Victory Gardens...

what is a victory garden by definition:

Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in United States,... during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. (as defined by wikipedia)

what a victory garden means to me:

Self-reliance. In today's society where jobs are hard to come by and the price of everything going up I want to get back to my ancestral roots and provide food for my family and my community on my land with my own two hands.

who I am and why I'm doing this:

My educational background is in architecture and have spent the last 5 years doing landscape design for commercial and residential clients. I have a passion for sustainability and lowering our impact on the environment.

My husband and I, both mid-westerners, met while attending college in Philadelphia where concrete is the norm. After 8 years out there we couldn't take it and packed up and traveled back to the mid-west. We eventually settled on a 1930's farm house in Michigan, which we have spent the last 358 days restoring. At this point we still have thousands of days left to go but are enjoying every minute... well almost every minute.

I have always been interested in living a more simple life. I was inspired by my great aunt and uncle who live in the U.P. with no electricity, no gas, no phone... nothing. They live off their land. Garden all their own food, cut all their own wood and live a simple and fulfilled life in a beautiful home... and I think I need to mention that they are now in their 80's. It is a lot of hard work but I found it to be peaceful.

We are starting our first garden together in our new home this year. Our goal is to provide food for ourselves during the summer/fall season along with canning and freezing enough to get through to next spring (along with a few rows extra to donate to our community). I'm sure our garden isn't big enough this year but we will make it larger in size each year until we reach our lot limit.