Continue To Free Your Inner Farmer
Happy memories were made for families, individuals and anyone in between at the OC Fair which ended on 8/12/18.
Fairgrounds officials announced in December 2017 “that a particular focus of the 2018 event was saluting the people responsible for shepherding food from farm to table, as well as those who enjoy the fruits of that labor.”
The United States Dept. of Agriculture reported in February 2018 that the number of farms in the U.S. for 2017 is estimated at 2.05 million, down 12,000 farms from 2016. Total land in farms, at 910 million acres, decreased 1 million acres from 2016 (what’s going on)?! Some of the reasons for these declines are government regulations, and farms are being bought out in exchange for more acres to build housing developments and suburban communities around.
“Free Your Inner Farmer”, the theme of the 2018 OC Fair, can reach beyond in our homes, schools and offices. We can benefit from creating gardens.
Benefits:
•Reduce your grocery budget; buying seeds in bulk can be cost effective. They’re even available in non GMO.
•Create a family activity of gardening which will get everyone to explore the outdoors
•You control what goes from your “farm” to table. Perhaps you will decide to grow everything organic
•Share your bounty with friends, neighbors, or even non-profit organizations
•Gardening has a wide range of mood benefits, such as reductions in depression, anxiety and anger, as well as increases in happiness, according to a study published in “Preventive Medicine Reports.” Some Unknown Author once said, “Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes.”
In one of my previous blogs, I wrote that you can garden in small spaces such as patios, window boxes, beautiful pots or containers. Start small then work your way to adding more plants…to get started is key!
Remember, healthy soil produces healthy plants. Consider adding red wiggler worms that have the capacity to eat organic scraps (natural wastes collected from the kitchen and yard) then turn them into organic fertilizer. These worms produce worm castings (waste) that are rich in nutrients and minerals (rich in Nitrogen, Phosphates, and Potassium) and they aerate the soil.
Now, Go Grow!