Victory Garden

World War II-era poster - from Wikipedia

Randy started planting a garden last week. I was in the midst of a group text with our daughter, son-in-law and his parents, so I sent a couple of photos of Randy using his new toy - a rototiller left behind by our last hired man.

Alan - Eric's dad - quipped, "Is he planting his Victory Garden?"

I told him that it appeared he was planning to stockpile vegetables to combat Covid-19 with enough seed potatoes and onion sets to feed us and our neighbors, too.

But Alan's tongue-in-cheek response made me remember a Victory Cookbook I had retrieved when I helped my mom clean out my Grandma Neelly's kitchen cabinets.

The falling-apart cookbook was titled Victory Cookbook. I stored it in a plastic bag because it's so fragile. But I dug it out from the back of my cookbook stash again. It was dated 1942 and was compiled by the Ladies of the W.S.C.S. of the Byers Methodist Church. (Women's Society of Christian Service was the precursor to today's United Methodist Women.) As I looked through the cookbook, I found recipes from both my grandmothers, as well as childhood neighbors.

The cookbook was produced during World War II. Children collected scrap metal. Families did without sugar and other staples. Women in some parts of the country had to go to work in factories and other jobs outside the home to fill the void left by men who were serving overseas.

In Victory Hints, found at the front of the cookbook, it says, in part:

Victory is more than just another word. It is a challenge to the ingenuity of womanhood. Victory means taking care of and making the most of what we have. It means saving time and strength as well as material things.

(I love the divider pages in the cookbook.)

I saw the Vegetables divider, and it looked like a simplified version of World War II posters promoting the Victory Garden plan.

Photos from Wikipedia

According to Wikipedia, Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Germany during World War I and II. In war time, governments encouraged people to plant victory gardens not only to supplement their rations but also to boost morale. George Washington Carver wrote an agricultural tract and promoted the idea of what he called a "Victory Garden." They were used along with rationing stamps and cards to reduce pressure on the public food supply. These gardens were also considered a civil morale boost  in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown. This made victory gardens a part of daily life on the home front.

Randy called the co-op at Zenith to ask about getting a bucket full of fertilizer at the dry bulk bins. He says he has a "scientific blend" of half a bucket of 18-46-0 DAP and two scoops each of potash, K-Mag, lime, zinc and 40 Rock. It was blended by "Arm strong." (Isn't he full of jokes today?)

He broadcast the mixture in the garden plot.

Then he incorporated it using the rototiller. He has seed potatoes and onions planted, and he has dreams of adding green beans and carrots along with tomatoes when the time is right. I'm supposed to save my empty egg cartons so he can start seedlings.

As he says, it looks good for the time being because he has time to tend it. Check back with us in the summer when he's too busy already. (And if you're a long-time reader, you know I'm not a gardener.)

Now, if only we could plant toilet paper rolls and produce toilet paper we'd be set!

 Maybe the toilet paper hoarders need to read the verse at the beginning of the Victory Cookbook: