Vegetables are Expensive
Having a garden can actually save you a decent amount of money if that’s something you are trying to accomplish. I like to think of myself as a very frugal person and groceries are expensive if your not eating crap. Check out this comparison of how much you can save by having a small garden.
Gardening is Good Exercise
I work in the healthcare field and have heard elderly women talk about gardening as their exercise. I always gave them funny looks until now. Between the constant bending, squatting, and lifting; gardening is good exercise! Bags of fertilizer, mulch, compost, etc. are pretty heavy when you are loading them in your car, unloading them, and hauling them around the yard. Research shows that you can burn up to 300-400 calories an hour with moderate gardening. You don’t have to go for a run to get exercise in this momma’s world!
You Will Eat Healthier
How much more likely would you be to add random vegetables to your dinner if they were close by and available? Before I had a garden, I didn’t even use half as many veggies in my meals. I was always worried that if I bought a lot of peppers, lettuce, or tomatoes, they would go bad before I had a chance to use them.
I hate wasting money, and hate going grocery shopping even more. With a constant supply of veggies in the garden, I don’t have to worry about them going bad before I get to use them, and they are always fresh. This means that I can easily eat healthier every meal by adding a variety of vegetables in.
It’s Like Therapy
I have struggled with depression and anxiety for as long as I can remember. I hate medications, and it takes too long to get to the doctor’s office. So, gardening is my therapy. I have made it my own little get away, where I find peace. Any free time I have, I am finding new things to do with it just because it makes me happy.
In my garden, I can be raw. I can slow things down and think. I can get dirty but still make something beautiful. It is so fulfilling to see something go from nothing to something. Before I ever created my little garden oasis, I sat and stared at the area for hours. I hate a picture of what it was going to be and I created it!
Gardening is Great for the Kids
Call me selfish, but there is only so much I can handle of playing pretend and watching cartoons. When my daughter started asking to help me in the garden, I was thrilled! She got so excited to check and see if things were growing, and to help me spread out the “poop-dirt” (compost). It was something we could do together and both of us enjoyed.
My daughter is also super picky and dinner time is ridiculous when she decides she doesn’t like something she has never even tried. After talking in the garden about what we were growing, she wanted to eat the lettuce. Every time we went out to water, she would ask for some “salad”. This soon developed into her loving anything that came from the garden. Now she is eating more healthy food and if she says she doesn’t want to eat something; we tell her it’s from the garden and she devours it. I think this will stop working for meat soon.
Self-Sufficiency
It’s an amazing, and freeing feeling to know that you created something life-sustaining on your own. If the world comes crashing down around me, I know how to hunt, fish, and garden. I will be just fine if we have an economic collapse. I know that sound extreme, but at least I’m prepared. I love being able to make things from scratch, instead of going to a store. Gardening is just one more skill to add to my self-sufficiency tool-kit.
It’s a Good Hobby
After my divorce, I created a profile on a dating website. I wanted a faster way a screening out jerks before meeting them. But, that’s not the point. The point is, they all tended to ask the same question in the beginning – “What do you do for fun?” My first thought was “Ugh, fun? Who has time for that?”.
I had tons of hobbies as a kid and teenagers. I could rattle them off until I was blue in the face. Now, as an adult and a parent, I didn’t have as many things I did for fun because I was too busy trying to survive. Gardening gave me an adult hobby. It is something I can read about, research, get better at, make new friends bonding over, and best of all – enjoy.
If you have a garden, what’s your reason? Why do you love it?
Leave a Reply