it happen.” One of those residents is Karen Naeger- Venable, whose “green thumb” has become legendary around Cedarhurst of Arnold. Karen monitors the garden daily, often with help from her neighbor Rich, who waters in the evenings and even supplied tomato cages to support the plants. “I kind of fell into it because I’ve always loved gardening,” Karen says with a smile. “When I lived at Nazareth, they even built a garden on the third floor just for me.” Karen’s passion for gardening has deep roots— literally. She’s added her own touches to the Arnold garden, including dwarf peach trees that her grandsons planted out front. “The deer ate them the first year,” she laughs, “but we replanted, and this year we added fake flowers to keep them safe. I’m hoping we’ll get peaches next spring.”
Her favorite part of the season, though, was the tomatoes—and one mischievous moment she shared with a fellow resident. “We had lots and lots of tomatoes,” she recalls. “One of our residents, Art, loved to go out early and see if any strawberries had ripened. One day I thought it would be funny to play a joke on him. I hid a few big strawberries under the plants and told him to check. He was so excited when he found them! I had to tell him they weren’t real—we laughed about that all day.” That sense of joy carried into the day Oriana and the team fried up the last of the season’s green tomatoes. While residents crafted nearby, the sound of sizzling oil and the smell of tomatoes frying filled the air. “It felt like a family gathering,” Oriana says. “Some people were cooking, others were crafting, and everyone was talking and laughing. Even people walking by stopped to see what was going on—and eventually joined in.” For many residents, it was their first time trying fried green tomatoes. For Oriana, it was her first time cooking them. “We shared a new experience together,” she says. “That’s what life is about at any age.”
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