Victory Garden



Tonight we ate the first fruits of my garden- marinated cucumbers. This is the second year I've had a garden. It isn't much to speak of... but it makes me really happy. I love being able to walk out my back door and pick some herbs for my spaghetti sauce, tomatoes for lunchtime BLTs, or a cucumber for my salad. One of my favorite memories from last year was watching Fisher and Claire dig out all of our carrots. One thing I realized through having a garden, was that my little back yard houses so much energy. I could use that energy to grow some lovely grass, beautiful hostas and shrubs, or I could harness it to grow plants that would produce FOOD!

Recently I have been reading about the Victory Gardens that were planted during WWII. The US government asked the American people to do their part to help the troops by planting fruit and vegetable gardens. In doing so, they were able to save the commercially canned produce for the troops. The response was great, and people converted their back and FRONT yards to gardens and provided their own fruits and vegetables. My mind marvels at how different things could be in this country if the same thing were still going on today. Neighbors could share their crops- one house providing the tomatoes, the other the melons, the other the greens, etc. There would be so much bounty that it would be easy to share with schools, nursing homes and homeless shelters, making expensive fresh produce a thing of the past. We would save so much money, be healthier people and better neighbors.
Here is a site that elaborates on this idea a bit more:


Harvesting Last Year's Carrots


Carrots, Basil and Mint

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 20, 2010 at 6:42 PM

    Well said Rachael, my sentiments exactly. We could be so much healthier and happier if we relied on getting our food more locally (Like our own backyard!). And, it was such a good point about how we could use that food to help others.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownAugust 2, 2010 at 9:57 AM

    hope you have a good harvest

    ReplyDelete

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