By JESSICA DAMIANO, Associated Press

If you spend any time gardening, you probably understand what I mean when I say it feels good — despite the lifting, sweating and straining involved. Yes, exercise is good for our bodies, but there’s something about digging in the dirt while listening to a bird soundtrack that lifts my spirits. Even the scent of the soil and mulch makes me happy.

As it turns out, there are scientific reasons for this.

In fact, there’s an entire field called horticultural therapy that’s dedicated to using “plant-based and garden-based activities to support people who have identified treatment needs,” according to Karen Haney, a horticultural therapy instructor at UCLA Extension in Long Beach, California.

“Research suggests 20-30 minutes (of gardening) a few times a week can reduce stress and lift mood, with benefits increasing the more regularly one gardens,” says Sarah Thompson, a professionally registered horticultural therapist in Boise, Idaho.

This Aug. 21, 2025, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows a woman gardening on Long Island, N.Y. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

It’s not just about being outdoors

Yes, the simple act of being in nature can improve mood and restore focus, she said, but “the active engagement of nurturing plants, making decisions and seeing results over time adds a unique layer of meaning and satisfaction that passive time outdoors does not.”

In addition, Thompson said gardening has been shown to ease symptoms of anxiety and depression, and fosters a sense of calm, purpose and accomplishment.

A recent study at the University of Colorado-Boulder backs this up.

The researchers there provided one group of participants with an instructional gardening class, seeds, starter plants and a community gardening plot. They had a second group refrain from gardening for two years.

The gardening cohorts reported stronger social connections, lower stress levels and about a 7% increase in fiber intake, which have been shown to reduce risk factors for some physical and mental illnesses, including depression, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and cancer. They also reported a 42-minute weekly increase in physical activity, which the non-gardeners did not.

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A mindful, rewarding and versatile activity

Previous studies have arrived at similar findings. In 2020, for instance, researchers at the University of Exeter and the Royal Horticultural Society in the U.K. found the health and well-being of gardeners over non-gardeners to be similar to that of residents of wealthy communities over those who live in poorer areas.

In addition to encouraging mindfulness, grounding people in the present moment and providing a sense of achievement, Thompson said, “research has also shown that exposure to sunlight can boost serotonin levels, while contact with soil introduces beneficial microbes linked to mood enhancement.”

So, it seems you just can’t go wrong with gardening.

“Physically, gardening improves strength, flexibility and balance. Socially, it can foster connection. Cognitively, it engages problem solving and creativity,” Thompson said, adding that it’s a highly adaptable activity.

“Gardening can be scaled to any space, ability or age, and its benefits are accessible to everyone,” she said.

Deep down, we gardeners have always believed this. Now, we have the science to prove it.

Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.

By JOSH JACQUOT for Associated Press

Buying a new car has never been more financially daunting. A 2025 analysis from Edmunds found that a record 19.3% of consumers who financed a new vehicle in the second quarter of 2025 committed to a monthly payment of $1,000 or more. That’s nearly one in five buyers taking on what was once considered an extreme car payment — driven by high interest rates and rising vehicle prices.

While it might be tempting to stretch your budget for the car you want, locking yourself into a high-cost loan can be a painful mistake. Before you sign, here are five common car-buying missteps to avoid.

Buying a car you can’t (or shouldn’t) really afford

There’s a difference between being able to buy something and being able to afford it wisely. With an average new vehicle transaction price of approximately $49,000, many buyers are truly stretching their budgets. It’s not uncommon to see buyers opt for extended 72-month or 84-month financing terms.

That shiny SUV might seem within reach thanks to flexible financing, but the long-term hit to your financial health could be considerable. Buying within your means — ideally targeting a loan term of no more than 60 months and keeping your car-related expenses under 15%-20% of your monthly take-home pay — is smart shopping in an era of rising interest rates and ever-increasing car prices.

Not shopping around for a loan

One of the most costly and common mistakes car buyers make is waiting until they’re sitting in the dealership finance office to think about a loan. Dealerships may offer convenience, but their financing may include marked-up interest rates or hidden fees.

Instead, walk into the dealership with a preapproved loan offer from your bank, credit union or an online lender. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, this move can save buyers hundreds to thousands of dollars over the life of the loan. When you do this, the dealer can still try to beat the rate — and sometimes will. But now you’re negotiating from a position of strength, not desperation.

Rolling negative equity into a new car loan

If you owe more on your current car than it’s worth — a situation known as negative equity — trading it in for a new vehicle can be a financial landmine. This commonly happens when people take out a six-year loan, trade in the vehicle after just three or four years, and carry the previous balance into the new vehicle. Rolling that deficit into a new loan just worsens the problem, guaranteeing that you’ll be underwater for even longer.

According to Edmunds, 28.2% of trade-ins in July 2025 involved negative equity, and the average amount buyers owed above the vehicle’s value was $6,902. That sets the stage for a vicious cycle, especially if buyers trade cars frequently or face unexpected job loss or repair costs. If you’re in this situation, consider keeping your car longer or making extra payments. If you can get a better rate, even refinancing can get you back to breakeven.

Skipping the sales department

Most major dealerships now have dedicated internet sales teams that exist to sell you a car quickly and often at better prices than you’ll get face-to-face. If you already know what make, model and trim you want, you can save hours — and hundreds or even thousands of dollars — by working with the internet sales department instead of walking onto the lot.

Sites such as Edmunds can help you compare pricing between multiple dealers, and many will show you real-time inventory, rebates and incentives. This lets you shop from the comfort of home and make dealers compete for your business. It also gives you a written quote you can bring with you — a powerful tool when negotiating.

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Overlooking used alternatives

Buying new is tempting — it smells great, it’s under warranty, and no one else has touched it. But it’s not always the smartest financial move. Today’s certified pre-owned vehicles often come with extended factory warranties, undergo rigorous inspections, and cost thousands less than their new counterparts. The rapid depreciation of most new vehicles only worsens the picture. Most lose 20%–30% of their value in the first year alone, according to Edmunds. Avoiding that depreciation hit can save thousands.

Edmunds says

Buying a new car is one of the biggest financial decisions most people make — second only to purchasing a home. Avoiding these five common mistakes won’t just save you money — it has the potential to help ensure your long-term financial security. Take your time and do your homework. The right deal isn’t just about the car — it’s about the life you want to live after you drive it off the lot.

This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive website Edmunds. Josh Jacquot is a contributor at Edmunds.

Mary Kay Riendeau began to use marijuana, alcohol, and cigarettes at only 12 after surviving several instances of sexual violence. Resources were not abundant in the 1970s, and Riendeau’s trauma response dangerously spiraled into substance abuse that lasted 23 years.

Since she set out on the path to recovery in 1999, Riendeau has refused to let the pain of her past define her future. Today, as the department head of addiction studies at Minnesota North College-Mesabi Range, she is helping widen access to addiction counseling services in rural areas across the state.

“You know why people use?” said Riendeau., “The pain of life.”

She says expanding access to addiction counseling will help people get the support they need.

According to a 2024 Minnesota Department of Health report, residents of rural areas seeking mental health and chemical dependency treatment typically travel over three times longer to access care compared with urban patients. The same report shows that of the 4,156 alcohol and drug counselors across the state, only 4% work in isolated rural areas. Only 6% work in small towns.

Such disparities contribute to health inequity.

Faced with declining health and a looming prison sentence, Riendeau made the tough decision to stop using and turn her life around 26 years ago. She wanted to show up better as a mother, but also as the individual she knew she was under the shadow of her addiction. So, she enrolled in college.

Mary Kay Riendeau, far left, works with students enrolled in the Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor program at Minnesota North College-Mesabi Range. (Yasmin Yassin)

“I’m 61 years old,” she explained. “Am I going to let sexual violence ruin the rest of my life? There had to be a time in there where I made a decision.”

Her college, Minnesota North College, Mesabi Range, is home to an expansive Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor program (LADC), which was established in the 1990s. The program aims to effectively train students to enter the addiction-recovery field throughout the state by Zoom to remove the barriers that prevent many from completing their education. Rural areas such as the Mesabi Range have always faced great challenges with distance, affordability, and accessibility to addiction counseling.

Minnesota North College’s program addresses the shortage of addiction counselors in the area by integrating a real-world problem-solving curriculum into the classroom. Riendeau was a 2001 graduate of the program and started teaching in the program in 2004. In 2007, her mentor retired, and she has been the department head since then. There were only nine in the program that year. Even with the impacts that it was making, this shortage persisted in her community, so she sought out to expand existing initiatives.

Riendeau worked as a full-time, in-person LADC instructor at her alma mater for three years until she began to broaden the program’s efforts by using technology. In 2010 she launched free Zoom panels, accessible to people across the state. From Grand Portage to the Iron Range she says these “Zoom rooms” have allowed the program to reach thousands who have been touched by addiction.

This is “a way of putting people together in a community of recovery,” she said. Healed communities “can excel and do things which expands the empowerment of people.”

Riendeau has seen more and more students engage with the LADC program during her time as an instructor. The program’s instructors currently oversee the education of over 85 students. Thousands more have been licensed and are now active in the field of addiction work since her early beginnings.

Angela Tomassoni, left, Indigenous grant assistant at Minnesota North College-Mesabi Range, and Mary Kay Riendeau, department head of addiction studies at Minnesota North College-Mesabi Range, work to widen access to addiction counseling in rural Minnesota. (Brian Wiedeke)

Graduate Angela Tomassoni, who has faced addiction in the past, “gets goosebumps,” when reflecting on the program’s impact. She said it has transformed and saved countless people –  including her. She now serves as the program’s Indigenous grant coordinator, and helps to oversee some of the millions of grant dollars that the program receives.

“These degrees and this experience was something that nobody could take away from me,” Tomassoni said. “Giving back and staying busy is a huge thing.”

Riendeau never anticipated her efforts reaching so far, but is grateful. After all, her main purpose in everything she has set out on has been to touch lives. Funding cuts threaten access to addiction services in rural communities, but Riendeau says her commitment is unwavering.

“We’re at a different time politically. But does it affect us? I’m not going to let it,” she said. “As long as we’re still there, there is still a voice fighting for addicts.”

Additional reporting by Legend Primus (Roseville High School) and Amelia Mohamud (Delano High School) 

About this report

This story was produced as part of ThreeSixty Journalism’s Multimedia Storytelling Institute for high school students in partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, which financially sponsors the camp and supports story sourcing. ThreeSixty Journalism is a multimedia storytelling program for Minnesota youth. Grounded in the principles of journalism and focused on contributing to more accurate narratives and representative newsrooms, ThreeSixty offers technical, ethical, and entrepreneurial training for fulfilling careers in storytelling and civic leadership. It has been housed at the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas since 2001.

“I’m a hope dealer, not a dope dealer.” That is Nation Wright’s motto today.

Growing up in the Minneapolis American Indian community, Wright saw firsthand how addiction affected his people. Now, as the chief operating officer for the American Indian Community Development Corporation (AICDC), Wright is concerned about the recent trends.

“Things have gotten dramatically worse,” he said. “The average age of addiction is getting younger and younger. … these are babies, essentially, that are out here struggling.”

Native Americans are disproportionately affected by addiction. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, they are seven times as likely to overdose as white Minnesotans.

“They feel like they’re stuck in this state of hopelessness,” said Wright.

He says community outreach is one way to combat that hopelessness and get people the resources they need. The AICDC, a housing organization, attempts to reach community members experiencing active addiction.

“You keep showing up, you keep showing them that you care and what it does is it builds relationship(s)… it builds trust,” he said.

Resistance is common, but that doesn’t stop Wright and his team from continuing to reach out to people with help. “I might have had 100 contacts with you before you say yes, but that’s the thing, though, it’s consistency,” he said.

The struggles in his community have to do with generational trauma.

Native Americans have been stripped from their culture, language and traditions. Their children were sent to boarding schools. They’ve suffered colonialism and colonization.

“That lasts and that’s generational,” said Wright.

Treating addiction in his community requires an understanding of what his people have been through.

“There is also a lot of judgment in this world and there’s a lot of hate and a lot of not taking the time to understand and to listen and to be fully educated about a situation, people, and about a community,” he said.

Wright said that many of the youth in the Little Earth East Phillips community in South Minneapolis have never been outside of that bubble.

“That’s the only place they know. And if we start to see the world and what the world has to offer for us, we can start to create some different pathways to success,” he said.

He aims to be a positive voice for his people, and to show love when needed. Most importantly, he seeks to hold his friends, brothers, sisters and family accountable.

But with limited resources in Native American communities, change can feel far off.

“How can we expect people to change? … generation to generation of no change, no resources, no support within their immediate environments because everyone else is in the same struggle,” Wright said.

Mental health also plays a part in addiction that co-occurs.

For his people to move forward, Wright says, it’s important to “raise the bar” and not to normalize addiction and struggle.

The AICDC helps individuals move forward with culturally grounded care that brings together traditional and western treatment support.

They have several buildings with different support functions. Their housing facilities are almost always at capacity.

At their homeless shelter, individuals are able to receive a warm meal and take a shower. Participants are also able to connect with counseling, therapy or any of the other services the AICDC has to offer. There is a wet house where participants are allowed to drink on site.

“It’s a harm-reduction model; they’re limited to what they can bring in… it’s a way to get people housed,” Wright said.

Work is important to Wright but working in a high-stress environment also takes a toll. He uses cultural practices like Native drumming as a way to cope and is working to prioritize his well-being so he can be more present for his two children and become a better person for his people.

“This is the community that I’m raising my kids in and the community I want to see thrive and really do better,” he said.

Additional reporting by Maria Hernandez-Silva (Venture Academy) and King Primus (Roseville High School).

About this report

This story was produced as part of ThreeSixty Journalism’s Multimedia Storytelling Institute for high school students in partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, which financially sponsors the camp and supports story sourcing. ThreeSixty Journalism is a multimedia storytelling program for Minnesota youth. Grounded in the principles of journalism and focused on contributing to more accurate narratives and representative newsrooms, ThreeSixty offers technical, ethical, and entrepreneurial training for fulfilling careers in storytelling and civic leadership. It has been housed at the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas since 2001.