{"id":2262,"date":"2022-09-23T15:41:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T22:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/?p=2262"},"modified":"2025-04-25T20:29:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T03:29:01","slug":"why-i-still-grow-food-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/why-i-still-grow-food-at-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Why grow food at home?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes gardening feels like a leisure activity, but sometimes it feels like work: weeds, aphids, gophers, heat waves. At which times I think, Why not just buy all my food at the grocery store? It\u2019s so convenient. You show up any day and choose from all sorts of fresh stuff. Yeah, but . . . <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a lot of good reasons to persevere in the gardening adventure despite the obstacles of weather and pests and so on. Here are nine that keep dirt under my fingernails:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><b>1. Taste<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My friend bought an apricot at the store one day. It was bland, he said. A waste of money. Apricots are notoriously delicate, and in order to get them from a farm to a store shelf, it must withstand a lot of handling. In order to survive that journey they must be picked before they\u2019re ripe, yet apricots don&#8217;t sweeten up well if they&#8217;ve been picked that early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the home tree, our Blenheim apricots are able to become as rich as naturally possible because they need to travel only inches, from a branch to our mouths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Cass-and-Miles-picking-own-apricots.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Cass-and-Miles-picking-own-apricots-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5648\" style=\"width:427px;height:320px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Cass-and-Miles-picking-own-apricots-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Cass-and-Miles-picking-own-apricots-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Cass-and-Miles-picking-own-apricots-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Cass-and-Miles-picking-own-apricots-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Cass-and-Miles-picking-own-apricots-510x382.jpg 510w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Cass-and-Miles-picking-own-apricots-1080x810.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Cass-and-Miles-picking-own-apricots.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Apricot feast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><b>2. Variety<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I overheard a man in the grocery store ask the produce manager if they had any more of those &#8220;Dinosaur Eggs.&#8221; He said his son loved them. Dinosaur Egg is the trade name given to a variety of pluot called Dapple Dandy. We grow a Dapple Dandy tree at home, and we love them too, but there are other even better pluots that never make it to grocery store shelves. Flavor Grenade is one such variety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_20170821_191810-e1503434319229.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"239\" src=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_20170821_191810-e1503434319229-300x239.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2279\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_20170821_191810-e1503434319229-300x239.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_20170821_191810-e1503434319229-600x478.jpg 600w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_20170821_191810-e1503434319229-768x612.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_20170821_191810-e1503434319229-1024x816.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_20170821_191810-e1503434319229-1080x861.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Flavor Grenade and Dapply Dandy pluots.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><b>3. Children<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some parents have difficulty getting their kids to eat vegetables at the dinner table, and so do I. Strangely though, they&#8217;ll eat raw vegetables in the garden all day long. On their own, they constantly pull carrots, munch on heads of broccoli, and pick peas. I&#8217;ve often wondered if children were meant to graze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/peas-sown-into-undug-path-covered-in-wood-chips.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"859\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/peas-sown-into-undug-path-covered-in-wood-chips-859x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4574\" style=\"width:395px;height:472px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/peas-sown-into-undug-path-covered-in-wood-chips-859x1024.jpg 859w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/peas-sown-into-undug-path-covered-in-wood-chips-600x715.jpg 600w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/peas-sown-into-undug-path-covered-in-wood-chips-252x300.jpg 252w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/peas-sown-into-undug-path-covered-in-wood-chips-768x915.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/peas-sown-into-undug-path-covered-in-wood-chips.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 859px) 100vw, 859px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Pick a pea, climb a rock. Repeat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>(See my post, <a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/want-kids-to-eat-vegetables-grow-them\/\">&#8220;Want kids to eat vegetables? Grow them.&#8221;<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><b>4. Awareness<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides. They\u2019re sprayed on crops and injected into the soil on most farms &#8212; even certified &#8220;organic\u201d farms. (See my post, <a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/\">&#8220;What is organic, actually?&#8221;<\/a>) But you don&#8217;t know exactly what has been sprayed on the food you buy from a grocery store because supplying that information is not required of farmers or stores. I like to know what I&#8217;m eating, however, and especially what my wife and children are eating, and I can only know this if I know my farmer or I grow it myself. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><b>5. Quality<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It used to infuriate me to buy a handful of avocados at the store and find upon cutting them open that half were rotten inside. In a fit of such anger I wrote a post titled <a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/mexican-avocados-suck\/\">\u201cMexican avocados suck\u201d<\/a>. (In a similar mood, a <a href=\"https:\/\/ucanr.edu\/blogs\/blogcore\/postdetail.cfm?postnum=20243\">University of California farm advisor wrote a similar rant here<\/a>.) On the other hand, rarely is an avocado from the trees in my yard anything but perfect inside. It&#8217;s not because I&#8217;m a great farmer, it&#8217;s just that our avocados don&#8217;t need to be trucked and refrigerated and gassed with ethylene and squeezed to death by shoppers.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/WP_20160210_10_50_15_Pro.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/WP_20160210_10_50_15_Pro-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-526\" style=\"width:427px;height:240px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/WP_20160210_10_50_15_Pro-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/WP_20160210_10_50_15_Pro-600x337.jpg 600w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/WP_20160210_10_50_15_Pro-768x431.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/WP_20160210_10_50_15_Pro-1024x575.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The last grocery-store avocado (from Mexico) that I ever bought.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><b>6. Trash<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s a lot less going to the landfill when food comes out of the garden. When we eat our cherry tomatoes we\u2019re usually standing beside the vines, or we pack them in a Tupperware container so we can eat them as a snack on the road. Buy cherry tomatoes at the store and you buy a plastic clamshell with an absorbent towel at the bottom. Getting the tomatoes from the field to the store requires a bunch more containers. Ever seen the dumpsters behind a grocery store?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/cherry-tomatoes-display.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"521\" src=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/cherry-tomatoes-display.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15823\" style=\"width:570px;height:371px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/cherry-tomatoes-display.jpg 800w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/cherry-tomatoes-display-480x313.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 800px, 100vw\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Some cherries and some others. No containers to trash.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><b>7. Cost<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I used to assume that growing food at home was good for a host of reasons <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">except <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">saving money, until I took a closer look. At least for some crops, it\u2019s cheaper. (See my posts about <a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/the-water-economics-of-homegrown-avocados\/\">the economics of homegrown avocados<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/the-economics-of-homegrown-broccoli\/\">the economics of homegrown broccoli<\/a>.) And do note that homegrown food has all of the costs built in whereas purchased food does not, as most farms and food-production industries are subsidized in various ways with your tax dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/eating-her-broccoli-.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/eating-her-broccoli--1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11311\" style=\"width:524px;height:393px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/eating-her-broccoli--1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/eating-her-broccoli--480x360.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Chow down on cheaper and better homegrown broccoli.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>8. Dirt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The soil contributes to the human gut microbiome . . . [and] is a major inoculant and provider of beneficial gut microorganisms,&#8221; write the authors of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC6780873\/\">a 2019 paper in the journal <em>Microorganisms<\/em><\/a>. &#8220;In recent decades, however, contact with soil has largely been reduced, which together with a modern lifestyle and nutrition has led to the depletion of the gut microbiome with adverse effects to human health.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eating food from the grocery store keeps you out of touch with the dirt. Much food sold in grocery stores, including fresh fruits and vegetables, is required by government regulations to have gone through sterilization protocols such as being bathed in a chlorine solution or being irradiated or pasteurized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I deliberately do not wash every speck of dirt off after I pull up a carrot from my garden to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/The-Mokum-carrot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/The-Mokum-carrot.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12666\" style=\"width:471px;height:353px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/The-Mokum-carrot.jpg 600w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/The-Mokum-carrot-480x360.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 600px, 100vw\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Brush some of that dirt off, but not quite all.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><b>9. Convenience<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The convenience of one-stop shopping at a grocery store is undeniable, but there are times when a food garden is convenient too. O<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ne day I had planned to make burritos for dinner when I realized that we had no salsa. I walked out the door and picked tomatoes, peppers, a lime, cilantro and oregano. We had onions and garlic stored from the spring harvest. A little chopping and roasting later, I had what I needed.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>My hope with this post is to encourage you to grow more of your own and to remind you of some of the ways in which your current efforts at growing food are worthwhile. Your work is virtuous. It makes you and your family healthier, it makes our environment cleaner, and it can save money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It can also make our neighborhoods more friendly and secure. I interact with many of my neighbors through talking about gardening and sharing plants and produce from our yards. Recently, a neighbor gave me some Surinam cherries. Before that I had given her some Reed avocados.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s keep at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>All of my Yard Posts are listed <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/list-of-yard-posts\/\">HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are no ads on The Yard Posts because of your <a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/supporting-the-yard-posts\/\">support<\/a>. Thanks!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes gardening feels like a leisure activity, but sometimes it feels like work: weeds, aphids, gophers, heat waves. At which times I think, Why not just buy all my food at the grocery store? It\u2019s so convenient. You show up any day and choose from all sorts of fresh stuff. Yeah, but . . . [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why grow food at home? - Greg Alder&#039;s Yard Posts: Southern California food gardening<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite the gophers, weeds, and weather, here are ten reasons that I continue to enjoy fruit and vegetable gardening.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/why-i-still-grow-food-at-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why grow food at home? 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