The Whole Food Journal

Well, everyone is getting excited about something new to generations younger than me.  And it’s SO exciting.  It’s called Victory Gardening.  Seems it’s just the ticket to deal with rising food prices, and it is.  But it’s not new. There is quite a long and interesing history behind the victory garden concept.  The practice also has a number of different names, depending on when and why people took action to secure their food supply.

Victory gardens have also been know as war gardens, survival gardens, depression-era gardens, security gardens and self-sufficiency gardens.  Not too long ago this type of home based self-reliance even included something called the Y2K garden.  I admit to having one of these, and a lot of other preparedness stuff that we just won’t go into here.

Back to victory gardening’s history.  During World War I, food shortages were common throughout Europe.  Then in 1916 came worldwide crop failures and food surpluses in the United States were wiped out.  Food prices soared and food rationing was necessary, not just for civilians, but our troops as well. To combat this problem a few visionaries imagined backyards and vacant city lots turned into gardens  They set about educating the public and promoting “city farming”.  In 1917 the National War Garden Commission was organized and “war gardens” became a huge movement as our nation’s people responded.  Food preservation and canning were also promoted.

In 1941 our nations food supply again became a huge concern.  The question of how to feed not only our own population, but our troops and our allies as well prompted then Secretary of Agriculture Claude Wickard to launch the National  Victory Garden Program.  Three V’s stood for Vegetables, Vitality and Victory.  So during World War II, a time of great patriotism and honor, Americans again rallied together and helped contribute to the war effort by planting some 15 million gardens in rural areas as well as in cities.

Now there is another movement underway.  In the face of high energy prices, an uneasy economy, the potential for food shortages as we speak and steadily rising food costs, the victory garden concept has sparked a great deal of interest as a viable solution to potential problems ahead.  I couldn’t agree more!

Look for an explosion of new gardeners next season.  And what will they be growing?  Everything from A-to-Z.  For sure there will be tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, onions, carrots. beans, potatoes, corn, lettuce, cabbage, melons, pumpkins.  Are you hungry yet?   This is just the beginning.  I predict there will be a second “explosion”…….and that would be the preservation of the food harvest.  Personal food security will also reflect our concerns with the quality and safety of our current food supply.  Dare I say this is what self-reliance is all about……..and that we just haven’t had to think about it for quite some time now?

To some Victory Gardening is, and always has been, their way of life.  Called by any other name, there are thousands and thousands of people who garden for a multitude of reasons from their security and health,  their sustainable footprint on the planet and just for the pleasure of it all.  It’s all good!

Think about planting your own little victory garden next season.  It doesn’t have to be big…..or beautiful for that matter.  But then I think all gardens (like babies) are beautiful.  Mine’s SO full of weeds it’s almost embarrasing.  But my tomatoes….they are fit for a king!!  

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 9:14 pm and is filed under Whole Food 101. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.