[Lakota]

The war years were a time of shortages and rationing. I found some old ration coupons among my Grandparents effects. In 1943 Victory Gardens provided 40% of all produce consumed in the US. Beyond that, gardening was cathartic in a time of stress, fear, and uncertainty.

Link to short article on victory gardens from history.com
https://www.history.com/news/americas-patriotic-victory-gardens

I used to run a community garden as part of a vocational rehab program. I've gotten away from it. Past few years we've only grown tomatoes and cucumbers. I'd rather fish, hunt, ride motorcycles, go 4 wheeling, etc. Seems like a good year to get back into it.

 

[TXplowgirl]

My grandmother always grew a garden, She had 11 mouths to feed. Well, 13 if you counted her and grampa. She used to tell us grandkids of stories of during the Great Depression and during WW 1 and 2. She was born in 1898, married grampa in 1914.

Talked about living in a dug out, in a railroad car turned into a shack, etc. She had a couple of those ration coupons she had managed to save. 1 of those were for 10 gallons of gas during the war in 1944. But she had a garden she said that was a hundred ft long and 150 ft wide. Sometimes they shared with the neighbors when their gardens didn't do so good but they canned a lot and built a root cellar wherever they were.

I remember the root cellar in granny's house when I was a kid. Talk about an earthy smell. I could barely get up and down the steps. I was 6 when i tried to go down the first time. Those steps were near as big as I was and I can remember being scared I was gonna fall down the stairs because I was having such a hard time going down. But once I got down there I loved it. Shelves on top of shelves of canned food. Potatoes in 1 bin, carrots in another and it was so nice and cool.

I think I would have stayed in there a lot longer but my granny told me to be careful of the King snake. Don't hurt him, he's down here for the mice and rats. Well, that was it. I got my butt up out of that cellar faster than you could say boo. I was gone. Never went back down there.

Back about the time I was about 15 I was planning on going for a visit a year or 2 after granny had died and was planning on going to go back in there I was told that my aunt that had inherited the house after granny died had that old root cellar demolished. I was heartbroken.

But yep, everybody had a Victory garden. Now that i'm feeling somewhat better I am planning on trying to get a garden growing this year.

There are a bunch of videos on Youtube about people with Victory Gardens back during WW 1 and 2. Here's an old 1.

 

[Lakota]

My Grandparents were similar. Dust bowl farmers and WW2 vets. Always a big garden and basement that looked like a grocery story. Shelves upon shelves of canned (jarred) produce and a freezer full of venison. My parents were the same. It wasn't "prepping", it was just what people did.

 

[TXplowgirl]

My Grandparents were similar. Dust bowl farmers and WW2 vets. Always a big garden and basement that looked like a grocery story. Shelves upon shelves of canned (jarred) produce and a freezer full of venison. My parents were the same. It wasn't "prepping", it was just what people did.

Yep, both of my parents were raised that way and they raised me that way. I was always told it was called being self reliant.

I can't remember what I was looking for but was looking for something and stumbled across the Sboards. I was quite surprised that being self reliant was now being called prepping and those who are self reliant were called Preppers. But this place has been the closest to what I grew up with. That's why I have stayed on the boards all these years.

 

[LindaLou]

My gramma canned what my grampa gardened. I didn't think it unusual. Many of the seniors who went through WWI, Great Depression, & WWII did the same.

I've been reading Good Housekeeping magazine from WWI with not only Victory Garden hints and tips but also recipes for using every teaspoonful of food raised (just don't follow the canning instructions - wildly outdated).

I don't know how to put the URL here but I originally found it by googling Good Housekeeping Magazine Cornell University.

The articles are terrifically inspiring !!

 

[LuniticFringeInc]

If youve got the space and dont have a small "victory garden", I think your a fool on several levels!

 

[goat daddy]

my wife and I have always had a garden. I had to purchase a second freezer for storage when we move to this location. We can fruit and freeze veggies. Also raise chickens for eggs. Slowed down on milking goats though. I picked up some day old goat kids at the auction a while ago. they are growing. We also have 6 kids of our own down and 6 more does due. As for hunkering down? its a dry year so hay may be an issue. If things get bad the chicken flock and goat herd may get smaller and the freezer more full.