How to Start a Garden and Why You Should
Thinking about starting a garden but not sure how to start?
In this article we will discuss why you should start and how to get started.
Even if you think you don’t have a green thumb, or maybe you think it will be too much work.
I am here to tell you that you can do it and you should.
We are heading for tough times, my friends, and here is why you need to start a garden now.
Reason #1: Food Security
According to some economists, we are heading for a global depression. Many others are predicting at least a lengthy recession.
We are all suffering the higher prices of food.
And with the price of oil increasing, we know we can expect everything to cost more.
COVID-19 has not just created a local burden to our country but one of global impact.
Not a single country has been spared.
Life has not magically gotten better with the vaccine roll out and it is not going to get better with the boosters.
Life is changing before our eyes.
Every day, I see unrest, anger, violence, and division between countries, our political parties, and ourselves as human beings.
Our environment is failing faster than we can correct it. We have created a cancer that is plaguing our earth and it is metastasizing at lightning speed.
Reason #2: Our health
We know how important it is to avoid all the chemicals, preservatives, and toxins that are being put in our food.
Even when we buy organic the standards are subpar.
On top of that, we are a society that has grown accustomed to having everything done for us. We don’t even have to drive to the grocery store anymore if we don’t want to.
We can sit at our computer, order our food, and have it delivered to our door.
Most food has already been packaged up and ready to throw in the oven or microwave. I don’t even have to open the frozen green beans as they come in a microwavable bag.
How crazy is that?
We work harder and harder so we can spend more and more money.
We are getting more and more stressed both emotionally and physically. We are moving less, getting sick, fat, and depressed.
Now, Imagine:
If we could grow our food, we would know how it was grown.
We would be able to eat it immediately while it is at its peak of nutrition or put it up for the winter ensuring our deep pantries are stocked and ready for the next pandemic or food shortage or whatever else might pop up that we weren’t expecting.
Solar flare anyone?
It would also force us to move our body, get out in the fresh air and sun, increase our stamina, strength, and improve our physical and emotional health.
Planning now can provide security for our future, save us money, and help us maintain or improve our health.
You might just start a little at a time, but the long-term payout could be extraordinary.
I am not an expert, but I have been doing a lot of research. I am drawn to the ideology of permaculture and will be studying and practicing these concepts.
Permaculture is not gardening per se but an ideology of whole systems working together in harmony.
If you want to learn from an expert check out the abundance of information from Heather Jo Flores.
I am just starting out on my journey and want to share everything I learn including mistakes so perhaps you too can delve into this new world without fear or reservation.
I stumbled on Heather Jo Flores’s website several months ago. She offers a free year-long permaculture course (#freepermaculture For Everyone!). I am enrolled now and love it. They do offer a paid certification course, but I am not ready yet. I want to find our new house with a little property first. For now, I am learning and implementing what I can in our little urban backyard.
How to get started
Start where you are
What I mean is that we shouldn’t wait for someday to roll around.
We don’t have to wait to buy a house and a huge piece of property.
The gal that runs the free permaculture course wrote a book that I just ordered.
It is called, “Food not Lawns” by H.C. Flores. We can grow food anywhere.
Even if all you have is a windowsill or patio.
If you have a small patch of yard think about filling it with vegetables.
There is so much we can do in even a very small space.
Just think if everyone did that?
Just imagine if every schoolyard, park, free space was filled with gardens how much food would be available to those in need.
Start educating yourself
Read books, watch YouTube videos, subscribe to #freepermaculture For Everyone!
Next time you are out, stop at your local nursery or home improvement store.
Just walk through the garden center and take a peek at the plants and seeds and allow yourself to get excited about all the possibilities.
Here are a few resources to help you get started. (I am not an affiliate but want to provide some resources).
Books
Courses
Free Permaculture Year-Long Course
Growing our food can improve our health, make us less dependent, and can provide us with an amazing connection to nature, our communities, and ourselves.
I find it to be an amazing spiritual journey when I am in my garden.
Feeling the warmth of the sun, watching seedlings emerge from the soil, smelling the earth and leaves, watching the bees and bugs do their part in this beautiful world make me realize how interconnected we all are.
Government, big corporations, and powerful greedy entities all know that “Who controls the food controls the people” (borrowed from Henry Kissinger).
We can take our power back, feel better, and help others one garden at a time.
Let’s grow together.
Shall we?