Red Dirt Diaries: Healing Through Gardening

A metro man is helping green gardeners grow fresh food in their own backyards. But it's what he's also weeding out that has changed his life forever.

“I’ve dealt with anxiety and depression and I dealt with it through food for a long time,” said Dale Spoonemore.

Years ago, the OKC father weighed more than 300 pounds and wasn’t happy in life.

He started running marathons and lost more than a 100 lbs., but his anxiety remained.

“I feel like there was a time I was in hell,” said Spoonemore.

His wife then turned him onto a book that suggested his struggles could be kept at bay through fresh vegetables.

Spoonemore said he was hooked after tasting spinach right from the garden.

“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, there is something huge here’,” said the Spoonemore.

In the past three years, he’s converted the backyard of his OKC home into a vegetable garden.

Spoonemore has grown 60 different vegetables and is teaching others how to garden through an app called “Seed to Spoon”, available on Android and IOS.

“It will tell you exactly what you need to do,” said Spoonemore, who is working on features showing you how much to water based on rainfall in your area.

At www.seedtospoon.net you can learn about the app and see how Spoonemore uses his whole family to help out in the garden.

Spoonemore is speaking at this weekend’s OKC Home and Outdoor show at the fairgrounds.

“It’s the difference between waking up every morning and dreading the day and waking up every morning and being excited about life.”