How To Survive The 21st Century's Great Depression By Growing Your Own Food

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What are the environmental benefits of growing your own food?

One of the most significant upsides to growing your own produce is the positive environmental impact. By growing your own food, you are reducing your carbon footprint.

Here are some examples of the many benefits of growing your own food:

Reduce your carbon footprint

When you grow your own food, you’re reducing the amount of fossil fuels that would be used to transport the food from farms to grocery stores. This reduces greenhouse gas emissions and helps to combat climate change. The use of humanure and urine are sustainable methods to get rid of your own waste. And doing so without needing to have to use plumbing, water and electricity. Which lessens the strain on the environments.

Burying your food waste or garden waste, composting it or breaking it down with a bokashi system, have many benefits. You not only improve your soil and the growing environment for your plants, but you also get free compost and fertiliser for your garden.

There are also systems that can turn your food waste and garden waste into gas. These ways of sustainably addressing food waste are important, because when food waste is thrown out with regular trash, it ends up in landfills. That is bad because they don’t have a safe environment to decompose. They will then rot and produce greenhouse gasses as they break down. By growing your own food, you are able to avoid that outcome completely.

Limit your food waste

The act also reduces the amount of food waste that typically occurs during the transportation and storage of store-bought produce. We’ve all experienced buying produce in the grocery store that looked alright at first glance, but contained mouldy bits upon further inspection. Having food delivered that definitely would’ve been better suited for the compost. Fruit and vegetables that break down rapidly, or sprout within a day or two of bringing them home. 

Store bought produce is often heavily packaged in single use plastic, exposed to pesticides or chemicals or other toxins. 

As mentioned above, growing your own food helps you limit your food waste and it also creates ways for you to get rid of the food waste you do produce. Dealing with the food waste sustainably, can enable you to grow more new food. By breaking food down and turning it to various kinds of soil improvements, be it compost or fertiliser, that in turn will help you grow new food. Food raised in a healthy, compost rich soil full of nutrients tastes better. And the produce itself is more nutrient dense than store-bought.

The importance of biodiversity

When you grow a wider variety of fruits and vegetables you help promote biodiversity. This is important because monoculture farming, commonly used in industrial agriculture, leads to a loss of biodiversity and soil degradation.

The act is a great way to increase biodiversity, and it has become a popular trend among people who care about the environment and their health. When you grow your food, you have control over what you plant and how you grow it. You can also choose to grow a variety of produce that are not commonly found in grocery stores. This diversity is important because it can help to protect and support local ecosystems.

Organic gardening and natural pest control methods such as companion planting, can help fight the negative impact of industrial agriculture on global biodiversity.

One of the main reasons why growing your food increases biodiversity is that it can help to reduce the amount of land that is used for monoculture farming.

The consequences of monoculture farming

Monoculture farming is the practice of only growing one type of crop in a large area. It can lead to a decrease in the number of insects, birds, and other animals that rely on a variety of plants for food and habitat.

According to studies, monoculture farming is a significant contributor to loss of biodiversity. The study found that areas where monoculture farming was used, had significantly fewer species of birds, bees, and butterflies than areas with a more diverse agricultural landscape. By growing your food, you can help to counteract this trend. And provide habitat for a greater variety of species.

Support pollinators

Supporting pollinators is a very important step towards saving our planet. An easy way of doing this is to plant a mix of flower species that can attract pollinators such as bees and butterflies. These insects are crucial to pollinating crops and maintaining healthy ecosystems. Choosing to grow heirloom or heritage varieties of vegetables and fruits can also help to support genetic diversity. As well as maintain plant species that may otherwise be endangered or lost. You can also get your own seeds from heirloom produce that you eat, such as tomatoes.

Grow food native to your region

When growing food that is native to your region, you can support the local ecosystem by providing habitat for native birds, insects, and other animals. Native plants have adapted to the local climate and soil conditions and are often more resistant to pests and diseases. That makes them a more sustainable and environmentally friendly choice for gardening.

Better diet

Furthermore, growing your food can also promote a healthy and diverse diet. By planting a variety of vegetables, fruits, and herbs, you can have access to fresh and nutritious food that may not be available in grocery stores. This will help create food security and self-sufficiency. A result of not having to rely on external food sources.

Growing your own food has numerous physical benefits. Such as:

Physical exercise

Gardening is a great form of exercise, as it requires physical activity such as digging, planting, and weeding. This can help improve your strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular health.

Higher quality of food

When you grow your own food, you have access to a higher quality of food. The food will have a better, stronger flavour and much higher nutrition. Organic homegrown food contains more vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. That’s because they haven’t been sprayed with toxic chemicals or shipped across the globe. They haven’t suffered from transportation and storage and they haven’t been picked too soon. The latter is common with produce that is mass produced for export.

Reduce exposure to pesticides

Eating homegrown food means reducing your exposure to harmful pesticides and chemicals that are often used in industrial agriculture. By growing it yourself, you have the control. You can choose not to use artificial fertilisers or pesticides. There is a natural alternative to everything. It is easy to make your own compost, fertiliser and sustainable traps to keep your plants safe from predators. There is no need to subject them to pesticides. Or to cover them with chemicals to ensure they look a certain way or make sure they can’t sprout or be regrown.

Growing your own food also has many mental health benefits. Here are some examples:

Stress relief

It is not for naught that gardening and time in nature is recommended to those who have suffered a burnout or other form of great stress. Even those with c-ptsd and depression, or those who struggle with panic attacks, anxiety or dissociating can be helped by time spent in the garden. Touching the soil, sharing the plants’ energy, the soil’s energy, talking to the plants, helping something grow, while spending time in the sun, breathing in fresh air… it is all so good for us.

The act of gardening brings us closer to the kind of slow life. A life close to nature, which is the kind of lifestyle that we have all been made for. It can be therapeutic to tend to plants. Spending time in nature can be calming and restorative. To forget your own problems and focus on caring for something else, loving something else, believing in something else. It is of great use to our emotional health, mental health and even physical health. 

A sense of accomplishment

Growing your own food can give you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. This is because you’re able to see the fruits of your labor and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Connect with nature

Gardening can also help you feel more connected to nature. Being outside in the fresh air and sunshine is invigorating. And the act of caring for plants can help create a sense of responsibility and connection to the natural world.

Meditation

Gardening can also provide an opportunity for meditation and mindfulness. Focusing on the task at hand and being present in the moment can be a great way to clear your mind and reduce stress.

Growing your own food can also have significant financial benefits. Here are some examples:

Reduce your food costs

When you grow your own food, you can save money on your grocery bills. This is because you don’t have to pay for the transportation, storage, and marketing costs associated with store-bought produce. That combined with keeping a pantry and preserving the food you grow, you can greatly reduce or even eliminate your food costs.

Become more self-sufficient

Growing your own food can increase your self-sufficiency by providing you with a reliable source of fresh food. This can help you save money in the long run. And it will reduce your dependence on grocery stores and on money in general.

Build a community

Producing your own food can be a great way to build community and connect with others. Sharing your extra produce with neighbors or participating in a community is good for us as we are inherently social creatures. In the world of technology and online communication, we often forget that. Many of us have physical and mental symptoms that could be solved or eased by time spent connecting with like-minded individuals. To be able to trust another person and feel safe to be yourself, to express yourself and to be loved, is something we all need.

Surviving the Modern Great Depression

Thus far, the main sign of an approaching economic fall is the inflation. But many speak as though the Great Depression of the 21st century is practically on our doorstep. So I find I’d rather be safe than sorry. If that is indeed what the world is moving toward, how do we protect ourselves from it? How do we make sure we survive?

The number one thing would be to make sure we have enough food to pull through. Creating a pantry and making sure we have a strong supply of staples will help a lot. But then what? What happens when we run out? If we are unable to acquire more of the foods we are used to, due to issues with import and lack of funds, what do we do? A way to solve that issue would be too start building a survival garden. A way to restock our pantries by creating the food ourselves. No matter your budget or living situation, it is possible for you to grow at least some of your own food.

We must learn how to forage in nature, and explore urban foraging as well. There are many ways to acquire food for free, and we need to learn them by heart.

Stay healthy by growing your own herbs and flowers, and foraging for them. Learn how to turn them into remedies such as teas, salves, supplements and tinctures.

The more of your own needs you can fulfil yourself, the less you need to rely on money, consumerism and import.

Conclusion:

Grow your own food to save the planet, to establish food security, to survive the Great Depression, to improve your mental and physical health and to become more financially free.