The Victory Garden

It’s High Spring now, here on the Georgia Piedmont. Our season has been compressed by cold weather hanging on in March. The usual paced succession of blooming trees and shrubs has been replaced by simultaneous displays of color. And that’s a big hurrah from me.

I’m green-eyed when I walk through my neighborhood. I ask myself, “Dac, why doesn’t your yard look this beautiful?” And I promise myself to work harder this year, for a better display next spring.

I WILL grow peppers. My garden has diminished to a small plot with a few tomato vines and a bunch of pepper plants. I start pepper plants from seeds, the only way to get the variety of peppers I enjoy. Bell peppers in different colors and sizes, banana types of different flavors, and hot peppers galore. That’s become my victory garden.

Those of us of a certain age will remember the Victory Garden. During the early days of WWII President Roosevelt encouraged families to grow a vegetable plot if they could, to help with food shortages created by the war. (The USDA objected to the idea; they thought farmers would be hurt financially).

We set our clocks an hour ahead (“War Time”) to allow an extra hour of daylight. Some sections of public parks were plowed and gardened. Our parents grew beans, squash, and other vegetables.

Remember the food rationing? Sugar? Fruit juice? Shortages of some dairy products. Oleomargarine appeared in grocery shelves and the dairy industry objected. To appease them, Oleo could only be sold uncolored, a white lard. With it came a package of yellow food dye. You mixed the coloring in by hand. Ah, the good old days.

Victory Garden? Well, we won the war, didn’t we…

Dac
4/11/2010

“Victory has a thousand fathers; defeat is an orphan.” – John F. Kennedy

Comments

[Mike D.]

Sometimes the young kids are idiots....although I learned about "Victory Gardens" somewhere along the line, when I began reading this post, what came to my mind was the Public Television show of the same name. That's my victory "peacetime" Victory Garden...I grew up with Sesame Street in the 1970's after all. I was practically raised by Public Television (I think it shows).

[Steve]

Dac
you yard looks very nice to me. Very natural looking.
At least you still have a good number of trees on your lot. Some of our neighbors have cut most of thiers down. Now that looks awful in my opinion.
Steve

[BG]

After 60 years now I know why sugar was rationed. Glad I lived this long to find out about the sugar. All these years I thought the soldiers liked cookies... Remember the big letters on the windshields? My mother was a country school teacher so we had a "good" letter but I have no idea what the letters were for - but we could buy gas and tires or something.

[Teresa Bacon]

My mother always has had a garden but the genes mutated and I didn't get the green thumb. She was raised in Ky, and to this day a summer dinner might consist of a fresh veggie plate and fried chicken, I love that I had the benifit of family with gardening skill. I love tomatoes and look forward to tomatoe sandwiches yumm.

[Dac Crossley Jr.]

Thanks, Shirley.

[shirley white]

OK, Here is what Mark said: Burnt Sugar was the best source of pure carbon we had. It is the base for all explosives. We had many tons of sugar. Also the cooking fat we turned in was used to make glycerine for TNT. I am glad to have such a smart Brother In Law! shirley

[Paige]

I like Dac's peppers! Great for making hot pepper sauce...

I have two tiny 3x3 raised garden beds and one of those hingy-upside down thingies for tomatoes (which didn't really like it.

But I want to be a good gardener so badly!

[Lance Barron]

Yes, a very good one, Dac.

Yes, Shirley, I share your ignorance. What were they using it for?

I really like growing peppers. Cowhorn, bannana, habenero, cayenne, and bell of course, and some others.

[Genie Bernstein]

Nice!

[shirley white]

Yea, DAC, this is a really good one!! Mark and I were talking just the other day about WW11 and I happened to ask why sugar was rationed. He knew , of course, but I had no idea what they were using it for! Does anyone share my ignorance?? shirley