Growing your own food these days is so important, between the rising costs of living and the chemicals pumped into many of the fruits and vegetables available in supermarkets. One of my favourite things after a long day managing little ones or hours staring at a screen is to stroll out to the garden and pluck a fresh snow pea from the vine or a sun-ripened cherry tomato into my mouth, perhaps pulling out a weed or two or poking in a new seedling. But is it really worth the extra time and effort? Let’s take a look.
1. Higher Quality Of Produce
- Fruits, vegetables, nuts and herbs grown in our own back yards do not have the herbicides, synthetic fertilisers and other chemicals that many of their supermarket counterparts have all over their skin and infused throughout the growing process. Supermarket fruits and vegetables are often grown using monocropping techniques, leading to use of sprays and chemicals to rid the plants of pests and supplement the nutrient drained soil. They often have to be treated with gases to ripen or help them stay ripe as they languish on the shelf.
- When food is grown at home so many more varieties are available. When growing tomatoes, for example, one could choose between heirloom varieties such as ‘Tommy Toe’, ‘Grosse Lisse’, ‘Amish Paste, ‘Nonno’s Italian Pear’ and ‘Black Russian’ to name a few! These varieties are delicious, add fun and variety to your menu and possess a variety of qualities not available in the generic supermarket varieties.
- When food is grown for supermarkets it frequently has to be picked before it is ripe so that it can travel for hundreds or thousands of kilometres without receiving too much damage to its destination. This means that the taste is not as developed as when it is harvested ripe. Food grown at home can be picked when it is ripe and eaten at its most delicious and flavoursome stage.
2. Zero food miles
- Food grown in our own gardens also has zero food miles (the distance between where something is produced to where it is eaten). Instead of being trucked from overseas or other parts of the country, they have travelled a few steps from garden bed to the kitchen bench. Food that has been more recently harvested also has a higher level of nutrients than those that were picked days and even weeks ago and have been sitting on the shelf, man-handled by other potential customers before coming home in our shopping bag. Most fresh produce loses 30 percent of nutrients three days after being harvested. That carrot pulled out of the soil in our back yard, washed and then eaten an hour or two later has a much higher nutrient value than the carrot that was pulled out of the ground weeks before being eaten.
- I take my colander out to the garden in the morning when the vegetables are their sweetest and juiciest (moisture content is higher in the mornings due to the cool of the night) and pick whatever is ripe. Next I give it a rinse at the garden tap through the colander and then bring it inside to eat over the day. We consume or preserve these harvested fruits and vegetables over the next day or two.
3. Staying Active
- In the Netflix mini-series ‘Blue Zones’, journalist and author Matt Beuttner uncovers many of the positive habits of ‘blue zone’ communities. This is based on areas with many inhabitants living longer and with a high quality of life as an older person. Okinawa in Japan, the Italian area of Sardinia, Loma Linda in California, The Costa Rican area of Nicoya and Icaria in Greece are the five ‘blue zones’ that he studied. Beuttner found in this fascinating study that gardening was a mainstay activity in each of the areas. Many people who lived a long, high quality life gardened regularly. Gardening facilitates a wide variety of movements that help keep us active and limber, including bending over, digging, lifting, stretching and raking among others. It is also adjustable according to life stage. When we are capable of a wide range of movement we can shovel a whole trailer full of mulch onto the garden or push wheelbarrow loads of weeds and soil for hours. Elderly gardeners or people with limited physical capabilities can outsource these more challenging movements but still weed, plant and harvest from the garden. When I was pregnant, gardening was a great way to keep active in a gentle way and plenty of bending forwards weeding and planting seeds helped me to keep moving and stay engaged. Gardening engages muscle groups such as the legs, arms, shoulders, neck, core and glutes. These low impact but regular movements involved in gardening help our bodies to stay capable and flexible.
- My grandma loved to garden her whole life. Even when she was living in a very small unit in her twilight years she had a sturt desert pea growing out the front that she nurtured. She had chrysanthemums in her postage stamp sized back yard that she grew between staked pieces of twine so they would develop straight stems. She used the chrysanthemums in the beautiful arrangements that she put together for her local church and she gave bouquets to friends. She got so much satisfaction in growing and showing others her sturt desert pea which normally wouldn’t thrive in her temperate coastal climate. Popping out to check how her plants were doing gave her purpose and a reason to go outside and move her body, even if many of the harder tasks like spreading compost and mulch were delegated to the grandkids.
4. Improved Well-being
- Gardening gets us out into the fresh air in all sorts of weather and in contact with the positive microbes found in the soil. These microbes build our immune system and can reduce anxiety. Fresh air is also so important for our bodies and spending some time in the garden gives us a great reason to go outside. Plunging your hands into the soil is a beautiful way to reconnect with nature and the practical steps of producing food for yourself and others.
- Another point brought up in ‘Blue Zones’ is that our minds are not designed to deal with the multiple challenges, comparisons and conflict flung our way via multiple forms of media. It is sensible to be aware of the headlines of what is going on around us, but a certain level of peace comes when we are able to do something practical in the face of challenge. Having the skills to grow some of your own food gives you a practical way to provide for your family in a variety of circumstances and contribute positively to household costs. A couple of tomato plants, a few lettuce plants and a dozen carrots can go a long way towards providing a delicious salad each day and gives us a practical way to provide a little for our families no matter what is going on around us.
5. Something To Share
- It is so fun to share garden produce with a like-minded friend or colleague. I love to bring an extra pumpkin or some lettuce greens as a little gift when I catch up with a friend. Growing our own food means that we can share the excess with others and provide home grown, chemical free produce to add to their plates as well.
- I share produce straight from the garden with people who appreciate home grown food such as my Mum or my gardening friends. For those who may not be used to home grown produce I might turn this into something that the person already knows how to use, such as pumpkin soup , stock or jam. Either way, friends love to share in the excess of our gardens and feel loved and cared for when we share the fruits of our labour.
6. Composting
- Between our compost system, chickens, ducks and the dog, none of our food scraps go to waste. Food scraps previously destined for landfill can find a new life in a compost system that ultimately improves the soil to grow bigger, more nutritious food. Scraps of paper, coffee grounds, old envelopes, loose used tea leaves, food past its due date, peelings and offcuts of vegetables are some of the household waste that can be redirected into a compost system. There are so many different types of composts, from a small countertop bin system or a hole dug in the middle of a garden bed that gets filled with compost and then covered over to a black compost bin or a three bay system where the compost is shovelled from one section to the next for aeration. There is bound to be a composting system that works for you and your household.
The resurgence of home gardening is an exciting change as people begin to get back to their roots and grow some of their own food. The higher quality of the fruits and vegetables, the short distance from back yard to plate and the physical activity involved in gardening are great benefits to the home gardener. The improvements in well-being, the resource that can be shared with others and the redirection of biodynamic product from landfill are huge positives too. Why not start a vegetable garden this week and experience some of these benefits today!