Why should you grow your own food?

Why should you grow your own food? Have you ever thought about the journey your food takes before it reaches your local grocery store? The global supply chain has been brought to the forefront of many people’s concerns in the last couple of years. Anxiety rose as certain items on grocery store shelves were found missing. Growing your own food can ease those worries, as well as give you a sustainable way to improve your diet.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I was in the middle of my pregnancy with our first child. We were living in the suburbs. We did not have a garden or any real food security. Shortly after our son was born, I began having health issues related to two autoimmune disorders. I was struggling with postpartum anxiety partly because of my health and hormones, but also because of the constant bombardment of covid paranoia from the media and feeling like I had no control.

We ended up moving back to my home town in Mississippi when our son was almost six months old. We found ourselves in a 730 square foot, one bedroom house on my family’s land. I became interested in raised bed gardening and chickens and thus grew my desire to grow our own food.

It started with the concern of food security. But I soon realized that producing food right in our front yard was beneficial for us in other ways.

Growing your own food allows you to control how it is grown.

By growing our own food, and raising chickens, we had the freshest of produce at our fingertips. I could grow the food how I wanted without pesticides. Although we have not been totally organic in our garden, we are picky about the fertilizers we use and try to be as natural as possible. I became aware of the journey that food from the grocery store goes through. I also realized that I could improve our food by keeping so many chemicals out of our produce.

Our chickens do not eat organic feed, but we do let them free range so that they can have a relatively natural diet. We have put our meat chickens in a chicken tractor so that they can forage which is a vast improvement from most of the meat you get from the grocery store.

It can be cheaper to eat healthy when growing your own food.

Since I was 22, I have had health issues. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 25. Over the last few years, I have discovered what my inflammatory triggers are and most them have to do with my diet. I eat gluten free and avoid all sugars except fruit and small amounts of honey. It was not until very recently that I realized processed foods need to be almost completely avoided.

We now try and cook all of our food from scratch. Because of this, growing our own food just makes sense. It is much for cost effective to grow a garden full of produce that we can eat on all year long than to buy tons of produce from the grocery store every week.

Food from the grocery store, even organic food has most likely made a very long journey to get there. Fruit and vegetables are often picked before they are ripe in order to stay “fresh” throughout the long journey. I know that the foods I am growing in my yard came from a seed packet that I bought and it journeyed from the yard to the kitchen. I know what I have fed my plants with and the care they were given. This gives me a lot more confidence in their nutritional value.

If growing our own food keeps me and my family out of the doctor’s office, then it is saving us money. We grow our own food for our long term health. Since changing my diet and growing so much in our front yard, many of my symptoms have gone away. I truly believe eating a whole food diet consisting of home grown food has improved the way I feel.

It IS healthier to grow your own food.

My health journey, along with having to think about feeding two little ones has taught me the importance of the food we are consuming. I truly believe that it is so important to feed our bodies right. It has taken my family a long time to get to where we are now. It is so much easier to buy processed, quick meals. But I know that when my husband and I take a little bit extra time and effort to cook from scratch, we are making a lasting impact on our health and the health of our children.

Anyone can grow their own food.

You can grow your own food, no matter your living situation. Although you do have to buy soil and some sort of fertilizer to start out (if you’re gardening in some sort of container), gardening can be inexpensive. Here are some simple steps to getting started

• Buy seeds. Figure out what you want to grow and find the seeds for that plant. All seeds sold in the United States must be non-gmo to legally be sold. Organic seeds are going to cost a little more, but if you’re just getting started, go to a dollar store and you’ll most likely find some very cheap seeds that you can use to grow lots of food.

• If you have a space outside to grow a garden in the ground, gardening can be very cheap and attainable. If you grow in the ground, you won’t have to buy soil. The only things you will need to get started are seeds and something to feed your plants with.
• If you are planting in a raised bed or container gardening, you will need the container, soil, seeds and fertilizer. This can be a little more expensive in the beginning but you don’t have to change out the soil. You just need to feed it as time goes on. Look for cheap containers and materials. Although the price of wood has risen, there are other materials you can use to make a raised bed such as cement blocks or old tin.

If you can’t raise your own meat, or even produce, try shopping at farmer’s markets. Buy from local farmers so that you know where your food is coming from.

We keep all of the staples we need in our pantry and preserve lots of the food we grow. This allows us fewer grocery store trips and less that we have to buy when we go there.

What plants produce the most food?

• Zucchini (or most summer squashes)
• Peppers
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Ground Cherries
• Basil
• Potatoes
• Winter squash varieties (although you do need a little more space)

Gardening is good for your mental health too

On top of all the benefits from growing and consuming your own produce, having a garden gets you outside. It can give you exercise and breaths of glorious fresh air. Gardening can be so good for your mental health too. I believe that God has used being in the garden to teach me more about Him. He is the creator and has blessed us with every bit of food we have grown. I do believe it is beneficial to be outside in nature.

If you struggle with your physical health, or even mental, I encourage you to look at the food you are eating. Not just at the security aspect, but at how the food you consume is grown. Growing your own food, at any scale, can help you to appreciate that food as well as your appreciation for those foods. I know that we consume many more vegetables than we used to since we started gardening. And even better, my toddler and baby are enjoying the food from our garden as well. If you have a picky eater, let them participate in growing food and they must just surprise you by being more open to eating new foods.

Growing food is an easy step to improving physical and mental health. It doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult. I encourage you to think about fruits and vegetables that you enjoy and how you can start growing them yourself. It is worth the extra time and effort to have food security and a healthier body.