A home garden can fill a person with a sense of satisfaction. You’re literally enjoying the fruits of your labor, after all.
But did you know it can bring you closer to self-sufficiency and freedom? Yes, I’m talking about that small garden you’ve got going in your backyard!
How Gardening Can Help You Break Free
The core concept here is pretty simple: Feed yourself to free yourself.
I like analyzing things, though.
So, I thought long and hard about how exactly growing my own food could “free” me. (I also cheated a bit and did some research.)
Here’s what I found:
1. Safety Net Against Panic-Buying
Do you remember how essentials flew off the shelves early in the coronavirus outbreak?
Call it preparing or irrational stockpiling. Either way, no one wants to deal with that again.
Yet, you can never predict the availability (and prices) due to global supply chain issues during pandemics, natural disasters, and so on.
A well-maintained garden in your backyard won’t do much for toilet paper shortages, but it’ll provide just enough food self-sufficiency.
That’s not to say plant nurseries never suffer from empty shelves and supply shortages. It happens, especially since more and more people are getting into home gardening and micro-farming.
But I’d rather plan ahead and gather seeds than panic-buy a full pantry’s worth of groceries.
2. Knowledge (And Control!) Over What Goes Into Your Food
Home gardening lets you decide which chemicals your food gets exposed to—fertilizers, pesticides, or ripening agents.
This way, you don’t have to examine labels every time you pick a can of beans. You don’t have to wonder if the companies are being completely honest, either.
3. One Step Closer Towards Financial Independence
The golden key to financial independence is to spend less than you earn, which is admittedly hard when you’re trying to provide for a family.
On the upside, a home garden can:
- Lessen your trips to the grocery store
- Stretch your budget with smart meal planning
- Help you “insource” some of your tasks to save money
The net result? You’ll find yourself one step closer to financial independence.
4. Highlights Your Potential
Growing your own food can definitely help your budgeting efforts directly by cutting your grocery spending. However, it can do more than just that.
For some people, gardening is an overall confidence booster.
It shows them that they really are capable of creating and solving problems. So, they took a leap of faith and started freelancing or chasing their dream careers!
5. Local Food Sovereignty
If you’re intentional about where you source your seeds, you’ll be contributing to local food sovereignty.
Home gardening puts control over the food supply in the hands of the community members rather than corporations. It prioritizes sustainable food networks over industrial practices, too.
Acknowledging the Collective Effort
Breaking free doesn’t mean going at it solo.
Sure, you’ll have to do the bulk of the work, and you’re the one who’ll have a terrible day when a raccoon beats you to the harvest.
However, there’s still a collective effort to acknowledge.
Many folks are out there trying to do what you’re doing, chasing sovereignty through home gardens. You’re doing yourself a disservice by not connecting with them.
Between online forums, blogs, non-profit organizations, and local clubs, there are lots of opportunities for meeting like-minded people. Trust me, you’ll need all the help you can get if you’re serious about improving your horticultural skills!
Final Thoughts
Before I go, I have one last tip: Modulate your expectations.
In order to cover one person’s fresh eating needs, you need a space of about 100 square feet of traditional row gardens. To produce enough for year-round eating, you might need 200 square feet.
You can’t think of your micro-farming as a weekend activity, either. It takes time and effort.
That said, it’s not an all-or-none sort of deal.
Start small and make your way up towards self-sufficiency. Every little berry, tomato, and basil leaf matters!
Growing up with a mom who filled her home (inside and out) with all sorts of plants, Lisa got her start in gardening at a young age. Living now on her own with a home and yard full of plants (including an indoor greenhouse), she shares all the gardening tips she’s gained over the years.