Hidden Places

For Poca:

Even before the United States entered World War I, Europe had a crisis on its hands. The year 1916 had been one of the most disastrous agricultural years the world had ever known. Two years earlier, 20-30 million men all across Europe had left their farms to soldier. This massive deployment caused a critical shortage of workers of the land.

Prior to this, the Entente nations of Europe had developed a fine cooperative system for feeding their masses. Germany provided sugar to England; Russia sent its wheat to Italy. With the outbreak of the war, however, this joint effort was thrown completely out of kilter, and citizens found themselves subsisting hand-to-mouth.

So dire did the situation become that the entire continent resorted to meatless days. Those of the lower class lived primarily upon wheat, breads or pastas, and even that was sometimes reduced to as little as 7 ounces per person each day.

In England, dairy products became so scant that cream could only be procured with a physician’s certificate. Sugar usage dropped from 93 pounds per year to 24. Italy banned the sale of macaroni, and eggs, milk and butter were a luxury.

The effect of this blight on humankind was also felt in the United States. Not only were Americans short on food, with surpluses down by hundreds of millions of bushels due to massive crop failures, but they had pooled their resources with Europe. Since crops took months to years to provide, something had to be done – and quickly!

New gardeners
Gardens sprang up all across the nation, utilizing everything from vacant plots in trailer parks to bare corporate acreage. Scores of ordinary folks who had passed the three-score-and-ten mark got busy planting their own garden plots.

Even the media got involved. Magazines as well as daily newspapers published articles and dedicated columns and cartoons to the recruitment.

Children caught the fever, too. One boy from Nova Scotia wrote: “I have decided to help win the war by having a war garden. I have just read your notice that anyone can have a free garden book. Please send it to me. My father joined the army in 1915 and was killed in 1916.”

To ensure success, these new gardeners needed to be educated, so thousands of books and manuals were printed and distributed. Individuals were taught how to prepare the soil, what kind of seeds to buy and when to plant them. They were taught the use of hotbeds and cold frames, how to transplant the seedlings outdoors, which tools to use, and even how to water.

http://www.grit.com/Community/War-Gardens-Over-the-Top-Victory.aspx?page=3

http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/crops_02.html