Grow Your Own Food

Fresh, flavorful, healthy food doesn’t have to be something reserved for people with big bank accounts. Anyone with a container or a small piece of ground, a porch, or a front stoop can grow something they can eat. Replacing even just one or two items you usually buy at the grocery store with those you’ve grown yourself is an important step in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, significantly reducing food miles and positively impacting the local community.

If you don’t have space for a garden at home, a community garden is another option. You can find one near you through the Duluth Community Garden Program.

BENEFITS OF GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD:

It’s better for the environment. You lessen your environmental impact because you’re avoiding the processing, packaging, heating, and refrigeration that transporting food long distances entails, all of which consume energy and contribute to air pollution.
Your food will be fresher and more flavorful. Growing your own produce allows you to harvest when the food is at its very best.
You control what goes in and on your food. It’s far easier for home gardener to grow their own food organically using natural ingredients like compost and manure to enrich the soil.
It can be more cost effective to grow your own food. You’re able to harvest one crop for several weeks or even months.
You’ll have a much broader selection. When you buy fruits and vegetables from the grocery store, you’re limited to what they choose to offer. When you grow your own, there are literally thousands of options.
Gardening is good for you! The physical act of gardening helps to release tension, relieve anxiety and stress, boost our energy levels and our Vitamin D, too.
It’s fun for the whole family. Planning, planting, caring for and harvesting a garden with your family is something that creates lifelong memories, all for the cost of a few seed packets or potted plants.

Learn more about joining a community garden here.

Learn tips on how to start a backyard garden here.