Last weekend, I was visiting a friend's house when I noticed that he had a large garden growing a variety of vegetables. This reminded me that so much of the food that we eat comes from mystery locations, and I wondered what it would be like to grow and consume home-grown food. One of the benefits I could think of to growing food at home as opposed to just heading down to the local grocery store is that you are much more involved with the processes of your food.

You’re choosing in advance what you want to grow, taking care of it, and helping it along yourself. You’re also the one that goes through the effort of harvesting it and cooking with it. It teaches you to value and appreciate your food that much more. It also helps you understand what kind of an effect the growing of food has on the environment.

Home grown food will completely change the opinion you have on how food is meant to taste. Food that is grown right in your own backyard, especially food that is grown organically and from high quality seeds or plants, tastes entirely different from genetically modified food that has been sprayed with dozens of chemicals, picked before it was ripe, and then shipped hundreds of miles to get to your local grocery store. The difference in taste and in quality is huge! My grandfather owns and operates an orchard in California, and there is just nothing like organic fruits and nuts. Once you’ve gotten into the habit of eating such great home grown foods it can be hard to go back to the store varieties.