Why We Grow It !
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Growing your own food has a romantic connotation but in reality it is hard, sweaty and demanding work. Yet it is deeply satisfying and extremely relaxing getting your hands in the soils and feeling at one with nature, delighting in the sounds, sights and smells that experience brings. Only a few generations ago, most of the food on the dinner table had been growing in a garden only hours before it was served. While it would be a full-time job these days to feed your family this way, it feels surprisingly good to grow some of the staples on your grocery list.
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Although our incredible food-distribution system provides a diverse selection of foods year-round, cost and quality are inevitably compromised. The feature of the Australian food system means the fruit, vegetables, and herbs found in grocery stores have often been grown hundreds of miles from our kitchens and packed, shipped, distributed, and displayed, all while being refrigerated This process takes days between harvest and table and even the most perfect specimen will begin to decline before you bring it home—it loses moisture and vitamins and begins to metabolize its own reserves. Some foods, like sweet corn or snap peas, begin to transform directly after picking (converting sugar to starch and losing sweetness and flavour).
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The Cost |
To some people growing their own fruit and vegetables seems a daunting task and that is why I advocate starting in a small patch near your kitchen door and expanding from that as you grow more confident. The amount of knowledge out on the internet about how to grow and detailed directions is growing all the time, it would seems with a little research you can do little else but succeed and do not forget there is always an email to me and I will happily answer your questions for you. The other upside of this is the amount of pride you will feel as you conquer one of your fears. As you watch a seed blossom and fruit and you dish it up for your family to eat with them saying how much better it tastes and all with a smile and your sense of accomplishment will make you feel amazing.
It is recognised that fresh produce tastes better and t has more nutrient content than that from the shop shelf but that is not where it stops. You will know your food is chemically free and you have grown with seed which is not genetically modified with unwanted side effects. You can stop worrying about food recalls on things like your fruit and veggies which were grown, God only knows where, but because of unhygienic food practises people have gotten sick and it has needed to be recalled.
If you do not have a big backyard it does not mean it cannot be done. Other options open up to you including growing in pots or containers or growing vertically and then there is always a balcony or patio where if it is sunny can you imagine how many tomatoes or capsicums or chillies or hers you can grow. Another alternative is to join a community garden and connect with other people who have the same limitations as yourself but maybe able to help answer those questions you have and all the time you’re building a stronger community.
As mentioned before working with the soil is a therapeutic activity it is gentle, relaxing and lowers your stress levels after a demanding day or week at work. Horticultural therapy is an emerging field of clinical practice based on proven benefits to the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing that accrues from gardening as a healing or therapeutic process. ‘Nature interaction’, ‘outdoors activity’ and the ‘nurture reward’ that gardening brings have all been vehicles utilized to engage people with special needs, the elderly and infirm, children at risk, as well people with mental health problems.
Home food production connects you with the seasons and seasonal eating and the cycles of nature. By eating seasonally you also ensure you get variety in what you eat. When those sun ripened tomatoes come off of your vines they taste amazing not only because you and your family have waited expectantly for them but also because they are ripe at the ripe at the right time for the fruit, they have grown in the best conditions for them and you are being rewarded for you efforts. Health experts and chefs both often say you should eat "seasonally," or include foods in your diet that are grown at the same time of the year you eat them. For example, that means squash in the summer and fall, and artichokes in the spring. Eating seasonally is important, and carries benefits to your health, the planet, and your wallet.
The positive effect your creating on the environment cannot be excluded either. By not using herbicides, pesticides, chemical fertilisers you’re not adding them to the environment and because the organic movement is growing in this country your teaching our farmers that organic produce is preferred and it encourages them to grow this way also. The spin off on this is that you’re improving not only Australia’s soils but also our waterways. You as a consumer will be more diligent about the amount of water which you use to grow your fruit and veg. It is recognised that commercial agriculture uses water extremely inefficiently and the run off from agriculture is what causes the algal blooms in our waterways, killing our fish and aquatic life. It would be sad not to be able to see tadpoles transform into frogs or to hear their nightly croak which I personally from relaxing.
The positive effect your creating on the environment cannot be excluded either. By not using herbicides, pesticides, chemical fertilisers you’re not adding them to the environment and because the organic movement is growing in this country your teaching our farmers that organic produce is preferred and it encourages them to grow this way also. The spin off on this is that you’re improving not only Australia’s soils but also our waterways. You as a consumer will be more diligent about the amount of water which you use to grow your fruit and veg. It is recognised that commercial agriculture uses water extremely inefficiently and the run off from agriculture is what causes the algal blooms in our waterways, killing our fish and aquatic life. It would be sad not to be able to see tadpoles transform into frogs or to hear their nightly croak which I personally from relaxing.
The last benefit is reducing food waste and saving yourself money.
Australian discard up to 20% of the food they purchase. What that means is for every 5 bags of shopping your bringing home one will end up in the waste. Equate that to monetary terms and it says the average Australian household waste $1,000.00, think what you could spend that on. Pay your electricity bill for ½ a year, feed your household for a whole month, quite a sobering thought. Totally we throw away $8 billion worth of edible food per year or 4,000,000 tons of food, no wonder our tips our filling as fast as they are. I can break the figures down further showing that 33% of waste is fresh food, 27% is left over food 15% packaged or long-life products, 9% each for frozen food and drink and 7% of wasted food is takeaways. The research is not clear as to why all this food is wasted but the by-products on the environment are not good as it increases methane gas in tips, it is a waste of packaging and water to grow and the resources it took to get it from paddock to plate.
Economy of Scale -- it might cost you X dollars to grow Y plants of a crop, but it generally doesn't cost you 10X dollars to grow 10Y plants, if you consider all of your inputs. Growing in larger quantities and preserving the harvest helps you to attain true savings. Preserving – can/bottle it, freeze it, dry it, and put it in a root cellar. THIS is really how you achieve the true savings. Yes, it too can be a lot of work, but it really does save a LOT of money. And, with the way the economy is going down the tubes and food prices are rising like crazy, it's becoming more and more important to do this.
Below is a chart about what I had planted and grew last year and what it would have costed IF I had of bought these items from the supermarket. The list is not exhaustive but these fruits and veg maybe a viable place to start a small garden at your place.
Along with this you must also add on the cost of seed or plants and fertilisers and soil conditioners OR look around the web page for hints and tips. Small punets of plants about $3.00 seed even cheaper. A seaweed liquid for soil and plant cell integrity, an organic fertiliser, maybe a raised bed to grow your vege in and I think the total would still be under $200.00 meaning you have saved $300.00 and have a raised bed for your winter veg to grow in.
Is it ecconomical yes I believe it is.
Is it ecconomical yes I believe it is.
