Gardening to Reduce Your Footprint
“Nothing happens in nature that is not in relation to the whole” ~ Goethe
John Jeavons opens his book “How To Grow More Vegetables” 
with the following question: “How can we revitalize our extraordinary planet, ensuring life and health for the environment, the life-forms of a myriad of ecosystems, humankind, and future generations?” he goes on to ask later “How can we live better on fewer resources?”. Within these questions lie solutions to many of the problems we face as a planet. Growing more of our own food is the answer.
Full Circle
Gardening enables you to be responsible for food that you produce for your own use. It allows you to engage in the process full circle from starting your seedlings in late winter, to planting them in the ground sometime in May. You water, weed, and nurture the plants until they return your kindness by producing fruit and vegetables you take fresh to your kitchen and feed to your family. The food that is not consumed may very well end up in your compost pile where the process completes itself and things will start all over again. The food scraps will compost into a nutrient rich material that will feed your garden for the next year. Gardening provides the full circle of a rewarding relationship with the Earth.
Learning Valuable Life Skills
Gardening is a great outdoor activity that should involve the whole family. While certain tasks are more appropriate for certain members of the family (tilling for dad), children planting their own carrots or flowers is an experience that will stick with them for life. Sharing in activities like these as a family will create an appreciation for the Earth and will build valuable outdoor skills.
So many families are stuck to the couch watching TV or DVD’s that provide little value. How will children develop an appreciation for Earth if no one teaches them or exposes them to fun outdoor activities?
Growing Healthy, Organic Foods
By growing more of your own foods, you are providing yourself and your family with healthy, organic veggies. Food you grow yourself will be free of pesticides and other chemicals commonly found in grocery store items shipped from distant places. Veggies picked fresh from your garden that head straight to your table will be at the peak of nutrition and freshness. The taste is unsurpassed!
Creating A Sense of Community
Gardening has the ability to create a sense of community. Demonstrating good habits is catching! Giving your neighbor tomatoes fresh from your garden will spark the interest of others to grow their own food.
Some people are not as handy around the yard as others. For example, a neighbor enjoys eating the fresh produce, but would prefer to not have a garden. We started food sharing a couple of years ago. While I was on vacation, she agreed to water my plants in exchange for some fresh lettuce, spinach, and tomatoes. The next year, we planned our garden together and shared the expense when purchasing our plants. We shared watering duties and produce all summer long. It was a perfect situation for each of us. Now we share kitchens when it comes time to store our produce. We can and freeze the vegetables together to share the work and to conserve on energy resources.
Collaborating with a neighbor on gardening is a way to create a sense of community. Doing things together creates a sense of pride and helps you establish great relationships with those around you.
Saving Money & Reducing Our Dependance On Fossil Fuels
Skyrocketing produce and grocery prices have been all over the news lately. This is only going to get worse with oil and transportation costs rising to record highs. By growing more of our own food, we reduce our reliance on food that must be trucked or flown in from distant locations.
Growing more of our own food will save you and your family a lot of money. A very small investment in seeds or starter plants is all that is needed to grow your own food. Virtually everything else is free (water from rain barrels) or created on your own (compost).
Reducing the Amount of Trash, Packaging, and Plastic
Reducing your footprint by growing your own food means a substantial reduction in the amount of trash your household produces each week. Kitchen scraps will be composted and you will be buying so much less at the store. Buying less means less packaging and less plastic being brought into your home. All of these things reduces your dependance on fossil fuels and reduces your footprint.
Gardening is one simple way to make a big, positive impact on our planet. Learning valuable life skills by becoming more self-reliant is increasingly important in our world today. The benefits highlighted here are only a few that will be rewarded to you by growing more of your own food. Building life skills, providing healthy, chemical free foods, reducing your carbon footprint are critical to providing a better life for ourselves in the future.