It was only a couple of years ago when a survivalist, whose blog I read, was pondering why it would be necessary to have a vegetable garden. Of course, he also sold storable foods.He was inundated (also by myself) with advice in his comments section as to why having a garden was even more necessary. Being as he was a long-term survivalist, meaning he was thinking there would be a great catastrophe that would last years, I tailored my own comments to suit that.
But it doesn't matter. The one absolute reason to have a garden is freedom.
Not all of us can move out to the countryside and grow all of our needs ourselves. A great number of Americans live in the suburbs. However, even the Ingals family were required to purchase things from the local trader, several days ride away. We can't all be self sufficient. But we can be self-reliant.
This year (2009), the number of people purchasing vegetable and fruit seeds increased exponentially. Businesses were admitting to starting vegetable gardens in their vast lawns for their employees. City people raising chickens started to come out of the woodwork. Even taking a walk through my neighborhood, I noticed an increase the number of vegetable gardens in those backyards that I could see (most people around here have privacy fences). The economic down turn caused many people to turn to a more self-reliant solution.
Which is exactly the point of having a vegetable garden. Vegetables and fruit are expensive (as compared to grain food), difficult to move from place to place without damage, but highly necessary for our digestive system and health. Whether you are a libertarian survivalist, a conservative penny-pincher, or Earth-loving liberal, vegetable gardening can be the thing for you. It is time to bring back the Victory Garden.
Saving money
Several years ago, when I still purchased a majority of my seeds from the hardware store, I was standing there watching the checkout clerk pass my seed packets over the scanner, and she quips, "The cost of growing this stuff just ain't worth it."
Huh?
First of all, as the clerk of that particular store, she probably shouldn't have been talking down to the customer and hinting that they shouldn't be purchasing their goods. However, Ms. Clerk, I have to tell you...for $100 of seed, we got at least $2000 worth of food. And we had nearly enough seed left over to plant the next year. When you are paying about 5 cents for a seed, and the fruit is being sold in the stores at 3 for $1 (or more for most items), you end up getting a tremendous savings...even if some of your harvest fails. Not worth it? I scoff at thee.
Today, because I purchase in larger packs from small companies, I spend even less per seed and get more of a harvest.
The Organic garden
I'm sure we've all been told the myths of organic food. Its better for the world, its better for your body, it helps small farmers.
Honestly? Poppycock. At one point in time it was true. But as we all know, our government is now practically owned by the corporations, who have the money to not only lobby congress, but the money to write the bills themselves. The new organic is run by the same corporations that developed the food that you were running from. And with their lobbying, they were able to get the laws changed so that practices deemed dangerous by small organic gardeners are allowed by them, the huge agro-corps, to be sold as organic. And we have absolutely no idea what is going into so-called organic foods grown in China or Mexico.
On top of it all, we have been told that organic food is more nutritious. Not necessarily so. If you are purchasing from the grocery store, you have to be aware that all varieties of fresh foods sold in the grocery store are chosen because they are durable...not because of flavor or nutrition. This includes the organic varieties. And yes, it has been proven that the type and amount of vitamins and minerals does change from sub-species to sub-species. (However, I will say that as a family who is allergic to chicken eggs, we have less of a problem with the eggs of free-ranged chickens.)
When you grow your own at home, you are only growing for your family, not for an entire nation (or several nations). You have the time and space to be able to use the safer, healthier methods of feeding the soil. You are able to walk through and pick off the hornworm or parsley-worm, or use beer traps to catch slugs, rather than spray with a questionable (but legally organic) chemical. On top of that, most of the varieties found in the stores are chosen purely for their durability, while that grown in your garden will be chosen for taste and nutrition. If you wish to eat organic, your best bet is, of course, to purchase the seeds that you will grow rather than purchase that head of lettuce grown thousands of miles away.
Organic can feed the world...but only if it is done on a small scale.
Health
While we are told that eating fruits and vegetables are healthy, we are not always told the health benefits of gardening. itself.
First of all, you are outside. Back in the days of the Victorian Era, doctors knew well that people who breathed outdoor air were much healthier than those who spent many hours indoors. They didn't have all of the chemistry and biology to back up their findings, but they knew it far better than we obviously know today.
The second is sunlight. We have been inundated lately with propaganda as to how evil sunlight is and how it causes cancer...my guess is that was used to sell sunscreen. Yes, getting too much sun is not a good thing. We will use sunscreen if we are around water, because the nature of water and sun increases the chance of sunburn exponentially. Anyone who has gotten a really bad sunburn, or who has gotten sunstroke, knows this. Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers always protected their skin with those large, broad-rimmed hats. Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers also wore hats when outdoors that protected both the face and the neck from sunburn. Yet they were outside. Even indirect sunlight is good for you. Our skin reacts to it and creates vitamin D, which is an element that is important not only in preventing disease, but also in preventing most types of cancer. Yes, the evil monster blamed for giving us skin cancer protects against all of the other types of cancer.
Next is the general work. Bending, lifting, crawling, moving. Mankind was never meant to sit behind a desk for 8 hours a day. Mankind was meant to be a moving creature. A working creature. Doing all of that physical work is a calorie burner, a muscle strengthener. And anyone who has studied physical fitness knows that when you exercise the muscles, you are also strengthening your bones.
But there is also health in the soil and dirt itself. Cleanliness may be next to godliness, but getting our hands in the dirt does contain health benefits, too. The vitamins and minerals that we get from our fruits and veggies originate in the soil. We've all heard of mud-baths, and there are some countries where it is common to make mud-cakes and eat them. Not long ago, I read an article making the claim that the soil contains certain micro-organisms that, when we are exposed to it, helps relieve depression. Folks, we are living in an age where the pharmaceutical companies want to drug even 2-year-olds for depression. These drugs are hallucinogens. I know, because I have seen a former family member (through marriage) make wild accusations against every person around her while on these medications. If you are diagnosed with depression, perhaps you need to get out in your yard and dig, or purchase some soil from a hardware store and start growing some plants in it. Whether you believe that we were created out of the dust from mother Earth, or that we evolved from a micro-organism within it, you have to admit...our connection with the soil runs deeper than we could even imagine.
Won't we hurt farmers?
Back in the 1970's, it was said that out of every $1.00 you spend on your food, the farmer themselves received $0.25. Today it is even less. Far less according to a radio show host that is also a farmer. Most of the money you spend goes elsewhere. A large chunk of that goes to the executives of the companies who have touched that food, and the second largest chunk is paying the taxes for every person involved in that single apple you purchased. This is the reason why you see more and more farmers' markets and roadside stands, or farmers who offer other services such as "pick your own" or hayrides. (And I highly recommend that you purchase from these whenever possible.
Still, even if every person across the world who lived in the suburbs grew their own fruits and vegetables, there is no way that people in urban areas could remotely grow all of their own food. Back in the classical era, when less than 10% of the population lived in urban centers, the urban centers grew as much of their own food as they could. Courtyards had vegetable gardens, chickens or ducks, and goats. Ancient Athens was surrounded by fruit trees. Rome had an area set aside specifically for its "market gardens". And yet cities still imported much of their food from both farmers and fishermen.
Taking this into account, we also have to add how many people live in apartments, the number of restaurants, the number of people who labor at two or three jobs and simply do not have the time to grow their own...their will always be a need for the large-scale farmers. However, I do listen to a couple of farmer-related radio shows. I never hear these farmers feeling threatened by back-yard gardens. I don't hear them complaining that the increase in gardening is hurting their bottom line. From their own mouths, they are being hurt by government and by large corporations.
Its fall here in North America....am I too late?
It is not too late. In fact, I would say that fall is the perfect time to get your supplies in store, get your beds prepared for planting, order seed catalogues or begin perusing seed websites, and get your books and read them. Many people I know say that it takes nothing to plant a seed in the ground and get vegetables from it. Of course, these are the same people who don't do that work. You have to practically become a weather man, a chemist, and a biologist. One actress-turned-organic gardener earlier this year quipped on her twitter account, "I wish I had read this book before I planted my garden...then I would still have my cilantro." I've been gardening for 14 years, and I am still learning. And as a person who has slowly expanded her garden to cover 2/3 of the back yard, I know there is a lot of work in creating a new bed.
So get out and get working. Your mind, body, soul, and eventually even your pocketbook will thank you.
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