Dirty Hands & Full Bellies: Why Growing Your Own Food Is Such a Good Idea
One of the persons I admire the most is my beloved grandmother. She is a woman who has never been afraid to face life’s difficulties nor accept new challenges. Even now, when she’s seventy-two years old, she tries her best to fill her days with fun and above all healthy activities. Gardening, I believe, is one of her favorites. She has turned her small backyard into a lovely home for strawberries, tomatoes, green beans, lettuce, mint, and at least five other plants. A short, pleasant, and insightful conversation with my grandma combined with a glimpse into her bountiful garden was powerful enough to make me realize that gardening is so much more than an enjoyable pastime; it is a wonderful way of honoring and reconnecting with Mother Nature. Plus, you get to eat fresh and organic tomatoes which, I’ll dare say, is pretty awesome.
My grandma, of course, is not the only one who reaps the benefits of backyard gardening. Nowadays, more and more people from all over the globe (including Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama) choose to put their hands in the dirt and grow their own food. When it comes to the birth of modern edible gardens Australia is one of the places where they can be found in large numbers. Starting and taking proper care of edible gardens Australia experts claim to be quite easy when one is equipped with the right gardening tools, one or two informative books on vegetable and fruit gardening (turning to books for advice is always a smart idea), and of course carefully picked seeds. Oh, let’s not forget to mention love. Without this ingredient, nothing tastes sweet, not even gardening.
Aside from offering delicious and more importantly healthy produce (for when you grow the food you eat, you are the one who decides what kind of fertilizers and pesticides will be used and applied), edible gardens yield numerous other health benefits. For example, some studies have shown that gardening can help us fight stress more effectively than other relaxing leisure activities. Longtime gardeners say that simply smelling the freshness of the soil or looking at their thriving plants calms them down and improves their mood significantly.
Furthermore, to garden means to be physically active, for gardening includes digging, planting, watering, weeding, and a number of other activities that require stretching and movement which gets the blood flowing faster and build strength. So, if you are not a big fan of traditional exercises, gardening might be the ideal solution for you.
