Home grown foods

Has Your Food Traveled More Than You?

         Like most college students, one of the hardest parts about coming to college was leaving my home cooked meals every night. Unlike most students however, I was leaving actual fresh produce that was grown in my backyard. For as long as I can remember, we have had a garden full of fruits and vegetables in our backyard. It wasn’t anything extravagant, just a simple garden big enough to supply food for our family, but small enough for my dad to tend to with help from my siblings and me. I remember my dad digging holes and me following behind him dropping in the seeds. It was always fun to watch the seed that you helped plant and tend to grow into something you could eat.

Every summer we grow onions, squash, zucchini, corn, potatoes, green beans, apples, and tomatoes. While in season, we never had a meal that didn’t have at least one food item that came from our garden, and it was also always the best tasting food on our plate. Our friends look forward to our freshly grown vegetables every year. Why is that? Because they are actually fresh and didn’t travel miles and miles in a storage truck before ending up on your plate. Some of the things we grow can even be stored and saved to eat throughout winter. Our potatoes, for example, will last us almost all year long. One of my favorite things about summer is being able to eat fresh food for dinner every night.

It wasn’t until global class when I realized the positive environmental impact of home grown food. I always enjoyed it because of the fresh taste and the fun of planting, tending to, and picking the fruits and vegetables. So why don’t more people plant their own garden? If not for the environment, why not for the taste? It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant, its doesn’t even have to be more than one or two food items. I encourage each and every one of you to try to grow at least one vegetable at your home. If it is truly impossible, which I know for some it is, at the very least start shopping for groceries at a local farmers market. Buying locally is one of the key things to help improve our environment. Most of the foods you buy at grocery stores have traveled an average of 1,500 to 2,500 miles from farm to table. It is weird to think that the food you are eating has probably traveled more than you have. So next time you need to go stock up on food, think about all the energy that goes into the well-traveled food at the grocery store and head to your local market!