My
father would lead the three of us down to the vegetable
garden. My two brothers and I always loved the vegetable
garden. It would always amaze us the way things grew so
big in such a short time. The rows of vegetables were like
hallways we could run and hide in. There was something magical
about the garden. To think all this started from a flat
barren field several months before. I can remember my father
bending down in his patch of turnips with his pocket knife.
The three of us would be standing around watching and he
would pull the turnip out, pare it with the jackknife, and
then slice it up giving us each the pieces. I still enjoy
the taste of turnips today all because my father showed
us the joys of the garden. This was back in the forties
during WWII. People were being encouraged by the government
to plant Victory Gardens. Many families just raised gardens
because this is how they had enough food for the winter.
¤
This
was a time of uncertainty, the Victory Garden provided Americans
with stability and nutrition. Today a vegetable garden provides
the same stability and nutrition for our times. We are uncertain
where our vegetables are grown. Were they produced in a
country that allows dangerous pesticides to be applied?
If the vegetables are certified organic who is certifying
them? How fresh are they? Growing your own vegetables eliminates
these questions. Your family has a supply of fresh, crisp
vegetables while learning the art of vegetable gardening.
The vegetable garden gives kids a better understanding where
food comes from and how they can sustain themselves by growing
their own. As an added benefit getting kids to eat their
vegetables is easier when they have a part in the growing
process.
Today,
my friends, I beg your pardon, but I’d like to speak
of my Victory Garden. With a hoe for a sword and citronella
for armor, I ventured forth and became a farmer… Ogden
Nash 1943
¤
Special thanks to Rachel Hamlen Koier for sharing this information.
Two
Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, but when they lit
a fire in the craft it sank - proving once and for all that
you can't have your kayak and heat it, too.
A farmer
was milking his cow. He was just starting to get a good
rhythm going when a bug flew into the barn and started circling
his head. Suddenly, the bug flew into the cow's ear. The
farmer didn't think much about it, until the bug squirted
out into his bucket. It went in one ear and out the udder.
