Urban homesteaders discover the pleasures of growing food
Pocono Record / Joe Lamp'l / 04 September 2010
If you enjoy eating the freshest food possible, and you have the desire to know where your food comes from, you have great options.
You can grow organic fresh fruits and vegetables in your own backyard. Or you can grow food in a community garden or visit your local farmers markets. Today, with an increasing number of people wanting to eat more locally grown food — "locavores" — the options are growing each year in communities all across the country.
Vegetable and herb gardens are hotter than ever. From last year to this year, 16 percent more American households planned on adding a vegetable garden and 12 percent more planned on adding an herb garden, according to the latest Garden Trends Research Report conducted by TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence.
Not only are homeowners growing their own produce, they are raising their own chickens and tending their own beehives. Yet self-sufficiency doesn't require several acres. Today, many people are exploring their options by growing their own produce and poultry in their own small urban backyards.
While they are still connected to our high-tech world, they simply choose to grow their own food and live more simply. They look for ways to become more sustainable, such as reducing or eliminating the miles they drive by using public transportation and bicycling more.
