For years now, there has been a call for people to change their ways to lessen the impact on the planet . For most people this message seemed to fall on deaf ears until the economic down turn in the last few years; where people started to respond by tightening up and reducing consumption of gas for heating homes and finding other ways of travel such as cycling, walking and use of public transport and not using personal cars. During this economic down turn the prices of everything seems to go higher and higher and food budget is no exception, because food is so necessary its cost cannot be avoided. However it could be lowered by growing you own fruits and vegetables on your backyard.
Growing fruits and vegetables in the UK may seem overwhelming for some people but it is actually practically simpler that it sounds. People in villages, suburban and urban areas can easily become self-sufficient and accumulate great saving by it. There are several benefits of growing your own vegetables and fruits. Some of these and mentioned below.
Improvement of personal Health:
There has been studies which show that food grown at home is better for our health. The reason being that food from grocery stores is mostly grown with synthetic pesticides. Synthetic pesticides are a way of controlling insects however they pose a range of risks to human health and safety as well as damage the environment. Therefore by growing your own, you are helping keep pesticide off your plate and reducing damage to the environment. Food grown at home has more minerals and nutrients which our bodies need than food bought from the shops; furthermore it is often said that backyard fruits are irresistible to eat. Therefore it will be easy to reach the recommend five a day target.
Saving money:
Growing your own food is a brilliant way to save money. Rather than spending hundreds of pounds on the grocery store buying food which will most likely pose danger to your life and that of your family. You can spend less than £1 on a packet of seeds and spend some time in the garden, exercising and growing food that will be beneficial to your body.
Environmental Benefits:
Growing your own fruits and vegetables reduces your carbon footprint. By growing your own food organically you are in fact helping the environment from unnecessary air and water pollution. You will also reduce the use of fossil fuels and resulting pollution from transporting food to the supermarket.
Better taste and No worries:
The problem with supermarket food is that you don’t really know how long it has been on the shelf for. This means that even if your supermarket’s motto is freshness guaranteed, you cannot really trust them. In recent months, there has been a series of scandal about horse meat in the supermarkets which shows that you cannot really trust everything they actually tell you. When you take the responsibility to grow your own food, you don’t have to worry about contamination that might occur before buying the food because you know that your food is safe.
Free Exercise and Sense of Pride:
Growing your own food is a hands-on activity. In the process, those that grow their food get physical exercise as well. This means there is no need to attend a costly Gym. Gardening is a way to relax, de-stress and get some fresh air as well as some sunshine. Growing your own food brings about an amazing sense of accomplishment and it helps to teach people to value their food because they know all about the hard work that went into growing it. If you value something you are less likely to take it for granted, you will do all that you can not to waste it.
Some people may be discouraged because they don’t have a backyard or what they have is very small. If that is you, you should consider container gardening for example you can still grow herbs, tomatoes and peppers on containers on your windowsill. Gardening is one of the most rewarding activities for family and can be used as a way to bring families closer together. It’s also a great way to reconnect with nature and get your hands back in the earth. Growing your food has a greater positive impact on your health, your family and the environment so go on give it at try.