5 Benefits of Working Hard to Grow Your Own Food

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Gardening and preserving my own food is one of my favorite things in the world, but it’s also one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done. It takes a great amount of blood, sweat and tears to produce my own food and yet I do it year after year with much joy and anticipation.

I do have moments where I’m sweaty and exhausted, wondering why I don’t just buy my food at the store like most people, but deep down I know that gardening is ingrained in my soul and the benefits really do outweigh the hard times.

The truth is, I would be beside myself if I couldn’t grow my own food. I just simply would not be happy because I love working with my hands to create needed resources for my family, which is why I created this list of benefits as a reminder to myself as to why I put so much effort into it.

I hope this list will inspire you to keep on if you are a gardener and if not, I hope it inspires you to get started growing your own food.

5 Reasons Why Its Worth It to Grow Your Own Food

Good for Health

There are a myriad of reasons why gardening is good for health: It provides an abundance of healthy, pesticide-free produce for me to eat, it gets me outdoors for my daily dose of Vitamin D, it gets my heart pumping and provides stress relief, just to name a few.

There are also studies that say getting your hands in the dirt and your eyes in the sun have a plethora of mental health benefits. So, what are you waiting for?

Good for Your Family’s Health

Growing my own food is also great for my family’s health because they’re eating TONS of fresh, pesticide-free food throughout the summer months and home canned, dried or frozen vegetables throughout the winter.

Also, we love to work in the garden together throughout the week so they’re also benefiting from being outdoors, working up a sweat and learning where food comes from.

My older kids have told me multiple times how they love working in the garden together during the growing season and I hope it’s a tradition that they consider passing on to their kids one day.

Good for the Environment

Growing and preserving our own food is a great way to lower our environmental impact. Every time I harvest fresh food from my backdoor instead of getting in my car and driving to the grocery store to buy prepackaged food that was flown in from across the globe, is really a gift to the next generation.

Also, each time I open a jar of home canned goodies, I’m creating less waste because I can reuse the jars and rings over and over again, unlike the one time use aluminum cans you buy at the store.

Saves Money

There are investments that need to be made when gardening such as fencing, tools, seeds, etc., but when your food bill is almost cut in half during the summer and your pantry shelves and floor start to line up with food you can eat throughout the year, you’ll begin to realize just how economical gardening can be. Check out my post 15 Money-Saving Gardening Tips That Will Save You Hundreds for tips and tricks to save even more.

We Were Created for Work

The last reason I do the very hard work of growing my own food is that I believe we were created for it. The bible says, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work and take care of it.” Genesis 2:15.

Our creator put a need and a desire in us to create and work with our hands, including growing our own food. We were made for this and I believe everyone should at least try to grow something, even if its just a basil plant on their windowsill. Much is gained from working hard and creating with your own two hands. After all, working with your own hands and producing more than you are consuming just might be the anecdote for our technology ridden, stressed out modern lives.