Grow Your Own for a Healthy Diet [Step 2 of 8]

Welcome to part 5 of our mini series on Conscious Buying Decisions to Help Climate Change. Last time we covered ‘Knowing Your Food Source for Healthy Eating’. This time we’re looking at ‘Growing Your Own for a Healthy Diet’, which is also part of our series on Eating Sustainably.

You can find all content in this mini series at Mini Series: Conscious Buying Decisions to Help Climate Change.

If you already know that you have the power to help climate change and improve your health and happiness, here are the options to make conscious decisions for a healthy diet:

If you want some more facts before making any decisions about buying for a healthy diet, let’s get into the details:

Before we get started, it’s worth saying that this mini series is based on the Kiss the Ground Purchasing Guide. Many of the facts come from the book called Drawdown.

Find the Book Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed To Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken That You Can Find Here on Amazon*

There are 8 Steps To Eat for Your Health and the Climate:

Knowing Your Food Source
Growing Your Own
Composting
Choosing Meat That’s Regenerating Land
Choosing Dairy That’s Regenerating Land
Buying Seafood to Help Revitalise the Ocean and Ecosystems
Knowing Your Annuals and Perennials
Going Beyond the Healthiest Foods

In this piece we’re looking at step 2, Growing Your Own for a healthy diet.

Many fruits and vegetables lose nutrients the first day after they’re picked. Having your own garden, instead of buying from a shop, allows you to incorporate more fresh, nutrient-dense, and great-tasting foods for a healthy diet.

Grow Your Own by Starting Small and Getting Experience

Growing your own can be as simple as starting with a tomato plant on your windowsill or as big as your own allotment or working on a farm. Growing your own is an important part of living sustainably: Knowing everything that has gone into your food to avoid dangerous chemicals; growing in a way that helps to capture carbon, and create nutritious and wholesome food.

Read the Mini Series: Conscious Buying Decisions to Help Climate Change

A few years back I grew some potatoes, onions, and garlic then I took a big break because work got in the way. In 2020, I took on an allotment and learnt the basics of growing Biodynamic food. In 2021, I grew some amazing Biodynamic broccoli, radishes, lettuce, potatoes, runner beans, swiss chard, spring onions, carrots, celeriac, kale, and apples (luckily the plot already had 3 apple trees). I also started two new wildflower patches, added a second mini pond, and established a wild area to help attract beneficial insects and animals.

Get Started With the Biodynamic Gardening Book

The Biodynamic Gardening Book by Monty Waldin is absolutely fantastic. I read it alongside a year long Biodynamic Gardening course, however, you could easily get started just with the book.

Find the Biodynamic Gardening Book Here on Amazon*

Learn About Planting With the Moon, Stars, and Planets

If you’re interested in growing Biodynamic food, one way you’ll get an advantage is by using ‘cosmic influences’. This can sound a bit much but just consider the moon:

Gravity from the moon ‘influences’ our tides. If the moon can move oceans and seas, just think what it can do to the water in soil or sap in plants.
Sunlight from the moon reflects a lot more light during the night, helping to give plants more energy.

When we think of those sorts of cosmic ‘influences’ it’s easier to accept the others. Plus, planting with the moon, stars, and planets is based on years of extensive research.

The Maria Thun Biodynamic Calendar

The Maria Thun Biodynamic Calendar is the go-to calendar to know exactly when to work the soil, prune trees, plant and harvest vegetables, and lots more to get the maximum benefit from ‘cosmic influences’.

Find the Latest Maria Thun Biodynamic Calendar Here on Amazon*

Choosing What to Grow for a Healthy Diet

You’ll get all the information about the main vegetables and fruit to grow from the Biodynamic gardening book. Once you’ve decided, you’ll need to buy seeds or transplants (small seedlings that are sent to you ready to plant into pots of the ground).

In my first year, I had a go at growing almost everything, and it was a lot of work. Now I’m planning to grow only the vegetables that I really love and eat all the time, and get the rest from our local veg box delivery.

Buy Seeds That You Can Save

I buy seeds from Seed Co-operative because they’re organic, many are also biodynamic, and open pollinated so I can save seeds from each crop and grow again.

Buy Transplants for Veg That’s More Difficult To Grow From Seed

I buy transplants from Delfland Nurseries.

They supply a large variety of vegetables that are all organic and perfect for a healthy diet, including tomatoes, potatoes, kale, parsnips, carrots, celeriac, spring onions, onions, cabbage, brussels sprouts, sweetcorn, and peppers.

Composting

To have a thriving vegetable patch, you’ll want to create your own compost.

Compost is a great way to eliminate food waste, use all garden waste, and create your own life giving organic material that is a fantastic way to grow like nature and help climate change.

We’ll cover compost in the next piece in this mini series.

That’s it for this piece. You can find the next piece ‘Composting to Grow a Balanced Diet’ as well as all articles in this 10-part mini series at Conscious Buying Decisions to Help Climate Change.

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Here Is What You Can Do

Use this mini series to help you buy products that help people and planet
Check out #VoteWithOurMoney with 6 Steps to Help Stop Climate Change
Try the Sustainability Roadmap with 40+ Solutions to Climate Change
Use the Company Directory to Help You Grow, Eat, and Live Sustainably
Be inspired. We can help climate change if we do something about it
Talk to your friends and colleagues
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Where Next?

There is so much inspiring information to give you ideas of how to help climate change by growing, eating, and living sustainably, you can:

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Sources Used to Create This Mini Series

Production Notes

This was produced by me, James Walters, as a personal project to help stop climate change by inspiring others to grow, eat, and live sustainably.

Any advice given is the opinion of those involved and does not constitute medical, financial, or legal advice.

* We include links we think you will find useful. If you buy through those links, we may earn a small commission. It’s one way to support our work and to inspire as many people as possible.