The original Victory Gardens were part of a campaign to ease stress on Allied food supplies during the first and second World Wars. In Britain, the United States and Canada, a public and government-supported movement for citizens to grow their own fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs was underway. Backyards, abandoned fields and lots, and even the roof of an occasional apartment complex was commandeered for the war effort as people experienced a solidarity with the war effort and indirectly assisted through growing their own produce.
In the 1990s during the first Iraq war, and in the 2000s Iraq/Afghanistan dual occupation, Americans were not asked to sacrifice for the war effort. President George W. Bush specifically asked the American people in the 2000s to not change their lifestyles. Yes, the country will be at war - No we do not want you to sacrifice based on your government's decisions. As our economy bubbled with continued debt, reckless spending was encouraged by those who knew better, and our economy now suffers the effects with a staggering 600-700 thousand jobs lost per month in recent months.
Food banks are experiencing shortages as the depression worsens. Even the Salvation Army has had times recently when it's needed to turn away hungry families. We are reaching critical food shortages nationally that will only get worse as job losses continue, and the Unemployment and Underemployment rates skyrocket. In a time when tent cities have returned to a growing part of the American landscape, there are American citizens who are no longer choosing between rent and paying bills - they're now choosing between eating and having a roof over their heads, if they're given that option at all.
It is my opinion that the current administration is remiss in not making public suggestions for the return of the Victory Garden. We are not suffering food shortages due to rations this time around, but we are experiencing spreading hunger and malnutrition due to the failing economy. I believe that the New Victory Garden is not a tool to win or support the war, per se, but rather a keen and economically sound tool to win the fight against key symptoms of a failing economy: hunger, malnutrition, and even starvation. I believe that the New Victory Garden should be promoted far and wide, and I'd like to provide you with some materials to start your own.
Links to External Start-Up Resources
Links for Established Gardens
- PBS' The Victory Garden has a thorough website with tips and tricks for flowers, fruit and veggies alike.
- Kitchen Gardeners International has a great website with lots of articles on the benefits of growing your own food, and how to do so safely and organically. They're even trying to convince the Obamas to put an organic plot on the White House lawn!
- Burpee is a major distributor of non-heirloom seeds in the United States. Their website offers information on zoning your garden for maximum growth, and has a section on specific plant varietiesto help maximize your success and combat common problems.
Regional Community and Victory Garden Projects
- The City of San Francisco is supporting a city-wide Victory Garden Project aimed at helping citizens grow their own food - whether they have yard space to use or just a windowbox. Check out their Starter Kit, which will be delivered to your house by an experienced professional who can help you learn how to set up your first raised box! (Seriously - kudos to SF for this program!)
- Kossacks in Los Angeles can check out their local LA Garden Council for information about community gardens near you.
- The American Community Gardening Association has a database available for you to advertise your community garden, or find the nearest one to your location.
- Eugene and Springfield, Oregon has the Victory Gardens for All Project, with the goal of 10,000 new gardens in Eugene/Springfield in 2008. Okay, so it's 2009 - let's make it another 10,000!
- Boston, Mass residents are near one of the oldest Victory Gardens in the US - the Fenway Victory Gardens have been around for decades, and currently have gardens available for plotting, and are seeking volunteers.
- Ukiah, CA has classes on Victory Gardening on the 21st of the month, for those interested.
Container and Square Foot Gardening
- Garden Guides provides a brief introduction to basic container gardening here - remember, if your window will hold a window box or little clay pots(indoors or out), YOU have the ability to grow lettuce and basic herbs!
- Agrilife Extension from Texas A&M offers insight into container vegetable gardening - the rule? If you have the room, grow up instead of out.
- Square Foot Gardening has a lot of support because of its high yield and low maintenance approach. Check out Tim's SF Garden to see tips & tricks, or Frugal Dad's take on the cost return or Being Frugal's trial and errors with building their first raised bed.
The resources on the web are stunning when it comes to gardening, organic gardening and container gardening. There is a wonderful wealth of information for the experienced and beginning gardeners, and some of the most knowledgable of them are here on dKos.
Daily Kos Roll-Call: Diaries on gardening
- tkkenyon's diary on 700 thousand reasons to start gardening inspired THIS diary. She will show you how to make bio-degradable seed pots out of half of a sheet of newspaper. The diary is a must-read (including all of the comments), and everyone loves cool jammie pants.
- Also check out Frankenoid's Saturday Morning Garden Blogging - these are random, pertinent and always interesting. If you run into a gardening snag ("WTF is up with all of these squirrels eating my tomatoes?!"), ask the sages that show up here.
Why and How Gardening Can be a Political Act
Our communities are slowly starving as our national economy collapses. The fruits of your labor and your family's labor can easily be donated to local food banks, soup kitchens, halfway houses, orphanages, women's shelters and homeless shelters. These places are suffering from lack of government and local funding, lack of donations, and increase in demand. Your bounty can help nourish a fellow American who may have otherwise been given a packet of Ramen noodles and sent on his or her way.
Every year brings news of new contaminants in our food supply. E. coli and salmonella raise their ugly heads with startling regularity, and much of the contamination come from within the United States - a product of an overly industrialized system of food production. Growing your own food will help you and your family (and those you share your bounty with) by allowing for a safe and nurturing growing environment more concerned with nutrition than profit.
Using heirloom seeds over hybrid seeds allows a personal F-you to Monsanto and the other seed giants who are tainting our food supply with genetically experimental breeds of foods, and who drive small farmers out of business with ludicrous contracts and costs of doing business. In my experience, heirloom varieties (such as those found at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange) are more flavorful anyhow.
I encourage anyone reading this diary to participate in the comments below. Share your concerns, your successes, your ideas, your links, your rants and your raves.