Bringing Back the Victory Garden

Have you ever heard the history of Victory Gardens?

I had never heard of them until I took a pastured poultry course at a northern Ohio farm a few years ago. They had what they called a “victory garden” and when I went home I had to google it to find out what exactly that meant.

The condensed history of the Victory Garden - these were gardens grown during World War I and especially during WWII when food was scarce. A lot of the canned goods being produced were shipped overseas to troops, food supplies were being rationed, and the government encouraged anyone who could to grow and preserve some of their own foods to take the pressure off the public food supply. It was also a morale booster since it gave families something to work on and everyone felt like they had a part in feeding themselves, helping to support their country, and feeding the troops overseas.

At that time, 40% of the nations vegetables were being produced by home gardeners! They even encouraged people to have their own backyard chickens instead of creating zoning regulations to prohibit it. There were information books, plans for what and how much to grow for a family, and they had the coolest promotion posters! Seriously, if you have a minute to do a google search on Victory Gardens, the pictures of their posters are amazing.

I think I partly fell in love with this idea because my Grandfather was a WWII veteran. He just passed away a few weeks ago at 94 years old. He was a radioman in a B-24 bomber and flew over 20 missions. Our family has always had a special interest in WWII history and a special appreciation for the people like my Grandfather who truly risked everything to give us the opportunities we have today.

A few years ago I had the chance to take a short flight in a B-17 with my Grandfather. It was such a powerful moment in my life because as we were taking off I let myself feel what these young men must have been feeling - as that airplane left the ground knowing they were going to be in danger, understanding that each mission they flew decreased the chances they would make it back home alive, knowing that many many of their friends didn’t.

We took a short 20 minute flight and I was hot and airsick. My Grandfather said he flew over 20 missions that lasted hours.

At the time I’m writing this blog post our country is at war with COVID-19. In most of our lifetimes, this is the first time we’ve really felt uncertain about what life will look like tomorrow, next week, or next year. Everything changed in the blink of an eye. The things we took for granted like grocery store shelves full of endless supplies of food, the opportunity to work and support our families, abundance, freedom, travel, security, the ability to buy whatever we wanted from Amazon and have it delivered in 2 days - some of that is gone now.

But I also feel a deep sense of pride watching our communities and our country come together. I’m choosing to see the positives of what’s happening despite my fear and I have zero doubts our country will recover and our communities will be stronger because of this experience.

While our specialty here at our farm is raising forage, livestock and eggs, this year we will be expanding our vegetable and fruit growing areas and raising our own Victory Garden. I hope that it will not only feed our family, but that we can share the surplus with our neighbors and community.

As a farmer, I’ve been very aware of the food security issues this has caused across the country. I think that we all need to take back some control over our own access to food. In the last couple weeks we’ve seen grocery store shelves cleared and the global food system struggling to shift resources to keep up with demand. In any major weather event, disease, war, etc. it’s easy for these supply chains to be cut off and food doesn’t get where it’s needed.

Having a strong local food system helps to solve these issues. The food is here already, and small farms and businesses can quickly adapt to marketplace changes. Farms that were selling to mainly restaurants and schools quickly switched gears to fill individual customers freezers. Farms that were already selling direct to consumer made some quick changes to how customers accessed their products and kept on rolling. Our area has farmers raising meat, eggs, milk, fruits, vegetables, and more.

I know our farm and others have seen huge demand for our products in the last couple weeks. We are doing the best we can to keep up, scale up, and keep everyone fed. The struggle for us is going to be - will this continue? Our greatest fear is investing in growing more products only to be left behind when the grocery store shelves are full and more convenient to shop from.

We want to feed you. We want to be here for our community in the good times and in the uncertain times, but this means we need the support of our communities more than just when the grocery store shelves are empty.

I want to encourage and challenge you to continue supporting your local farms even when we go back to “normal” and to do what you can to take back some control over your food security. There’s still plenty of time to start your own Victory Garden!

While this entire situation is tragic, I hope it changes us for the better. I hope we remember to value the time we get to spend with friends and family, the food on our plates, unlimited supplies of toilet paper, and the luxury of peace and security more than we did before.

Our country and my grandparents went through harder times, we can do this. They were a level of brave and selfless most of us can’t fathom. Let’s come together and prove to those who risked or gave their lives for us that we are a country and a people who were worth fighting for. Stop hoarding the toilet paper, go wash your hands, give your elderly neighbor a call to check on them, and let’s take care of each other.

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