Plant a Food Producing Tree
As I sit here on the back porch enjoying the fine weather at a friend’s home here in California during our cross-country road trip, I can’t help but notice the fruit producing trees all around the yard – especially the orange trees which are currently loaded with beautiful oranges!
While not all climates are conducive for growing food producing trees (e.g. fruit trees), I can’t help but notice the tremendous benefit for those who do have these fruit trees or other such food producing trees on their property!
Here’s why:
-Health
-Financial
-Self sufficiency
Health Benefits from your own Food Producing Tree
When’s the last time you compared the taste of a grocery store fruit and a homegrown fruit fresh off the tree? As I ate one of the delicious oranges from our friend’s tree, I was amazed yet again to the stark difference in taste! These oranges were sweet, juicy, and downright delicious. A store-bought orange might be comparatively bland, dry, and not so delicious (they are typically picked before ripe and shipped long distances to stores).
You cannot get any healthier than harvesting and eating the fruits produced from trees on your property. You are in control of your food producing tree whereas a store-bought fruit might have been sprayed with all sorts of chemicals and pesticides (not to mention everyone handling them from start to finish).
Tip: Use White Vinegar To Clean Today’s Dirty Contaminated Vegetables
Many varieties of fruits (and vegetables) that you see in grocery stores are grown from varieties specifically tailored for their longevity during distribution and shelf life – perhaps at the expense of their taste and maybe even their healthy attributes.
Financial Benefits from your own Food Producing Tree
It should go without saying that the food you will harvest is essentially free. The costs of all foods have generally been going up (as most all things do), and if you take advantage of an entire harvest of a given fruit tree, the savings will be substantial.
Even if you can’t eat all that food/fruit, you could give it away for beneficial trades or goodwill towards your neighbors (who may return the favor in one way or another). During a time of hardship (or worse) beneficial food producing trees will become an asset for sure.
Self-sufficiency Benefits from your own Food Producing Tree
When you grow and harvest your own food, be it from a fruit bearing tree or a garden, you are becoming more self sufficient from the system that is designed to keep you reliant upon (the system).
Growing your own food will enable a real and rewarding sense of liberty and freedom while harvesting and preserving your bounty will add to your deep food storage pantry!
Food preservation techniques and equipment are readily available and fairly easy to implement. For example, you might consider dehydrating and/or home canning.
I recall a number of years ago when a friend of ours didn’t want her apricot fruit tree harvest to go to waste. She was elderly and unable to do it herself. She let us pick baskets full of apricots, which we used to make 4 cases of apricot jam during one Saturday. Not only was it fun and rewarding, the comparative grocery store value was about $200!
Take a tip from this example, if you don’t already have fruit producing trees or if you notice that your neighbor does, you might ask them if they would be willing to let you harvest the fruit in exchange for providing them with some of your finished product. Chances are they will let you!
What Fruit Trees Can I Grow Where I Live?
(From our grapefruit tree when we lived in a warmer climate)
Today I live in a cooler northern climate, however we can grow copious apple trees! There are lots of wild apple trees all over, however I did plant a few new varieties last year.
Check out your hardiness grow zone and discover what trees might grow in your climate.
Grow a Little Fruit Tree: Simple Techniques
Set a goal to go out and buy a food producing tree! Don’t wait another year (it takes awhile until they will bear fruit). Do it now, you will thank yourself later.
