On most days, you can find Jennifer Reyes in her garden. It’s an eclectic space the former scenic artist and mother of three built outside her carriage house on North McKean Street.

In the 13-by-31-foot space she grows pepper plants, tomatoes, cantaloupes, cucumbers and flowers in assorted pots and planters.

She also has built has water features, a bar and a tiki hut to cook in, utilizing reused materials as she developed her garden. It’s easy to see how she drew from her career -- Reyes said she built scenery for theme parks, including Disneyland and Dollywood.

Keeping up with her edible garden is a way that Reyes gives back to neighbors, family and friends, and eating the fresh produce is good for her health, she says.

In the past several years, Reyes has undergone two brain surgeries. She credits gardening with helping her heal.

“I felt better in the dirt and sunshine,” Reyes said. “I couldn’t stop going outside.”

Reyes said she believes the fruits and vegetables she picks from her garden are healthier than what is available in grocery stores.

“They taste different — they smell different,” she said.

With a bounty growing right outside her door, Reyes said she uses her fresh produce to juice, bake and can. Her husband, Joe Reyes, is a native of San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, and loves to cook.

The garden provides a way for her husband to connect to his culture and they cook what they harvest.

She grows the peppers; together, they make the salsas. Mild, hot and extra-hot, they prepare plenty of batches, she said.

Through her gardening adventures, she’s picked up other tips: Fried green tomatoes taste better canned, and picky eaters may be more inclined to eat homemade cantaloupe bread than bread you find at the store.

Eating and cooking with fresh fruits, herbs and vegetables from her garden gave her more energy, and she has loved being able to offer her children healthy food, she said.

“When I realized how much I healed, it inspired me to keep going,” she said. “As a mom, I can’t check out. I have to be here.”

While the garden and workshop she has built might suggest otherwise, Reyes wasn’t always a skilled gardener.

She said there was “a lot of trial and error because I’m self-taught.”

Over three years, the garden has continued to grow, with some of the plants peeking over her fence. Her neighbors, she said, have taken notice.

Now, Reyes shows beginners how to garden, grow their own herbs and plant green peppers.

“My dream is a community garden, so I also have built a fruit stand in front of my home to give away free food to the community whenever I harvest.

“Our garden is a weird tiny oasis,” she said.

You don’t need to be a skilled gardener, have experience working on a farm or even have a yard to start reaping some of these benefits of growing your own food.

“You can start even with herbs on a windowsill,” said April Miller, registered dietitian and Penn State Co-Op Extension educator. “Even just a small garden, a pot garden you can (grow) cherry tomatoes in.”

Miller said that different kinds of gardens, such as those built vertically, can help if you don’t have much space.

One of the biggest benefits of eating homegrown food is that you know what went into making it, she said.

“You know what is being sourced,” Miller said. “You can check the soil, the pH of the soil, if it’s going to be a good soil. You control the soil, you control where you purchase the plant, the seeds, the fertilizer. There’s no guessing.”

A tomato will have vitamins whether it’s bought in a grocery store, a farmers market or picked from your yard, but the quality would be different, she said.

Miller said that eating homegrown food and cutting back on processed foods can help reduce your intake of sodium.

“As Americans, we tend to consume more sodium than is required,” she said.

Kendra Gould, Butler County field representative of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Farmers Market Nutrition Programs said consuming local, organic produce is better for your health because it isn’t sprayed with pesticides. While processed food is more convenient, local produce also doesn’t travel as far or sit in storage for long.

“It’s just not treated with all different kinds of chemicals,” she said. “You can know where you got it … it’s not put on a truck and sprayed with stuff, you know, freeze dried or whatever, and you can talk to the person that's grown it. You know what exactly you're eating and what you're putting in your body.”

Thirty-one farms and farm stands in Butler County participate in the Farmers Market Nutrition Programs that help low-income people and seniors access nutritious local produce.