Why do you need to 'Grow Your Own Food'?
I grow my own food because, when I buy produce from the grocery store, I don’t know where it’s coming from, who grew it and how they grew it. What chemicals did they use? Is it contaminated with E.coli or salmonella? How long ago was it harvested? How long did it take for a truck to get to the store? Were the farm workers treated respectfully and paid a living wage?
Consider the cost of buying a cucumber. Right now, cucumbers are running somewhere around a dollar each here in northern New England. Each cucumber doesn’t cost a dollar to grow, so why are you paying so much? Where does all of that money go? Very little of that dollar actually goes to the farmer. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that in 2021, 14.5 cents from each consumer dollar went to the farmer, while the rest went to the suppliers, processors, and retailers.
When all is said and done, if you grow your own cucumbers, I guarantee they’ll cost much less than a dollar apiece. Let’s say that a packet of good, non-GMO cucumber seeds costs around $4. If only half the seeds in the packet germinate, and each plant produces two cucumbers, the total cost of all of those cucumbers will be much less than a dollar apiece. In fact, considering all the factors, you should be at a net gain.
The benefits of growing your own food include eating fresh produce, supporting your local wildlife, and being able to save money.
If you are considering growing your own food from home, but aren’t sure of the benefits, keep on reading to see just how much of a positive impact it could have on the environment, your health, and your pocket.
Even with limited space you can grow your own food and enjoy a thriving vegetable garden, giving you and your family nourishment each and every day.
5 Research-Backed Reasons to Grow Your Own Food:
1. Food you grow is guaranteed to be fresh.
About 30 percent of fresh vegetables and 55 percent of fresh fruits sold in the United States come from overseas, and those numbers continue to grow. That means they traveled many hundreds or thousands of miles to reach your grocery store, in trucks, trains, and ships.
How fresh do you think all that produce really is by the time it lands on your table?
Yeah, probably not so fresh—especially when a lot of vegetables (for example, tomatoes) are harvested when they’re still green and forced to ripen in produce distributors’ warehouses by artificial exposure to ethylene gas.
This is why your red, supposedly-ripe supermarket tomatoes are still rock hard when you buy them and taste kind of like styrofoam. (Honestly, you’re probably better off buying canned tomatoes if you intend to cook them.)
2. Commercially grown produce often lacks nutrients.
Despite (or because of) scientific advances and modern farming practices, the vegetables of today have fewer vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients than the vegetables our grandparents and great-grandparents ate. Research has shown up to a 40 percent decline in nutritional content in fruits and vegetables since the 1940s.
Agricultural researchers attribute this decline to two causes:
Environmental dilution effect. The yield increases resulting from fertilization, irrigation, and other environmental means used in industrial farming tend to decrease the concentrations of minerals in those plants. So while farmers can get greater yields from their crops (at more affordable costs), it comes at the expense of lower-quality food.
Genetic dilution effect. This is the result of scientists breeding high-yielding crops without a focus on broad nutrient content, and it’s why heirloom tomatoes are far more flavorful and nutritious than conventional tomatoes.
Much of the food grown commercially comes from hybrid plants that were bred for “desirable” characteristics such as pest and disease resistance, uniformity in appearance, and high yields in a short span of time. While all of this makes it easier for industrial farmers to reliably produce vast amounts of perfect-looking food, nutritional value sometimes suffers.
3. You know exactly what goes in (and on) your food.
There’s another reason conventional supermarket produce looks so perfect: pesticides.
Not all pesticides are equal, as some are relatively benign while others are more concerning (especially to children and other vulnerable people). But, it’s always wise to reduce or moderate your consumption of fruits and vegetables that are known to be vigorously treated with pesticides.
The numbers are fairly shocking if you’ve never thought about it. For example:
Strawberries may contain as many as 45 pesticide residues.
Celery may contain as many as 64 pesticide residues.
Cucumbers may contain as many as 86 pesticide residues.
Sweet (bell) peppers may contain as many as 53 pesticide residues.
Spinach may contain as many as 54 pesticide residues.
EWG has a handy guide for what it calls the “Dirty Dozen” (that is, plants you should probably grow yourself to avoid contaminants) and the “Clean 15” (plants that are least likely to contain pesticide residue).
4. Growing your own food makes you happier.
There’s certainly a feeling of accomplishment when you harvest something you grew with your own hands, but that natural high isn’t merely pride: It’s also the result of mood-altering soil bacteria entering your bloodstream.
No need to panic though. The feel-good bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, is harmless and present in all living soils.
By working in your garden or running your hands through soil, you inadvertently inhale M. vaccae (or get it through a cut), which (according to a 2019 study) has anti-inflammatory, immunoregulatory, and stress resilience properties.
In other words, M. vaccae bacteria works like nature’s Prozac, giving you a serotonin boost and improving your mood and performance every time you come in contact with the earth.
5. Gardening is simply good for your health.
So you know the mental benefits of gardening, but how about the physical benefits?
Just the simple act of getting outside and doing some light physical activity like mowing, or raking can reduce cardiovascular mortality by 19 percent. (And according to this study, all it takes is 15 minutes a day of moderate exercise. I don’t know about you, but I get that just from moving bags of compost around the yard!)
Science has proven many times over that gardening has positive effects on your overall health and body by contributing to longevity, reducing heart disease and stroke, reducing risk of death from respiratory illnesses (thanks to improved air quality), warding off dementia, reducing obesity, improving your sleep, and boosting vitamin D levels (which in turn help prevent chronic diseases).
All that—without ever stepping foot in a gym, and with all the joy of feeding yourself and your family fresh, nutrient-dense food while doing good for the earth, too.
For 10 years, I've tended large vegetable and flower gardens at my home. I find it to be challenging and gratifying to watch the gardens grow and develop.
Here are a few of the many benefits I've found from digging in the dirt:
Improved diet
Growing and eating your own fruits and vegetables can have a positive impact on your diet. Gardeners are more likely to include vegetables as part of healthy, well-balanced diets. My family eats corn, potatoes and salsa made from ingredients grown in our garden year-round.
Time in nature
Getting outdoors is good for your physical and mental health. People tend to breathe deeper when outside. This helps to clear out the lungs, improves digestion, improves immune response and increases oxygen levels in the blood.
Reduced stress levels
Nearly all forms of exercise can reduce stress including gardening. It's been shown to lighten mood and lower levels of stress and anxiety. It's very gratifying to plant, tend, harvest and share your own food.
Routines provide structure to our day and are linked to improved mental health. Gardening routines, like watering and weeding, can create a soothing rhythm to ease stress.
Social connection
Gardening brings people together and strengthens social connections. The gardening community is rich with people willing to share their expertise, time and occasionally plants with new gardeners. Master gardeners are local volunteers dedicated to educating and empowering fellow gardeners. Community garden plots bring together people with diverse backgrounds to work on a common goal. Many gardening friendships begin over celebrating a success or bemoaning a gardening misstep.
Social connections are important because they help lower stress, improve resilience and provide support during difficult times in life. A strong sense of belonging lowers your risk of depression, anxiety and suicide.
Save Money
With everything costing more, it only makes sense that there is an increase in gardeners turning to growing their own food to save money. Not only do you save money on expensive produce at the supermarket. You also save money on gas, parking, and packaging.
Attract Beneficial Wildlife
A huge benefit to growing your own food at home is the increase in wildlife you’ll see in your garden. Planting a range of crops can help provide shelter and food for local wildlife including bees, butterflies, and birds.
Growing their own food provides children with the opportunity to get outside and get off their screens. It opens their world to what is happening in the here and now. The garden is a more peaceful, less stressful place to be than on social media. It connects them to their food and when they grow it themselves they are personally invested in what they eat.
I grow my own food because plants provide healing properties that can prevent disease from happening in the first place. Gardening is a great physical activity. It keeps me fit, limber and energized. My garden is my gym, no membership required. And if I’m growing food at work, which I do, I have a endless opportunity to leave my desk and computer, to stretch my legs and aching back, and harvest some lunch that I can share with my colleagues.
Why do you grow your own food? Comment below.