War Garden Research Articles

Lead Levels in Urban Gardens

In the early 1890’s during the depression, land was donated for gardening by the unemployed. By the early 1920’s, civic beautification campaigns in many parts of the country included gardens on vacant lots and at school sites. War gardens became popular first as the US School Garden Army during WWI (1917-1919) and as Victory Gardens during WWII (1941–1945). The popularity of urban gardens have subsided and reoccurred many times since the 50’s and are popular once more. Presently, school and community gardens are used as resources to inform students and the general population about nutritious food choices and for providing fresh produce for home use and food banks. Students in the UC Davis chapters of a national organization are involved in development of community gardens for the homeless in Sacramento, CA. Understanding that lead content may be a major concern in potential gardens sites that once had homes built during an earlier era, the first concern for members of the organization was to analyze the soil for specific metal contaminants, especially lead.

The Modern Day “Victory Garden”

During World War I food production was at a low in both the United States and Europe. In the United States, food prices soared and meatless and wheatless days were introduced to cut consumption. When it became apparent that food production needed to be increased, the National War Garden Commission was formed and encouraged Americans to do their part to contribute to the war effort by cultivating home “victory” gardens. During World War II victory gardens returned and grew in popularity under the National Victory Garden Program. Gardening was part of popular culture, no longer reserved for those who could not afford to purchase food. Gardens could be found in vacant lots, back yards, and city parks. When the war ended and the baby boomer era began, the interest in gardening waned.Gardening is once again part of popular culture with many Americans cultivating home gardens for both health and environmental benefits. Many property owners across the nation have been caught off guard to discover their gardens are in violation of local ordinances and/or restrictive covenants. Some have been fined and others threatened with jail time while local governments struggle to determine what, if any, limits can be placed on the rights of individual property owners. This paper will discuss challenges to zoning ordinances that restrict gardening, as well as changes to local ordinances that allow gardens, and in some cases chickens and bees, in suburban and urban areas.

City bountiful: a century of community gardening in America

List of Illustrations List of Tables Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction. Garden Patches in American Cities Part I. Early Garden Programs, 1890s to 1917 Introduction 1. An Alternative to Charity: The Vacant-Lot Cultivation Association 2. The School Garden Movement 3. The Goodness of Gardening: Gardens as Civic Improvement Part II. National Urban Garden Campaigns, 1917 to 1945 Introduction 4. Patriotic Volunteerism: The War Garden Campaign 5. An Antidote for Idleness: Garden Programs of the 1930s Depression 6. Victory Gardens of World War II Part III. Gardening for Community, 1945 to the Present Introduction 7. The Community Garden Movement of the 1970s and 1980s 8. Community Greening: Urban Garden Programs from 1990 to the Present 9. A Look at Gardens Today Conclusion. Sustaining a City Bountiful Notes Index

In the Sweat of Our Brow: Citizenship in American Domestic Practice During WWII—Victory Gardens

Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Genesis 3:17-19 There is no reason, then, for anyone forbidding us to see in the Garden, symbolically, the life of the blessed; in its four rivers, the four virtues of prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice; in its trees, all useful knowledge; in the fruits of the trees, the holy lives of the faithful; in the tree of life, that wisdom which is the mother of all good; and in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the experience that results from disobedience to a command of God. punishment which God imposed on the sinners was just and, therefore, good in itself, but not for man who experienced the taste of it. Augustine of Hippo, City of God, Book XIII, Chapter 21, p. 287 In the sweat of our brow We should eat our bread? Good doctors don't allow Eating when in a sweat Dog Star twinkles now. Of what is this a sign? In the sweat of our brow We should drink our wine! Friedrich Nietzsche, Gay Science, Section 39, of Joke, Cunning and Revenge: Prelude in German Rhymes Because citizens so harkened to the voice of the state, even as Adam hearkened unto his wife, victory gardens remain one of the most compelling memories of domestic participation in the Second World War. Victory gardens, planted by individuals and families in surplus space to offset food sent to Europe, reveal elements of the relationship between the nation and individualism during the war, including the recuperationas an element of state powerof one of the most powerful metaphors of an earlier notion of freedom: familiar self-sufficiency. Citizens were encouraged to become self-sufficient to benefit the state. Furthermore, gardening addressed concerns of a perceived loss of order in a world at war. Gardeners looked to their plots for conformation of a physical order in the world, and one added to domestic life through the increased introduction of efficient management and production methods. Finally, victory gardening was one of the earliest elaborations of the significant postwar configuration of citizenship as a function of consumption-often the function of mothers, wives, and daughters-to encourage efficient production. Planting a victory garden encouraged thrift through consumption. With no apologies to St. Augustine, there is no reason, then, for anyone forbidding us to see in the garden, symbolically, the life of the blessed.1 Government term victory garden originated with the conclusion of World War I. During that war, the nation-state encouraged citizens to grow War Gardens. Following Armistice Day, the government continued to encourage civilian production but suggested a name change to Victory Gardens.2 The War Garden was the chrysalis. Victory Garden is the butterfly, rhapsodized Charles Lathrop Pack, president of the National War Garden Commission in its 1919 pamphlet, Victory Gardens Feed the Hungry, Needs of Peace Demand the Increased Production of Food in America's Victory Gardens (6). While there was no National War Garden Commission in World War II, the American nation-state did extensively promote the personal (and familial) production of food. Most of this national promotion occurred under the aegis of the Department of Agriculture. department printed and distributed information for the victory gardener, including plans, schemes, timetables, and guides to ordering seeds (Authentic Guide 9, 11, 48, 49). …

Greenways as vehicles for expression

Traditionally, the commonly recognized functions of greenways focus on natural conservation and recreation. Lewis has described greenways as environmental corridors, which he dubbed ‘E-ways’, for the four main purposes which he listed as environment, ecology, education, and exercise. In this paper a fifth ‘e’ purpose of ‘expression’ will be suggested. Five different ways of promoting expression will be illustrated with examples. These means include personal, patriotic, commemorative, cultural, and social-political forms of expression. Examples to illustrate this range will include the following: (1) Anne Lusk's initiative with the Stowe Greenway in Vermont. This can be regarded as an example of personal social expression. (2) The US emergency war gardens from World War I and the subsequent Victory Gardens of World War II, as examples of symbolic patriotism. (3) 'Meanwhile Gardens', begun by Jamie McCollough as a reclamation adventure in the creative expression of neighborhood participants in a greenway area along the Grand Union Canal in London. (4) The Santa Cruz River Park, which features the public art tile project by Susan Gamble in Tuscon, Arizona. (5) The former ‘no-man's-land’ in Berlin, where avant-garde artists have created a radical new greenway of social-political commentary in their outdoor environmental sculptures snaking through this long, linear strip. This important, yet perhaps overlooked role as a source of expression to its makers and users helps broaden the meanings of greenways, thereby contributing to the growing strength of the greenway idea in peoples' minds. In conclusion, the range of possible expressions which greenways afford their makers and users will be developed.

The War Garden Victorious

The War Garden Victorious

War Gardens

War Gardens