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Tri-Counties Genealogy &
History by Joyce M. Tice
Local History Articles Section
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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Joyce's Search Tip - November 2008
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Victory Gardens Reborn
MountainHome - Looking Back
Column
August 2008
by Joyce M. Tice |
When the going gets tough, the
tough get gardening. The dooryard or farm vegetable
garden has been a major part of our food supply since we domesticated plants.
Gardens were invented before grocery stores. As people migrated to urban
areas in the twentieth century and labor became more specialized, fewer
and fewer people grew any of their own food. The trend continues today
with ever increasing numbers of people living in landless apartments or
condominiums, cultivating lawn grass instead of tomatoes, and eating food
flown in from all over the world in all seasons. During times of rising
food prices or shortages many find themselves inspired to dig up a little
dirt and put in a few plants of their own.
During war times government agencies
encouraged citizens to grow and preserve as much of their own food as possible.
The Victory Gardens, begun in World War One, were revived in World War
Two. Providing part of your own and your neighbor’s food was the patriotic
thing to do. Not only did it make more food and fuel available to the troops,
it also filled in some of the dietary gaps that food rationing had created.
City dwellers worked in assigned garden plots in public parks, and sheep
grazed on the White House lawn. Community agencies offered classes in gardening
and preserving to help people succeed in their effort.
The very first so-called War Garden
was at Fort Dix in New Jersey in 1918. Encouraged by the War Garden Commission,
400 acres of land on the army base were converted to garden and tended
by some of the 48,000 individuals who were being trained there for war
or who were convalescing or otherwise non-combatant. The garden served
as an inspirational example to the rest of the population and was also
a test garden for methods. The war gardens of World War Two were so successful
and produced such abundance of produce, that when the gardeners hung up
their rakes and shovels after the war ended in 1946, food shortages were
the result. The commercial producers had not yet come up to speed in the
transition.
Today’s Victory Garden is inspired
by global warming and rising fuel costs. Greater consciousness about food
quality and safety is also a motivation. Home gardens are popping up where
they’ve never been before, and small gardens have expanded. In addition
to the pleasure of better tasting and more nutritious food, the goal of
having as little fossil fuel as possible invested in our food supply is
in the forefront. Higher fuel costs are passed into everything we buy,
so the closer our food is grown to our kitchens, the more efficient and
the less costly the process.
The movement to buy local food is
also gaining momentum. Under the larger heading of Community Sponsored
Agriculture or C.S.A., organizations to promote and help make local
food available are forming in all areas. C.S.A. allows consumers to build
a relationship with the farm producer so that they know where their food
comes from and how it is produced and handled. Joan Poole of New Brunswick,
New Jersey reports that they used to have one farmers market available.
Last year a second was added, and this year they now have access to three
farmers markets close to her neighborhood. She also buys shares in the
produce of a local organic farm. Every Thursday she can go to the farm
and get her weekly box of whatever is available in that season. There is
a waiting list of those who want to participate.
Joan is typical in that she lives
in an established neighborhood where the trees have grown up to create
a lot of shade. Her own backyard vegetable garden last year failed for
lack of adequate sun. This year she is tracking the sun to identify the
best place to try again. Community standards in her neighborhood, and many
others, still discourage growing vegetables in the front yard. If food
prices go high enough, that, too, could change. Five years from now we
may see neighbors competing on the height of their front yard corn rather
than the shade of green of their grass.
In our area we have an abundance
of farm markets and fruit/vegetable stands where local produce is available.
In Tioga County Food Routes works to match local farmers and gardeners
with restaurants or grocery stores to make local food available. In Potter
County Food Matrix promotes and facilitates the production and distribution
of local organic foods. The internet can help you find local sources of
fresh food. Local Harvest in is a national organization that provides
resources to promote home gardening and farmers markets. By typing in your
zip code on their web-site you can find local farmers markets, farm-stands,
or restaurants using local food. Pennsylvania distributes coupons to senior
citizens to be spent on local food through the Area Agency on Aging
which is in each Pennsylvania county. I will also include a page on my
web-site with all the local resources I can find.
We should not lose sight of one
of the best reasons for growing a vegetable garden. It’s fun. It’s also
good exercise, and it is very satisfying to have food available from your
own efforts. Two of my uncles, both now deceased, grew gardens that fed
their neighborhoods. Gerald Miller, a.k.a. Uncle Jerry, of Altay, New York,
always had the biggest garden in the neighborhood. He was a single man,
and he canned food at the end of the season. But he also kept the entire
neighborhood supplied with fresh food all summer. So did my Uncle Phil
Miller of Elmira. He had the neatest, most weed free garden ever, and if
he visited anyone else who had weeds, he’d not leave until that garden
was properly weeded as well. It is very satisfying to grow a garden in
all its stages. In the winter you can plan it and dream. In the spring
you plant, and in the summer you can meander and graze fresh food, as I
so often do. Any thing left over can be preserved, given away or sold through
a farmer’s market or directly.
If you haven’t gardened before,
start small. You can even grow tasty food in containers on a patio. Once
you’ve tasted the difference between fresh tomatoes or cucumbers from those
you get in the grocery stores, you’ll be hooked.
Notes: Not part of article.
http://www.cityfarmer.org/grandpasVG.html
http://www.victoryseeds.com/TheVictoryGarden/page2.html
http://www.earthlypursuits.com/WarGarV/WarGardTitle.htm
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/crops_02.html
http://www.revivevictorygarden.org/
http://www.futurefarmers.com/victorygardens/
http://www.food-matrix.org/
http://www.localharvest.org/
Joyce Tip Box -- December 2007 -
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If you are not navigating this site via the left and right sidebars
of the Current What's New page you
are doing yourself a disservice. You can get to any place on the site easily
by making yourself familiar with these subject and place topics. Try them
all to be as familiar with the site's 16,000 plus pages as you can. Stop
groping in the dark and take the lighted path. That's also the only way
you'll find the search engines for the site or have access to the necessary
messages I may leave for you. Make it easy on yourself. |
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Tri-Counties Page 16164
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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