Lately, the pandemic has taught us the importance of a healthy lifestyle and hygienic habits. The lockdown duration gave us the time and reason to introspect the reasons for our declining immunity and also inculcate ways to obviate further deterioration. Consumption of unadulterated and chemicals free food topped the list of the best ways to improve immunity. On the contrary, organic farming products are quite limited in supply which makes them costly as per the rule of ‘Demand & Supply’.
As a solution to the problems highlighted, ‘Backyard Gardening’ emerged as the best solution. The advantages of having a backyard garden and the habit of gardening to cultivate vegetables and fruits are numerous. The following are a few of the advantages which are worth a mention: –
- Unadulterated & Chemical Free Food Resorting to backyard gardening ensures that the food that reaches our plates would no longer be infested with harmful chemicals (which include pesticides and urea). Almost all packaged food items contain preservatives. These preservatives trigger the following problems: –
- Trigger breathing problems (asthma & bronchitis).
- Hyperactive behavior in children.
- Weakening of heart tissues for elder people.
- BHA & BHT food additives can cause cancer.
- Obesity.
Through backyard gardening, all the harmful effects that would have ingressed into our bodies can be negated.
- Nurturing Mind & Body Having the habit of backyard gardening would ensure that we stay connected to mother earth. Gardening is not just an activity to nurture our bodies alone, but also a great treat for our minds. Gardening is considered a soul-satisfying activity. The benefits of backyard gardening are enumerated below:-
- Lowers the stress levels.
- It helps encourage mindfulness.
- Helps control blood sugar levels.
- Elates the mood.
- An activity to burn calories.
- Exposure to the sun improves our immunity system.
- Keeps us busy and engaged.
- Bringing Closer to Our Roots Backyard gardening ensures that we stay closer and connected to our roots and appreciate the gifts that are bestowed upon us by mother earth. In today’s fast-paced mechanical world we hardly do have time to take a pause from the rat race that we are endlessly running in and admire the beauty and miracles of nature. The time spent during gardening helps us to dwell deep into our roots (lap of mother earth) and be thankful for all the gifts which are earned effortlessly. This realization would ensure that we care more for the world that we live in and stop destroying it any further, and in turn, play a vital role in its rejuvenation.
- Strengthen Family Bonding “A family that toils and soils together, stays together”, and what could be a better activity to do than backyard gardening. All the members of the family engaging in a constructive activity like backyard gardening would foster the spirit of togetherness and camaraderie. This provides an excellent opportunity for the children to learn not just the lessons of gardening, but also the lessons of life from the elders of the family. This time spent together makes an everlasting deep impact on the young minds and lastly, these moments make a million-dollar cherishable memory for every single member of the family for a lifetime.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the above-quoted advantages are only a few amongst the limitless advantages reaped by cultivating the habit of backyard gardening. I would end advocating the activity of backyard gardening by quoting the famous and thought-provoking proverb, ‘As you sow, so shall you reap’.
