Victory Gardens: An Old Concept With An Ecofriendly Spin
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It seems that in hard economic times everything old is new again and this seems to be the case with the Victory Garden, an World War I and II concept that is experiencing an ecofriendly resurgence.
In the midst of transportation shortages and depleted labor forces, the government encouraged citizens to plant gardens. With the rationing of goods such as sugar, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, coffee, meat and canned goods, a garden soon became a necessity to ensure that families would have the fruits and vegetable they needed on a daily basis. A garden also represented the ability to preserve their harvest too see them through the winters. The government’s idea was that if people grew their own fruits and vegetables, it would reduce the strain on the national food supply. This was started in World War I and few kept a garden growing during the great depression. During WWII a great many new Victory Gardens sprung up again from the governments call to action. Victory gardens were part of the United States’ war effort so that those at home felt that they were involved and productive. It also served as a distraction to those who had loved ones off at war. Gardens were more than something to have in your backyard. They became social and community activities as neighbors banned together and grew gardens in abandoned fields and even on dirty rooftops. Also, neighbors grew different kinds of foods and formed rudimentary cooperatives, all in the name of patriotism.
Though rural families had a long tradition of gardening and preserving, now those in urban centers were getting in on the act. To aide in the war effort, magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and Life printed stories about victory gardens and women’s magazines gave instructions on how to grow and preserve garden produce. The government encouraged canning and the making of preserves as they could save commercial canned goods for the troops. In 1943, there were 315,000 pressure cookers (used in the process of canning) purchased as opposed to 66,000 the year before. The pressure cooker like an ecofriendly garden is enjoying a resurgence of late as well.
Through economic downturns, many want to eschew a consumerist mindset and embrace simple traditions. These are lessons that are as relevant today as they were then and hopefully help both the environment and your pocketbook.
It’s time that we show our patriotism to Planet Earth and heed the green call to action again. An ecofriendly Victory Garden is an excellent place to start.
