10 reasons to grow your own

(we can help)

THE ENVIRONMENT - Food should come from your environment, not from 1,500 miles away. You can reduce your carbon footprint by making footprints from your back door to your garden.

SAVE TIME - Once set up, a veggie garden for a family of four takes less than a couple hours a week, at most.

FLAVOR - Industrially grown vegetables are genetically designed for shelf-life, not flavor. Unfortunately, flavor vs. shelf life is a trade off. Many vegetables you grow for your garden do not have a good shelf-life, but they have plenty of flavor.

FRESHNESS - Pick and eat your own veggies as they ripen, not after they have sat on a truck for weeks.

NUTRITION - Better flavor? Yes. Fresher? Yes. But also better for you. Fresh vegetables have more vitamins and minerals than old, wilted ones from the supermarket. And, if grown in your own soil using organic methods you know you aren’t putting bad chemicals into your body too.

SUPPORT THE LOCAL ECONOMY - Buying local keeps money in the community, supporting farmers who live and work here. Fifteen cents of every dollar spent at a corporate chain stays in the local economy while 45¢ of every dollar spent at a local business stays here

THINK OF THE CHILDREN - Teaching kids about where their food comes from helps them grow too.

SAVE MONEY - Fewer trips to the grocery store - less gas. You also don’t pay taxes on what you grow yourself.  

VARIETY - Grow what you want. Do you love brussel sprouts? How about mustard greens? You can grow many things that you can’t find in a grocery store.

FOOD SECURITY - We are in the era of food recalls. Last year tomatoes were pulled out of markets for fear of contamination (it turned out to be jalapeno peppers). I watched this all go down as I ate fresh tomatoes and peppers from my own garden. Then I had a spinach salad. Know where your food comes from and you don’t have these problems.