I grow food for myself. I talk about it all the time. What I get away from and forget to talk about is why I do it. So, why do I grow my own food? Hehehehe actually for several reasons. The first and foremost is quality. The food you buy from the grocery store is nothing compared to what you grow, pick and eat from your own garden. Those store bought tomatoes with the thick skin and very little taste, those aren't what tomatoes are supposed to taste like. The spagetti sauce with hydrogenated oils, soy fillers and MSG etc in them, that's not good food. Cataloupes that cost you $4 and they taste like watery cardboard. Strawberries that cost you $5 and they spoil in just a day or 2. Why would anyone want to buy "fresh" vegetables that have a coat of wax on them? Onions that mold, potatoes with black spots and squishy spots, that's not good eating.
The next thing is availability and cost together. People have this idea that they shouldn't bother to take the time to grow food for themselves when it's so easy or convenient for them to just go buy it. Well, what if the whole world thought like that and quit growing food? What is entire countries discouraged their farmers from producing because they think they can just buy food from other countries? What if they stop growing food and develop all the land so none can be used to grow food? Who will feed all those people? Read this article from the UK Telegraph, you'll really be surprised. A government Minister has to have a symposium on growing more food. Well duh............
The 3rd and for me the most important reason why I grow my own food is- chemicals. I don't want to eat food that is grown with chemicals. The fertilizers, pesticides and growth hormones in commercial food is poisoning our entire population and we still keep buying it. Our meat has more antibiotics in it than the walmart pharmacy, we still keep buying it. It's infused with ammonia and we still keep buying it. Our bread is made with flour from GMO(genetically modified organism) wheat and we still keep buying it. Our eggs, milk, cheese and butter are overflowing with growth hormone and steroids and we still keep buying it. Why do we do that when we can grow safe and chemical free food for ourselves?
This coming season I am going to grow several items in containers so everyone can see how easy it is to have good food right at your fingertips.
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All great reasons! You can't beat the taste of home grown veggies!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait. I've been trying to get ideas on growing some food for myself. Things that I have to consider is, I rent a small space for my trailer on my friends property so I can't use too much space. I'm also hooked up into their water supply which would make watering a problem. I have very little space to grow anything inside.
ReplyDeleteTango, does it rain there? You could catch some coming off the trailer, it will help a bunch. I'm gonna do a whole thing on container growing, you'll like it.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying your blog. Thanks for sharing your how-to's. Can't remember quite how I got here, but I'm glad I did. In my "former life" there was no time to do for one's self. Now I'm making up for lost time. Think we'd ALL better be doing that now -- and fast.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Liz
You're welcome Liz and thanks for stopping in!
ReplyDeleteHey Gen! Dang tasty aren't they.....
ReplyDeleteWhat is a good source you would recommend where I can buy good quality seeds?
ReplyDelete25 cents to start your own tomato plant= 50 tomatoes that are organic, fresh and clean (never mind the self satisfaction)
ReplyDelete25 cents won't even get you a quarter of a tomato at the store!
I have a story about our 6-year-old grandson: our daughter was making soup a few days ago (from a dehydrated mix I made from our garden) and was using some of the canned tomatoes. When our grandson was helping her, he's like "those smell really good I want a tomato." He got a store-bought fresh one from the frig, took one bite of it, said "yuck", threw it is the trash, got a spoon and started eating the garden canned tomatoes. This really made his grandma's day. A day later (in between snow storms) they were out and visited grandma's grocery store in the basement. He wanted tomatoes (of course), he also took plum butter, apple sauce, green beans, sweet corn and pears. I asked him if he wanted some peaches and he's like "yea!" I handed him a can of store bought peaches (bad crop year this year), he looked at them, handed them back and said "no thanks, they aren't yours." Needless to say he really made my day and made all the work really worth it.
ReplyDeleteKeep warm and God Bless.
Excellent reasons for growing your own food! You can't beat the quality and taste of what you grow for yourself. What passes for food in the stores is pitiful. Here's a link about "Pink Slime" I found on another blog yesterday:
ReplyDeleteAmmonia Hamburgers. Grow it yourself! You're doing the right thing!
Hey dp, thanks for stopping in! Yes, I've seen that, sick isn't it? That's what the government deems safe to feed to our children in the school lunch program. Nice, eh? So our kids get a daily dose of poison to go along with the brainwashings....
ReplyDeleteHello NeeCee! Thanks for stopping in! You can find good seed almost anywhere, even at walmart. Just read the package, they will be marked hybrid if they are not open pollinated. Also, check out online catalogs such as seedsavers.org to get familiar with some of the names of open pollinated or heirloom seed names so when you find them at rural king or tsc, walmart etc, you'll know right away they are good.
ReplyDeleteAs always, excellent post! I just receive my seed from seedsavers yesterday. My fingers are itching to dig in the soil! I ordered quite a few new to me so it should be fun!
ReplyDeleteGreat post... And do grow a little in containers... I pack a tupperware tub to my farmers market stand and show a melon plant growing week to week... it is pretty cool and dead easy.... people need to get comfortable that you are 12 weeks from a harvest if you just practice a little bit..
ReplyDeletethanks. Survival Chic
Thanks for this post and your wonderful example! We raise some of our fruit, most of our vegetables, and corn for cornmeal. We are soon going to be butchering a calf we have raised for that purpose, so we will have beef, also. It is so wonderful that you grow your own wheat ~ God willing we will be able to do that before too long. We recently watched the documentary "Food, Inc." It made me want to be growing ALL of our food ASAP! Thanks so much for your blog ~ you are such an inspiration!
ReplyDeleteAnne
Aw Anne, thanks for stopping in! Food Inc is a real eye opener, eh? Very sickening for me. Sounds like you're well on your way to being self sustained! Good job! Oh, you'll love the wheat, it's amazing!
ReplyDelete