10 Reasons to Start Backyard Gardens in Homes and Schools
- Gardening is a way to teach children about how the farming industry works. It also teaches them the importance of good and nutritious food. It is vital that children learn about gardening because they might be interested to learn this and do it at home for themselves. It will teach people the importance of biodiversity and the importance of a broad variety in the garden. It is a good way for the family to spend more time together and learn about gardening.
- It is a good way for low income families to save money on fruits and vegetables. For families to grow their own food, it would also mean that people would consume more of a variety of food.
- For schools it is a great way to implement other ways of teaching for teachers and other ways of learning for students. Including environmental education in the garden will also teach about global warming, greenhouse gasses and what we can do ourselves to become aware consumers.
- By growing your own food, you know what goes into the soil and the water. Hopefully when growing your own food you have taken a stand against chemically produced pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers. Creating awareness to go organic in your garden may also introduce you to go more fair trade, local and low carbon emission foods. This is also good for the environment.
- Growing your own vegetables and fruits have a positive environmental impact as well as it is a great way to save the bees. Bees are vital for the world’s food production because they pollinate most of the crops. However, in the last decades bees have been disappearing everywhere due to various factors such as air pollution, pesticides and fertilizers. Backyard gardens are a great initiative to plant vegetables and flowers to attract bees and other pollinators.
- Having a garden will also improve the community. Having people involved in local community gardens will make people come together for a common purpose. In countries like Germany and the Netherlands community gardens are rapidly growing. It is a place where people can come together, learn and teach each other new knowledge and information.
- It is a great way to lessen your groceries. It will also lower your fossil fuel emissions and your carbon foot print. By having a backyard garden you will save about 2 pounds of carbon from entering the atmosphere for each pound of produce that you grow. Food is being shipped across the planet. We get our bananas from Brazil, coffee from Colombia and our electronics are being assembled in Taiwan or China. At least by having your own garden you do not need to buy your broccoli from Italy.
- It gives us a freedom to participate in the market. We are not dependent on buying food that we can grow ourselves and if able to produce enough we can even sell it or give away.
- Hunger can be avoided if more people did small scale farming and were less dependent on huge farms. People can work for themselves instead of working long hours for minimum wages and buying the food back as consumers. People can work for themselves and create their own food from their own land.
- Learning about sustainability and being self-reliant is very important. It teaches you how beautiful nature is. You start from a small seed and it turns into the food on your dinner table. You can be your own teacher, because that is a very good way to learn. If you practice, you will see what works and what does not work in your backyard garden. Sustainability gives you a grasp on over-consumption, climate change and the environment.
For more information on backyard gardens and all of their benefits, please visit this website: www.greenandhealthyhomes.org