Starting a garden ranks high as one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. The investment I have made has been returned ten-fold. I can probably list a hundred reasons why growing your own food is beneficial, but here is a list of my top 10.
1. Great Taste- Food grown in your own garden tastes amazing for lots of different reasons. First, it can’t be much fresher than hand- picked right out of the garden and served immediately. Also, garden grown vegetables are available in varieties that you just can’t find in the store.
2. Safer Food- Genetically modified foods treated with pesticides have allowed us to enjoy food from all over the world any time we want. However, it has also introduced some genetic alterations and chemicals that may not be beneficial. Growing your own food also reduces your risk of ingesting foodborne pathogens like salmonella.
3. Reduced Waste- How many times have you bought a bunch of parsley for a recipe and only used a small amount of it? Just think about how much waste is saved when you are only picking what you need every time.
4. Better physical health- Growing your own food requires you to do exercise and spend more time outside. Both of these has been shown to benefit to your overall physical health.
5. Better emotional health- Being out in nature and gardening have both been shown to improve overall mental health through decreased stress and anxiety.
6. Increased nutrition- Home grown vegetables and fruit are more nutrient dense than their store-bought counterparts. Growing vegetables in your own Kitchen Garden, also increases the likelihood that you and your family will eat more vegetables.
7. Benefit the environment- A home organic Kitchen Garden can significantly reduce your carbon foot print by eliminating the energy required for creating pesticides and fertilizers. Decreased impact of farm machines, irrigation, food processing, transport and distribution further reduces energy consumption. Also, just think of all of the plastic packaging and produce stickers you can eliminate.
8. Teach yourself and your family- There is something to be said about expanding your brain and learning a new skill as an adult. And if you have children, the benefits may be even greater. Garden based education may improve academic performance while simultaneously teaching kids a valuable life skill.
9. Grow your own medicine- Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” That’s kind of hard to argue with, but also don’t forget about the powerful healing properties of many herbs that you can grow in your home garden.
10. Less screen time- This can fall into many of the categories above, but as a parent, I think less screen time deserves a reason all on its own. Getting kids off of screens has been shown to improve their overall mental health, improved sleep, lower body mass index, better school performance, and improved social skills.
