when it became impossible to keep the garden from being mowed to the ground by the huge overpopulation of urban deer in our neighborhood. We miss our garden and, yes, the memories of picking those perfect homegrown tomatoes.

Squirrels Are my Nemesis

Lucky enough to have ample garden space and enjoy a plethora of fruits and vegetables all summer long. Then over winter canned tomatoes, applesauce, and different squash varieties. We do still have to supplement with trips to the store on occasion but try to keep it local.

Fresh, canned, dehydrated. Rhubarb and blackberries from my backyard. Apples are picked from a local orchard. Blueberries and cherries for freezing and canning come via the local farm market sourced no more than a state away. Ditto my sweet corn. I try to buy meat and eggs from the local suppliers of the farm market. Winter gets a little dicey - depends on how well I protect the garden from the cold and how cold it gets. Try to rely on what I have put away. But I do succumb to the lure of fresh out of season once in awhile. Bake my own bread - most of the flours are sourced from independent farms.

But - and it is a big but - I am only feeding me and I do not suffer from food fatigue ie I can eat the big batch of bean soup daily for a week without getting tired of it. Not a big meat eater but I do like bacon with my eggs. Bacon almost always from Corp Food

This has been a slow process. And of course there are many things in my kitchen and pantry I have only a regular grocery (corp food) as a source. I don’t beat myself up - just do what I can do. Every little bit helps.

It's not necessarily corporate food; it's the toxins the corporate grower/producers introduce into it: hormones, anti-biotics, chemical flavorings, preservatives, glyphosate, pesticides, etc...along with poor living conditions and feeds. I've done some common herbs, and cuke, green and jalepeno peppers, zukes (gave up), brussel sprouts, red and green cabbage, lettuces, radishes, carrots, celery, broccoli, chard, and squash experiments - NEED MORE ROOM and/or SUNSHINE! I'm an suburban apartment dweller who faces west so the garden's in the shade mornings and late summer afternoons. Happy Gardening! I also attempt to limit use of single-use plastics--most of which don't break down but do live on as micro-plastic pollution, or don't ever make it to recycling projects.

Also, too many are using pesticides that kill the pollinators - planting bee-friendly flowers that don't get sprayed with toxins goes along way in helping more live and provide the necessary pollination in these times of climate change which is also stressing out the fruit trees, making them more vulnerable to diseases. I'm all for keeping as close to organic as I can manage. One can do a lot of great eating with 6 quarts of Roma sauce over the winter, a few slicing/salad-size, and/or cherry tomatoes. Know your more local farmers and buy locally well-grown and fed meats is also good advice - I've found these steps provide better human nutrition, beautiful tasty veggies, and more satisfaction in preparing and eating one's meals--one doesn't need the junk foods. I gave up soda for the immune benefits of iced green tea using filtered water and various organic flavorings as well. So smooth and refreshing--goes with everything! Gotta haves: My morning coffee and daily chocolate ration--meh, not so much chance I'd give these up!

My garden only gets the Western sun so it's fine during the summer but towards September everything just starts to die off.

I did start planting flowers that are V pollinators to attract them unfortunately I live in a condo that loves to spray the grass with the chemical called it's true something it's quite disgusting whenever they do it I don't know why they have to spray the grass it's so dumb

But people love green grass more than they love avoiding cancer I guess🤷🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️

That gets very little sun and no porch or balcony. I have no car so the farmers market is out the bus does not run on saturdays. I have to eat the damn corporate crap. I wish I could have a garden plant some fruit trees and have a few chickens.

I started off very intimidated about growing a garden outside I don't know why I just was

But could we feed our ever-growing population without industrial/corporate food?

We could educate people on how to grow their own food.
I have friends who live in some condo and town house areas that aren't even allowed to grow gardens in their backyards.

Isn't that insane?
Also if more people were growing their own food, they would probably be less of a burden on the grocery stores perhaps. Wouldn't that go a long way to help feed the world population?