The Thirwood Difference: Meet our Newest Village Resident…a Tomato

The Village is a unique part of Thirwood Place. Yes, it’s still a form of Independent Living, but it stands separately from our main building. The Village includes 28 town-home style residences, the largest units we rent, and rank among the largest and most spacious senior living accommodations on Cape Cod.

We have a lot of gardeners in The Village, and every spring and summer our residents may rent a plot in a raised garden bed that is adjacent to their residence. You’ll find beautiful flowers and a wide variety of produce. Although many of our residents grow their own tomato plants the tomato we’re talking about today wasn’t planted in one of our garden beds.

Over the summer, a very special tomato plant seeded itself in the stones in front of our Osprey building. One resident, Ann Wells, approached our Marketing Coordinator, Erin Nelligan, to share the story. According to Ann, “Through drought and sandy soil and rocks, this little seedling thrived.”

As the plant grew taller a stake was added for support. She felt it was a powerful metaphor for the residents at Thirwood Place- mirroring their strength and endurance. If you’ve read some of our blogs or looked at our Facebook page, it’s obvious we have residents with incredible stories. We are home to 20+ veterans. We have residents who have led incredible lives traveling the world and have done incredible work throughout their careers.

The Village Community

The residents that live in The Village are extremely connected. They come to the main building for activities, dining, and other socializing but they also organize fun on their own. We have four wonderful residents in The Village who we refer to as “The Blue Rock Walkers.” Every morning, weather permitting, you’ll find this hardy bunch of Villagers exiting the Thirwood parking lot as they make their way to Blue Rock Golf Course down the road. There’s nothing better than seeing their smiling faces when you pull into the parking lot in the morning!

The marketing team at Thirwood Place started an event called “Village Socials.” These gatherings are an opportunity for all the residents living in The Village to meet in the lobby of one of the three Village buildings. There, they eat, drink, and chat about what’s going on in the world. Village Socials were created with the intention of the Village residents creating their own potluck-style parties, and we are happy to hear they continue to thrive. Every week after checking in with a different Village resident you’ll hear about a new activity planned for them to continue bonding.

The Beauty of The Village

As mentioned earlier, we have a ton of gardeners. One resident, Cal Mutti is actually a Master Gardner on the Cape. He also went out of his way to allow Thirwood’s

Marketing Coordinator to dig up some potatoes with him and his wife in Karen’s raised garden bed plot. Once he heard there was an Irish girl who had never dug up a potato, he insisted she visit their garden. The Village residents take pride in what they plant and it immensely contributes to the beauty of that area of the property.

We’ve even had spotted wildlife! One morning Mrs. Wells looked out her window and discovered a group of deer grazing around The Village. They must appreciate how beautiful our community is too!