My blog exists to help people who live on a small piece of land grow plenty of healthy food right in their own back yard.
1. Empower you to take control of your food supply
We're living in a world that has been partially shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Suddenly, food supplies that you've always relied on might no longer be available.
How would you feel if you knew that you could step out into your back garden and simply pick the majority of the food that you needed to cook that day. Or how secure would you feel if you knew that you had a supply of nourishing, home grown food in your freezer, or stored in jars in your pantry?
No longer relying on the vagaries of supermarket chains, or food coming from the other side of the country (or the world) would give you great food security.
2. Save people money
Growing your own fruit, vegetables and herbs at home saves you money.
How much do you pay for those micro-greens at the supermarket? What's the cost of a small bunch of fresh herbs? Do you know how easy it actually is to grow those micro-greens and herbs?
You can grow them for practically nothing. Hell, half the herbs in my garden are volunteers and they pop up all over the place year after year--I don't even have to go out there and scatter seed any more, they do it all for me.
We have more grapes on our vines each summer than we can possibly eat. Half the neighbourhood birds gorge themselves and there's still plenty for all of us.
You can save a huge amount of money on your grocery bill each week even if you have a tiny garden.
3. Health and Wellness
Gardening is not only physically good for you (turn a pile of compost and you'll never need the gym again) but it's also mentally and spiritually good for you.
Working in my garden is a large part of what keeps me sober (and sane).
The small daily routines that I have in my garden help to keep me grounded (forgive the pun!) and also get me out in the sunshine and fresh air. I don't even mind being out in the garden when it's raining any more. But I do draw the line at monsoon conditions.
I love being out in the garden with my chickens and my bees. The garden is great respite from the trauma of the day. I go out to collect a few things for dinner and I can feel the stress washing off me.
You've also got the health giving properties of herbs right at your back door.
4. It's environmentally sustainable
Growing your own fruit and vegetables is one of the most environmentally sustainable things you can do.
There is not a lot of rubbish that leaves our household. If it can rot down, it's put back into the system. It's either processed by the chickens, the worms or the compost pile.
Home grown food does not have to be transported for miles using valuable fossil fuels. There is no packaging involved, so no rubbish to be put out at the kerbside. Everything that isn't eaten is recycled in the system.
Organically grown food uses no harmful pesticides or herbicides so it's better for the planet and for you.
5. My method involves no digging
That's right, no back breaking, double digging that disturbs the soil and it's inhabitants. I employ a gentle method of gardening (mirroring nature herself) that involves layering compostable material on the ground to create a rich, deep loam that the soil bacteria (and the plants) both love.
"Grow food not lawns" has been my catch-cry for quite a while now.
Smothering the grass so that it gives up its goodness for your vegetables, fruit and and herbs is the way to a gardener's heart (and stomach).
No back breaking clearing of land, just gardening the way that nature intended.
Conclusion
So, why wouldn't you want to do away with your lawn and replace it with fruit, vegetables and herbs? Come garden with me. Learn how to plant a garden that will give you hours of pleasure and lots of organically grown healthy food.
I'll help you save money while you're helping to save the environment.
You'll be able to treat your own minor cuts and bruises, deal with stomach aches and headaches and you'll know that if anything untoward should happen to our food supply chain, you're going to be okay, because you've filled your larder with your own home grown and healthy food.
