by Nadia Ramoutar, MMM Communications Coordinator     Ireland      28.06.2022

My partner did not like tomatoes at all. He would always put them on my plate if we were out somewhere eating and hope I didn’t notice. He didn’t like little ones, or big ones, red ones or heritage loom tomatoes of varying colour. But then something changed. He started to grow his own tomatoes and he started to eat them. He then started to grow little ones and big ones and tomatoes of every colour. He started to tell me how delicious the little golden ones were and how I should try them!

Nothing tastes better than food you grew yourself.

When you think about the food industry (and it is a profit driven global industry) often by the time the food reaches us it has travelled thousands of miles from where it was grown. This contributes greatly to our current climate crisis. With a little effort we can reverse this trend.

This is a wonderful time to start growing your own food no matter where you live. We are fortunate to have a polytunnel so now we are growing lots of fruits and vegetables but my partner built our polytunnel from reclaimed items like an old trampoline! So there are creative ways to use resources. Polytunnels are made of very strong plastic and are more affordable to build than old style green houses with glass panels.

Our MMM Sisters are doing an amazing job or innovating in the field and teaching people how to make sack gardens with yes, sacks. Innovation pays off when it comes to horticulture. Using barrels to collect rain water is also another major innovation our MMM Sisters help people explore. Giving vulnerable people a way to grow food does more than give them a way to eat, it gives them independence and nutrients. It also gives them dignity and food. We welcome ways in which we empower people to eat for life, not just help them for a day.

Almost all fruits and vegetables have seeds within them that can be replanted and grown. I was so excited to cut the stem and roots off lettuce and see them go again and again. Nature is an amazingly resourceful gift to us all. There is so much food waste in the Western world and we can do a better job by being creators of food and not just consumers. Millions of euros of food are thrown away daily while much of the world goes hungry. We have to be innovative to change this.

Due to recent occurrences in the world, there are some food shortages for some items and the cost of food in most of the world is increasing. While this might be annoying or upsetting to some people, for many people it will make life very difficult. Often when this type of thing happens the group hit the hardest are the poor who are most vulnerable. As we know, the majority of poor people in the world are women.
If you plant fruits and vegetables and you don’t even eat them, you make the world better by planting. The animal and insect species will benefit and so will the climate as you create a way to reduce carbon!

Growing your own food is a win-win in a world that has lost so much in terms of plant and animal species. We don’t need to wait for a crisis to start growing our own food, we can start in small ways and learn. Even having a small herb garden will enhance the flavour of the food and make it more nutritious. If you cannot grow your own food try to support local growers and buy from them.

We have choices when it comes to improving the climate crisis we are in. We can make decisions to improve it in small ways and plant seeds for a better tomorrow for everyone. We can improve our health by doing so and improve life on our precious planet.