The Organic Home Garden

We have spoken already about the many good reasons for having your own vegetable garden and eating your own yummy organic food. Well this week I read how scientists have released research information which adds even more weight to the value of home grown food.

The encouraging news is that a 30 year study comparing conventional farming versus organic practices showed that organic practices gave comparable yields but “take up and store huge amounts of CO2”. The reverse is also true of the conventional farming practices which remove carbon as well as using oil products at a far greater rate.

Paul Hepperly, Ph.D., research director at the Rodale Institute states: “We’ve shown that organic practices can do better than anyone thought at sequestering carbon and could counteract up to 40% of global greenhouse gas output.”
(‘Regenerative 21st Century Farming: A Solution to Global Warming’, by Dr. Timothy J. LaSalle and Dr. Paul Hepperly; Rodale Institute.)

PROVEN STRATEGIES!

This is amazing news for many reasons. The most important is, that if the Australian farm industry was to convert to organic farming practices huge amounts of carbon could be removed from the atmosphere and this is a proven process. Unlike the plans with coal powered power stations and “clean coal” and mechanical sequestration this is proven science!
Add to this the huge savings in oil use in the farm practices in general (fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides) and you can see that this is great news.

ORGANIC FARMING DOES NOT BENEFIT BIG COMPANIES!

However, the huge investment by governments, petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies in conventional farming will make the conversion to organics very difficult. Organic farming practices also reduce the need for the great “GMO” break-throughs we are led to believe will save our planet as far as food goes! The only need for GM in farming is the failure of conventional farming to supply food without the huge inputs from oil and the parallel production of CO2.

A SMALL STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!

Now, how does all of this connect with our little patches of veges in the suburbs! Well it’s obvious to me that if you are supplying a large percentage of you own vegetables and fruit, grown organically, then you also are sequestering carbon. Add to this the fact that you are not buying in food from outside your local area, less food miles, less CO2 emissions. Now this will go a long way towards neutralising your carbon footprint!

This information also has a huge implication for the purchase of organic food for those times you cannot get enough from the garden. Yes, it is dearer sometimes than the non-organic produce but you are also helping improve the atmosphere and consequently the future for your family and friends.

For more details go to:
http:/www.rodaleinstitute.org/20080425/gw6

The change of climate in the Great Southern Land has brought the whole issue of food security and quality into the public arena. Just watch, read or listen to any media this week and you will be confronted to at least some consequence of greenhouse warming. The current demise of the productivity of the Murray River region is only the beginning!

Growing food in your backyard has many benefits from an environmental point of view:

- less greenhouse gases – no mechanical harvesting, no trucks delivering to supermarkets etc.

- far less food miles.

- a smaller carbon footprint –

- less water, less fertiliser, less pesticides

-      you know what has been sprayed on your food

- less concrete and more green plants absorbing CO₂

- more cooling of the general environment of your home

- the costs you pay to produce the crop are all paid by you! They are real costs! (The environment actually pays the cost of those cheap imported vegetables!)

Now this is a simplification but you get my point!

IT’S GOOD FOR THE COMMUNITY

You may not have thought about this one. Once I started producing successful crops of parsley, tomatoes and egg plants – there was much more than we could eat! The natural step then is to share the excess with family and friends. My neighbours regularly benefit from the bumper crops that I turn out – this has improved the whole feeling of community in my end of the street. I will discuss with you later on some ideas for putting the whole neighbourly fruit and vege sharing to greater effect.

The other benefit to the community is a renewal of knowledge that might otherwise be lost. Many grandfathers and grandmothers out there have a lot to teach us about vegetable growing. They lived in a time where there were no supermarkets and if you wanted fresh food it came out of your garden.

Also many cities now have community gardens spaces and this also is drawing out the skills and knowledge that is out there in the community!

You can see that my passion for growing food stems from a long history of experiences from my early days at home on the farm. Not everyone comes to gardening from such a background so let us ponder on a few reasons that may motivate you.

IT’S GOOD FOR YOU!

I will start with the most obvious, health. Home grown food is nearly always a little bit tastier and healthier for you. If you can move towards a permaculture approach to your garden then the benefits of organic food are even greater. Organic vegetables contain higher levels of vitamins and minerals and most importantly PHYTONUTRIENTS. Phytonutrients are the latest nutrient to come to the awareness of nutritionists. They are the edge that many of the earlier factory derived multi-vitamin tablets lacked. One fairly large direct marketing company has been promoting their benefits for years (they in fact devised some of the earliest multivitamins/minerals). They use organically grown, minimally processed vegetables and herbs as a source of the vitamins – and of course being whole food derived the phytonutrients are present as well.

Broccoli is one of many dark green health foods!

The second plus is that the food does not travel very far and arrives as fresh as you can get it to your kitchen bench! You pick it just before you need it and far less loss of vitality is evident in the food!

It has become very clear in the last decade that the fresher your food and the greater the quantity of fresh food in your diet the better your long term health. This alone should be motivation to grow a little bit close to home.

Let’s also not forget the potential fun of a family sharing in the whole process – young children have so much to gain from being involved in growing their own food.

NEXT POST: ITS GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.

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