Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort.
In addition to indirectly aiding the war effort these gardens were also considered a civil "morale booster" — in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown.
Making victory gardens became a part of daily life on the home front. Amid regular rationing of canned food in Britain, a poster campaign ("Plant more in '44!") encouraged the planting of Victory Gardens by nearly 20 million Americans. These gardens produced up to 40 percent of all the vegetable produce consumed nationally.
It was emphasised to home front urbanites and suburbanites that the produce from their gardens would help to lower the price of vegetables needed by the US War Department to feed the troops, thus saving money that could be spent elsewhere on the military: "Our food is fighting", one poster read. Basic information about gardening appeared in public services booklets distributed by the Department of Agriculture, as well as by agribusiness corporations such as International Harvester and Beech-Nut.
Victory gardens were planted in backyards and on apartment-building rooftops, with the occasional vacant lot "commandeered for the war effort!" and put to use as a cornfield or a squash patch. During World War II, sections of lawn were publicly plowed for plots in Hyde Park, London to publicize the movement. In New York City, the lawns around vacant "Riverside" were devoted to victory gardens, as were portions of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
In 1946, with the war over, many residents did not plant Victory Gardens in expectation of greater produce availability. However the added pressures of supplying liberated Europe meant that, in the UK, shortages remained, or in many cases got worse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_gardenMy mother got serious about her Victory Garden in 1942, the year I was born. Even after her only brother and my uncle, Harold, was shipped off to fight and die on Okinawa, she continued the tradition.
I've had gardens through the years, but I didn't really get serious until 2004. That's the year I realized that food shortages were emminent. That became obvious when I realized that fresh tomatoes cost about $1.50 each, and other fruits and vegetables carried a sticker that said, "Produce of Mexico."
The lesson really came home to roost when I read a small article that even the Jolly Green Giant had farmed out corn production to Peru and when I travelled to Michigan for a two week visit with my mother she showed me acre after acre of asparagus that was to be plowed under since production of that vegetable was also being turned to overseas growers.
Every year thousands of small farmers sell-out - no longer able to compete in the so-called global economy. Thus, in my humble opinion, the Victory Garden has become more than a passtime, it has become a necessity. Yet in spite of the obvious danger our food supply is in, homeowners more and more frequently turn luscious, fertile back yards into pet runs or even worse, cement or stone covered patios. A small 10' x 10' area can produce dozens of quarts of tomatoes, beets, pickles or other vegetables of your choice.
Every time a home gardener goes to his or her own pantry and pulls down part of the evening's meal, he or she deprives some foreign producer or government of a sale and thus the profits and at least part of the control over our nation's food supply.
A lot of the food products our few remaining farmers produce, such as wheat and rice, are being shipped overseas because to many people in the "utopian global neighborhood" who can't or won't feed themselves. In fact, as of April 24, 2008, rice was being rationed at such retail giants as Wal-Mart and Sam's Club.
We are at war. Not with Germany, Japan or Italy, but with radical Islam - and to a large degree - our own government.
The sooner the American public wakes up and begins to assume some small control over its destiny, the better off we will all be. And that control may consist of nothing more than growing a little garden - a Victory Garden.
