Garden to Table: Add a Little Homegrown to your Cooking By: Kaitlin Wille The phrase “cooking at home” often brings warm feelings to many. The familiarity, tradition, and serenity all give an island to jump on amid a turbulent week. With the pandemic, cooking at home has taken on a whole new meaning. As more people avoid large crowds at restaurants, we have found inventive ways to make food. In the comfort of our own homes, we have whipped up new coffee, made the most out of three-ingredient recipes, and got creative with our presentation ways. “Homegrown, Homelovin’” is all about celebrating the things we love about cooking at home and doing so in an organic way. One way to think outside the box is to grow food at home. We teamed up with horticulturists at Iowa State University and some local farmers to learn how to garden for the kitchen. The one thing they both wholeheartedly agree on; nothing beats a homegrown tomato. Aaron Steil, assistant director at Reiman Gardens, advises starting small when growing edible gardens. “Tomatoes are great for starting a garden because of their diversity. You can grow stuff you can’t find in a store with a simple seed,” Steil said, “My kids grew some, and I’m pretty confident they only took the first bite because they did it themselves.” Gardening is easy enough for kids and rewarding enough for the effort. Gardening has increased since the pandemic to combat food insecurity and promote wellbeing. A Canadian study published in a sustainability journal found that “66% of new home food gardeners agree that the current pandemic influenced their decision to start producing food at home.”
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