Growing Food or Buying it from Farmer's Markets: A Thing of the Future

With gas prices climbing drastically, other prices are beginning to follow, including those for the food we eat, especially produce. People everywhere are feeling the money pinch and are looking for ways to cut back and supplement their income. The food is shipped across the country from who knows where and handled by too many people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 76 million cases of food-borne illnesses, including 5,000 deaths, occur in America every year. Look at the recent salmonella poison cases on lettuce, spinach and now, most recently, tomatoes, which incidentally is a very expensive food that is also very easy to grow anywhere even in a small pot beside your back door.

We are too dependent on grocery stores and people begin to realize this fact when there is a natural disaster in their area and they can not get things from the grocery. It is time to prepare for an uncertain future. If we grow our own food or at least some of it, we can also, can some of that food or put it in the freezer to help out in the winter. Yes, like in the old days.

People are also becoming more health conscious and are looking for better quality in their food. Most of us are beginning to realize the problems with our food being processed, bleached, full of preservatives and pesticide residue. Some of the foods we eat are contributing to diabetes and obesity, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and many cancers. The US Department of Agriculture figures indicate that the nutritional value in America's food has declined drastically over the past decade. As people realize these facts, they will want to know how to get the nutrients back into the food they eat. The best way is to grow it yourself or buy it locally from someone you can question about their process.

Growing your own could also include backyard chickens for eggs and meat. People could learn how to have a few layer hens in a small area. Homegrown herbs, veggies and also the chickens and eggs, taste so much better and are much more nutritious than store bought. Gardening is going to be bigger than it has been in many years. It is going to be a new trend to grow herbs and veggies on your door step or window seal. It is relaxing and satisfying to grow things and more so to serve it to your family and friends.

Another point to consider is that people will soon realize how much it would help the environment to grow at home or buy local. It wouldn't take as much gas to get it there, it would use a lot less co2 emissions and it wouldn't strip the land like a lot commercial growing does. This subject must and will be addressed more in the near future.