Looking for info/books on Victory Gardens

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Permalink Reply by Ian on November 14, 2008 at 9:27am

Hi, Katherine,

kalinda Mcclain asked me to post these links for you:

http://www.earthlypursuits.com/WarGarV/WarGard19ill.htm
http://www.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/79/DigForVictory/schools.htm
http://www.watfordmuseum.org.uk/activities_victory_sep.html

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Permalink Reply by Katherine Turcotte on November 20, 2008 at 3:31pm

Thanks for the links, I will have enough research to keep me busy for quite awhile!

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Permalink Reply by John Walker on November 14, 2008 at 1:19pm

San Francisco recently planted (a temporary) victory garden in front of their city hall. You may try googling that. You may also want to try the American CG website http://www.communitygarden.org/.
The civic garden centre in Cincinnati has a good program http://www.civicgardencenter.org/HTML/NG.html

pax
John

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Permalink Reply by Penelope on November 14, 2008 at 1:26pm

John, I think it's kind of funny how everybody responds to everything with a web site these days while I find searching that stuff cumbersome. I still look at the Internet more like a wall than a gateway. I'm trying to figure out why that is. Maybe it's the "rules" for searching; the alphabet is more or less irrelevant, and nearly every word search produces a sea of people selling stuff rather than information. Physically wandering around haphazardly in the stacks of a library has yielded me more interesting and useful information.

And this medium seems to inspire more inane discussions than significant ones -- like cell phones, "where are you?" "really" "I'm on my way" "I'm just parking the car" etc. .

I was going to suggest the VICTORY GARDEN COOKBOOK for this forum, but now I feel anachronistic . . .

Grumpy, Penelope

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Permalink Reply by Katherine Turcotte on November 15, 2008 at 8:43am

Hi Penelope - There is a mass amount of info on the internet and you are right about having to sift through it all - I am old fashioned I guess, but I love the feeling of a solid book in my hands! I have The Victory Garden Cookbook, but perhaps you can answer me this, does the original Victory Garden Book have much information on the history of the Victory Garden? I don't want to purchase it unless I know this in advance.
Green Blessings
Kathy

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Permalink Reply by Beva on November 15, 2008 at 7:53am

I agree with "Grumpy".. :)
The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marion Morash and The New Victory Garden by Bob Thompson are the two books that set my feet straight on my gardening path... My copies are tattered from reading and re-reading!

I also have a book that my mother made this note in the front cover; "Got during 2nd World War". It is the "Victory Meal Planner" and was published by the Bureau of Milk Publicity Albany, N.Y. This guide helped war time cooks to plan meals that were nutritious and fit the needs of that time.

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Permalink Reply by Katherine Turcotte on November 15, 2008 at 8:49am

The article will begin with the history of the Victory Garden (rather than the Depression Era Gardens that were popular at one point) and then shift to being a primer on getting people involved in a Community Garden. So far I have a book from Brooklyn Botanical Garden on Community Gardening and I have the Victory Garden Companion which is I believe 3 books in one - still searching out books from publishers that I can get as review books.
My article will be in the Summer 09 issue of Herb Quarterly magazine. Perhaps you have read some of my articles this past year - they have been: The Glories of ... Ground Ivy?, the Summer Cover Exclusive was my panel interview with Susun Weed, Rosemary Gladstar, Gail Faith Edwards, Christopher Hobbs and Stehphen Harrod Buhner and it was called, Words of the Wise - next in line is my article on Plants in Peril, and then Native Plant Gardening - up for the Spring issue is my article on Adaptogen Herbs which I found to be a fascinating subject!

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Permalink Reply by Beva on November 15, 2008 at 8:14pm

Just last night, I met two very gifted and well educated Native American women who still go out and collect their own herbs for medicine. It was fascinating to sit and listen to them talking. What they do is amazing and can not be taught in a book. Much is done by knowing the potency of each plant or tree from having had years of experience.
I am sure they could tell you of many Native species that are in peril. These are women who will wade through a swamp just to reach the best medicine.

My parents purchased their farm in 1936 and lived through the Victory Garden years. My Mother talked about how it was to ration. I still have coupon books that were issued by the Federal government to buy staples such as sugar. I have completed volume one of a history book that I wrote for our family. Currently, I am working on volume two... I can understand how much work it is for you. I subscribe to Mother Earth News and read it cover to cover. Perhaps you have written for them? They and Herb Quarterly are affiliated publications, I think?

One lady who is a member on this site who I think could be a wonderful resource for you is Ruby Brown. This lady lived these years and has stories that would make a wonderful backdrop for your piece. We have had some wonderful treks back in time, as she is a very well spoken writer.
Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Katherine Turcotte on November 15, 2008 at 10:12pm

Hi Beva - Native American Medicine is another area of herbalism that is quite vast - I find that with herbal medicine you can never learn/know everything. You are so right about it being something that is deep rooted in a person.
There are many herbs/plants that are endangered. That is what my Plants in Peril article was on - those not endangered are often in danger of soon becoming so. I belong to United Plant Savers, an organization founded by Rosemary Gladstar and it offers a lot of resources. I also was able to get two Goldenseal roots for just the shipping cost this fall - I have planted them in my woods and hope they will flourish.
Mother Earth News is a wonderful magazine and is a sister publication to Herb Companion. I have not written for them yet. I am looking to get into Hobby Farm Home magazine and a few others. Herb Quarterly is my favorite, not only for the fact that it contains mostly herbal articles but visually it is beautiful.
I will be on the lookout for Ruby. Thanks so much and good luck with your book!

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Permalink Reply by Susan on November 20, 2008 at 11:55am

I bought a 1942 Wise Encyclopedia of Gardening Victory Garden Edition on eBay for $6. It has all the information on how to get started, plus the ratios of how much to plant, when to plant, etc, and a section on community gardens. It has a great section on natural fertilizers (good section on animal manures). Check eBay and the used books sites.

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Permalink Reply by Katherine Turcotte on November 20, 2008 at 3:25pm

Hi Susan - Is that the exact title of the book? If I can't find it on Ebay maybe I will try Amazon.com and see if I can find it. I just bought a lot of stuff relating to Victory Gardens on Ebay including a short DVD about the actual World War II gardens themselves and some vintage Victory Garden booklets.
This should be an interesting article to write but I have to be sure to rememember to focus also on starting a community garden lol - I am off on a Victory Garden tangent overhere -

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Permalink Reply by Susan on November 21, 2008 at 10:38am

Title is New Garden Encyclopedia edited by E.L.D. Seymour, published by Wise and Co. Yes, it has a lot about whata Victory Garden should be and how it helps the community. Fascinating stuff. If you can't find it on eBay, check Bibliofind and other antiquarian book sites. Also try interlibrary loan; if you are anywhere near an agricultural college, you may find the book either in the stacks or on microfilm. You can also try the library consortium; for instance, I live in NC, so our public libraries have a free online consortium of all research libraries. You can go to a branch, ask for the research librarian, and tell him or her what you want. Ours is called NCLive; it gives you only vetted information, which means it has been reviewed as accurate by experts in each field (unlike findarticles.com or-shudder--merely googling. (can you tell I'm a book nerd?)

I bought the book after reading Ruth Stout--sister of the great mystery writer Rex Stout--and noticed all the natural and easy-to-find organic procedures she used. I was looking for cheap, organic, natural and easy advice--and that's exactly what I found in this book. Good luck!

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