Victory Gardens

During WWII, families, neighborhoods and even city dwellers created Victory Gardens out of every spare inch of land available. The idea behind this was the more food you grew for yourself and your family, the more food that was available for our soldiers.

Recently, I've been seeing the modern-day upswing in home gardens referred to as Victory Gardens. (Which begs the question: Are we trying to gain victory over the economy?)

I know that personally, my own increased interest in gardening has a lot to do with saving money. As with most states, towns and households, Mandyland is constantly looking to decrease expenditures. Last summer, I realized that I could save about 90% of my produce budget by planting my own - and that's taking into account the one-time expense of set-up and the ongoing cost of seeds and plants.

My parents gardened when I was growing up. Every spring, they'd plant a vegetable garden in the backyard. It was an important supplement for a family of six on a single income. While Mom worked with me this weekend, she commented that gardening really helped her to appreciate the simple things in life and she thinks that's been passed on to us.

She's right, you know. It takes work to make a seed grow. It takes patience and perseverance and troubleshooting to get food from the earth. When you garden, you must accept and learn from failure. No wonder I've heard child rearing experts compare gardening with raising a child.

It's a lot of work, but I'm lucky. Chad and I are both earth people. We like being outside, digging our hands in the soil. We like taking blank space and filling it with growing things. We like heading outside before dinner and picking ingredients from our yard, sharing the bounty with friends and family. I doubt I could do as much as I have without him. I tease that I'm the brains and he's the brawn of this operation. He moves bricks and hauls dirt and patiently, oh so patiently, listens as my plans expand. We make a great team.

Side note: Chad would love that last paragraph - if he read this blog!

And no, this isn't the gardening post. That's still coming - remember, there are pictures! These were just a few thoughts floating around in my head. And maybe it'll encourage one of you to try to create your own Victory Garden. My tip? Start with a couple of tomatoes.