{"id":8456,"date":"2020-06-10T07:33:09","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T11:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eatrightpa.org\/?p=8456"},"modified":"2021-10-30T03:37:32","modified_gmt":"2021-10-30T03:37:32","slug":"a-case-for-growing-your-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/2020\/06\/10\/a-case-for-growing-your-own\/","title":{"rendered":"A Case for Growing Your Own"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Libby Mills, MS, RDN, LDN, FAND<\/span><\/p>\n

You might know that home gardening promotes healthy eating, stress relief and productive physical activity\u2014just what we all need with social distancing.\u00a0 And you might be surprised learning that gardening may help with dementia.<\/p>\n

But can home gardening really help extend the food budget?\u00a0 Do the costs and efforts of home gardening out-weigh the rising food costs<\/a> at the markets?<\/p>\n

Food Costs are Rising<\/h3>\n

Just this month the Labor Department reported a 2.6% increase in how much you and I pay for food like oatmeal, bread, chicken, broccoli and berries.\u00a0 By category, we saw a 4.3% increase in meats poultry, fish and eggs and 2.9% increase for cereals and baked goods.\u00a0 Prices for fruits and vegetables increased 1.5%.<\/p>\n

Even with a smaller increase for produce, many of us are feeling the pinch. Could planting a home garden help us better afford fresh fruits and vegetables?<\/p>\n

In 2014, Gail Ann Langellotto asked this same question and summarized her research What Are the Economic Costs and Benefits of Home Vegetable Gardens? <\/a>in eJournal of Extension.<\/p>\n

How a Home Garden Can Help<\/h3>\n

She found that if you didn\u2019t count your time and effort, the fruits and veggies produced by home gardens could value between $113 and $1133 over the cost of seeds, starts, soil, stakes, water and other investments.\u00a0 Six years later, we can still find these numbers persuasive for picking up the shovel and scattering some seeds.<\/p>\n

It turns out that when we look at the gardening process– tools, supplies, and methods, not much has changed.\u00a0 Adjusting for current pricing using an inflation calculator from the Bureau of Labor Statistics like Langellotto used, the case for home gardening is still economically strong.<\/p>\n

How much can you save?<\/h3>\n

Whether your garden is in the yard, a raised bed or container, Langellotto\u2019s calculated financial benefit ranged between $0.24 and $1.52 per square foot.\u00a0 Even accounting for the gardener\u2019s sweat investment, the garden value could be as much as $0.78 per square foot. \u00a0Adjusting costs for inflation and comparing home gardening yield values to the recent April 2020 hike in food costs– the highest increase in supermarket costs since February, 1974, the value of home gardening is even greater.<\/p>\n

Of course, the value of your garden will depend on what you plant, the soil quality and the your knowledge, skill and attention, aka \u201clove\u201d.\u00a0 You can up your success by planting tomatoes, leafy greens, peas, strawberries, squash and eggplant, which were found by Langellotto to be the top producing plants relative to the investment.<\/p>\n

Grab your shovel, choose a sunny area of dirt and plant.\u00a0 Add water and watch your fruits and vegetables will grow.\u00a0 Gardening can be a fun activity that help extend your vegetables and fruits budget now when stretching the dollar makes cents.\u00a0 Many communities have free plots that you can share or try using a large container in a sunny spot.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tangy Jicama Rhubarb Slaw <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Makes approximately 1 \u00bd cups<\/p>\n

Prep time:\u00a0 25 minutes<\/p>\n

Cook time:\u00a0 5 minutes<\/p>\n

Total time:\u00a0 30 minutes<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

1\/3 cup rhubarb, thinly sliced<\/p>\n

1\/3 cup jicama, peeled and julienned<\/p>\n

2 tablespoons red onion, diced<\/p>\n

\u00bc cup poblano pepper, seeded and thinly sliced<\/p>\n

\u00bc cup red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced<\/p>\n

\u00bc cup yellow bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced<\/p>\n

1 roma tomato, diced flesh only<\/p>\n

\u00bd teaspoon jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced<\/p>\n

1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped<\/p>\n

2 teaspoons lime juice<\/p>\n

1\/2 teaspoon honey<\/p>\n

1\/4 teaspoon Kosher salt<\/p>\n

ground black pepper to taste<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Preparation steps:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Fill a medium-sized saucepan two-thirds of the way full of water.\u00a0 Bring to a boil.\u00a0 Add the sliced rhubarb to the boiling water and cook for 10 seconds. Remove the rhubarb by draining through a colander.\u00a0 Immediately rinse with running cold water.\u00a0 Transfer rhubarb to a large mixing bowl.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cut the red onion, poblano, red, and yellow bell peppers, roma tomato flesh (seeds removed), jalapeno pepper, and cilantro.\u00a0 Add each cut ingredient to the large mixing bowl with the rhubarb.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a small mixing bowl, dissolve the honey in the lime juice.\u00a0\u00a0 Add the honey-lime juice mixture to the ingredients in the large mixing bowl. Sprinkle salsa with salt and black pepper and stir salsa and mix thoroughly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Refrigerate overnight or at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nutrition<\/h3>\n

Per \u00bd cup serving:\u00a0 60 calories; 1.3g protein; 14.4g carbohydrates; 2.4g fiber; 5.32g added sugar; 0.2g total fat; 0.05g saturated fat; 0.16g monounsaturated fat; 0g polyunsaturated fat; 0mg cholesterol; 165mg sodium<\/p>\n

94mg vitamin C (106% DV)<\/p>\n

\"\"Libby Mills, MS, RDN, LDN, FAND is a sought-after Culinary Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Spokesperson for the <\/span>Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics<\/span><\/a> known as a food and nutrition authority. \u00a0Libby markets and teaches nutrition through scrumptiously fun culinary experiences, as well as entertaining, imaginative communication to all ages, ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds. \u00a0She engages audiences with experiences from her Midwestern roots, urban living, and endless quest for healthy, flavorful, good food. To learn more about her visit <\/span>DigInEatUp.com<\/span><\/a> and connect on <\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Twitter<\/span><\/a> and Instagram<\/a>, and listen to her radio show <\/span>Libby\u2019s Luncheonette<\/span><\/a> live on <\/span>WCHE1520AM<\/span><\/a> Mondays from 12:15 to 1:00 pm ET.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Libby Mills, MS, RDN, LDN, FAND You might know that home gardening promotes healthy eating, stress relief and productive physical activity\u2014just what we all need with social distancing.\u00a0 And you might be surprised learning that gardening may help with dementia. But can home gardening really help extend the food budget?\u00a0 Do the costs and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":8458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[237],"tags":[254,253,39,255,34],"class_list":["post-8456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-237","tag-budget","tag-gardening","tag-rdn","tag-saving-money","tag-veggies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10220,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8456\/revisions\/10220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}