Why I am Starting To Grow My Own Food
am going to start growing my own food. I have the land and the green finger, but not the spare time to get it started in the past. But It's that time in my life that I will be making the space to begin to grow my own food. Learning to grow food was a of life for our ancestors and we have moved so far away from living off the land. A community food garden has now become the norm in modern day times.
These days a much smaller number of people grow their own food, while most depend on the grocery-store shelves to provide their nutrition.
These days, with all of our purchased food, we expect foods not in season to be available year-round. We also enjoy the experience of tasting new foods that have never been available in our local areas. This convenience comes at a high cost.
Transporting food from east to west and from north to south from one end of the country to the other and from one country to another is a major use of oil for fuel. Packaging foods to be shipped also utilizes a tremendous amount of energy, as well as oil for producing plastic and trees for paper.
Other major factors, however, are the taste and texture of food. Much of the produce found on today’s grocery-store shelves is bred to be picked green, not ripe, so it won’t ripen before it hits the stores. This produces, in some instances, a tasteless, hard-textured food. Just compare the hot-house tomato to a juicy freshly picked tomato from the garden.
So why grow your own food?
Granted, we can’t all have huge gardens completely fulfilling our food needs. But there are several good reasons to grow what we can. First is the taste. You simply can’t beat the taste of freshly picked sweet corn, brought in from the garden and directly to the table. The taste of homegrown tomatoes, ripe and bursting with juice, is heaven to a tomato lover.
And how about fresh green beans with new potatoes, one of our family’s favourite homegrown dishes. Even those with limited space can grow their own salad garden, with fresh lettuce, spinach, onions, and radishes. Peaches and apples, luscious blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries that taste nothing like storebought ones are also prime foods you can grow.
The second reason is health. More and more problems are developing with commercially grown and processed foods. By growing your own, you can limit the use of harmful chemicals such as pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides. Or you may decide not to use any chemicals and grow organically. You will know what your family is eating when you grow it yourself.
Doctors and researchers warn of our growing health problems from diabetes and obesity. Many people, especially youngsters, live on fast foods and don’t even get a minimum daily requirement of fruits and vegetables. Health.gov suggests we need two to three servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Most fruits and vegetables are low in calories and high in vitamins and fibre. Growing your own fruits and vegetables increases the opportunity for more healthy foods for your family.
The third reason is also health related. Growing your own food gets you outside and serves as a form of exercise. Although too much sun can be dangerous, studies have shown a lack of sunlight to be a common problem with many people. Fresh air, sunlight, and enjoying the outdoors are also stress relievers.
Doctors and researchers warn of our growing health problems from diabetes and obesity.
Tilling, planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting all require effort, creating healthy daily exercises. The fourth reason is simply economics. You can definitely save money growing your own food. And if you grow enough to put food up for future use either by canning, drying, root-cellaring, or freezing, the savings really mount up.
If you can’t grow your own food, or are limited in what you can grow, a major step you can take is to purchase from farmers’ markets and other local sources. Not only are you “greening” by cutting down on the use of fuel for transportation, but you are also enjoying much tastier and healthier foods. And you’re helping the local economy.
2 Comments
-
-
I need to start looking into astrology, it’s a fascinating rad to go down to discover more about ourselves.
-
Chloe Knight
Thanks for the book list.