Soldiers of the Soil

 During World War II, my mother told me about planting Victory Gardens that helped feed the nation, while farmers worked not only to feed citizens, but also our soldiers here and overseas. In reality “war gardens,” as they were originally called, began in 1917 when a severe food shortage occurred in Europe. During World War I, farmers were recruited into the military and land soon became battlefields. It fell to Americans to feed the millions starving in Europe

Businessman Charles Lathrop Pack began the National War Garden Commission. He encouraged citizens to use every bit of available land – parks, schools, companies, backyards, apartment rooftops, and vacant lots to grow their own fruits and vegetables. He believed this would ease the pressure on farmers who were trying to feed Americans, our allies overseas, and then our soldiers.  President Woodrow Wilson said gardening “is just as real and patriotic an effort as the building of ships or the firing of cannon.”

Courtesy of USDA

                                                         

The federal Bureau of Education created the U.S. School Garden Army to urge boys and girls ages 9 to 15 to enlist as “soldiers of the soil.” Funded by the War Department, the Bureau of Education distributed thousands of posters to schools and libraries.  Teachers, women’s clubs and civic groups spread the word. The program became so popular that pamphlets and radio broadcasts provided young gardeners with instructions on how and what to grow.  Like many seed companies, Wagner Park of Sidney, Ohio promoted the program in its catalogs. The project not only raised food, but also morale and patriotic spirit.

Courtesy of USDA

More than one million school children enrolled in the School Garden Army. Agriculture education became part of the curriculum at many schools. Students learned about nature and how to maximize productivity, record germination rates, and note diseases and pests.  According to The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, the gardens of 50 Cleveland area schools raised and canned produce valued at $100,000! The Cleveland Board of Education thought the program so important it purchased property so that gardens could become permanent.

Nationwide, children planted more than 5.2 million garden plots by 1918. An article in “History” estimated that the school garden army produced 1.5 million quarts of canned fruits and vegetables. When World War I ended, home gardens, by then known as Victory Gardens, declined, only to re-emerge in force when the United States entered the Second World War.