More than food

Did you know that a garden can be used for more than just growing food? Having a sustainable garden means zero to little waste and less trips to the grocery store.

Obviously, this idea depends on a few factors such as climate and space available. Even if you have a small garden in your backyard, there are endless possibilities to what you can grow and use. Not just eat.

Ancient people have been using the “homestead” method as a way of life forever. Growing their own food, medicine, and even clothing. One simple way to expand your garden is by growing things that can be used in multiple applications. For example, herbs are a great plant to have because not only can you eat them raw or use them as garnish. You can make your own spice blends, use them in tea or even natural herbal medicine. Herbs are also great because they can thrive indoors or outdoors and they repopulate as you cut them down.

The more you expand, the more you can produce. If you have enough space for animals, that can lead into things like eggs, meat, wool and clothing. No everyone has that luxury.

For me, I recently planted a bunch of berry bushes. Depending on your climate, berries can be another very sustainable produce to grow. A berry bush will grown back every year so there is no need to replant them. Their leaves can be used for tea and natural medicine, and berries again are great on their own or can be made into jelly, or even organic baby food.

There are plenty of ways to use every resource in your garden and make the more sustainable garden possible.