Whether you’re holding onto summer kicking and screaming and refuse to let go, or eagerly embracing autumn, this month delight in the simple pleasures that your therapeutic garden continues to provide.

As the early evenings begin to get cooler, head outside to pick ingredients to whip up a quick and simple fresh salsa. The explosion of taste from using homegrown food will make you wonder why you’ve never done this before.

Also, the brighter flavors of garden-fresh produce will help to combat the diminished ability to taste that is so common among seniors. As the Mayo Clinic, and others, have noted, when people begin to lose their sense of taste it negatively impacts their quality of life. Often a diminished ability to taste leads to a loss of appetite and poor nutrition, as people eat less or begin to add excess salt and sugar to their food in an attempt to draw out flavor.

The elderly can find joy and connection by participating in the garden harvest, too, despite physical or mental limitations they may have. From identifying which tomatoes to choose, to picking cilantro, or mixing the finished product, the experience of converting garden produce to culinary wonder offers many stages of engagement for all who participate.

One quick and easy salsa recipe from food.com can be found here: http://fd.cm/1hDamTf.

Look around your therapeutic garden for simple opportunities to harvest. If you have an abundance of mint, consider making sun tea with mint leaves. For basil, make pesto. If your tomatoes are still green, consider Jack Carman’s tasty recipe for fried green tomatoes.

September is the time to reap what you sowed.