We bought a strawberry plant. We watered it. We repotted it once. Pollinators came and went. Strawberries flourished, taunting us with their green state until they gradually blushed red. I am absurdly proud of this achievement.

It was so simple to do and the taste truly exceeded any shop bought variety. We have confirmed what we suspected for a long time, a truth of which many of you were already certain: it is immensely satisfying and enjoyable to grow your own food. And it truly was as easy as described. I am encouraged than even with my inexperience and over-watering tendencies, a little self-sufficiency is possible.

Next year we hope to expand our crop beyond this handful of strawberries and a few herbs. Self-sufficiency fuels an ongoing debate in our home. On the one hand, growing our own produce seems to be the ultimate sustainable lifestyle, growing just what is needed for your family, or maybe trading any excess within your community. On the flip side, we don’t just want to change our own lives, we want to see a global shift in how business and society functions, away from over-consumption, exploitation of people and natural resources towards enough for everyone and not too much drained from the planet. If we stop being the consumers of large corporations, what incentive do they have to listen as our voice calls them to start valuing people and the environment properly?

We’re not content that we’ve arrived at the answer yet, but growing a little more of our food will benefit the environment (reducing the distance food travels from miles to mere centimetres), as well as the unquantified benefits to our health and wellbeing from spending time outside, nurturing green life. We’ll grow even more of our own next year, and keep debating and taking the best actions we can to drive that necessary global change. Today, I’m staying cheerful and delighted with this handful of beauties, having tasted something of the simple pleasure that can be found from growing your own.