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.
