- Good day.
I'm Mark from Self Sufficient Me
and in this video I wanna make a confession to you
about why I got into growing our own food
all those years ago.
And the short answer is,
it was all about the money.
Let's get into it.
(Hand Thumps)
That's better.
(Calm music) (birds chirping)
Back in 2008, Nina and I were both in the Australian army.
Nina was a warrant officer medic
running a large medical center
and I was a squadron sergeant major
in charge of my unit's, discipline, security
physical training and things like that.
But despite our careers going well, we weren't happy,
mainly because our home front was suffering
due to being time poor
trying to hold two professional jobs
and care for our two boys, five and two years old.
This type of lifestyle might be fine for some
but for us it was miserable.
And we also wanted a more stable upbringing for our kids.
So we made the radical decision to leave the military
with the simple plan to settle down
on a few cheap Acres away from the city Madness.
For me to become a home dad
and for Nina to be the main bread winner
Nina could then concentrate on her career post army
without having to worry about the home as much.
I would look after the boys
take care of home administration
pay bills, cleaning, garden maintenance, et cetera
and have a nice wholesome meal on the table
for when Nina got home from work.
Splitting up our duties like this made a lot of sense to us.
Maybe not everyone, but it did to us
and it was kind of like
we offloaded instantly our duties
or half of our duties onto each other.
You have to have a, you have to think about it a little bit.
Life was instantly clearer.
We had more time and things were just less complicated.
However, there was one negative factor
and we always knew it was gonna be a challenge
and you guessed it.
That was the money.
Falling from a double income down to practically one wage
with a mortgage and a growing family.
Well, finances were as tight as our fissures.
Well, you know what.
Our plan from the beginning to save on some of the costs
was for me to grow as much food as possible
in our own backyard.
Later, this decision would turn into a whole new career
for myself as a content creator on the interwebs
a YouTuber with over a million subscribers, thanks to you.
But back then it was pure survival
and saving money by growing food
instead of buying it from the the supermarket.
And it was a big help because money was tight,
initially, I was frugal in our garden.
I had plenty of time between nappy changes
and I wasn't a big fan of daytime soapies.
So getting out, growing in ground with just seeds
and also using my own labor
was pretty cost effective at the time.
Even our early raised garden beds were made
from cheap recycled materials to save costs
speaking about raised beds
and also crossing over into the realm of military.
I'd found raised bed gardening
a lot easier on my broken body.
Due to several major injuries during my army days.
Stand up, gardening and limited bending makes weeding
digging and planting much less painful
and a heck of a lot more fun.
Unfortunately, my DIY raised beds deteriorated quickly.
So we saved up and purchased our first Birdies Beds
around 2009 and they are still growing strong today.
By the way, as I release this video
Memorial Day in the States is just a few days away
on Monday, the 30th of May
I made up mind Kevin, from Epic Gardening.
You might know him.
He sells these birdies race garden beds
in the USA made in Australia.
And over the memorial weekend including Monday,
he's having a huge 15% off sale on garden beds
and other garden products he sells.
I have an affiliate relationship with Epic gardening
meaning that I get a small commission.
It doesn't costs the buyer anything more
but I get a small commission if people use my code
which is down below on checkout at his store
plus using my special code gets another 5% off.
So if you are thinking about getting
any of these raised beds or anything else
from the Epic gardening site, that's a huge 20% savings.
So just use my code
on checkout and you'll get that discount.
But don't forget, it's the Memorial Day Sale
and it does end on Monday night.
Anyway, the other unexpected benefit
that I found growing our own food
was the dramatic effect it had on my PTSD.
And this is one of the major reasons
that started me wanting to spread the word
about food gardening, not only to save money,
but as a mental health therapy as well.
Then you have the physical health benefits like exercise.
And did you know the best source of Vitamin D is sunlight?
It's true.
Vitamin D is critical for good health
and it's good to see the sun out finally here
after all of this rain for the last several months.
Growing your own also allows you to produce
chemical free organic food and try things you can't buy
at the supermarket, plus a whole lot more.
So yeah, in the beginning for me, growing a food garden
and self sufficiency was all about the money.
That was the main drive.
And even with the flourishing food garden from 2008 to 2016
about eight years, our finances were still borderline.
We robbed Peter to pay Paul and had limited luxuries
but I have no doubt that it was our food garden
growing food at home, our self sufficiency
that pulled us through those really tough times.
And with the cost of living rising alarmingly now,
I can't help thinking
that a food garden may well be the best way
for ordinary people to make their hard earned go further
and give them some buffer against tough times.
I hope food shortages
and outta control inflation doesn't happen
like some top economists are predicting.
Dare I say, experts, because I think
vulnerable people and small businesses,
they've suffered enough
particularly over the last few years.
You know what I mean?
Having said that, I reckon we'll come through this
as humanity always does,
looking after each other and the future will improve
for those who are hard working, tenacious and aspirational.
Crikey, I'm using my big words today, aren't I?
Anyway, I guess the whole point of this video
was to point out, no matter why you start a food garden,
whatever the motivation, even if it is to make
or save money, the overall other benefits of gardening
will shine through, and in the end
this will be worth more than the dollar value.
Lastly, I just wanted to say from my point of view
as a retired Australian soldier,
Memorial Day is a time to commemorate
those American service men and women
who have fallen on duty in order to keep us safe.
And now as the sun comes out fittingly, I reckon
if it wasn't for them making the ultimate sacrifice
and indeed those who have served
and those who are still serving
there is no doubt the world would be a worse place to live.
So thanks for your service.
And thanks to you for watching this video.
I hope you enjoyed the video.
If you did, make sure you give it a memorable thumbs up.
Share the video around and subscribe to my channel
if you haven't already.
Thanks a lot for watching.
Bye for now.
Cheers.