ITS GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.
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!
