March 29, 2024

Did you know there was a campaign during World War II to plant gardens for the sake of reducing the costs of transporting food and thereby for the sake of contributing to the war effort?

Victory Garden

I knew many people had gardens, and I knew that even schools often had gardens in efforts to be more self-sustaining (and to teach agriculture). I didn’t know there was a specific campaign for Victory Gardens.

Most likely I never heard this term because my grandparents didn’t call their gardens Victory Gardens. They were growing them anyway before the war and continued after the war. But they were country people. The Victory Gardens evidently really took off in urban settings.

Now, of course, if the Department of Defense asked Americans to plant gardens to reduce fuel costs and reduce the amount of money we’re spending on foreign oil that is just going straight into the hands of the enemy, ten food industry coalitions would sue, and political accusations would fling in all directions.

Victory Garden 2

The Victory Garden campaign was a success, though, with millions of new gardens planted. Even Eleanor Roosevelt got in on the act, planting a Victory Garden at the White House.

If it was good enough for Eleanor, it’s good enough for me. I think I’ll call my garden Peas for Peace, but first I’ll have to plant some peas.

3 thoughts on “Victory Gardens

  1. LOL!! Love it!! The fruit I bought last night came from Mexico, Chili and Guatemala…?????
    At least my blueberries came from Louisiana :/
    Laurel Farmer’s Market opens June 4 and runs every Friday through July. I can’t wait!!!!

  2. Ah, well. I’ve corrected two typos since I posted this, and there are probably more.

    There are a couple of Farmer’s Markets in Hattiesburg. One on Thursdays on Main Street and one on Saturdays on Corinne. I’m going to try to make it a weekly routine through the summer to visit one or both of them. I didn’t go this week because I’m going to be out of town too much to cook. Here’s hoping I remember my plan next week. There should be fresh local blueberries by now.

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