During
both
World
Wars,
patriotic
Americans
were
encouraged
to
plant
War
Gardens
in
order
to
help
households
save
money,
become
healthier,
and
maintain
their
morale
in
wartime.
Branded
as
“Victory
Gardens”
in
WWII,
these
often-urban
produce
plots
are
apocryphally
remembered
today
as
having
served
the
purpose
of
preserving
commercially
grown
crops
for
military
use
even
though
that
justification
is
found
nowhere
in
the
U.S.
government’s
five-paragraph
statement
of
purpose
for
the
Victory
Garden
program.
Heck,
let’s
just
have
a
look
at
the
whole
list
from
the
official
government
Garden
for
Victory
guide:
The
Victory
Garden
Program
will:
-
Increase
the
production
and
consumption
of
fresh
vegetables
and
fruits
by
more
and
better
home,
school,
and
community
gardens,
to
the
end
that
we
become
a
stronger
and
healthier
Nation. -
Encourage
the
proper
storage
and
preservation
of
the
surplus
from
such
gardens
for
distribution
and
use
by
families
producing
it,
local
school
lunches,
welfare
agencies,
and
for
local
emergency
food
needs. -
Enable
families
and
institutions
to
save
on
the
cost
of
vegetables
and
apply
this
saving
to
other
necessary
foods
which
must
be
purchased. -
Provide
through
the
medium
of
community
gardens,
an
opportunity
for
gardening
by
urban
dwellers
and
others
who
lack
suitable
home
garden
facilities. -
Maintain
and
improve
the
morale
and
spiritual
well-being
of
the
individual,
family,
and
Nation.
The
beautification
of
the
home
and
community
by
gardening
provides
healthful
physical
exercise,
recreation,
definite
release
from
war
stress
and
strain.
Well,
geez,
a
lot
of
that
slides
right
into
the
talking
points
of
the
MAHA
agenda
(don’t
expect
any
actual
support
for
this
from
the
most-geared
up
Kennedy
ever,
though).
Even
sounds
kind
of
socialist
if
you
think
about
the
sharing
of
the
surpluses
and
the
spaces.
Also,
none
of
it,
other
than
“war
stress,”
really
even
has
much
to
do
with
armed
conflict,
at
least
not
exclusively.
A
lot
of
the
pressure
everyone
is
experiencing
right
now,
what
with
our
country
establishing
its
own
due-process-free
gulags
and
with
all
the
sane
federal
workers
getting
fired
and
everything,
sure
feels
pretty
historically
stressful.
Should
you
need
a
non-war
analogue
or
just
some
historical
cringe,
Gerald
Ford
also
encouraged
Americans
to
grow
vegetables
at
home
as
part
of
his
Whip
Inflation
Now,
or
“WIN”
(gag),
program.
So,
with
inflation
re-spiking,
huge
arbitrary
tariffs
slapped
on
nearly
every
day
based
on
one
man’s
whims,
and
ICE
ejecting
so
many
of
the
people
who
harvest
the
produce
at
commercial
farms,
I’d
say
there
are
just
as
many
good
reasons
right
now
to
have
a
tariff
garden
as
there
were
for
World
War
gardens
back
in
the
day.
It
just
so
happens
that
I
planted
a
little
tariff
garden
of
my
own
earlier
this
summer.
Right
now,
I’m
practically
up
to
my
ears
in
zucchinis,
onions,
tomatoes,
cucumbers,
and
more.
There’s
even
a
basil
plant
for
a
little
extra
flavor.
July
19
was
the
last
time
I
was
at
the
grocery
store.
I
have
had
what
I
need
to
eat
and
then
some
without
resorting
to
rampant
capitalism
(still
have
deer
meat
from
last
season
in
my
freezer
too,
and
found
a
big
haul
of
golden
chanterelles
in
the
woods).
Just
yesterday
I
gave
a
bankers’
box
top
worth
of
tomatoes,
zucchinis,
and
onions
to
a
couple
visiting
friends.
It
is
a
time
of
plenty,
at
the
total
cost
of
a
handful
of
seeds
and
a
bit
of
sweat.
Now,
before
I
get
pilloried
on
the
internet
like
that
poor
woman
who
dared
to
say
she
enjoyed
having
coffee
every
morning
with
her
husband,
a
few
words
for
the
Privilege
Police.
Yes,
you
need
a
few
things
—
namely
dirt
and
water
—
to
grow
a
garden.
My
whole
vegetable
plot
is
only
about
eight
feet
by
four
feet,
though,
and
you
don’t
even
need
that
much
space
to
get
meaningful
results.
I
gave
one
of
my
little
zucchini
plants
to
my
on-again,
off-again
girlfriend
(you
are
supposed
to
thin
them
out
a
little
[the
zucchini
plants,
not
the
girlfriends]
if
too
many
sprout)
and
she
has
been
getting
almost
as
many
zucchinis
as
me
from
the
potted
plant
at
her
apartment.
There
are
lots
of
community
gardens
out
there
that
offer
space
for
anyone
in
the
neighborhood
too.
If
there
is
simply
no
way
for
you
to
access
several
handfuls
of
soil
and
a
few
ounces
of
water
per
day,
I
am
very
sorry,
your
existence
sounds
difficult,
but
perhaps
my
column
simply
isn’t
for
you
and
anyway
you
are
probably
too
busy
trying
to
trade
your
fingernails
for
a
splash
of
gruel
or
whatever
to
read
it.
Depending
on
where
you
are
in
the
country,
you
might
be
too
late
in
the
season
for
many
of
the
staple
crops.
There
is
still
plenty
of
time
before
winter
for
some
of
the
fast-growing
vegetables,
however.
And
remember,
a
lot
of
things
do
just
fine
indoors
in
pots.
Unfortunately,
you
as
an
individual
do
not
have
much
control
over
inflation
and
tariffs.
On
the
other
hand,
you
do
very
much
have
control
over
whether
you
grow
at
least
some
of
your
fresh
produce
on
your
own.
If
nothing
else,
perhaps
you
will
“improve
the
morale
and
spiritual
well-being
of
the
individual,
family,
and
Nation.”
Jonathan
Wolf
is
a
civil
litigator
and
author
of Your
Debt-Free
JD (affiliate
link).
He
has
taught
legal
writing,
written
for
a
wide
variety
of
publications,
and
made
it
both
his
business
and
his
pleasure
to
be
financially
and
scientifically
literate.
Any
views
he
expresses
are
probably
pure
gold,
but
are
nonetheless
solely
his
own
and
should
not
be
attributed
to
any
organization
with
which
he
is
affiliated.
He
wouldn’t
want
to
share
the
credit
anyway.
He
can
be
reached
at [email protected].