The Obstacles: Lack of experience in climate/hardiness zone (7), potential HOA issues, economic viability, landscape, and self-imposed criteria (no genetically modified seed).
The Reasons: Refusal to spend $10,000 or more per year on food that is either a) genetically modified, b) lacking in much of its completed (ripened) nutritional composition, c) harmful to the environment due to growing practices, d) supports corporate agriculture, or e) is chemical and/or additive laden.
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This journey began with the birth of our son. From the start, I knew something was different about him, and by the time he was two he was diagnosed as having a language development delay and Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD).
Devastated, I turned to every resource available only to find that although the medical establishment does not know what causes SPD, many parents with children who have SPD (and other similar disorders), report improvements when they changed their children to a GFCF (gluten free casein free) diet. Eyeing the list of approved GFCF foods, I felt it couldn’t hurt – after all, it was all healthy foods anyway! It was when I began researching the foods we commonly ate in our family that wasn’t on the list that I opened the proverbial “Can O’ Worms
Having always touted myself as a “label reader”, I never really went deeper to find out what the ingredient actually was, beyond being an “emulsifier” or a “preservative”. I was shocked – even revolted - to discover what was in our food. I won’t go into detail, but suffice to say for me, it was life changing. Then I discovered the documentaries on corporate agriculture, and I was outraged. If you haven’t seen them, then definitely check out Food Inc. and King Corn, among others. (IMO, some of these “things” marketed as “food” can no longer be classified as a bonified food.)
But what can I do? I’m just a housewife in Maryland
I’ll tell you what I can do… I can choose.
I choose to remove any and all of these foods from my family’s dining table, and do it the only way I know how: grow it myself. In a kind of quiet protest, I simply intend to stop giving our dollars to support those types of products while at the same time bringing my family into a healthier lifestyle.
With my family in agreement, our journey begins. I hope to show that farming can be achieved in an extremely small backyard, with an investment that should amount to considerably less than our current grocery bill annually. Perhaps we could even turn it into a small scale business. My greatest dream is to take my family from our current city digs to a five acre or so homestead and raise our son on a family owned farm, supplying locals with organically grown produce.
I will post in-depth details every step of the way, from idea conception to implementation, and hope you will enjoy the journey with us. I know it won’t be easy, and there are sure to be fails and face plants along the way, but I think its worth trying.
