*Reader alert: Lots of links in this one; however, if this information is new to you, I highly recommend checking them out!

I would like to offer my kudos to the President: Michelle Obama has broken ground on the much-anticipated White House Garden.

Advocates for organic farming and sustainable living have been calling for this for months, and even though I consider myself an amateur with only a few gardens under my belt, I am a huge fan of home gardens.  Name your issue:  Conventional produce not tasty?  Organics too expensive?  Concerned about salmonella and other food-bourne illnesses?  Is money tight?  Unsure about the future?  Feeling stressed out?  Start a garden!

The Obamas are setting a great example, especially since home gardens are more important than ever for the following reasons:

1. Growing food organically and close to home is healthy for you and the environment.

Obviously, replacing a lawn that needs to be watered, fertilised, and mowed into a productive food patch is better for the environment; however, many people do not fully understand the health and environmental impacts of purchasing food from a supermarket. For example, conventional produce is grown in depleted soil, requiring inputs and fertilisers to make the soil viable for planting.  Then, it is sprayed with highly toxic, cancerous pesticides (genetically-modified “RoundUp Ready” plants are actually sprayed with RoundUp!) throughout the growing process.  These chemicals eventually make their way into the water supply and contribute to harmful algal blooms (HABs), collapse of ecosystems, and ultimately ocean dead zones.  Finally, the produce is picked before ripeness to survive shipping (and is often coated in a waxy preservative!) until it arrives on your grocer’s shelf - not as tasty nor nutritious as they should be.

2. It reduces the reliance on a complex system of credit and fossil fuels to provide one of our basic human needs - food

It is estimated that it takes 10 calories of fossil fuel energy (from seed to sowing to supermarket) to produce one calorie of food for consumption! (1).  Furthermore, most farmers borrow money to plant seeds in anticipation that they will be able pay back the loans (and hopefully make a profit) when the crop is sowed.  Similarly, truckers rely on credit to fill their fuel tanks to ship food across the country, and pay off the loan (and hopefully make a profit) when they get paid for successfully delivering the shipment.  In the face of a credit crisis, Peak Oil, and climate change (droughts in food-producing areas, floods in others, etc.), this complex system is destined for disruptions that will impact Americans’ food security in the near future.

3. It relieves stress

The world news today does not exactly illicit feelings of calm and tranquility.  In fact, it can be downright scary.  Taking control of part of your food supply provides peace of mind for when disruptions occur.  Small farmers and family gardens got the United States through the last Depression.  It got the Soviets through the collapse of the U.S.S.R.  You can also avoid the risks of food-bourne illnesses associated with mass-produced food.  And what could be better than venturing out after a long day to see what vine-ripened goodies nature has provided for dinner?

4. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to do it
Remember, when you were a kid, putting a lima bean seed on a wet paper towel and watching it sprout? Plants are amazing.  A bit of water and a bit of sunlight, and plants are resilient little miracles.  Little miracles you can eat.   I do not consider myself a “green thumb” (I have killed my fair share of house plants), but gardening is easy enough for kids!

Spring is here (for my Northern Hemisphere readers), and it’s time to get planting!  No matter how big or small, I think you will be happy that you did.

1. Horrigan, Leo, Robert S. Lawrence, and Polly Walker. “How Sustainable Agriculture Can Address the Environmental and Human Health Harms of Industrial Agriculture.” Environmental Health Perspectives 110, no. 5 (May 5, 2002) (accessed March 20, 2009).