...for discerning weeders May, 2012
VICTORY GARDENS PART 2 WWII and Beyond
Inside this issue:
Coming Events
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Let’s Go Birding
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Walk on the Wild 5 Side Weed of the
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Month Weed of the
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Month Book Review
7
Mark Your
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Calendar Tidbits
8
Puzzle
8
Last Word
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DON’T FORGET! You have to log your hours onto the VMS system!
by Karen Harper
back yards, flower gardens and vacant lots to grow their own vegetables. Sections of As WW II loomed on the horizon, the U.S. lawn were plowed for plots in Hyde Park, was increasingly drawn into the war effort. London to publicize the movement. In New Rationing became a fact of life and the sloYork City, the lawns around vacant gan was: “Use It All; Wear It Out; Make It "Riverside" were devoted to victory garDo; or Go Without!” In 1941, America went dens. Even public land was put to use, from to war. Food the lawn at San Francisco City Hall to the shortages and raBoston Commons to portions of San Frantioning once again cisco's Golden Gate Park. San Francisco's became facts of victory garden program became one of the everyday life. One best in the country. There were over 800 major cause of the gardens in Golden Gate Park. Every park in food shortages the city had gardens and many vacant lots was the forced were used for growing vegetables. U.S. interment of JapaSecretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard nese-Americans. encouraged householders to plant vegetaAccording to the ble gardens wherever they could find space. California Farm By 1945 there were about 20 million victory Bureau, Japanese gardens. Such sites as the strip between a farmers were responsible for 40% of the sidewalk and the street, town squares, and vegetables grown in California valued at the land around Chicago's Cook County jail over $40 million annually. Japanese farmwere used. For an investment of $1.30 for ers were forced to leave about 200,000 seeds (1940s prices), $1.50 for fertilizer, a acres of farmland. The land was transferred full day's hard work to prepare the plot and to European immigrants or Americans approximately 7 to 8 hours per week tendfrom the Dust Bowl region. Being new to ing the garden, the average family could the California climate, they were unable to enjoy 4 to 5 months' worth of fresh vegetamatch the production of the experienced bles. Continued on next page Japanese farmers. As a result of the food shortages, policies encouraging victory gardens were implemented. On the home front, the war effort touched everyone and the victory gardens that had played such an important role during WWI were revived, along with the patriotic spirit engendered by citizens being able to contribute meaningfully to the war effort. Throughout the country, people plowed front yards, lawns, 1
VICTORY GARDEN
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A March 30, 1943 Life Magazine article praised Americans who were digging in their back yards for victory. “We must help out professional farmers who are straining to meet quotas set by the government. By growing food in our back yards, we are relieving shippers and packers of their expanding war load." As during WWI, public schools again began instructing students on planting home gardens. Newspapers printed frost warnings and other garden news. Some newspapers awarded $500 war bonds to those urban gardeners with the best garden plots. Over the initial objections of the Department of Agriculture, which expressed fears that such a movement would hurt the food industry, Eleanor Roosevelt instituted a victory garden on the White House grounds. Basic information about gardening then began appearing in public service booklets distributed by the Department of Agriculture, as well as by agribusiness corporations such as International Harvester and Beech-Nut. The Department of Agriculture issued a 20 minute film to promote and train people how to plant victory gardens titled Victory Garden (“a Victory Garden is like a share in an airplane factory...”). The film along with other victory garden information can be seen here: http://1940s.org/history/on-the-homefront/ victory-gardens/ Most sources are in agreement that the victory gardens of WWII were very productive. The Future Farmers of America and the U.S. Department of Agriculture state that by 1945 over 20 million Victory Gardens were planted with a yield of 9-10 million tons (equivalent to all of the commercial production at the time). These gardens produced up to 41 percent of all of the fruits and vegetables that were consumed in the nation. In 1946 with the war over, many residents did not continue planting victory gardens, in anticipation of greater produce availability. However, the Fenway Victory Gardens in the Back Bay Fens of Boston, Massachusetts and the Dowling Community Garden in Minneapolis, Minnesota, remain active as the last surviving public examples from World War II. Most plots in the Fenway Victory Gardens now feature flowers instead of vegetables while the Dowling Community Garden retains its focus on vegetables. In the 1960s and '70s there were periodic movements to return to self-sufficiency through gardening (Gerald Ford supported "Whip Inflation Now (WIN) Gardens”), but none of those movements reached the scale or garnered the wide
-spread support of the nation's public and private sector leadership as the WWI & WWII efforts did. In recent years, with renewed interest in local produce, organic and sustainable agriculture, and concerns about food and fuel security attracting new interest, authors, bloggers and journalists have begun to push for a Victory Garden revival. An increasing number of pro-Victory Garden videos are also accessible via You Tube. In many ways, the new media is empowering citizens to view self-sufficiency in a way that mirrors the government's earlier propaganda efforts. In March 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama, planted an 1,100-square-foot "Kitchen Garden" on the White House lawn, the first since Eleanor Roosevelt's, to raise awareness about healthy food. A living reminder of the victory gardens of WWI and II exists in Morris County, New Jersey: the borough of 'Victory Gardens', population 1,546, was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on June 20, 1951, from portions of Randolph Township and is named for the victory gardens planted at private residences during World War II. The origins of the borough were in 1941, when the federal government acquired 91 acres in Randolph Township as the site of a 300-unit housing project for war industry employees. The federal government paid for all infrastructure. Streets are named for United States Presidents. Will the Victory Garden Revival continue? The creation of a new Victory Garden on the grounds of San Francisco's Civic Center (Summer 2008) and the Obama White House garden and a few other efforts along with a troubled economy, and energy and climate change worries may work together to promote the concept of self-sufficiency at every level. Community and container garden options are generally within the reach of any urbanite. The long-standing connotations of war with respect to the victory garden concept has led many people to use other names (freedom gardens, peace gardens, liberty gardens, edible landscapes/ estates, etc.) for what is essentially the same thing: gardening for self-sufficiency. The trend toward locavorism also fits in well with the principles of the victory garden. In case this is a new word to you (it was to me): locavore: lo·ca·vore [loh-kuh-vawr, ‐vohr], noun, a person who makes an effort to eat food that is grown, raised, or produced locally, usually within 100 miles of home... And here I thought we were just buying local, didn't know we had a fancy title!
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GIANT INDOOR YARD & CRAFT SALE/ FARMER’S MARKET SATURDAY JUNE 2ND 7AM TO 1PM OKALOOSA COUNTY EXTENSION OFFICE
31st Annual FLORIDA MASTER GARDENER CONTINUED TRAINING CONFERENCE
October 24-26, 2011 Royal Plaza Hotel Lake Buena Vista, Florida
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LET’S GO BIRDING Part 2 Identifying Birds Last month we learned about the tools we need to go birding. You are now familiar with the field guide and some of the different families of birds. You have been practicing and can locate birds with your naked eye and follow them easily with your binoculars. This month we will learn helpful techniques on how to identify families and species of birds. Two helpful rules to keep in mind that will make identification easier are: 1. eliminate as many species as possible from consideration before you attempt to identify the bird, 2. the bird is most likely a species that commonly occurs in your area. These rules help reduce the number of choices you have to consider. An easy way to exclude birds is go through your field guide and put an “X” by the birds who do not typically occur in your geographic area. Also consider the time of year the bird would occur in your area. The range maps in your field guide will provide this information. Identification Clues There are five basic clues to look and listen for to help solve the bird ID puzzle. Silhouette - Shape and Size With your field guide you will soon be able to categorize most birds into families using their silhouettes. Each family has a diagnostic shape and size. Many birds are identifiable to species by the details of its shape alone. Is it large or small, short-legged or longlegged, crested or not crested, plump or slim and sleek, short-tailed or long-tailed? Shape of the bird's bill is also very helpful. Does it have a short, conical bill for crushing seeds, chisel-shaped bill for working dead wood, a sharp, hooked bill for tearing at meat, or slender bill (of any length) for probing sand and mud. Size is also an important field mark. It helps to use a mental association of three familiar birds with three general size classes. Examples are a Chipping Sparrow 5-6 inches long, Northern Mockingbird is 8-10 inches, and American Crow is 17-21 inches in length. Is the bird you are looking at “larger than a crow” or “smaller than a sparrow?” You also have a frame of reference for your field guide if you associate these three species with 5, 10 or 20-inch size classes. Plumage and Coloration - Distinguishing plumage clues that ID different species are know as “field markers.” These clues include breast spots, wing bars (thin lines along the wings), eye rings (circles around the eyes), eyebrows (lines over the eyes), eye lines (lines through the eyes) and many others. Some field marks are seen when a bird is in flight, such as color patches or bars. Some families can even be divided into smaller groups based on simple field marks. Examples are some birds in a family can have wing bars where others in the family don't or some can have breast
by Linda Meyers streaks while others don't. Look for other broad distinctions for families. Behavior - How a bird flies, forages or generally conducts itself can be the best clues to it's identity. Clues that can be helpful are the bird's general demeanor, hawks are “serious” where as jays are “gregarious.” Woodpeckers climb up the sides of trees, while Flycatchers spend their time sitting upright on an exposed perch. Snowy Egrets are very active foragers chasing their prey in shallow water, while Great Blue Herons are less impetuous and hunt with patience and stealth. Other clues include how a bird holds its tail or the way that it flies. Habitat Preferences - Birds segregate themselves according to habitat type and can be picky in selecting an area as home. As a beginning birder it will take many outings in the field before you will be able to associate different species with habitat types they prefer. Keep notes in your field guide where you find different species. Use key terms such as salt and freshwater marsh, pinelands, deciduous forest, beach, urban area, or field and pasture. As you get more familiar with Florida habitats you can use abbreviations (ex. SM for salt marsh). Most guides provide this information but an abbreviated system can help you remember the habitats where birds occur. Voice - Birds have unique and distinctive songs and calls to communicate with each other, and voice is often all that is needed to identify many you will find. Listening to recordings can help you learn bird vocalizations. Many are available on CD. Some excellent examples are “Peterson Field Guides Birding by Ear” and “More Birding by Ear” by Richard Walton, Robert Lawson and Roger Tory Peterson; “Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern Region” by Donald and Lillian Stokes, and Lang Elliot; and “Bird Songs of Florida” by Geoffrey Keller. But there is nothing like learning out in field, associating the voice with the bird will help you to remember them. Also you will become more familiar with the complexity and variety of bird vocalizations, including the geographic variations. Additional Tips You will learn a lot by going birding with experienced birders. We have a local chapter of the National Audubon Society that meets in Niceville, and they conduct birding trips in our area. Their website is: http://choctawhatcheeaudubon.org and they offer a birding sites map for our area on their site. Continued on next page 4
BIRDING continued
A Walk on the Wild Side Linda Meyers
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) developed the Great Florida Birding Trail to help find birding hotspots and birds of interest. Visit their website at www.floridabirdingtrail.com for a map of our area. For everything you want to know about birds and bird watching (including nestcams, videos, recordings and projects) visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website: http:// www.birds.cornell.edu.
It’s May already, and the beginning of summer for our area. Warmer days, but we still may get a cool evening now and then. Here are some of the wild activities you can look for:
To keep track of the birds you find the FWC has a free publication available “Bird Checklist” that you can send for: Great Florida Birding Trail, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 620 S. Meridian St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600.
Brown pelican and white ibis young are now visible in nests. Least terns and snowy plovers nest on Panhandle beaches. Bald eagles begin migrating north. Breeding begins for many resident and summer songbirds. The last of the cedar waxwings and goldfinches head for their northern breeding grounds.
Courtesy of www.wec.ufl.edu/extension
Birds
About 48 million people in the US are casual bird watchers, feeding and observing birds around their homes and 20 million take trips for the primary purpose of watching birds. Birding is always filled with new experiences and new people. Letʼs go birding!
Mammals Gray Bats congregate at maternity caves now through mid-July. Fish
Source of information: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Bird Watching Basics written by Jim Cox, revised 2010 by Mark and Selena Kiser
Bluegill are bedding at the full moon. Redbreast sunfish and spotted sunfish begin spawning in rivers. Pompano running in the surf in north Florida. Reptiles Alligators begin to court and make loud resounding ‘bellows’. Loggerhead sea turtles begin nesting on summer nights. Soft-shell and alligator snapping turtles complete egg laying.
Thank You Judy Fitzhugh and Karen Harper for some ‘spring’ garden shots! 5
Weed of the Month
by Jenny Gillis
Stems/Trunks: flat-growing perennial. What is that bright purple flowering weed I see growing along the roadsides and medians right now?
Verbena tenuisecta Verbena pulchella Moss verbena
Range/Origin: South America. Hardiness: to low teens; may die back to main stem but recovers. http://www.volusia.org/arboretum/Flowers/ moss_verbena.htm http://ag.arizona.edu/pima/gardening/aridplants/ Verbena_tenuisecta.html
Verbena tenuisecta is a perennial herb, originally from South America. Leaves are highly divided and the plant tends to grow low giving it the common name of Moss Verbena. The roughhaired leaves are divided deeply into lobes, giving them a lacy appearance. Moss Verbena grows fast and will make a quick groundcover filling in bare spots. The inflorescence is a dense, head like spike of many flowers up to 1.5 centimeters wide. Each flower is up to 1.4 centimeters wide and white to purple in color. The flowers are butterfly attractors. Form: low, ground hugging herbaceous ground cover. Season: evergreen; foliage may go reddish in winter. Size: 6-12 in high, spread 3-ft. Leaves: fernlike, almost mossy, finely cut, opposite . Flowers: terminal clusters of tiny compound flowers; many hues of purple, plum, white; strongest bloom in spring, then declining in summer heat, flowering returns with cooler temperatures. Fruit: seed 6
Book Review
by Marg Stewart
If you are like me, you like to save at least some of the bounty from your garden OR when you can score a really good deal in fresh produce at the local farmer’s market. But you probably don’t can as much as you’d like because face it, when you have a small household, do you really want to face a pantry with 37 quart jars of tomatoes? Never Fear!!! The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard solves some of the issues of preserving your bounty by providing over 300 recipes for ‘putting up’ various jams, preserves, pickles...you name it manageable pint quantities, half-pints and others. This book provides safe and convenient canning methods for so many products. While I’m not sure that 9 pages of recipes for strawberries are warranted, after picking 20+ pounds of them at Akers....yeah, maybe. The other aspect I like is that a lot of the recipes don’t require hours and hours of standing over the stove to cook something prior to the canning. Simple and straight-forward instructions as well as safety precautions are set out in an easy to read manner. There
are also recipes included to help use some of your canned jewels after you’ve had them in your pantry! This book is a handy one to have in your kitchen when you just want to put up a small amount of produce. Note: This month we are starting a rating system, just like with movies. Recommendations will be from one tomato (not recommended) to five tomatoes (you just have to get this!) Don’t forget that if you’ve read a book let us know!
This is dedication. Holding the umbrella so intrepid nursery workers could have some shade. Don’t forget that the nursery can always use more help! Consider giving one day a month! You’ll be glad you did!
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MARK YOUR CALENDAR May 2nd 9am General Membership Meeting Crestview May 4th 12-3 Butterfly Garden Project Contact Sheila May 22nd 8am to ? Extension Landscape Clean Out the Demo Beds
TIDBITS It’s been another busy month for the Master Gardeners. There was the work day at Sylvania Heights organized and arranged by Taylor Haugen Foundation Youth Corps at Work on April 22nd. You can see more photos of that day by visiting http://jalbum.net/a/1161733/.
If you haven’t checked out the Fresh from Florida Blog you are really missing out on a good source of info. If you subscribed to their blog (it’s free) you’ll get updates on what is in season and what stores are carrying what. You’ll also get updates on activities that are going on as well as recipes for Fresh from Florida produce and agriculture products. Subscribe by going to www.freshfromfloridablog.com Thanks to Dick Hickenbotham for sending the link http:// htwins.net/scale2/. Check this one out for a really unique perspective on size and relationships.
Think saving the planet is hard? How about by reducing the number of paper towels that you use to dry your hands. Check out the video http://www.ted.com/talks/ Several Master Gardeners provided photos of their gardens joe_smith_how_to_use_a_paper_towel.html. Ed. Note: I this spring and we’ve created a video montage of those tried it....it works. shots. You can see the video by visiting http://youtu.be/ Tired of your shoelaces coming undone? Don’t like the douCp7bUeeYC30. ble knot look? Yup, even at our age, learn to tie your shoes http://www.ted.com/talks/ terry_moore_how_to_tie_your_shoes.html. Ed Note: Yup, tried this one and was amazed...it worked.
PUZZLE The following words are all contained within this issue of The Compost Pile. See how many you can figure out!
RTTLUES BRAVEEN WELOP TAPERS HETSIETOUL HOSTAGRES SNOBAI STFGRSARU GLMEAUP
The USA National Phenology Network is encouraging folks to participate in creating a data base that monitors the impacts of climate change on plants and animals in the United States. It is a very unique site that’s worth spending a few minutes to check out at www.usanpn.org
GIDNRIB LOTS BWUD UUODNAB MASTECSN FEEL KIRN HOLAESECS GPNIRS DOVIE ELYNGOOHP BLADE GALES VAANIYLS ACELOORV
The real meaning of plant catalog terminology: “Vigorous” is code for ‘has a Napoleonic compulsion to take over the world.’ 8
Marg Stewart—Editor Shari Farrell, Karen Harper and Linda Meyers—Co-Editors
Have pictures or an idea for an article? Send it in! Articles and pictures are always welcome.
Your member site: www.ocmgamembers.org
The Foundation for the Gator Nation.....An equal opportunity institution.
LAST WORD In the midst of a bathroom remodel, happy hubby and I decided to redo the patio. Okay, this was not the most brilliant of ideas considering the level of disruption both projects caused within the household. The good part was when the bathroom was FINALLY finished and we are able to enjoy a new closet and a huge, new shower. The bad part was the delivery of what was supposed to be 1/2 truck load of sand...I became the proud owner of almost a full truck load. Even after completing the patio, I still have Mt. Vesuvius in the driveway. Really? What am I going to do with all this stuff? Now if I had some small children living on the street, I could be sure of getting rid of a few pounds each day, but unfortunately small children are not prevalent on my street. Need I say that between finals, the house being disrupted, dust, noise, and WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH ALL THIS LEFT OVER SAND...I was not in the most congenial of moods. It just seemed that the longer all this was going on, the bigger all the messes seemed to become and the more focused I became on the mess. In the middle of all this I received three phone calls. The first was from my neighbor, who just happens to not care for any type of creepy crawlie. After a quick trip over to her yard to confirm that the 9
Marg Stewart ‘worms’ eating her plant were, in fact, Monarch butterfly caterpillars, I returned to my messes. The next call was a while after that and again, it was from the neighbor. Actually it was from the neighbor’s young daughter. You see, those caterpillars were very nice and produced a chrysalis right on the window sill. The young lady was overjoyed to have been able to witness a butterfly ‘be born’. And to tell you the truth, even though I’ve seen this event numerous times, I found myself being just as excited. The last phone call was from my mother. Seems a gopher tortoise had decided to build a nest and lay eggs in her side yard. Problem was, crows were watching and were trying to get to the nest. I headed over there and after a bit we had a fairly bizarre but effective anti-crow turtle protecting cage for the nest. Mom has now marked her calendar to try and catch the hatching. Me? I returned to my messes. But you know what? Those messes seemed pretty insubstantial after all that. Turtles vs. Crows and caterpillars that are making butterflies. So what if there is a bunch of dust around, it’ll get taken care of. The bathroom is finally finished and everything put back in place. The patio is done and the clean-up is slowly progressing. So when the messes seem overwhelming remember that the world will keep right on turning and doing what it does best.....LIVING. We would do well to do the same. “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill