By Michael, on August 14th, 2012 
Should disaster ever strike, it’s important to have a number of preparations and plans in place. The last thing you want to do is wander through life aimlessly, completely unprepared in case something horrible were to happen or strike. I’m not trying to be a buzzkill, but it’s quite likely you’ll encounter emergency circumstances in your lifetime and the only way to be prepared for such unfortunate circumstances is to have a plan of action in place.
One area I like to focus much of my disaster planning on is on emergency food. I stock up my outside pantry with canned foods and bottled water every so often, but recently I’ve also started to grow a garden as well. I’ve learned that gardens are quite useful and helpful, especially in the direst of circumstances. If you don’t already have a garden, here are three reasons why it might be a good idea to start cultivating one for emergency situations.
Teaches Self-sufficiency
If your sole chance of having breakfast, lunch, or dinner depends on you nurturing your crops, you better believe you’re going to be diligent in taking care of your garden. Before I ever planted my backyard garden, I depended upon grocery stores and local farmers markets to provide me with food. But, what would happen if all those things were taken away from me? Would I be able to survive? I’m not so sure. Growing a garden teaches you to take care of yourself and understand that mass-food production is a luxury that none of us should depend upon forever.
Unites Community Members
Although I have a home garden, I sometimes volunteer at the church community garden right down the street from me. Every week I go to help out at the garden, I’ll see a handful of neighborhood members watering, planting, and working the garden. Disasters have a way of creating mass fear that may make many of us want to act selfishly, but the only way to survive emergency circumstances is to work together. Community gardens are extremely useful when people need to feed themselves in the midst of emergencies. By getting an early start and growing a garden with people in your community, you’ll understand how to handle food sourcing and distribution if disaster should ever strike.
Cheaper Than Purchasing Food
I’ll stock up my emergency pantry every few weeks, and the endeavor is never cheap. Sure, canned and dried foods last for a while, but nobody wants to keep dishing out dollars for just-in-case-we-need-it-one-day food. Not only do they usually just sit on your pantry shelf, canned foods go bad eventually. Gardens are great in providing fresh, healthy food that doesn’t cost much. Seeds are cheap, and as long as you don’t mind putting in some menial labor, you’ll be able to save much more money growing a garden as opposed to buying canned and dried foods all the time.
Gardening has been around since the dawn of man and has managed to keep us alive for many years. Should disaster strike, you’ll feel much more secure if you have a garden in your backyard to keep you and your family well fed.
Susan is a freelance blogger who enjoys writing about automotive and health news, technology, lifestyle and personal finance.
