Why Grow Vegetables?

I've been spending some time lately preparing for the upcoming gardening season.  Specifically the vegetable garden.  Each year I plot out the rotation of vegetables, and consider any new varieties I would like to introduce.  Starting in February I planted onion seeds indoors, and soon there will be tomatoes and cucumbers among other things.  Small seeds planted with great hopes for the coming season and all that it will bring.

Hoping for a lot more of this in the coming season

Admist all this I have wondered why?  Why bother doing all this work each year?  What am I getting out of it?  What possesses me to dig up all this dirt, plant seeds, weed and water?

And why should other people be doing it too?

If you ask people why they should grow vegetables often the immediate answer is to save money.  I think this is a half-truth.  Starting a vegetable garden from scratch isn't easy.  Building beds and enriching soil can be back breaking work.  Purchasing tools, seeds, and plants can be expensive to start.  But like many things, once you have the equipment for the job, you are set.  Tools, given they are good quality, should last a lifetime.  Instead of purchasing seeds each year, you can begin to gather seed from your own plants.  So while there is an initial investment of energy and money, that cost will be offset by years of gathering food for free.

A fraction of the cost of store bought but what else?

I actually think money is the least important consideration when growing food.  There are many more important benefits we should be taking note of.

Preservatives, genetically modified seeds, pesticides, and fertilizer.  All of these can be found in food we purchase at the grocery store.  But do we know exactly what sort of chemicals are involved, and in what quantities they can be found in our food?  Probably not.  Even the most diligent shopper might have trouble with these issues since, for instance, genetically modified food in Canada is not required by law to be labeled.  Are we aware of what these agricultural alterations do to the environment and to our bodies?  When you grow your own food there is no question.  It's your soil, your seeds.  My veggies get water, sunshine, and homemade compost.  I have no questions about what they contain.

Do you know what your food is being sprayed with?

Not only does garden fresh food lack an unexplained chemical component, it actually has a higher vitamin and mineral content.  Fresh food, ripe and picked straight off the vine, has had a chance to develop vitamins and minerals that vegetables that have been picked unripe and shipped will not have.  The quality of your homegrown vegetables will make you healthier and they also taste better.  After eating heirloom tomatoes all last summer we've had a hard time adjusting to shop bought tomatoes this past winter.  There is a distinct lack of flavour that is hard to ignore.

Shop bought tomatoes just do not compare

Once you've discovered the taste of fresh veggies chances are you might be more willing to experiment.  I used to hate beans.  I'm not sure I've ever voluntarily eaten a bean in my entire life.  Until last summer that is.  I was gifted with a handful of beautiful seeds that I couldn't resist tucking into the ground.  I thought if I couldn't eat them surely someone else would be glad to receive fresh beans as a gift.  Well, I didn't gift that many.  Turns out, fresh beans were far better than I could have ever anticipated.  So are radishes, garlic scapes and mustard.  All vegetables that normally I would not eat from a store but when they come out of my garden they might as well be different vegetables entirely.  I know now that if I grow it, I'm more likely to eat it and enjoy it.

If you didn't grow your own garlic would you know about eating garlic scapes?

The truth is our society in general has lost touch with our food.  Many people, particularly children, are so far removed from their food they don't even know where a potato comes from.  We are unaware of how pesticides and fertilizers are used in agriculture, and how pervasive genetically modified crops have become.  This lack of knowledge has led to weight problems and poor health.  Even the act of cooking has become a lost art.  The reality is that food has become a commodity.  Corporations are routinely changing it to make it cheaper and faster to produce.  Their goal is to make money.  Do we really want our food, something we require in order to survive, to be left up to corporations whose only goal is profit?

I invite everyone to take back their food.  Grow a tomato in a pot on your balcony.  Plant a tub full of lettuce  There is joy to be had in bringing your own food to the table.

Growing your own food just makes you feel good!

If you're interested in knowing more about why growing your own food is important I encourage you to look at the following:

Argentina's Bad Seeds - People & Power - Al Jazeera English