Tasting the crunchy sweetness of a freshly picked sweat pea or the warm juicy sweetness of a fresh picked tomato is something everyone should experience, I think it could open many minds as to how good fresh vegetables can really taste.
A higher appreciation grows for your food when you're able to create a garden space where vegetables and other plants can grow. Having that space allows you to literally connect to your food in ways that most people don't nowadays.
First we built a small raised garden bed. Shortly after that we built a chicken coop for six chickens so that we could have fresh eggs. Then planted a group of fruit and berry trees.
Now our backyard has transformed into a living growing space having an array of perennial trees and berries bushes, and an annual vegetable garden bed area that is filled with varying stages of growing vegetables that we eat from as much as possible.
When you're able to create meals featuring ingredients from your own garden space not only does it add another layer of personal connection to the meal, but your also able to know exactly where that food came from, how it was cared for, know that those plants were not sprayed with any chemicals, and also know that that plant was a healthy part of a polyculture not a chemically drenched monoculture.
And by having a garden space that isn't sprayed with any chemicals, we are able to enjoy the constant presence of bees, lady beetles, and other insects that are attracted to the array of flowering plants that are growing.
This is why I garden. And why I want to garden more in the future.
What started as us creating our first garden space described above, hopefully next leads to us creating a more self sustainable permaculture based ecosystem around our next home.
Stay tuned for how that creation happens...
