Our gardens are a place of peace; they are also a place of inspiration and often a place of beauty.  However they can also be our own private fresh food supplier.

 Originally the home garden was a source of food, flowers and medicine for the family.  Plants were chosen for their uses and the more uses they had the more popular they were.  Indeed for many families the garden was their prime source of food. 

There are still plenty of gardeners who are passionate about their veggie patch or their fruit trees but unfortunately many people have lost any understanding of what they can grow and how to grow it.  We are living in a world of processed food mixed with extra salt, sugar, colour and artificial flavours. We have a generation or two of men and women whose choice for flavour is tomato, BBQ or soy sauce.  They may be adventurous and by some Mexican, Greek or Italian seasoning.  Again, main ingredients; salt, sugar, malt dextrose and the odd dried herb.  They have lost the ability cook and mix flavours.

Go to the supermarket and most of the aisles are full of processed foods.  Try just shopping in the dairy, deli and veggie section.. You will save a lot of money and have some pretty healthy food.  It would mean learning to cook and use natural flavours.  Next step is to buy organic fresh foods.  We do this because they are fresh and prepared without use of chemicals and artificial fertilisers.  Good for the mind and body but there is a better choice.

If you want real fresh, real flavour and real organic then grow your own.  We can grow most of the fruit, vegetables and herbs we require in our daily diet.  Granted we may not have Basil in August or fresh lettuce in February. but there are other options.   We are supposed to eat our food when it is in season.  Fruit, veggies and herbs eaten in season have the highest level of all those healthy things like vitamins, minerals and all those other good bits.

Food ripened on the plant also has the best flavour.  Nothing beats a fresh pineapple in northern Queensland or a fresh crisp apple straight off the tree in Melbourne’s Yarra Valley.  Fresh is best and the freshest you will ever have is when it is picked off your own plants in your own garden and put straight in the pot or mouth.  Life is too short to have bad food.