Thursday, March 8, 2012

Five Reasons to Grow Your Own Food...

1. It's healthier. You control how your produce is grown. You can choose not to use chemically-based pesticides and fertilizers, and instead go with natural, organic ways to fertilize and protect your plants.


2. It's more economical. A pack of seeds (or even an already-started plant) goes much farther for the money than buying organic in your grocery store or farmer's market. Of course, when you first start your garden (whether it's in the ground or in containers on your deck) it will be an initial investment. But that initial investment will pay off as your harvest provides whole food for your family throughout the summer months and even during the winter months if you choose to preserve the extras (because, believe me, there are almost always extras when you have a garden With our large garden, we can usually go the entire year until the next summer's harvest using preserved/frozen veggies from our garden.)


3. You'll eat healthier because you'll eat more of the good stuff. When you have a garden in your backyard or a container garden on your front porch, you'll have easy access to fresh, healthy green stuff. Because there is easy access, you'll be more likely to fill your tummies with fresh produce rather than excess meats, pastas, and other heavier, not so healthy food choices.



4. Homegrown tastes better. There's nothing more to say than that. Homegrown veggies picked fresh and used right away are PACKED with flavor and nutrition. There's no comparing the taste between what you pick from your garden and what you buy in the grocery store.


5. It's rewarding. Seriously. A garden can be as small and simple or as big and involved as you want it to be. Either way and regardless of how much work you invest in your garden, producing and harvesting your own food feels awesome. Providing good, healthy, whole foods for your family using your own hands is a great feeling. Getting outdoors and raising food from God's soil, the way He originally intended, is a very rewarding and satisfying feeling.


And I hope that you all remember, that you don't have to live out in the country to be able to have a productive garden. Sure there might be more options for us acreage-owning country dwellers, but anyone that has even the smallest porch can reap the benefits of freshly grown produce.

There is so much information out on the web on how to grow your own garden, container-style. I've grown tomatoes, basil and other produce in pots on my deck, and you can too. It will just take a little research, a small investment in the seeds and soils, and within a couple of months, you'll be popping cherry tomatoes off your plants and breaking off leaves of lettuce from your porch garden, fresh for the making of a great salad!


Have a blessed Thursday!

Here's a great website that has TONS of info on container gardening: Container Gardening for Food

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