Growing provides the source of our foods and is the basis of the cycle of food. The fact is we are no less reliant on agriculture today than we were 2,000+ years ago. To establish healthy practices of food consumption and sustainable food systems we must start at the beginning and core of the cycle.
Why Grow?
Fresh food taste better.
Well, that’s a rather opinionated reason; maybe you enjoy your vegetables prematurely picked and then chemically ripened on their long and exhaustive journey from Chile. Let’s get down to the factual arguments.
Develop a Sustainable Kitchen
Growing for personal use is the first step toward developing a sustainable kitchen. A sustainable kitchen will not only reduce the pressure the food industry puts on our environment and society, but it will also elevate the health of your personal life. The physical, economical, and mental benefits from establishing a sustainable kitchen include:
1. Safety & Health
Chemical & Contamination Risks. Chemical contamination of food is a leading cause of international trade problems. Intentionally and unintentionally the food manufacturing and processing industry uses food additives and contaminants. Vast transportation undergone also can introduce nonnative bacteria and illness.
Exercise. A lack of exercise is injurious to your health. Gardening is an ideal way to get out of the population that is exercise deficient. It offers sufficient and demanding workout (decreasing the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease, as well as promoting healthier bones, muscles and joints), but is less stressful to the body than other exercise options, such as jogging or aerobics.
Creativity. Enrich your psyche. Play with design. Explore plants, positions, arrangements. Play with the possibilities.
Stress relief. Get out of the pitch of the fast past environment. Get out and enjoy and connect with your environment.
Vitamin D. Most of our culture suffers from lack of vitamin D. This causes diseases such as rickets or osteomalacia, but also can create indirect problems within the body. Vitamin D is important to facilitate the normal absorption into the body of dietary calcium which, in turn, is essential for normal bone health and may diminish or prevent the onset in the elderly of the bone disease osteoporosis. The only way Vitamin D is known to be generated is from sunlight and working in your garden is the perfect way to catch those rays.
2. Education
Witness first hand lessons in botany, invertebrate zoology, weather, hydrology, the cycles of life, death and physical decay, and the fact that we all depend wholly on green plants for our sustenance.
3. Save Money
Cut down your cost on produce and foods. With the uprising cost of food, seeds are less expensive.
4. Environmental
Waste reduction. Make use of countless items and materials that would normally require disposal.
Food Miles. Cut down the food industries toll on our resources. Look at where your food, especially out of season produce come from and take into consideration the amount resources used from transportation alone.
There are countless more benefits to gardening, hopefully that is enough to get you started on discovering your own.
