Manitowoc woman finds healing in garden
MANITOWOC - Theresa Ravanelli has had a backyard garden for almost 60 years. She didn’t plant her first garden, however, because of an overriding horticultural bent. Rather, she was seeking a taste of home.
“When we came to this country, they didn’t have any zucchini here,” the Italian native said.
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Even today, some of the favorite foods from her youth, like Swiss chard, are not very common.
“A lot of people don’t know what (Swiss chard) is," she said. "When you’re used to eating that stuff, you want it.”
Her garden also provided a less expensive way to get the fresh vegetables she craved, and by freezing them, she had homegrown vegetables most of the year.
Ravanelli came to the United States from her home north of Venice in 1955. She moved to Manitowoc in 1959.
When she met her future husband, his mother gave her four different kinds of high beans or pole beans from Italy. To this day, she only plants pole beans. But like her need to bring familiar foods from home, this year, necessity also drove Ravanelli to try something new.
“That’s how I got the corn this year,” she said, of her bumper crop of corn. “I was asking people, ‘How do I get some posts, because my posts wore out?’ And they suggested that I plant beans and corn, beans and corn, and so the beans go up the corn.”
To her delight, it worked according to plan, and the beans crawled up the corn stalks.
“This is the first time I planted corn," she said. "It was 9 feet high and the beans went up to the top, and they were so heavy they broke the tops down. It was really nice when it was in blossom. It’s all broken down now.”
Her garden assures Ravanelli she’ll be providing her body with healthy food; but more than that, Ravanelli said gardening is good for her mind as well.
“I find now when I’m wound up and something’s bothering me, I’ve got to go outside and work the flowers and the ground," Ravanelli said. "I’m close to nature, and I relax. That’s the best thing I’ve ever found.
"I would suggest to anybody to start a little garden," she added. "It is very healthy to spend time in a garden … you’re so close to nature, to real life, and you see things growing. I love to go out in the morning and see things grow. And it’s not expensive and you’re not bothering anybody."
The healing qualities of gardening have been especially necessary this year, as Ravanelli has been battling a serious illness. She found it very helpful to be in the garden, even though her diagnosis came at the same time as the planting season.
“I needed to plant,” Ravanelli said.
Fortunately, her health has grown better right along with her garden.
At almost 83 years old, Ravanelli has made some concessions to her age and health. For one thing, her garden is a bit smaller.
“Every year, I make it smaller," Ravanelli said. "But I still want to plant everything there. I have garlic, onions and all my spices ... a little bit of everything. I plant everything on a little space. It’s really fun. I like to experiment. Sometimes I plant two different kinds of lettuce and see which one does the best.”
Ravanelli shares her garden’s bounty with friends and family.
“I used to give tomatoes to everybody," she said. "I got everybody tired of tomatoes. I used to get so many that I gave them away. This year, I took them to the Senior Center."
In addition to a vegetable garden, Ravanelli also planted several beds of flowers. Her back yard is a peaceful and beautiful haven in which she admits to relaxing “when I have the time.”
Ravanelli spends at least an hour in the garden in the morning, and often some more time in the afternoon. She said you don’t need a lot of space to garden.
“You need a small space, and you can plant a lot of stuff," she said. "It’s nice to plant different things. It’s good exercise, too.”