Victory Garden
So back in the day the government encouraged citizens to do their part by planting and harvesting vegetables for themselves. The article below will tell you more about these ‘Victory Gardens’. Well, in recent years, there has been a growing group of gardeners who have tried to bring this back, even petitioning for an organic garden to be planted in the white house lawn. (Check out Eat the View!)
Thinking of all of these things, and itching to be in my garden again (two more months of winter to go :( !), I’ve decided that my new year’s resolution for 2009 is to grow and eat as much food as I can in my limited garden. I’ll keep you posted!
Here’s the article I mentioned – it’s from the Botanical Interests blog. Enjoy!
During WWI and WWII, Americans were encouraged to plant gardens at home to help ease food scarcities and support the war effort. These Victory Gardens (also called War Gardens or Food Gardens for Defense) helped to boost public morale and made citizens feel that they were doing their own part, however small, as well as provide some food security for their own families.
During these times of financial shakiness, an ongoing war, and increasing food prices at the grocery store, maybe we should all help bring back the concept of a Victory Garden.
How many of your friends, family members, coworkers, and neighbors are gardeners?
If they haven’t discovered the joy of gardening yet, let them know how easy it is to grow a tomato plant or some lettuce even if they just have room to put a couple of containers on their front porch or apartment balcony. Many herbs can also be grown indoors during the winter on a sunny windowsill.
With a little creativity, even the busiest person with little space can find a way to grow something edible. (During the World Wars, people planted vegetables in vacant lots, on rooftops, and even legally in areas of public parks where the turf was temporarily removed.)
The benefits of homegrown food seem to be endless. You can save money, get fresh air, sunshine, and exercise, know where your food came from, grow it organically without herbicides or pesticides, and feel confident that you are helping the environment by not eating something store-bought that may have been transported a thousand miles from the farm where it was grown.
So, help us spread the word -
Bring Victory Gardens back across America.
| Posted in » Christmas!
I really enjoyed getting to spend some time with my two year old nephew, Parker, over the holiday. He’s cute, smart, wordy, and in a great mood most of the time. He and I have a really clear understanding that I’m not going to change any of his diapers and what not, so we are able to keep our relationship blissful.
One day a christmas gift came in a box full of packing peanuts. I, ‘Aunt Cat’, thought it was a good idea to let Parker play in it, having no concept of how big of a mess the kid could make. In spite of the laborious cleanup, he really enjoyed ’swimming’ in the box. Once the peanuts became good and static-y, he would get deep in the box so they’d stick to his skin and then jump out and scream, “I’m a snowman! My name is Frosty!” Too cute. That’s what he’s saying here:
We did get to enjoy opening gifts together at Grandma and Grandpa’s house too, though Grandma was in the hospital. Parker was a big helper ripping the paper off of his gifts and everyone elses.
For more photos of the holiday fun, visit my gallery and click on ‘Family Christmas’.
An update
Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!
Whew. Things have been a bit crazy since the last time I sat down to post on my blog.
I went up to Nashville to spend a couple weeks with my sister and her son at my parents house while my mom was out of town for some surgery. Then my parents came back and my grandparents on my dad’s side visited and Amy’s in-laws visited and things were crazy. Then we were all about to settle down for our Christmas traditions when we got a call from my grandpa on my mom’s side…
He called to say that they wouldn’t be able to make it because my grandma had just been rushed to the hospital and that she was bleeding in her brain.
Six hours later my mom and I were arriving in Asheville, NC where my grandma had just undergone interventional radiology surgery to repair two aneurysms in her brain. Ten years ago they would’ve cut open her skull to attempt to repair the problem, with a best case scenario entailing at least some brain damage if she didn’t die on the table, but today they can snake a coil up through her arteries, entering through large veins in her thighs. This surgery is still risky, but that day God blessed the doctors with steady hands and in four hours of surgery they were able to repair both aneurysms and she came out of surgery with a clear mind and no brain damage that we can detect. She’ll be in the hospital for at least 10 more days as she recovers from the surgery, tries to get back her energy, and as the doctors try to figure out what might have caused the aneurysms, if anything did.
I came back to Atlanta yesterday and will return to be with my grandparents around the time my grandma gets out of the hospital.
So the holidays didn’t go quite as planned, but I was blessed to spend a lot of time with all my family. If you pray, please pray for my grandma’s continued recovery…
