Are you looking for motivation to get started with growing your own food?
Then look no further - here are eight reasons why you should start growing your food today!
From increased nutritional value to environmental sustainability, the benefits of growing your herbs, fruits and vegetables are worth considering.
Read on to discover just how much homegrown produce can improve not only your health but also the planet we all share.
1. Fresher Tastes Better
Store-bought food has often traveled for days (sometimes weeks) before it reaches your hands, and it’s often picked before it’s ripe and allowed to ripen in temperature controlled cool rooms. Since homegrown food can be harvested at peak ripeness and enjoyed right away, it always tastes better.
With homegrown food, you can enjoy peak ripeness and fresher flavors right away. You can experience the full range of tastes and textures that come with fresh produce, from crunchy carrots to juicy tomatoes. Homegrown food will make your home cooking even tastier and more enjoyable.
Homegrown food is also incredibly nutrient-dense, as vitamins and minerals can be lost over time during the storage process of store-bought produce. Eating homegrown food is the best way to get the most nutrients out of your meals.
2. Gardening Is A Good Workout
While you may think of gardening as a leisurely activity, it still involves a good amount of movement. When you plant, water, and harvest your crops, you’re burning calories and using muscles you otherwise wouldn’t. These activities can help reduce stress, boost your mood, and aid in the prevention of sickness through movement.
From digging holes, moving pots, or carrying bags of potting mix and compost, home-growing food can give your body the physical activity it needs. You’ll be surprised how good you feel after a hard day in the garden! Not to mention, home-grown food tastes a lot better when you know the effort that went into it.
3. Gardening Is Fun
When you spend time outside amidst plants in the family garden, you experience a reduction in stress and anxiety. Taking care of something besides yourself provides a sense of purpose and gratification.
It's a great way to spend quality time with the family and keep kids connected with Mother Nature. Planting home-grown food is a wonderful hobby that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Additionally, growing your own food is a great way to teach children the value of eating nutrient-dense foods and helping them understand where their food comes from. This is an important first step in developing healthy habits that will last a lifetime.
Gardening also helps you stay active while having fun, which is essential for maintaining your health and well-being. Plus, when it’s time to eat you can enjoy the home-grown fruits of your labor! There’s nothing quite like eating a meal made with home-grown ingredients.
4. Freshly Grown Food Is Healthier
The flavor is connected to plant nutrition, so it’s not shocking that homegrown food has more flavor and greater health benefits than store-bought. If you grow plants at home, you can improve your soil quality with applications of compost and other nutritious additives. The better the soil quality, the healthier a crop will be!
So when it comes to homegrown food, you get the added benefit of higher levels of vitamins and minerals with every bite. Plus, organically grown homegrown herbs and vegetables are free from pesticides and other harmful chemicals that can be found in store-bought produce.
5. You'll Save Money
Fresh food often costs more than packaged items because of its high perishability. However, growing your own can bring tremendous savings - from purchasing the ingredients to time and money saved going to the store and back!
Not only will you be able to experience the delight of homemade cooking without having your wallet take a hit, but you can also use that money saved on homegrown food towards other essential household items or activities.
So if budgeting is a priority for the family, think about growing your own produce, this way, not only will you have delicious and nutritious meals every day at no extra cost, you will save big too!
6. More Control Over Your Food
By producing your own freshly grown food, you’re able to cut down on unsustainable practices such as applications of pesticides and long-distance transport of food. Gardening also increases your home's self-sufficiency by decreasing your reliance on outside sources of food.
There are many different gardening methods to grow your own food, many we explore in this Family Garden article. This includes raised bed gardening, container gardening, companion planting, and more. By knowing these different methods you can tailor your home garden to suit your home’s needs.
Using homegrown food also allows you to choose what goes into your soil and determine how sustainable it is. You can make sure that no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides are used, ensuring that your homegrown food is safe for you and the environment. You’ll be in full control of what goes into your homegrown food and can make sure that it meets your moral and ethical standards.
7. Gardening Helps Fight SAD
If you’re unaware, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is caused by the low light levels present in winter. When cold weather strikes, people spend less time outside and can suffer from depression. Gardening, especially in the winter, encourages you to spend more time outside and fight SAD.
Even on chilly days, you can still reap the home-grown benefits of your gardening efforts. Whether it’s tending to an indoor herb garden or simply spending time in your backyard, you can find joy in being part of nature –– even if just for a moment.
The further you get away from artificial lighting and digital screens, the better you will feel. Growing your own food can help you get back to the basics and bring a healthy dose of nature into your home. It’s a great way to nurture yourself while enjoying home-cooked meals. What could be better?
8. There Is Less Wasted Food
When you grow your food, you can harvest just what you need whenever you want. Homegrown food also lasts longer than store-bought, since it’s picked at its peak and isn’t transported. Both of these factors help reduce food waste.
Growing your own food helps the planet in more ways than one. Not only does home-grown produce save you money and reduce waste, but it’s also better for the environment. By growing our own food, we can reduce the demand for factory farmed foods and help create a healthier, more sustainable food system for future generations.
Wrap Up
If you're ready to take on a meaningful and rewarding challenge, then now is the perfect time to start growing your own food! Home-grown gardening offers much more than just cost savings and control of what goes into your meals - it can also help get you in shape, decrease stress levels, conserve money and reduce food waste.
If the idea of these benefits sounds exciting to you, look into home-grown options that are suitable for your lifestyle, and commit yourself with passion and hard work –– before long enough harvest season will come around so that you'll be able to enjoy all those delicious homegrown goodies!
Thanks for reading!