Why You Should Garden! Homesteading & Vegetable Gardening in Victoria, Australia Zone 9B

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We live in Central Victoria, Australia, on an off-grid property where we grow our food, raise animals and live lightly on this earth.

Why you should start a garden! There are many reasons. Please comment below with your reason someone else should start a garden today.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Amy x

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hi friends welcome back to Three Barrow Farm As you can see I’ve got my buckets here I’m going to be doing some harvesting while I have a look through these brassacas and do some weeding as well But I wanted to chat to you today about why you should garden why you should start a garden whether it is an edible garden or whether it’s an ornamental garden I’m going to tell you why you should start a garden [Music] today The first reason I’m going to give you today as to why you should start a garden is because it’s going to make you feel really good There are natural antidotes in the soil that help reduce our stress So being out here being around the soil and breathing in the soil is going to make you feel so much better So the particular bacteria in the soil actually works like an anti-depressant And as you’re moving your hands through the soil digging up planting things it’s going to make you feel really really happy So if you’re feeling a bit down I highly recommend just getting out into the garden or getting out into your local park just lying on the grass It’s going to make you feel so much better than how you’re feeling right now Gardening has actually been proven to work even better than yoga and meditation How about even getting out into your garden and doing some yoga and meditation outside so as well as the bacterial species in the soil that helps you feel good mentally and helps with our mental state there is also a factor of it helping our immune system So I think in today’s society for that one reason alone we should all be trying to get out into the garden as much as we can to help our mental state but also to help the health of our bodies And talking about our bodies as well gardening is going to give you a lot of exercise in many different ways be it squatting and using those muscles that you don’t generally use or digging or getting the matic out and getting a really good workout that way You definitely notice a lot of new muscles that you didn’t recognize before when you start gardening Another reason is for the birds the bugs and the bees Planting more trees and plants and shrubs are going to create homes and food for all of these animals and it improves our whole ecosystem So we’re not only doing it for ourselves but we’re doing it for the animals and the insects as well But we’re not only just planting things we’re planting a diverse range of vegetables and plants and native trees and shrubs Not only by planting such diverse plants are we assisting the animals and the insects and the bees but we’re also looking out our windows and seeing beautiful colors and textures And it creates such a lovely garden to look at Going to have a little snack One good reason to have an edible garden Or not even an edible cuz this is technically a weed This is a dandelion leaf And I’m snacking on them today So that takes me to my next reason why you should start a garden And this is in particular an edible garden because you can then go out into your yard and harvest fresh organic produce straight off your property Eating food straight from the plant not only tastes better but it has more nutrients in it than the vegetables and fruit that we find in our supermarkets and green grocerers As soon as I pick this kale it does start to lose its nutrients So for me to use this straight away within an hour means that I get the most nutrients out of these vegetables and straight into my body There have been many studies that show us that the nutrient levels really deplete over time and by the time you actually get your hands on the leafy greens or the vegetables or fruit the levels of nutrients have diminished quite a bit So take for example lettuce We pick lettuce and then we can basically eat it straight away at home But if we leave it for six days and if it’s sitting in the supermarket for 6 days I’m not sure how long they leave things like lettuce in supermarkets but its nutrients will diminish by 46% within 6 days of being picked It’s also been discovered that when we let things ripen on the vine or on the plant that the nutrient levels will come to their fruition Whereas if it’s picked earlier and allowed to ripen off the plant the nutrient levels aren’t as high as they are supposed to have gotten to And quite a few foods are picked unripe to come into the supermarkets particularly when they’re out of season So if you stick with things in season and you go to farmers markets and things like that you’re definitely going to get produce that is fresher and in season as well One thing in particular that decreases after it’s been picked is the vitamin C levels in our vegetables and fruits For example after 16 days of green beans being picked they are going to lose 90% of their vitamin C levels Of course if you can’t grow everything and you’re unsure as to how old the produce is at your supermarket and you have no way of getting to a farmers market buying frozen food is probably a good option as well However the nutrients does decrease in the freezing process as they do with other preservation methods as well But the vegetables are generally picked and then frozen straight away So there’s no shelf life So you’ve got to think that maybe there’d be more nutrients in them than if the vegetable was sitting on the shelf for a long time So as I mentioned before walking out into your garden and harvesting your own food is such a wonderful way to eat And if you’ve forgotten a certain vegetable or you need to supplement with something else with a particular herb at least you can come out and find another herb that you could use fresh from your garden or other greens or vegetables to supplement those recipes that you’re trying to cook from What I like to do is go into my garden and discover what is ready to eat that week and try and make my meal plans around what we have growing in our garden So I do a general plan of what I have growing in my garden and then I might supplement certain things from the shops or from other growers But through the years as I’ve been growing food I’ve also tailored what I’m growing to what we want to eat And when you plant a variety of food in your garden you no longer have to go to the shops every single week to get your produce Snacking is by far the best fun had in an edible garden You can also save a lot of money by growing your own food or gardening in itself by not needing to go to the gym as much or at all and also by not having to spend money on your vegetables and fruit as well if you grow your own food Of course there are times where crops fail or insects get into your garden or psums or dogs or mice but as gardeners we all seem to just keep going on because we’re excited by that next harvest or the next possibility of a harvest And I think this is a healthy you know healthy way to think in life is to keep going and not give up And we generally come through with ways to combat these issues that have occurred in our garden and to do better next time or to protect our garden better in the future And perhaps that optimism that gardeners have does come from that anti-depressant microbes in the garden coming out from the soil and making us feel so much better and knowing that we can do it again I hope you’ve enjoyed that little insight on why you should grow a garden Let me know below if there are any other reasons why you think people should start gardening And I look forward to seeing you again very soon for another video [Music]