Q & A: "Why Did You Start Gardening?"
"Why grow things when you can just buy it at the store?"
- I'm often asked this question. Most people I know prefer conveniences over having to labor to get what they need, which is fine... to each their own. I personally would love to use my spare time to do other things, but my interests slowly shifted to growing food when I started to learn all the things that were wrong with our food systems. I started asking questions like:
Why should I pay for
overpriced organic produce?
...from Whole Foods when there is still a potential of E. Coli contamination with all these recalls?
Why is 1.3 billion tons of food wasted every year?
Why am I being ripped off for sub-par produce that's BASIC AF when I can grow heirloom tomatoes that taste 1000% BETTER? (Oh, you don't like tomatoes because they're 'mealy' in texture? Perhaps it's because you've never had a REAL HOMEGROWN ORGANIC TOMATO ripened on the vine...? Why am I paying for a gym membership when growing my own healthy food working in my backyard would save me money and still contribute to my overall health?
What production practices are used to produce your food?
Is it GMO? How organic is the producer's practices? How fairly is this produce sourced and are the farmers compensated accordingly? Are they "Fair Trade"? Is your food irradiated? Why do companies pay Lobbyists to chip away at our freedoms and liberties on the daily when it comes to using pesticides and GMOs? Are they trying to control our food systems? (Simple strategy: control the food/water = control the population.)
Why is organic food so EXPENSIVE?
Why can't I find produce like wax apples or other rare varieties of fruit and vegetables in my local grocery store?
Why is my food irradiated? Which foods are exposed to this? Where is the country of origin? What is a "Food Desert"?
How much food supply do we have in the event of a collapse (of any sort) when we live in a densely-populated food desert/urban area? Will we even be able to access what's available/left by the time we realize we need to prepare for an emergency?
walmart patented technology to create ROBOTIC BEES?
Walmart is looking to pollinate plants with robotic bees, but why? Why invest energies into technology that'll only be relevant when our food system collapses when you can invest those same energies into saving the existing bee population? Is REAL food going to disappear soon, and do these large corporations/conglomerates know something we don't? Why do I keep seeing "trends" being forced on me to try "meal replacements" and "soylents"?
Try Asking Yourself The following Questions:
What is the environmental impact of our mass-production agricultural practices?
How do our agricultural practices affect our overall health?
What is the carbon impact when it comes to logistics and supply of our food systems?
So go out and start gardening and sharing
After reading all of the above questions, have you asked yourself, "Why HAVEN'T I started gardening yet?" - Apologies... I should know better than to answer a question with another question (naughty!) but it's hard not to want to garden when you start doing some light reading. I really don't want to add to any "fear-mongering" or "SHTF" theories, but it doesn't feel good knowing I am not in control in the event where I have to fend for myself. Being the child of immigrant parents that fled for their lives during war, I can understand the need to stay aware and prepared.
Aside from this, food is expensive AS-IS, and it's a really nice luxury to just be able to go out into your yard and harvest what you need. So there is my simple (maybe not so simple) answer to why I garden... (LOL!)
I hope this insight helped offer the nudge you need to jump on the bandwagon to grow something! If you're already gardening, what were the reasons that pushed you into gardening? SHARE!