Victory Gardens

This Memorial Day, as we remember those service men and women who gave their lives for our country, we are participating in Presque Isle’s Memorial Day parade. Instead of candy, we’re sharing a few seeds - a start for people to plant their own gardens.

Victory gardens were common during WWI and WWII; they helped boost morale and contributed food to the war effort. During those times, trucks and trains were used to transport troops, vehicles, and weapons. This impacted the normal transportation of produce across the country. Canned food was rationed (and troops relied heavily on canned foods). People began to plant gardens to help relieve the pressure on the public food supply and make their rations stretch farther. They didn’t need to worry about vegetable and fruits being trucked across the country; they only needed to go out and pick their produce. The people also felt accomplished as they worked their gardens, reaped their harvests, and knew their combined efforts made a difference. (In 1944, victory gardens made up 40% of the vegetables produced in the US. https://classroomvictorygarden.org/classroom-facts.html)

Today, we’re not in the midst of a declared world war… but we are on the heels of a pandemic, in the midst of a transportation crisis, and food shortages are a real possibility in the future. Not only do fresh-from-the-garden vegetables taste delicious, but they can ease some of the grocery bill burden. (No yard; no problem! Container gardening is a great alternative.) In our parade packets, we shared some Mammoth gray stripe sunflower, snap pea, green bean, cucumber, pumpkin, and zucchini seeds. We hope you consider doing some vegetable gardening this season. If you have any questions, please ask!!