Grow Your Own Organics & Reclaim Your Food!

Jesse: You'd be surprised how
easy it is to grow your own food.

Joan: You go outside, you pick a few items
and you cook it for your dinner.

Carlos: This was always ours.

We gave it away for I don't know
what, I guess convenience?

But I think we're learning now that
convenience doesn't always trump everything.

Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome
to another vegan nugget. It’s no secret

that fresh, organic fruits and vegetables
are ideal for our physical health.

But depending on where you live
and what your circumstances are,

getting access to quality
produce can be challenging.

Our food system is broken
in more ways than one.

We have a long and hard battle to
fight not only for the trillions of

sentient beings killed for its
“products,” but also for

the inequality of food distribution,
among other concerns.

One of the simplest and most
empowering...literally

grassroots solutions is
growing our own food.

In an upcoming video I’ll cover
some exciting grassroots initiatives

that are transforming urban spaces
into community gardens and working

to bring fresh produce to food deserts
and individuals in need.

Today’s video is about getting started
growing in your own home, apartment

or residence, and the importance of
taking our food back into our own hands.

To help me share this important
topic, I had the honor of

speaking with three
knowledgeable individuals.

Jesse from the Instagram
account vegantake0ver,

who we met in the video on feeding the
homeless of New York, and

whose son Jesse Jace will be appearing in
upcoming vegan kids interviews.

Joan from the Instagram account
and upcoming website HOG,

Health Organic Green

who helps people get started growing
with great tips, creative ideas,

and by sending organic
seeds through the mail,

and Carlos Espinal of the
100th Seed Project,

which empowers communities in
reconnecting with their food source

through urban farming, gardening
and green space initiatives.

We’ll hear more from Carlos in the
upcoming urban gardening video.

Let’s open up with hearing some
basics about how to get started growing:

Jesse: I had this huge patio in my
new apartment that I had moved into.

There were a few pots out there
that were left and I always thought,

“man, let me fill these pots up.”

Eventually I got some soil and seeds
and I planted those pots and

things started growing so well. So the
next thing you know I purchased

a lot more pots, I started researching,
I started going on YouTube, and

Googling things, I started
visiting local nurseries, and

buying baby plants. And I just
started slowly filling up my patio.

My first year and I never even lived in a
house, always in an apartment.

I've never had a backyard. My first year
I was harvesting pounds and pounds —

probably hundreds of pounds of
food. It gives you a great

satisfaction to grow your own
food, you really enjoy it.

You just need to identify where and
how you going to grow your food.

Are you going to grow
it on your balcony?

Are you going to grow
it in the ground?

Find a place with direct sun,
find some nice organic seeds from

a trustworthy place. Visit a local
nursery and find out what plants

grow good in your growing zone
because typically we don't know

what type of plants grow
where we are living.

Carlos: See if there's a local
farmer's market, or CSA,

community garden that you
can go visit and volunteer.

Don't be afraid to volunteer, take
some time out of your day and

put that work in and learn. It's
all there you just got to find it.

Don't be afraid to search, don’t be
afraid to feel like you don't know

enough or whatever because we
all have to start somewhere.

Joan: We've been growing food
for more than thirty years now.

Twenty-eight of them right
here in our own backyard.

We removed the deck that used
to sit right here and replaced it

with a partial shade garden.

When Hurricane Sandy hit,

our roof got damaged and we
needed to replace the gutters.

The banged up ones were
up-cycled and now,

hanging in the back,
they grow our lettuces.

Over the years we learned how to grow more
food in less space. Thanks to social media

we've been able to teach people to grow their
own food anywhere. We started balcony gardens

in Miami, hydroponic gardens, rooftop gardens,
and windowsill gardens. We've visited community

gardens and CSA's. Folks have started produce
gardens right at their job place.

Reclaiming our food system is such a powerful
action. Self-proclaimed Gansta Gardener Ron

Finley says that “gardening is the most
therapeutic and defiant act you can do.

Plus you get strawberries.”

Jesse: I think it's very important to reclaim
our own food system because we have almost

forgotten how to grow food. Growing food is
a skill that we all should have in our arsenal.

We go to the supermarket and we purchase everything
there but we don't know how things were grown.

A lot of these things aren’t grown
locally, they're not in season.

When you grow your own food, you
know what you've put in the soil,

you know you grow these things organically,
you know you didn't use any pesticides.

Carlos: I'm a believer that by design we're
stewards of the land. We're were meant to

be in unison, in cooperation, with
the land and we have lost that.

It’s one of the most vital connections
we have, is to our planet and our Earth.

Through learning how to grow our own
food we also learn, like, responsibility,

you know? We plant the seed, we nurture it.
You know, it’s like birth, right?

You see it grow and you're able to watch
your creation blossom by nurturing it,

taking care of it. I think you just have a
whole new respect for that process.

Joan: The ethics behind many organic labels
have brought attention to fraud. Global concerns

on the carcinogens use, on the food supply,
pollinator decline, wildlife destruction leaves

the consumer at risk. This is the food we're
eating, this is how important this is.

The best way to know it's organic is to grow
your own organic. We used our social media

platform to spread awareness and
to date we've mailed seeds that we

grew right here in this backyard to
1325 addresses worldwide.

Not only is growing our own food
a way for us to reconnect to our

food source, it’s also a way for us to
overcome food insecurity and subvert

the power of food corporatization.

Jesse: Once your plants go through a
few seasons, you get to save seeds.

Next thing you know you have your own
seed bank, you have a seed collection.

If something ever happens, you have
food security. Seeds may be worth

more than gold if something
happens in the future.

It's a very important skill that we as a society--they
don't teach this in schools most of the time.

We should know how to grow our own food. You
know, if everybody grew their own food we

could barter, we could trade. You know, if
people started planting seeds in public places,

if we had edible fruit trees in the parks,
we wouldn't need to be reliant on buying food

from these major corporations. So I think
it's very important to grow your own food.

Carlos: Well I think the main problem is the
access to food, having these food deserts.

Even in the biggest cities. Like here in New
York we have tons of supermarkets and stores

everywhere, I can walk down the block and
go to the bodega but what are they selling

there? None of it is healthy. All of it is
detrimental to our health. As much food as

there is around us, there is not an abundance
of healthy living thriving foods. Regardless,

especially in cities, there's a growing movement
of grassroots organizations and people that

want to have that reconnection again. Even
with the farmers' markets. They're bringing

in access from regional farms that are growing
a lot healthier, non-monocultered,

like mass produced food that our
agriculture today is filled with.

Joan: We're trying to make a difference because
this is something simple, affordable, and

needed. The environmental impact of growing
your own food is immense. There are no fueled

delivery systems to bring cargo ships of produce
to your store, no plastic packaging up the

food, and there is no fuel to purchase the
food; you don't have to get in your car and

go purchase it, you go outside you pick a
few items and you cook it for your dinner.

It's that easy. It increases the health of
the food and it supports the ecosystem that's

right outside your door. Growing an organic
garden is the easiest most repeatable way

to ensure that the food you're serving your
family on their table is secure.

Finally, home and community gardening is a
great way to involve kids and young people

in a fun activity that helps them connect
to their food in a world where kids are more

and more distanced from their food sources.

Jesse involves his son Jesse Jace
in their home gardening.

Jesse: I think it's really important for children
to see where and how food grows because if

kids grow kale, kids will eat kale. If kids
grow tomatoes, they're gonna eat tomatoes.

Kids love being in the garden. They get excited,
they want to water the plants, they want to

plant the seeds. They want to harvest the
stuff. Then they become connected with it.

In todays society children don't even know
what fruits and vegetables are many times.

Growing your own food makes children
understand and cherish vegetables and fruits.

I think it's very important to get the
kids involved and let them be outdoors.

They're getting their vitamin D and fresh air
rather than being cooped up on video

games and electronics.
So, I think that's the most important part.

I hope this vide has been helpful and inspiring.
Connecting to our food is vital on so many

levels and, I believe, can even help people
open their minds and eyes to where

and from whom their animal
products come from.

It’s also a way to make fresh, organic produce
more available to everyone, making a healthy

vegan lifestyle that much more approachable
and attainable. As Carlos said in the opening

of this video, we’ve given away our connection
to our food and our ability to produce it

on our own. And I think
it’s time to take it back.

I’ve included links to my guests’ contact
information if you want to get in touch, and

I want to thank Jesse, Carlos and
Joan for their important work

and their assistance
with this video.

Now I’d love to hear from you on this. Do
you grow your own food? Do you want to?

What do you think about reclaiming our
food system? Let me know in the comments!

If you enjoyed this video, give it a big thumbs-up
and share it around to help others grow their

own organics. If you’re new here, do hit
that big red subscribe button down there for

more awesome vegan content every Monday, Wednesday,
and some Fridays and not to miss out the on

the community garden video. If you want to
help support Bite Size Vegan,

check out either of the support links
in the video description below or

click on the Nugget Army icon
or the link in the sidebar.

Now go live vegan,

take back your food,

and I’ll see you soon.

Jesse: What are you doing?

Jesse Jace: Watering the plants!!!!

Jesse: Good boy.