Our Values & Approach
Not all fresh foods are equally nutritious
(even though they look similar)
Ever tried a tomato that tastes like cardboard, or a carrot with no sweetness?
Such sorry impersonators of fresh food are the victims of poor farming and are as devoid in health value as they are in nutrients and flavour!
Sadly, the 'best of the bunch' can be hard to visually distinguish from their nutrient-poor cousins, but luckily our tastebuds have evolved to recognise what’s important.
To avoid needing to ‘try before we buy’, we prefer to grow our own because we can guarantee excellent, even unbeatable quality!
Most shop-bought food lacks flavour & nutrition
Most commercially farmed fruits and vegetables are not remotely as nutritious as they could be.
There are even multiple scientific, peer reviewed studies that report alarming historical declines of nutrients in food.
It’s not so much the modern farmer who’s to blame as the economic system that incentivises crop yield, size, weight, uniformity and transportability, before flavour and nutritive value.
What the consumer values most and what our industrial food system prioritises are at odds with each other.
Home gardeners have a unique opportunity to enjoy many unique & wonderful heirloom varieties, textures and flavours that are just not available for sale.
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Crops can be so healthy, the pests don't even want to eat them!
Plant immune systems' comprise of complex molecules and compounds; phytochemistry, that enables them to deter would-be browsing predators. Unpalatable compounds, strong (overpowering) smells and poison compounds are plants' way to 'defend' themselves.
These complex compounds such as flavonols, aromatics, antioxidants and countless more are actually medicine for humans and animals.
Our health and immune systems are strengthened by consuming plants' immune systems!
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When plants have access to all the minerals and resources they require to grow healthy and strong:
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They grow better, bigger, faster
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They become more medicinal for us
And they become much more resistant to insect pests & diseases!
How cool is that!
Not all fresh or homegrown foods are truly nutrient-rich
‘Nutrient-rich' or 'dense' is a term commonly used to distinguish fresh foodstuffs from processed ones, with an assumption that, by comparison all fresh foods are more nutritious and therefore healthy.
Because not all fresh foods are as nutritious as we might assume them to be, the term ‘nutrient-rich' is better reserved for those that by comparison to their same cousins, are genuinely more nutritious.
Nutrient density correlates closely with flavour and the medicinal value of a food plant. It’s also a reflection of how the food was grown, the extent to which nutritional requirements were satisfied during growth and is typically an outcome reserved only for crops grown in healthy, biologically-rich soils. Because we want a piece of this ‘pie’, we choose to grow our own.
Growing nutrient-rich food makes gardening easier
There are obvious benefits of growing healthy, strong, and pest/disease resistant crops.
Excitingly though, the actual methods to grow super healthy plants actually make gardening less work too. ​
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The soil is healthier
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It requires less fertiliser inputs
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Plants need less regular watering
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Soil can naturally retain more water
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More efficient use of natural rainfall
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Less weeds to manage
Suddenly, garden maintenance takes much less time and it becomes much more fun.
It’s a win-win-win!
We are what we eat-literally!
This fact doesn’t get any more transparent in our opinion. The food we fuel our bodies with, literally becomes the cells, tissues, fluids and bones that make up our bodies.
The quality of the food we consume not only influences, but truly determines our health, our immune systems and how we feel every day.
Prevention is always better than the cure and we can’t imagine a more delicious self care practice than by regularly feasting on gourmet quality fruits and vegetables.
Want a healthy immune system?
Eat immune-boosting foods!
'Gourmet' quality before 'mediocre' quantity
A small amount of high-quality, nutrient rich food easily provides our bodies all they need to naturally detox and keep us healthy in this modern age.
Even several portions a day, as nutritionists and governments promote, just doesn’t cut it when we’re relying on industrially farmed food.
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With consistent (documented) declines in the nutrient concentrations of industrially farmed food, growing at least some of our own nutrient dense food becomes our best strategy to stay healthy and happy.
We and ‘nature’ are not distinct, we literally are nature!
Call her Mother Earth, the environment, nature, the natural world, the name doesn’t really matter.
We feel a deep sense of reverence and humble respect for that which is greater and more powerful than us, and to whom we owe our very existence, the natural world.
The truth is that we are inextricably linked!
Cultivating food in ways that enhance soil health, biodiversity and detoxify our environment does the very same to our health too!
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Call it selfish or call it custodianship, by caring for the health of our natural world, we are caring for ourselves!
Food Connects People & Heals Communities
Every gardener knows that one or two tomato plants quickly results in their neighbours, friends and family suddenly becoming the recipient of tomato-inspired gifts!
Gardens are abundant and many crops over supply their custodian’s needs, it’s just how nature is.
So an often unexpected consequence of food gardening is that it begins connecting neighbours and family through conversation, exchange of ideas, seeds, excess crops and it creates a platform for meaningful interaction, where it was lacking before.
In this modern age of fractured communities and marginalised members of society, cultivating food is a magical means for repairing those relationships.
Growing our own food has the power to change the world.
Every person on Earth could benefit from growing at least some of their food at home!
Not just for the bounty of cheap organic food and associated health benefits, but for the thrill of the flavours & unusual varieties too!
If every home garden were managed ecologically and some space set aside for food, our neighbourhoods would become vibrant, beautiful food-bearing paradises.
Ecological custodianship is our duty and our birthright
Cultivating our own food is one of the most profoundly nourishing acts we can engage in (pun intended). It cultivates our sense of connection to the natural world and all whom we share it with.
As gardeners we appreciate the sunshine that feeds our crops, the rain that quenches their thirst, the wind that strengthens and the soil that supports and nourishes them.
A sense of ecological custodianship or stewardship is an inevitable consequence, and it’s our duty to care for that which ultimately sustains us.
It’s also our birthright to proudly acknowledge and delight in.
The era of humans disrespecting and degrading the planet must end, and gardeners are at the vanguard of this exciting transformation.
Gardening ecologically is empowering
The media is full of environmental horror stories and there's no debate anymore, we're living through (and causing) the World's Sixth Mass Extinction!
As experts warn of impending environmental collapse it's easy to feel helpless in the wake of global catastrophe!
BUT, we can empower ourselves by taking action in our own backyards and gardens!
Home grown food is a powerful action that results in meaningful change:
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- Less food miles
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Less packaging and inks for printing labels
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Less machines and vehicles
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Less lubricants, fuels and oils required for machines
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Less emissions
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Less pharmaceuticals for less sickness
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Less mining of natural resources
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Less pollution
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Less support for (damaging) industrial agriculture
These are just a few examples, how might growing some or more of your own food benefit you, others and the planet?
Gardening ecologically cultivates paradise
When you garden ecologically, the benefits stretch far beyond your garden's boundaries. Soil health improves, it once again becomes an effective filter for the water passing through it and any chemicals or environmental pollutants get broken down to harmless residues. Beneficial wildlife increases, gardens become more beautiful and they begin requiring far less effort from you to maintain.
As gardeners we can literally grow our own private paradises. Our own sanctuaries, oases from stressful society!
As we do so, we cultivate a deeper and profound appreciation of our food and the land in which it is grown.
Ecologically cultivating food is a simple, enjoyable and powerful way for each of us to care for our Earth, to live in 'Right Relation' with this precious planet.
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We can't imagine a more delicious way to live!
