On a cold winter February day, when I should be clearing the snow from my driveway, I started reading some of my garden stories and thinking about what inspired me to become a gardener.
Am I a cook that enjoys preparing meals with my fresh home grown produce?
Or…
Am I a gardener that enjoys sharing the fruits of my labors with friends?
I think I am both. I truly believe that anybody can supplement their diet with home grown food.
In a US News & World Report magazine article from Feb. 13, 2019: Urban Agriculture: What U.S. Cities Can Learn From Cuba they reported “In Cuba, over 300,000 urban farms and gardens produce about 50 percent of the island’s fresh produce supply”…
4 reasons you should grow food:
Number one is a little less dependence on the commercial food industry.
Number two is to reduce my dependence on the huge transportation industry to bring fresh strawberries and cherry tomatoes thousands of miles from farm to market ...in January.
Number three is the significant decrease in quality, considering how long it takes to get produce from the field to your kitchen and 40% of fresh produce is wasted due to spoilage.
Number four is is the high cost for processing and preserving food products to increase the shelf life required by the commercial food industry.
You can reduce much of this cost and it's impact on the environment simply by growing some of your own food.
I found a garden group online using wasted rooftop space called Green Roof Growers in Chicago, Illinois. They were growing vegetables on their building rooftops in the City of Chicago using homemade sub-irrigated buckets. You can learn all about how to make your own Sub-Irrigated Planters (SIPS) on my Alaska Grow Buckets website.
The idea of using wasted rooftops for growing food leads me to think of apartment balconies, decks, and vacant lots.