Victory Gardens

Since I was born at the beginning of WW II, my parents were among those many people who tried to have a "Victory Garden" in their yard. While my mother didn't contribute to starting the garden, due to her pregnancy with me, my visiting grandparents, Gummy and Poppy, did a bit of hoeing and turning of the horrible soil in our yard in Dallas. 

I never heard that we ate anything that was grown there. My grandparents lived in San Antonio at the time, but they may have driven their Studebaker up to Dallas when I was born in August.

Vintage Photos: World War II ‘Victory Gardens’

Urban farming was way more than a fad in the 1940s.

By 

Ilana Strauss

Updated August 25, 2020

A post from a newsletter, "Tree Hugger"...with Library of Congress photos.

 "Around 20 million families planted victory gardens; they grew 40 percent of the country's vegetables by 1944.

"New York, New York. Victory gardening on the Charles Schwab estate."

"America's youngsters will take a hand in feeding the family this year. A worthwhile project for every member of the family. Victory Gardens, whether planted in the smallest backyard plot or in large acreages, will go a long way toward augmenting supplies of fruits and vegetables severely reduced by war demands."

"Arlington, Virginia. FSA (Farm Security Administration) trailer camp project for Negroes. Project occupant tending his victory garden."

Washington, D.C. Vice President Henry A. Wallace in his victory garden."

"New York, New York. Children's school victory gardens on First Avenue between Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Streets."

SOURCE: Tree Hugger daily newsletter

Sepia Saturday will have other old photos and news from yesteryear by other bloggers HERE.

Today's Quote:

Some of our deepest wounds,
Are judgments, self-inflicted,
Endless paper cuts upon our spirit,
Made by an inherently imperfect 'self',
Despising its imperfection.

When in fact, the green-stemmed fruit,
The infant petals in a sheltering bud,
Are as they should be, in their time,
On schedule to arrive, in their time,
In this Dream of passing seasons.

For here, in The Garden of Time,
What is not yet, becomes what is,
And what is, becomes what was,
And our manifest Being, ever ripening,
Is not yet, now, as it will be, then.

On this Path of Love and Surrender,
Tend gently the seedling of the Heart,
Doing the needful, as you are able,
But then Surrender, giving yourself over,
Sweet unripened...

To The Beloved Gardner.

Chuck Surface
In The Garden of The Beloved Facebook

Young men in suits

A couple of young men, dressed up in suits (see the end of post...for Sepia Saturday this week.)

So this is my sepia photo for this week. My father is standing between his mother and father. I think they probably are dressed for church, thus the white summer shoes and stockings on my grandmother. Dad wore a shirt and tie every day of his working life. So did Poppy.  This was in our back yard in Dallas, TX in 1942.

In my life, my sons aren't required to dress up in suits. Except for the occasion of weddings.  When my oldest got married April 22, 2019, we all were dressed up!

That's not quite long enough ago to merit a Sepia Saturday post.  But you go with what you have, right?

Russ (best man) and groom, my son Marty.  Marty's coat of velvet with embroidered swags on the left side...and a nice satin vest, a bit of his wilder nature coming out for this, his second wedding.  I think this once would have been called a smoking jacket. For work he wears a polo shirt with his employer's logo on the sleeve.

Myself and my son Russ. I think Russ started work as a consultant wearing suits, but has now gone more casual with polo shirts with a collar, and left the necktie behind. Maybe not when he makes presentations. I'll have to ask him.

My son, Tai on left, having fun telling his half-brother Russ an emotional story.  Apparently Russ liked hearing about it. Tai is now working at a high school helping at-risk students move toward attending college. I don't think he would wear that new suit very much...but he's set for weddings now!


And the Sepia Saturday prompt shows 2 very young men dressed in their suits...I do wonder what the occasion might have been, something an Armenian culture would promote.

Today's Quote:

“One of the greatest barriers to connection is the cultural importance we place on ‘going it alone.’ Somehow we’ve come to equate success with not needing anyone. Many of us are willing to extend a helping hand, but we’re very reluctant to reach out for help when we need it ourselves. It’s as if we’ve divided the world into ‘those who offer help’ and ‘those who need help.’ The truth is that we are both.”

Casandra Brene' Brown

Big D, little d

Big D, known as Dallas, Texas to some of us, has changed over the years.  It's where I was born, but left when I was three and I've seldom returned, so don't really know much about it.

Dallas, taken in 1942 by Arthur Rothstein.

A more recent photo of downtown Dallas

Stills taken from home movies

Here are the "big and little" that are for this week's Sepia Saturday prompt.  The Little "d" in my title refers to the small environment of Dallas with which I was familiar.

Mother-Daughter Dresses made by Mataley Rogers, (my mother) for Easter in 1945 I think.  When I was growing up in the 50s it was still ok to wear dresses that came from Simplicty Patterns.  I think these must have as well.  Mother had a Singer sewing machine.  And my grandmother Mozelle Munhall (her mother) was a professional seamstress. 

I also remember keeping some of those patterns for years, thinking I'd make another dress/skirt/suit with the same pattern...but I never did.  I think, as a young mother myself in the 60s I made a few things for my mother.  One of my last ventures was a pair of sports coats for my 2 sons for Christmas one year...polyester was the big rave by the 70s.  I even had a mini-dress which  I sewed for myself.  I still have my own Sears sewing machine.

Enough reminiscing, which SS seems to trigger in my life easily.  I invite you to to over and see some other collections shared with Sepia Saturday this week. (Click here then go to bottom of page for names of more links.)

Our tour of the world's photographic archives has become a newsworthy event: this week on Sepia Saturday our theme image is being reported on the radio. To be precise it is on Finnish Radio - or rather Finnish Radio is on it. This 1937 photograph from the archives of the Finnish Radio Company shows engineers on the roof of an outside broadcast van. For those looking for a theme there is radio, broadcasting, roofs or people doing unusual things on motor vehicles. You might also like to run with the little and large comparison suggested by the two vehicles alongside each other. 

Home-movies part 5

This is yours truly doing her gardening in the back yard in Dallas Texas, around 1944.  I'm thinking I was around 2 at the time.  My folks and grandparents all had Victory Gardens.

My dear grandmother knit that silly hat with the pom poms on it.  I look like some kind of child of a biological experiment.  I vaguely think it was red and white.  Oh lord, it may have even been blue as well, since this was Wartime.

Here my mother and I are waiting for a bus, in front of our house I think.  This was out in the suburbs for sure, but we had a fire hydrant as well as bus service, so it was part of the city.

When a teasing youngster joined in the photography, my mom gathered me in her arms.  The boy actually waved at my dad with the camera, who probably was on our front porch.