Can You Survive Without a Grocery Store?

There are several reasons why now is the right time to learn to grow your own food...cost savings, certainty of production methods, supporting your local community.  Lots of writing and conversation has come forth about the return of the Victory Garden…and I don’t mean the TV show.

There was a time when we knew how to take care of ourselves in this way. We could grow and harvest our own fruits and vegetables, care for our own chickens, and milk our own cows. Even in the past 50 years or so, the family veggie garden was a common part of life.

 Then we went and got all  “citified”. Stopped relying on ourselves and started buying into the myth that getting our produce from the grocery store was a better idea.  And the more we purchased, the more big agriculture grew, finding new chemicals and genetic modification practices to increase yields and length of storage.

Looking back on it, I can understand why we were eager to embrace “progress”. It was an amazing time saver, particularly for women who were raising a family and working full time. I mean, who had time to put in a full garden?

But in embracing this cultural shift, we’ve lost our respect for food.  We have lost the understanding of what it means to value the earth and the bounty that it provides. We’ve lost touch with small farmers, now struggling to survive. We’ve lost the ability to provide for ourselves. And this is a bad time to not know how to provide for ourselves.

The biggest hurdle we face in returning to some level of food self-sufficiency is overcoming the notion that buying produce at the local grocery is a good strategy for healthy living. It is more than evident that salmonella is sneaking in to food production at many levels. Toxic sprays and other inorganic farming methods are harming the environment and our bodies. And we have no idea what the long term ramifications of genetically modifying our food will be. Quite frankly, that’s the thing that scares me the most.

The good news is that it takes very little to reclaim our past. Anyone can grow their own food, even if it is in pots on a balcony or in a sunny window, you can grow some portion of the produce you need to sustain your life. Seeds, soil and pots can be found for little to no cost. Taking small steps as an individual can make a big difference. By choosing to grow your own food and frequenting local organic farms, you help strengthen your community. And by not buying produce from big agriculture, you are using your money to vote for change.  Together, we can make a difference.

Comments

[Leslie Little]

If you havent already seen it, you should watch the documentary " the future of food" Here is a description: Farming was once one of the most common professions in America, but now the growing of food for America's dinner tables is primarily in the hands of a small number of large agricultural corporations. With deregulations placing less federal scrutiny on how crops are grown, and an increasing number of "agri-business" firms introducing genetically modified vegetables and grains, some experts have begun to question just what we are eating, and how it got that way. At a time when some firms have started seeking patents for new strains of modified seeds and plants, will there come a day when the growing of certain essential foodstuffs will be controlled by private corporations who own a "copyright" on, say, wheat or tomatoes? The Future of Food is a documentary which focuses on growing concerns over how our crops are produced, and how science is altering the foods we eat.

[Cee]

I live in Las Vegas, NV where it's very hot in the summer - or so that's been my excuse not to garden. You have inspired me to container garden. I have wanted to grow my own food, and it's time to just do it. Thank you.