4 Simple Reasons Why You Should Grow Your Own Food
We are very fortunate to live in a time when at any time of the day or night we can easily walk or drive to the store and have a selection of various produce available at our fingertips. With this luxury why would you want to spend your time growing your own food? I have a pretty simple answer to that: We are human. As humans, this is what we do. We grow food. It’s what we have been doing for thousands of years. It hasn’t been until the past hundred or so years that we have put the responsibility of producing food into the hands of others.
Who are these people that are responsible for growing and handling our food? And what are they doing to our food? How is treated? What are they spraying on it? Is that good for you? Is that good for the land? Who really knows? They could be professionals who have business interests more in mind than our health. What we do know is that if we go to the supermarket food will be there year-round. I am no scientist nor have I extensively studied this, but common sense tells me that this could not be good for us or for the land because it doesn’t seem natural or sustainable.
Some questions to get you thinking the next time you are in the grocery store buying food:
- Who grew that?
- How was it treated?
- How was the worker who picked it treated?
- Do these people have my best interest in mind, or are they just trying to make a higher profit?
In May 2009, I took control. I started growing my own food without any experience or land. During that time I was living on the fourth floor of a New York City apartment. All I had was my 2-foot by 3-foot fire escape that I turned into an organic vegetable garden. Despite the limited space, I was able to grow lettuces, kales, swiss chard, peppers, cherry tomatoes and a variety of herbs.
In April 2010, I moved to Los Angeles, where I started a balcony garden that I’m continuing to grow more food on. In comparison to my fire escape, the 13-foot by 4-foot balcony seems like a huge farm. Space is not an issue. If I could grow on a fire escape, you can grow given whatever space restrictions you have.
Here are four reasons to start growing your own food:
You’ll Appreciate Your Food More
By no means do I expect everyone to go out and start their own garden because I know that ain’t gonna happen. But what I do expect is for everyone to grow at least one herb or vegetable.
Why? Because it will open your eyes and change your relationship with food. It will help to re-establish that connection that we as a human race have lost. You will also appreciate the food that much more because you grew it and took care of it. Not only will you appreciate the food that you grew on your own, you will start to appreciate the food that you buy as well.
It’s Natural and Sustainable
Food supplies us with the sustenance and nutrition we need to survive. The taks of supplying us with food is not in the hands of other people. Look back at history. Civilizations were built around food. They were set up around areas that had access to fertile land to grow food. Think about everything that goes into food and what was built around it: growing, tending, harvesting, preparing, eating and sharing food. These days we just fast forward to the eating part, which we often do on the run. There is much more to food that just eating it (though that is fun).
Why if you live in the northeast part of the United States, can you get pineapple, mangoes and other tropical fruits year-round or at all for that matter? I can help to answer that question. It’s because the food is being transported from distances far away to get to you. Did you know that on average food travels about 1,500 miles to get to our plates? Now think about the oil and resources that go into getting that food to your plate.
You’ll Be Helping the Environment
We live in a great time where so much information is readily available to us at the click of a mouse. The downfall of that is that so much information is readily available to us at the click of a mouse. We are presented with all kinds of messages about how we impact our personal health and that of the environment. In reading some of the information out there, it feels disempowering to see something like the BP oil spill or the ice caps melting.
I wanted to do something instead of sitting back and letting someone else worry about the situation. It didn’t matter how small it was, I just wanted to do something. Food has always been a love of mine. I mean, who doesn’t love food? So I decided that I would grow my own. It would be beneficial to me and to the environment.
It’s Easy and Inexpensive
You don’t need to buy expensive tools and materials to start growing your own food. You can make a self-watering container for less than $5 out of recycled materials. You could turn a 2-liter soda bottle into a self-watering container or a hanging planter. These are some ideas to get you started. There are plenty of ways to make gardening cheap so you don’t have to invest lots of money. Check out my previous post on Crazy Sexy Life about Urban Gardening for the Everyday Person for more details.
Now you can get back to being human and growing your food. One plant will surely make a difference. Start growing some of your food today.
Photo credit: miss mass
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11 Comments
Here’s a good guide on companion planting.
http://www.growveg.com/growguides/companion-planting.aspx?gclid=CJyy-uWKlqQCFctw5QodQDI_YQ
It makes organic growing even easier.
Mike!! So cool to see you here! Thanks for the tips!
I’m promoting sustainable gardening in my apartment complex. I cultivate ladybug co-pilots & worm wranglers amongst the tenants children. I help them plant small gardens in front of their apts and even distribute FREE vegetable garden seeds across the entire US through a nonprofit called THE DINNER GARDEN. This work is year round and doesn’t end with the growing season… we have a waiting list of 30,000 yet have established 124+ community gardens and mailed out 50,000 FREE garden packets this year. Still hunting for the elusive corporate sponsor AND big celebrity spokesperson. I personally enjoy being able to feed THOUSANDS from my small apartment.
Such important information. I try to institute those principles in our meals every day. Great post.
right on Mike!
Now come on over and help me get rid of my lawn!
kidding
deb
I pretend I don’t notice when the fire truck goes by and they stare up at my fire escape teeming with plants! Evidently it’s against the law in NYC…
Thanks for the great post!
All good reasons that I wholeheartedly agree with. But one vital one you should add – grow your own food so that you have a reliable source of food.
The industrial food system is not only environmentally destructive, it’s also fragile. Soil degradation, water shortages, and rising oil prices threaten its viability.
Crisis is already here in varying degrees depending on where you live. The big picture is that the price of food has risen dramatically on a global basis over the last few years as have food shortages. The crisis is expected worsen due population increases, rising resource consumption, and climate change.
Here’s an informative article by Salon.com that sums up the challenge pretty well:
Why Our Agricultural Empire Will Fail:
http://www.salon.com/food/feature/2010/08/26/empires_of_food
Here’s a report by the International Forum on Globalization (ifg.org) that goes into more detail:
I totally agree with your views about growing food at home ….thanks for sharing your views..
You are lucky, no woodchucks in NYC or LA
My family and I planted veggies and herbs for the first time this year, and let me tell you, we learned an awful lot about what it takes to get your food from garden (or farm) to table. It’s been such a valuable learning experience, and though we didn’t grow a hug amount of food and some things didn’t grow the way we hoped, the whole venture was most definitely worthwhile. We really do appreciate and love the foods we’ve grown, and hope to continue growing more in the future.
Peace,
Michelle ;)
This year was my first year of growing my own food. I live in an apartment complex and asked for permission first and decided to plant only 2 things. I planted a tomato and a basil. Turns out these are super easy to care for you just have to water them everyday to keep the soil moist that’s about all the care they need.
The cool thing about it is the basil is a natural deterent for the bugs that eat tomatos (i didn’t even know that, just good luck).
So this is a GREAT choice for anyone else planting their first garden
Late this year I planted a few scallions that i bought from the store with the roots still on.
This year has been more of an experiment. I didn’t get very much food from 1 tiny tomato plant. But I’ve been reading and next year i’ll plant earlier and I know more tips so hopefully i’ll have a better “harvest”
September 20, 2010