B8
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2020
Victory gardens connect Americans again
Popular during world wars
By KRISTIN M. HALL
Associated Press
During World War I, posters
proclaiming “Food will win the
war” encouraged Americans to
grow victory gardens. A century
later, home gardeners are return-
ing to that idea in the fi ght against a
global pandemic.
Backyard gardeners are com-
ing together, mostly virtually, to
learn and share stories on how to
grow vegetables, fruits and fl ow-
ers as the novel coronavirus raises
fears about disruptions in food sup-
plies and the cost of food in a down
economy.
Creating a victory garden now
can be, as it was during World Wars
I and II, a shared experience during
hardship and uncertainty.
“World War I, to me, is a pretty
stark parallel,” said Rose Hayden-
Smith, a historian and author of
“Sowing the Seeds of Victory:
American Gardening Programs of
World War I.” “Not only was there
a war, but there was an infl uenza
pandemic.”
Now, gardeners new and old
are getting online and on social
media to post pictures of freshly
tilled backyards, raised garden
beds, seeds germinating under
grow lights or fl ocks of chickens.
Facebook groups like Victory Gar-
den 2020 or Victory Garden Over
COVID-19 are fi lling up.
Some of these gardeners are
newly unemployed, or working
parents stuck at home with bored
kids. Urban community garden-
ers are ramping up production to
feed families who have lost income
and kids who no longer get meals
at school. Others are gardening
enthusiasts who never had the time
before to delve deep into the hobby.
Before the coronavirus, Bet-
tie Egerton wanted to revive vic-
tory gardens in her community in
McMinnville to address climate
change. She handed out victory
garden signs for people to put in
their gardens, and encouraged peo-
ple to avoid buying produce that
was trucked in from thousands of
miles away. Now, Egerton says the
idea of a victory garden has added
resonance.
Ed Flowers
Brenda Flowers, left, and 96-year-old Lorraine Tyree, water their plants in Florida.
‘I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE PLANTS TO COME IN BECAUSE I AM
DESPERATE. THE THINGS I AM MISSING ARE THE FRESH THINGS.’
Jennifer McShane | Bar owner who had to close her bar in Brooklyn because of the pandemic
“It’s like victory over all kinds
of things,” she said.
Jennifer McShane had to close
her bar in Brooklyn due to the
COVID-19 spread in New York
City. She’s been eating mostly fro-
zen vegetables and is wary of buy-
ing fresh produce from a grocery
store. But she knew how to plant
herbs in containers on her brown-
stone’s patio, so she picked up
some tomato seeds, sowed them
indoors and labeled them “Seeds of
Hope.”
“I can’t wait for the plants to
come in because I am desperate,”
said McShane. “The things I am
missing are the fresh things.”
Emanuel Sferios of Las Cruces,
New Mexico, was a self-employed
contract worker before the virus,
but his work has dried up.
So he borrowed a tiller from a
neighbor and dug a 30-by-30-foot
garden in his backyard. He fi lled it
with compost and planted lettuce,
beets, kale and broccoli. He plans
to grow squash, melons, tomatoes
and peppers, too. He and his girl-
friend found a friend on Facebook
who was giving out seedlings.
“It’s not like we needed this in
order to get groceries,” said Sfe-
rios. “It’s more like, wow, what do
I do now? I don’t have work and
I have all this time on my hands.”
A common reason to grow veg-
etables during WWI was limited
food supply. America was sending
food to European allies and Amer-
ican troops, explained Hayden-
Smith. Victory gardens also were a
way to assimilate America’s many
new immigrants through a patriotic
and community-building effort.
“So these gardening posters and
food preservation posters would
appear in literally dozens of lan-
guages,” said Hayden-Smith.
By WWII, the federal govern-
ment started encouraging garden-
ing as good economics after the
Depression. And as it looked for
healthy young men to draft, the
government promoted nutrition
as part of the national defense,
Hayden-Smith said.
Hayden-Smith sees social-me-
dia posts about gardening during
the pandemic as a 21st century ver-
sion of the victory garden poster.
“We don’t have poster art, but
we have Instagram,” she said.
In Chicago, a nonprofi t called
Urban Growers Collective teaches
kids and others to grow vegetables
at eight urban farms around the city.
While their spring educational pro-
grams are on hold due to rules on
social distancing, co-founder Lau-
rell Sims said they are still focus-
ing on food production and getting
produce to families that need it.
The group is selling bags of home-
grown vegetables like kale, spin-
ach and scallions.
“We’re starting to see prices
spike here in Chicago for certain
kinds of produce just because it’s
harder to get it,” Sims said.
She said most community gar-
dens right now are closed, but
her group is hoping to get them
reopened with limits on the num-
ber of people allowed to work in
them at one time.
“The whole heart of a commu-
nity garden is a community,” said
Sims. “When we know that our
neighbors are sick, when we know
our neighbors are compromised,
we’re able to help them out.”
Gardening skills were once
passed on from generation to gen-
eration, but farming became more
industrialized and people moved
away from rural areas. Now there’s
nostalgia for a connection to the
land, including gardening, preserv-
ing and cooking at home.
Across the country, stores are
selling out of fl owers, vegeta-
ble plants, seeds, and garden soil
and compost. At Burpee Seeds,
an online, catalog and retail sup-
plier, business has doubled during
the pandemic. George Ball, chair-
man of Burpee, said this cyclical
interest in gardening is tied to the
national economy.
“We do really well when the
economy is stressed or sort of
knocked sideways,” Ball said, add-
ing that Burpee also saw an uptick
in seed purchases during the Great
Recession and the stock market
crash in 1987.
Brenda Flowers, in Crystal
River, Florida, built a tall raised
garden for her 96-year-old mother,
Lorraine, who grew up in the Great
Depression and was among the
many women who went to work
in factories during World War II to
replace the men who were fi ghting
overseas.
“Wouldn’t that be so cool if she
could go out and just rip off some
lettuce leaves and pull up some
radishes and some carrots and kale,
just like she did when she was
younger?” said Flowers.
Ci t y Lumber
Voted
“We’re
more than
a lumber
yard”
BE S T
Founded 1904
Home Im
p
Store in rovement
2019
Your Project Headquarters
2019
REALCOMFORT ADIRONDACK COLLECTION
$
21
99
Now Offering
The Adirondack collection is an attractive,
comfortable, and extremely budget friendly
addition to your porch, patio, or backyard. The
RealComfort design provides lumbar support for
hours of poolside lounging and chatting the night
away. Choose from a wide variety of bold colors to
accent your outdoor area. Supports 250lb
Product inquiry
texts &
Curbside Pickup
Have a question or
product inquiry?
30”W x 34”D x 37.5”H
Want to schedule a
curbside or lumberyard
pickup?
Just text this number!
503-852-9146
$
14
99
QUICK FOLD
TABLE
Folds flat with ease.
17.5”L x 15”W x 20”H.
Flame Genie Inferno
Flame Genie Original
(Black) FG-19
(Stainless) FG-16-SS
TM
It’s a unique pellet firepit experience
without the smoke, sparks and cleanup.
$
129
88
$
194
99
2142 Commercial, Astoria
325-4511 • 1-800-248-4511
®
www.citylumber.com
FOLLOW US ON
Open Monday - Friday 7:30 am to 5:30 pm; Saturday 8 am to 5 pm; Sunday 9 am to 4 pm
FOLLOW US ON