Tuesday night I attended a food lecture at the San Diego Natural History Museum about the history of Victory Gardens and how these gardens are making a come back at home, in schools and in communities.
The speaker,
Rose Hayden Smith, is an expert on Victory Garden (VG) history and shared her fascinating knowledge of how and why VG started as well as her collection of VG posters, some dating back to WWI.
What really resonated with me was the level of involvement and campaigning the U.S. government put forth to encourage Americans to grow their own fruits and vegetables during both the World Wars. They proclaimed it was our civic duty to let no vacant lot go ungardened. No food to be wasted. Food miles count, eat local. Consume less wheat and meat. Grow your own. And we thought we were being revolutionary in 2010 proposing these views when in fact almost 100 years ago the U.S. government and the Department of Defense was actually bombarding us with literature and posters telling us to do these same things!
What also really interested me, being an educator and all, was the popularity of school gardens and how they nourished students during war time. I assume they ate healthy, nutritious food for lunch, but I definitely cannot assume they are eating healthy, nutritious food nowadays with the amount of money the government provides the schools to purchase food for lunches. Did you know schools receive less than
$3 per child for a lunch and only about a $1 is actually spend on food? Crazy. Now I remember the day I forgot my lunch at home in the 4th grade and had to eat school lunch that day. They were serving nachos and it looked like a dog $#!t on my chips. I still have the image in my mind so it must have been that bad.
If the government could rally the people and schools to make a difference for their country, can't they do it again? There are lives to save, like
American children whose obesity rate has nearly tripled in the last 30 years. School gardens can help to begin to solve the problem by providing healthy food for students and a way to teach nutritious eating habits at school and at home. It peaks the interest of kids who have never seen a fruit or vegetable as a living plant in the ground. Carrots grow underground? Wild!
Rose Hayden Smith shared that there were 4 million new gardeners just last year! And gardens in schools are popping up right and left. I am so happy to be part of the growing number of gardeners, albeit my little container garden is more for nibbling than actually eating, but it gives me a connection to my food, a knowledge of where my food comes from and an excitement of being able to produce good, healthy food. San Diego is a great place to get more involved in the food culture and they even have their very own
Victory Gardens organization!
Attending this lecture and many others in past as well as reading up on food culture and policies it has really hit home that communities and individuals can change their ways of life and eat healthier, local foods, but it really is up to the government, especially USDA, to change food policies and where they spend their money on food...like not on frozen, processed lunches for children...to have the impact needed to reach the nation like Victory Gardens did in the past two World Wars. At the moment Congress is going to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act and decide how much money will be spent on school breakfasts and lunches for the next 5 years. There is a movement to increase the amount spent per lunch by $1 and you can participate by writing or emailing your elected officials. It is made really easy if you visit
Chef Ann Cooper's blog. (I also saw her talk a few weeks ago and she is such a cool lady.)
Hmm, I feel I digressed a bit from the beginning, but there has been lots to talk about and lots to share due to fabulous San Diegans putting on such great events.
Keep gardening,
Marci
