JOIN THE REVOLUTION

It appears that more gardens will be planted this year than since Victory Gardens in the 1940s
 
Yes, I have been a gardener all my life. Now, it seems I field more gardening questions than ever as people are concerned about the current state of affairs in the world. Becoming more “local” has been a goal of mine for many years. 

My only qualifications for local foods systems is simple. I grew up in one. That’s correct. When we moved to Gackle, I was about 12 years old. That town was amazing. Five hundred people and it had within its borders:

• A meat packing plant that sold famous Gackle Sausage statewide
• A bank
• A Tastee-Freeze
• A bowling alley
• Seven churches of various faiths
• A hardware store
• A creamery
• Two car dealerships
• A clothing store
• Two grocery stores
• A pharmacy
• A school
• Park and swimming pool
• A café
• A movie theatre

Maybe several more businesses I forgot about. Oh, wait, the bar was called the Civic Improvement Bar. All proceeds went to the city coffers. Not a bad idea.
Now that people are paying a bit more attention to local instead of global, Victory Gardens are coming back into vogue.

Victory Gardens began during a time of rationing during the war. Both labor and transportation were limited, so people had to fend for themselves.

According to a web site, written by Claudia Reinhardt, of the Ganzel Group, “nearly 20 million Americans answered the call. They planted gardens in backyards, empty lots and even city rooftops. Neighbors pooled their resources, planted different kinds of foods and formed cooperatives, all in the name of patriotism.
Farm families, of course, had been planting gardens and preserving produce for generations. Now, their urban cousins got into the act. All in the name of patriotism.”

So, while I fall into the “farm” family track, I have been spreading the joy of gardening for years now. Several of my jobs, starting a community garden in Mandan and sharing my transplants; okay selling some transplants with education and advice, have prepared me for this time in life.

There were Victory Garden posters, pamphlets, magazine articles leading up to PBS Saturday morning show called, “The Victory Garden.” You can find it here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/victorygarden/.
Also, on the Ganzel Group website a staggering 315,000 pressure cookers were sold in 1943, compared to 66,000 in 1942. That was how families preserved the nine to 10 million tons of vegetables were preserved from more than 20 million victory gardens.
​
Once World War II ended, so did the government promotion of victory gardens. Not so many gardens were planted in the spring of 1946 resulting in a bit of food shortage until commercial production ramped up.
Not only is gardening a good source of fresh produce, the sunshine, stooping, digging in the soil will give you some additional health benefits as well as a good night’s sleep.
 
So, dig in folks.