Does anyone else grow their own fruit & veg to get good organic food?

I live in Rural Alaska and grow all the fruits and veggies we need for the year. Our nearest (real) grocery store is a 134 mile round trip drive from home, and the quality of fruits and veggies we get in Alaska stores leaves ALOT to be desired. My partner and I also hunt and fish, as well as gather wild plants for food and medicine. Our "Subsistence" lifestyle not only contributes immensely to OUR good health, it also contributes to the good health of our environment. We use NO chemicals in our garden, irrigate with a passive, gravity fed system from the mountain creek in our yard, and WALK to the hunting grounds! We do have to buy such things as toilet paper, etc. from the "local" store, but when we do, we buy supplies for up to 3 months at a time to cut back on the expenses of motor vehicles and their resultant damage to the environment.

I grew broccoli, Swiss chard, cauliflower, lettuce, and spinach for the first time this past winter. And everything is wonderful! All of the veggies were from starts with the exception of the spinach, which I grew from seed. The best advice I can give you is to consider subscribing to Organic Gardening magazine and to purchase one of the best books out there for beginning gardeners: "Your Organic Garden" by Jeff Cox. Soil amendment (through compost, humus, etc) is crucial to the beginning growth stages and long-term survival of your plants. The ph balance of your soil will determine your success, so test your soil first (pick up a soil test kit at any nursery or big box gardening store). Companion planting relieves some of the pest problems as does organic compost. Good luck!

Yep, I have a large garden. I grow as much as possible. We try to freeze or can all summer long so we have it through the year.

We also have chickens we free range, and goats we milk.

I even make my own cheese and soap that is 100% organic.

I love knowing where everything I put on my table comes from. We live in a very rural area so the "organic" foods we get are way over priced and never look that good.

You do realize it is only organic, if you use organic potting soil, only natural fertilizer (feces and compost), and use no pesticides. If you dont follow these guidelines all you are doing is growing them at home.

Since you do according to your reply, good, and yes I do also. I am an amateur chef and throw neighborhood dinner parties all the time. I have a two acre piece of land, and have about a fourth of that as garden for vegetables and herbs.

I sure do! You just can't trust what in or on store bought food, so we grow what ever we can. We have lots of fruit trees and I can and freeze what we cannot consume during the season. This may seem like a lot of work, but if you place it in context, you will see that it's less work because you're not out shopping for food by wasting gas and money, you KNOW where you food comes from and how healthy it is, and in the end, the trade off by beig healthier for consuming it beats being sick all the time.

I don't usually follow organic protocol (although I never use fertilizers) but I grow my own produce in a community garden with a coworker of mine. It's a lot of fun and we save a bunch at the grocery store.

I like to focus more on locally grown produce then on organic- its much better for the environment. I have a share in a CSA and I also shop at local farmer's markets.

Growing food at home doesn't necessarily mean you are greener than those that buy it at the store. Remember, you have to drive to the place to buy the seeds, organic dirt, and other materials. Those materials are processed, packaged and shipped to the store (just like already grown foods).

It is probably a "greener" alternative to buy locally grown organics from a local organic farm because most of the pollution comes from shipping (truck, plane, boat) of groceries and produce to the stores.

I don't since I live in an apartment building and don't have dirt. However, what I do is I keep a worm bin to compost my vegetable and plant scrap matter and I meet with a few friends who do gardening about once a month. I bring worm castings for them to improve their soil and they bring me yummy organic, home-grown produce.

My entire family does -- from simply tomatoes and herbs (me & my husband, we have a wooded lot and little sun to grow things), to virtually everything under the sun between my two brothers. Fruit on bushes and trees, and all sorts of vegetables. Luckily, one of them is close enough to SHARE with me sometimes.

I do, but I live in Zone 9b (cool coastal), so i'm limited to the types of vegetables I can grow.

Tomatoes, citrus, plums, herbs, artichockes, squash. All in containers, all organic.