1. Reduce your carbon footprint

Growing your own vegetables and composting organic waste helps produce oxygen and sequester carbon in our soils. It also helps reduce -

1. ➡Soil erosion
   

2. ➡Greenhouse gas emissions
   

3. ➡Nitrogen fertilizer pollution
   

4. ➡Water consumption
   

2. Preserve our scarce resources

Intensive farming uses more petroleum than any other single industry, consuming 12 percent of the country’s totally energy supply. The average meal we eat travels up to 1500 miles before it gets to our plate. And more energy is now used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to till, cultivate and harvest all the crops in the United States. Growing your own organic food  greatly reduces non renewable energy use.

3. 3.Improve Nutrition and Health
   

Freshly harvested organic food is packed with nutrients and minerals that you simply can’t get from supermarket produce. A recent study on the nutrient content of 24 fruit and vegetables, compared to 50 years ago, revealed that today’s produce contains dramatically less vitamins and minerals.  For example, the average potato has lost –

1. •100% of its beta carotene and 57% of its vitamin C and iron,
   

2. •28% of its calcium, 50% of its riboflavin and 18% of its thiamin.
   

3. •For broccoli, all seven nutrients fell, including a 63% decrease in calcium and a 34% decrease in iron (no wonder we consume so many expensive supplements).
   

4. Protect our water supply

Water makes up two-thirds

of our body mass and covers three-fourths of the planet. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates pesticides—some cancer causing—contaminate the groundwater in 38 states, polluting the primary source of drinking water for more than half the country’s population.

5. Save Money 

Growing your own costs pennies compared to what you spend at the farmer’s market. Support local organic growers by purchasing things you can’t grow easily, like oranges, apples and avocados, then grow your own greens and tomatoes at home. A 4’x4’ MinifarmBox raised bed will grow up to 70 heads of lettuce or 50 lbs of tomatoes. It’s a no-brainer. Everyone wins.

6. Preserve habitats and micro organisms

By  using only use natural pest and disease control methods we create healthier soil and greater biodiversity. Studies have shown that organic fields contain –

1. •Deeper vegetation, more weed cover, and 88% more ‘epigeal arthropods’ (squiggly soil creatures) and beneficial bacteria.
   

2. •More soil microbes, and mycorrhizae (fungi that help plants absorb nutrients)
   

3. •More earthworms and beneficial soil insects including pest-eating spiders and beetles.
   

7. Promote Sustainability

When you start growing organic vegetables you are contributing to both your own sustainability and the planet’s. Home food gardening allows us to feel more connected to nature, and to know the history of the food we eat, and in doing so we not only gain some sense of control over our lives but feel a deep sense of fulfillment.

© 2009 MinifarmBox.com

THE FARMERS’ MARKET

IN YOUR OWN BACK YARD