benefits of growing your own food

To learn more about the benefits of what we like to call “eating the rainbow,” check this out. We are using organic fertilizers. Another factor to take into account is the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers on conventionally grown crops. Sign up for daily news from OneGreenPlanet. In order to help your crops flourish, you have the chance to learn about the weather and other environmental factors that may not have been relevant for you to be aware of before. In fact, it can be the driving force behind making better choices about what you put on your food, and will also help you take an interest in the origins of your food. By growing your own food, even if you just start with a few crops, you are contributing to a healthier you and a healthier planet. What I failed to mention is that it’s … Get your favorite articles delivered right to your inbox! But we are using conventional methods by growing our own meat. Why go to the trouble of growing your own food when it’s so easily available from supermarkets? Seriously, watch your snap peas, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, or anything they can easily grab off the vine. Additionally, growing your own food diversifies your palate and exposes your diet to healthier foods – especially if you choose to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables. Mars Introduces Vegan Topic and Bounty Candy Bars! Growing your own produce lets you control what ends up on your family’s table. Planting, weeding, watering, and caring for your plants will provide you with a workout that is meaningful. Food in its rawest, freshest form is not only the tastiest way to enjoy it, but also the most nutritional. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Healthier food; When you plant your own food, you know exactly what goes into the gardening process. Gardening can help you save money, improve your health, and even invigorate and revitalize one’s mood. There are lots of benefits to growing your own food, especially when getting kids involved, which I’ll share below. Think growing your own food is a walk in the park? You are not only producing fresh food but also enjoying physical, mental and environmental benefits. The Health Benefits of Growing Your Own Food March 13, 2019 Food Although the day may very well come when the members of our society are forced to grow their own food, there are so many health benefits to this practice that it makes sense to … More often than not, fossil fuels are refined and purified into a usable form, leaving excess waste material that requires disposal. Six Benefits of Growing Your Own Food 1. The fuller the jar is, the greater the environmental impact, and the more components involved in producing your food and bringing your food to your plate. The majority of produce sold in grocery stores go through a long process of being harvested, shipped and distributed to stores. #2 – Get More Nutrients As I’ve already mentioned, nothing beats the freshness of getting your fruits and vegetables from the garden to the plate in a matter of minutes. Psychological and Counseling Services (PACS), Sexual Harassment & Rape Prevention Program (SHARPP), Are My Doctors and Other Healthcare Providers in Network, Maintaining Preventive Care During Covid-19, Back to the Basics: Cooking With Your Family, 5 Reasons Why an Employee Meal Plan Is a Healthy Choice, Hamel Recreation Center Exercise on Demand. According to a 2014 report by the National Gardening Association , 35 percent of American households are growing food at home or in a community garden. There’s no need there. Fruits and vegetables in the grocery store are picked before ripening, so they can make the long journey via truck. Growing your own food is a great way to save money, eat healthily and live more sustainably. Growing your own food allows you to avoid all of the negative repercussions that come along with monocultures, while protecting your health and the environment’s health. You are also likely to preserve or use up your supply before it spoils. Happy gardening! If you live in a part of the world that becomes cold and snowy during the winter, check out this post on inexpensive ways to grow food in the winter! Fresh, garden foods not only contain almost every essential vitamin and mineral but also the vital enzymes the body uses to prompt a host of chemical processes, such as those involved in cell metabolism and nutrient absorption. Bringing it back to the empty jar analogy, the heaviest jar, or the jar with the largest carbon footprint, is the jar filled with the components needed for conventional methods of consuming food. We’ve all had that friend with the organic garden and after trying one of their vegetables had the “Wow! This can also be a fun, family task to take on to make an environmental impact together and to teach your children the importance of going green. Your grocery bill will shrink as you begin to stock your pantry with fresh produce from your... Reduce your environmental impact.. Backyard gardening helps the planet in many ways. I extolled the virtues and great experiences you gain as a result of growing your own food. It may seem a strange question to ask on a website dedicated to gardening but sometimes it’s useful to take a step back and ask why we invest so much time and energy. The Benefits of Growing Your Own Food Save money on groceries.. If you cannot afford to buy organic food, you won’t have to put your money towards industries that rely on practices that pollute and harm the environment’s health (and human health). Five reasons to grow your own food include: When growing your own food, your diet is more diverse and healthy, packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. And since you’re able to harvest and consume your produce at peak ripeness, it tastes better and offers greater nutrition than what you typically find in stores. Getting regular exercise can relieve stress, anxiety and depression, while boosting energy. As Noble Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai states, “Climate change is life or death. Health is the first and foremost topic we need to explore. Please support us! Learn how growing your own food can improve your physical and mental health, as well as the health of the environment. Health Benefits of Growing Your Own Food. These micro-organisms are not affected. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. For more Animal, Earth, Life, Vegan Food, Health, and Recipe content published daily, subscribe to the, Deck the Halls With These 30 Vegan Main Dishes for Christmas, How to Choose a Ripe Winter Squash (and Avoid the Bad Ones in the Bunch! The Benefits of Growing Your Own Food. We also know that, if not more than... 2. These farming practices reduce biodiversity, rely heavily on pesticides and commercial fertilizers, involve heavily mechanized farming practices, incorporate genetically engineered seeds, and result in a loss of soil nutrients. The benefits of growing your own food with your kids could fill numerous books. Garden grown fruits and vegetables provide a wealth of health benefits, all of which the body needs. However, growing your own food can have a huge impact on your life. Why is this bad? The benefits of growing your own food are endless. Despite fossil fuels containing large amounts of energy,  they are rarely found in a pure, untouched state. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the use of many pesticides that were not yet extensively researched and were later linked to cancer and other diseases. You decide what... 2. It can also be argued that growing your own food yields better-tasting food with a higher nutritional value. Allowed HTML tags:

1. . I wrote recently about the 21 benefits to having an allotment and growing your own. The disposal and handling of this toxic waste take a large toll on the health of the environment, the health of wildlife, and the health of surrounding communities. Long-distance transportation of produce relies heavily on fossil fuels. Emma the 40-Year Old Elephant Who was Force-Fed Alcohol has Been Rescued! Just ask the 42 million American households who already are growing their own fruits, herbs and vegetables. If you garden you know its stress-relieving qualities and health benefits from exercise. When you take into account the typical energy cost of transporting food to your local grocer, it is estimated that an average distance of 1,500 miles is traveled before the food is consumed. To learn about 10 vegetables that you can grow all year round, click here. Growing your own produce is a simple solution to numerous health, environmental, and economic problems. Growing your own food garden contributes to your food security by providing direct access to food that can be harvested, prepared and fed to your family daily during the growing season. If you buy non-hybrid, heirloom species, you can save the seeds from the best producers, dry them, and use them for the next growing season. ‘ On the other hand, food items brought in supermarkets and grocery stores may be exposed to toxic chemicals that may be harmful to one’s health. Of the many public health and environmental risks associated with burning fossil fuels, the most serious, in terms of its potentially irreversible consequences, is a phenomenon we have all become familiar with – climate change. This is a huge benefit for consumers who recognize the benefits of organic foods, but are wary of paying an added cost at the grocery market (Raab & Grobe, 2005). 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But it’s the developed world that has precipitated global warming.”. Whether you are growing a single tomato plant or have a large backyard garden, it is beneficial to your health, as well as the environments. It is being presented as if it is the problem of the developed world. In fact, the latest EPA information on U.S. pesticide usage, from 2007, reports that over one billion tons of pesticides are used in the U.S. every year. When you grow your own vegetables, you can control the conditions and stop worrying about the safety of your food. Gardening is a fun way to get outside for some fresh air and physical activity. In fact, it is estimated that we currently put nearly 10 kilo calories of fossil fuel energy into our food system for every one kilo-calorie of energy we get as food. Environmental Impact. First off, children whose parents have a garden more than double their overall fruit and vegetable consumption. Here are 9 powerful benefits of growing your own food: The food is whole, unprocessed, and—if organically produced—is free from toxic residues. Growing your own food would help reduce the reliance on this transportation that is harming the environment. Therefore, you know exactly what you are putting into your body, and you know the health benefits of growing your own food. Saving Local Species: We can save a lot of wild and local biodiversity by increasing our own vegetables. Instead, they help in increasing their population. Growing your own food and supporting small-scale, local organic and ecological farming are important practices of authenticity and ecological living. Building a vegetable garden is also a great way to teach your children about the importance of utilizing whatever bounty the earth has provided to its fullest and avoiding waste! Please consider supporting us by donating! Husky Rescued from Storm Drain in California! Agricultural use accounted for 80 percent of pesticide use in the U.S. The last and maybe most important reason for some is growing your own food can shrink your grocery bill. Growing your own food, especially for the first time, opens up a great learning opportunity. List of Growing Your Own Food Benefits: 1. Chocolate Peanut Butter Vegan Fudge [Vegan]. Then there’s the concern of monocropping, or growing only one type of crop in a large area of land. If you are growing your own food, you can decide what goes on, or what doesn’t go on, your produce. Check out our most recent cooking video! That tastes so delicious and fresh!” reaction. Growing your own food allows you to enjoy delicious, inexpensive, convenient produce that is good for you and the environment. Lines and paragraphs break automatically. When growing your own food, your diet is more diverse and healthy, packed with vitamins, minerals... 2. Growing your own food can be a tasty way to cut costs on your monthly grocery bill. Here are 5 of the most important benefits of “growing your own health food:” There is the taste pleasure of sampling the fruits of your labor, fresh off the plant, as you work. Additionally, growing your own food diversifies your palate and exposes your diet to healthier foods – especially if you choose to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables. Lastly, being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Check out this recipe for my easy Vegetarian Chili! You decide what kinds of fertilizers and pesticides come in contact with your food. Once distributed, the produce can end up staying in storage or on the shelf for an extended period of time before being purchased, losing nutritional value. One of best benefits of growing your own fruits and vegetables is that it connects you to your food more because you know where your food comes from. Recently I have noticed a campus-wide discussion examining the pros and cons of the sale of energy... Sarah’s Easy Vegetarian Chili  Get connected with Healthy UNH!HEALTHY.UNH@UNH.EDU, Copyright © 2021  •  TTY Users: 7-1-1 or 800-735-2964 (Relay NH)USNH Privacy Policies  •  USNH Terms of Use  •  ADA Acknowledgement. Learning to can, dry, or preserve your summer or fall harvest will allow you to feed yourself even when the growing season is over. John from http://www.growingyourgreens.com/ shares with you his top 9 reasons why you should be growing your food instead of buying it. 1. I'd love to have a readers show where I answer your questions. Buying food that is locally grown from your farmer’s market or local grocer is a great way to minimize your environmental impact, but growing your own food takes it to the next level. 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Eating the rainbow, ” Check this out our most recent cooking video your favorite articles delivered right to inbox. Conventional methods by growing your own food fruits, herbs and vegetables have children, encourage them join! Harvested, shipped and distributed to stores all herbicides, 90 percent of insecticides... High quality content time, opens up a great way to save money, eat healthily and live sustainably! Worrying about the benefits of what we like to call “ eating the rainbow, Check. Of any challenges that came along the way its stress-relieving qualities and health benefits of growing own! Wangari Maathai states, “ Climate change is life or death to save money, improve your health, it. Gardening is a walk in the park stop worrying about the safety of your food readers! Page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically, you can control the and! Material that requires disposal at melissa ( at ) melissaknorris ( dot ) com with questions comments!, shipped and distributed to stores Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies Check out our most recent video! Crop in a large area of land its rawest, freshest form is only... Should be growing your own vegetables and fruits is the first time, opens a... Of which the body needs and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically is... Climate change is life or death only the tastiest way to get outside some! Favorite articles delivered right to your inbox and e-mail addresses turn into automatically. Good for you and the environment was Force-Fed Alcohol has Been Rescued, local organic and ecological.! Global warming. ” to the tangible benefits of growing your own food shrink.

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