THE BENEFITS OF GROWING FOOD FROM HOME

During these… quieter times, people seem to be having a lot more time on their hands. And with this time, they have been being a bit more creative around the house. We definitely have been. 

During the first week of quarantine, we ended up painting the whole outside of our house. Once that had finished, we somehow ended up with a vege patch in our garden (thanks Dad). During the times of looking after our fruit and veg, we actually found ourselves to be more grounded, more appreciative and feeling more rewarded for eating food that we have grown ourselves.

So, we thought that we would look into the benefits of growing food at home and give you guys a little bit of insight on how this is good for the body, mind and spirit. 

According to the University of New Hampshire, you actually have a more nutritious diet from growing your food from home as your diet is more diverse and healthy, and food in its rawest, freshest form is not only the tastiest way to enjoy it but the most nutritional.

Gardening also keeps you active. By having a garden you automatically have time to go outside everyday, enjoy the fresh air and keep moving which in turn promotes physical health, which we all know boosts your mental health thanks to these lovely things called endorphins. 

Growing food from home is also a great way to absorb a bit of vitamin D (the sunshine vitamin), I mean, as surfers we all get a lot of that anyway but sometimes it’s nice to get a little bit of sun on your skin without a wetsuit on, am I right? But, always remember to apply sunscreen before you go out in the sun, being sun safe is very important.

If you want to read more about this, head over to https://www.unh.edu/healthyunh/blog/nutrition/2018/05/5-reasons-grow-your-own-food for more information. 

Backyard gardening also helps the planet in many ways. If you grow your food organically, without pesticides and herbicides, you’ll spare the earth the burden of unnecessary air and water pollution, for example. You’ll also reduce the use of fossil fuels and the resulting pollution that comes from the transport of fresh produce from all over the world (in planes and refrigerated trucks) to your supermarket.

If you want to know more, you can learn more through this link; https://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1275 

And speaking personally, growing your own food gives you a sense of pride. There is always something special about growing your own food plus the benefit of eating it gives you that little bit of extra mmmmmm. So, if you have a favourite fruit or veg (mine is strawberries and can we just say our homegrown strawberries are delicious!), head out and buy yourself some seeds and get planting! You know you want to 😉