— Motherhood, Plants and Gardens —

Grow Your Own Vegetables in This Crisis: Urban Gardening

October 17, 2020
grow your own vegetables - gardening - vegetable patch - urban garden - grow your own food - sunblock - homecooking ingredients - vegetable patch - marie verde
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The Covid-19 pandemic has affected all of us. But how we reacted to what was dished to us differs according to our circumstance, our personality, as well as our perspective. Many have risen up to the challenge and their merits may be seen in their products. In this case, her produce. Meet Mommy Marie “Tata” Verde of Bacolod City who found herself growing her own food while staying safe at home. You, too, can grow your own vegetables in this pandemic. Be inspired by her story.

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~ Fresh produce from Mommy Tata’s vegetable patch. ~

Grow Your Own Vegetables

For a long time, environmentalists and health advocates have been campaigning to grow your own food because of its benefits.

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~ With a malunggay bouquet in hand– the new expression of love. ~

Here are the benefits of growing your own vegetables:

  1. You have control over how you grow it. For safety and health reasons, most home gardeners opt for natural gardening in order to produce organic vegetables and fruits.
  • There is less carbon footprint because transportation is not involved.
  • You get nutritious food because you consume or cook them almost immediately after picking.
  • Saves you a lot of money from buying fresh organic produce as well as transportation costs when you go to the market.
  • You stay safe at home because you don’t have to negotiate with vendors nor venture into a crowded market place.

Related: Mommy Tipid Tips to Beat Inflation

Mommy Marie Verde of Bacolod City

Meet Mommy Marie Verde of Bacolod City. Known by many as Mommy Tata, she is a fashionista, online seller, and a very involved and hands-on mom to her only son, Klein.

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~ Mommy Tata Verde of Bacolod City loves fashion and is one stylish mom. ~

Before the quarantine for Covid-19 happened, she used to travel a lot with her husband Eduard. His job allows him to take the whole family places around the world.

But like everyone else, they are now stuck at home as well, dealing with the pandemic.

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~ The Verde family in Disneyland Paris. ~

Making Use of Her Time and a Vacant Lot

During the first part of the lockdown last March, Mommy Tata also adjusted to the new normal.

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~ A vacant lot turned into a very productive vegetable garden. ~

In the following months, she got busy decluttering and joining in the barter movement. She was able to let go of a lot of unused stuff at home and got a lot of consumable supplies in return.

Eventually, she thought of using the vacant lot beside their house. They are living in a subdivision with big-cut lots but the one beside their property is still unoccupied. She asked the owner of their subdivision if she can make use of the vacant lot as a vegetable patch.

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~ She even grows peanuts! ~

The owner agreed and that was the start of Mommy Tata’s foray into growing her own vegetables.

Fresh Ingredients for Homecooking

Aside from savings for the family budget, Mommy Tata is enjoying the fact that she gets to use fresh ingredients for her homecooking.

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~ Laswa or vegetable stew is an Ilonggo dish. ~

As an avoid homecook, she delights in preparing delicious homecooked meals for her family. When her son was a baby, she meticulously prepared his meals, making sure that he gets nutritious food.

So being able to grow her own vegetables has given her so much gratification and freedom to cook more dishes.

~ Some of the other dishes that Mommy Tata has cooked at home — ampalaya salad and fish tinola — using vegetables from her backyard. ~

Inspiring Others to Do the Same

One of the best consequences of Mommy Tata’s backyard vegetable gardening is being able to inspire others to do the same.

Seeing how abundant her harvests are. Her neighbors also went about to do the same. They also asked permission for the use of vacant lots in their subdivision in order to grow their own vegetables.

~ Mommy Tata with husband Eduard and son Klein during a visit to La Vista Highlands. ~

Now that many of them are already growing their own food, the community members have been informally exchanging produce. It’s now a fun activity in the neighborhood that has revived the Bayanihan spirit where everyone is helping each other.

Staying Safe at Home

One of the best things of growing your own vegetables is that you get to eat fresh and nutritious produce without having to go out.

As we all know, one of the fastest ways to spread the dreaded Covid-19 virus is when we go out in crowded places.

Doctors and health experts are advising us to stay at home and avoid going out when it’s not necessary in order to slow down the progress of Covid-19. Eventually, the numbers will minimize.

In case you really need to go out for work or necessities, authorities remind us to always keep wearing our face masks and face shields. We should also avoid touching any part of our face when we are out.

Staying Pretty While Gardening

Mommy Tata keeps her skin glowing, supple, and young-looking by avoiding the strong rays of the sun while gardening.

To stay pretty as you grow your own vegetables, Mommy Tata does these things.

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~ Mommy Tata never forgets her sunblock when gardening. ~

She goes out to work on her vegetable patch early in the morning or late in the afternoon to avoid the searing high sun.

Moreover, she makes sure that she applies sunblock every time she goes out. We all know that prolonged sun exposure without sunblock can cause irreparable damage to the skin.

Healthy Options Collagen Complete: My Secret to Beauty from Within

Her Advice to Other Urban Homemakers

Mommy Tata says that at first, she was also hesitant to start her vegetable patch. But she thought of trying it out with the help of her aunt who helps her in the household.

She bought some seeds from the supermarket and also brought some seedlings or cuttings from her hometown in southern Negros Occidental.

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~ Store-bought packets of Ramgo vegetable seeds. ~

That was the start of her journey in growing her own vegetables during the pandemic.

She tells others to just start because they don’t know if they can succeed. Moreover, she advises resorting to container gardening for those who lack the space.

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~ Seedlings in a container that are ready for replanting. ~

Mommy Tata showed us resilience, as she also tries to survive this pandemic. She does it with poise, grace, and a lot of style.

Grow your own vegetables at home, too.

Other Stories of Resilient Pinay Moms

Meanwhile, here are stories of other resilient Pinay moms that you might like to read.

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2 thoughts on “Grow Your Own Vegetables in This Crisis: Urban Gardening”

  2. Nung time ng pandemic napakalaking tulong talaga ng paghahalaman lalo na kung fruits and vegtables ang tanim mo.. Namiss ko tuloy mama ni boss ko. hobby namin yan sa garden nya kaya wala kami problem sa gulay nun

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