How to start growing your own food

Starting a garden, farm or growing food can become a journey of self-sustainability with many lifetime benefits. “I think getting your hands in the dirt, there’s something about reconnecting with the Earth. When you’re gardening, you’re going to be outside, you’re going to be in the sun, you’re going to be getting fresh air, you’re going to be interacting with animals, even insects and things of that nature, and I think it just connects us back to the Earth,” said Sylvester Friend, one of the farmers behind Prairie Hills Farm – a farm in Selma, Indiana – on the benefits of growing your own food. Friend started Prairie Hills Farms with his wife Sabrina in 2021, but the farm’s roots started with their home garden in 2018. At that time, Friend and his family moved from Michigan to Georgia for work, and he said he decided to start a garden after talking to his wife one day. He started it on the balcony of his house, growing the vegetables they already ate and cooked. Then, an experience with the food they grew drove his family to become serious about growing and gardening. “One time when I was away from home...