Lessons From the Victory Garden

A commentary by Amanda Stiver

Sixty-four years ago the whole world was at war.

Often during tragic times the best in human nature comes to the surface. In the United States, as well as other nations, people…grew gardens.

"Victory Gardens" were encouraged as a grassroots effort freeing the agricultural system to feed the armed forces. More homegrown veggies also meant less canned food, liberating metal needed for munitions and armaments.

Taking to the land

Textbooks of the time recommended large-scale gardens with long rows of vegetables. Illustrations showed how whole lawns and yards could be used to produce enough vegetables and fruits for a family of four for an entire year—fresh in the warm months, preserved in the cold.

Gardening then still hallmarked a traditional way of life for many people. Yet during the war Americans planted 20 million more home gardens, producing about 9 million tons of vegetables—almost 50 percent of vegetables produced in the United States!

After the war many people gave up these extensive gardens, but I was blessed with grandparents who didn't. They maintained a half-acre garden of vegetables, berries and fruit trees. My grandmother canned food for the winter, and they generally grew the majority of their produce with the exception of citrus fruits. Their example accounts for my own lifelong interest in gardens.

Gardening today

A new movement has been spawned by various government agencies to encourage people to grow more of their own goods, specifically organically. This is a noble plan, but, of course, the lessons of gardening are deeper than government propaganda of the past or present.

I recently spent a busy afternoon planting my own garden, a modest-sized series of raised beds and border beds filled with vegetables and some berries. I shared the work with my parents and it made me think about the lessons that a garden offers.

Rooted in the ground

Gardening allows us to observe up close the cycles of life that God established in His creation. It teaches patience and observational skills, forcing us to learn something of how the creation works—practical science. We learn to value our food when we work to produce it ourselves, and we learn to develop a certain degree of self-sufficiency.

Homegrown food tastes far better than store-bought items bred for appearance, picked before they are ripe and transported thousands of miles. Homegrown is healthier.

However, healthy produce requires a soil full of nutrients. Without that, each fruit and vegetable will lack some of the vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients we need. In the process of gardening we learn to value the soil and to develop its intrinsic substance with compost and mulch rather than slathering it with chemical "nutrients." Take a few minutes to read "Food: We Can't Improve on God's Creation."

God gave us a precious creation that, if treated respectfully, will sustain our health and fitness by the very working of the soil.

Your garden—your opportunity

Make this your year to begin gardening:

• Start small. Grow a container garden on a balcony or porch, then expand to ground gardening next year.
• Observe how a plant grows, including what weather and soil conditions make it improve or wither.
• Learn about insects and how they affect the growth or destruction of plants.
• Find a gardening mentor to show you techniques that will save time and frustration.

Most importantly, enjoy the fruits of your labor. Don't let another year go by without the experience of gardening—you'll be astounded by the growth it yields! VT