An Organic Man Cave

If we we’re supposedly smart enough to put a man on the moon, surely we can figure out how to marry human smarts with natural systems in a way that allows us to exist more harmoniously with the planet as a whole in the places we live and work.

This, I believe, will be the human species’ most pressing and important challenge in the immediate future; the will to effect change in the areas we live and work without hiding behind ignorance or apathy, to actually do good and deliver for our communities.

With my eyes set on this new mission to start growing my own food, I decided to build a greenhouse. This is like my green laboratory where I can learn the science behind growing my own food in a contained environment. And my greenhouse isn’t just an organic workshop, it’s my man cave.

I think it’s important that everyone has a space for themselves – not just men – but for me it’s my greenhouse. It’s a place where I can come for an hour after work and just wind down, forgetting the stresses and pressures of running a business – it’s almost like therapy or meditation for me. I tend to my seedlings, make sure the growing plants are all looking good and check that all the equipment is still working properly. It’s a place where I control the environment…well mostly.

I think that this idea appeals to most healthy people in South Africa and at the moment there is a growing trend to go green and eat organic food. I needed to know where my food was coming from and how it was produced and since no one could give me any good answers, I was going to find out for myself by going back to its roots.

Now, straight off the bat, there are two things that often deter people from even trying this: time and money. The common perception is that organic and free-range foods are much more expensive and in many ways reserved for those who are wealthy enough to afford it – the rest of us have to settle for the cheaper, substandard products available at our run-of the-mill supermarkets. Obviously, if you are growing your own food – as we all should – the cost is essentially nothing; free food for the most part! The downside then becomes the time cost: tending to your plants, watering them, checking the soil, and tending to pests – it can seem almost impossible and ultimately deters people from even trying.

The truth is that growing your own food is easier than it’s ever been. With even the most modest technology, you can automate nearly the entire process so that your greenhouse will be fully tended to while you’re at work. All you have to do is pick what you want for dinner!

This is what I hope to share with everyone reading this and if you stick around I’ll show you how easy this can be, using my experiments as an example so that you don’t have to make the mistakes that I’ve made. We can all do this, and if we do, we could change the way that we eat for the better, so I’ll keep you posted on how we can do this!