Producing as much of your own food is possible even if you are not a farmer, and it serves a variety of purposes. The first
is purely aesthetic. Vegetables and grain grown naturally in a home garden always taste better than food that has been genetically altered to withstand shipping and have an unnaturally long shelf life. Everyone knows that nothing beats biting into a ripe tomato picked minutes ago from your backyard. It just tastes better.
More importantly, homegrown food contains none of the chemical additives large farms spray on crops to kill insects and weeds, and none of the hormones injected into animals and eggs that cause cancer and other health problems when consumed over a long period of time. You know your food is as healthy as it can be when you grow it yourself.
Growing your own food cuts down on environmental damage. In our mass-consumerism culture, food production is the second highest user of oil, producing more greenhouse gases than anything else except transportation. To get an orange to the U.S. from Chile, it must be flown or driven thousands of miles. We have lost track of the natural growing seasons in our own regions when we demand fresh strawberries in the middle of winter. If we examine all the different kinds of food we eat and where it comes from, the miles quickly add up. While it probably isn’t possible to only ever eat food that you’ve grown yourself, supporting local
farmers and farmers markets effectively cuts down on tons of waste.
The great farming states used to grow a variety of crops, but they have been converting quickly to a system of giant conglomerate farms that raise cattle and feed grain. Grain used to feed one cow could feed one hundred people, whereas one cow could only feed ten. The beef industry has spread to other parts of the world, where cattle and feed grain farms are moving into rainforests. If you must eat cow, you can immediately cut down on this waste by buying free-range beef, which means that the cows graze the naturally growing grasses instead of eating feed grain.
These massive farms have been driving small farmers with a diversity of crops off their land, and also pushing into undeveloped land. Kingsolver doesn’t think vegetarianism is the solution, because millions of animals and insects are killed every year by vegetable pesticides and plowing practices. Even organic farms kill predatory animals in inhumane ways, so abstaining from consumption of meat doesn’t solve the problem of unnecessary animal life being wasted. Again, the best solution is to raise what you need, or get it from local farmers markets or food co-ops.
Finally, growing your own food helps your children in so many ways. Children that grow up eating garden vegetables instead of sugary, salty, fatty processed foods will always appreciate a treat, but will also get excited about things like fresh apples and broccoli.
Kingsolver’s daughter, Lily, began raising chickens at the age of five, and takes great pride in the fresh eggs she produces for the family’s meals. Maria Montessori taught us that children need to feel useful to grow into confident adults, and nothing is more useful than helping to feed one’s family. Of all the things parents teach children to do, like caring for pets or picking up toys, none are nearly as adequate at helping children contribute real things to their family’s well-being.