Friday 18 May 2012

Why I Grow What We Eat



Some lovely comments yesterday - thank you.

I also had an email off someone who wasn't able to leave a comment,  Anne asked why do we grow our own when the veggies in the supermarkets are SO cheap.




It set me thinking, the reasons to me are obvious and clear, maybe not to some of you, but I do think most of you understand.  Lots of you grow your own and some of you who can't would love to do so.



My reasons are simple :

1.  Things taste better.

2.  I know exactly where they have come from and how they have been treated.
I grow organically, this would cost me more in the supermarkets than the bag of carrots for £1 (although I do know you can get offers from time to time).

3.  I proved last week (during the Live Below the Line Challenge) that you can eat for pennies and fractions of pennies, when you grow your own in a closed system.  (That is, providing your own compost, rainwater and plant food, and also saving your own seeds for next year.)

4.  I am lucky enough to have the space to do so and I enjoy doing it.




5.  This.



The wonder of nature.

When you take a seed, a little dried seed, hard, tiny, sometimes a mere dot in the palm of your hand, and then put it into the earth you start a process, a process of wonder and to me, amazement.  A little miracle that happens seed after seed, row after row, bed after bed, and day after day, .  You turn that little dried entity into a plant, a bush, a tree, something full of life that is capable of sustaining life.  Your life.

This connection with the soil and the plants is the reason I do this.  I only realised this recently, it opened my eyes.



So I grow.......



... day after day, seed after seed.




With a little guardian at my greenhouse door.....



....trayful....



...after trayful of little miracles.

And that's why I grow what we eat.

*** *** ***

I'm off to Manchester again to spend sometime with my lovely Mum who will really understand this post.  I will leave you each day with a little picture.  A picture of home and of the life that is springing up all around us here.

Have a nice weekend everyone, I'll be back on Monday.

Sue xx

14 comments:

  1. Couldn't have put it better myself, Sue

    Have a lovely weekend with your Mum.

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  2. We can't grow everything we eat but can usually do all our summer needs - eventually. You are right, it is such a miracle things grown from sometimes almost invisible seeds. The taste is just so much better and the wait, waiting for them is almost as exciting as growing and eating them.

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  3. Everything you say is exactly why we do it too, Sue. There's nothing more satisfying than eating something you've grown yourself, and knowing it's not covered in chemicals and will taste delicious. The wonderful smell of your own produce as you harvest it is one of the biggest joys, I think - something that is completely missing from supermarket veg. We will have soft fruit off our own bushes for the first time this year, it is so exciting seeing the bushes flowering and the little fruits forming.

    Enjoy your weekend with your Mum, Sue.

    Regards, Sooze xx

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  4. Well put Sue.
    I'd like to add to that is, that the feeling of joy and pride you have when you are cooking something from your freezer that you grew,harvested and prepared for eating, the smell takes you back to when you harvested,planted and chose that particular plant to grow. You just can't beat it!
    And, until you have gone through that process, you cannot fully understand or appreciate it.

    Now, if only the weather would warm up a little....

    Have a great weekend with Mum,

    Sandie xx

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  5. What a wonderful explanation - I am GOING to find some time/space to plant some seedlings xx

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  6. Havings the chickens as well, sometimes, I can manage to put on the table a whole meal of food that we have produced ourselves - apart from the cuppa. Like Sandie says, there is a tremendous feeling of joy and pride. And as you've said, there is the incredible flavour of freshly picked veg, not to mention the low cost. And food produced for the hens and rabbits too. And the sheer pleasure of pottering around the allotment.

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  7. I agree. A meal you have grown yourself is a totally different experience from one you just picked up in the store.

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  8. Well said!
    Enjoy your time with Mum.
    Jane xx

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  9. We do the same..its more satisfying to go and grow it,pick it cook it..
    I love the joy of doing it..nuturing the little things and keeping them fed,watered and warm..knowing that they will thrive and grow and fill our tummies..have a lovely weekend
    love
    sara,fern,iris

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  10. Lovely post Sue. Have a lovely weekend with your Mum x

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  11. Beautiful post and all so true!

    Home grown really does taste better :)

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  12. It is such a miracle isn't it, and gives me something to nurture too! So lovely to see what you are up to, and to see you getting back into the swing of things. One more reason I grow my own is not just to nourish my body, but also my soul.

    Have a lovely time with your mum. xx

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  13. Eating something home grown tastes so much better and fresher and it's so much fun watching things grow. I had to give up my allotment as it was just too much with children/work and a bad back! but I had such fun with it and one day will do it all over again I am sure.You have been so inspiring with your recent challenge, we take so much for granted in this part of the world so it does us good to be reminded of how hard life can be elsewhere. Did you see the recent UK tv series where people swapped jobs with someone in a third world country? we had the bus driver and then the bin man - a real eye opener.

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  14. I don't think produce is that cheap at the supermarkets. At least, not where we live! I am often left speechless by the prices!
    ~S.

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