I was more than a little surprised when I began to realize that gardening has evolved from a necessity to a pastime in the span of just a couple generations. A century ago, when our nation was still largely agricultural, those who weren’t actually farmers were still raising a large percentage of their own fruits and vegetables or buying them locally from farmers or grocers supplied by local farmers.

During the 1930’s, in the throes of the Depression, people often depended on their own gardens and back yards for fruits and vegetables they could grow themselves, for chickens, geese, goats, pigs – even cows for meat and dairy products. My grandparents, farming in southern Iowa, raised virtually everything that appeared on their daily table, supplementing it with fish and game they harvested from the nearby streams and timber. My parents, living in Indianola at the time, depended on my grandparents for much of the produce they couldn’t raise themselves in sufficient quantity. By the time I was born, we were living in Knoxville and my parents, being descendants of farmers, saw nothing unusual about having a large garden on their double lot on the south edge of town.

The gardening gene prevailed, even in more prosperous times preceding WWII, and was greatly enlarged when the United States officially entered into the conflict. Shade trees, flower beds and expansive lawns were sacrificed to provide sunny Victory Garden plots. Even those people who had never been enthusiastic gardeners plowed and planted, weeded and composted, and through necessity and patriotism, transformed themselves into urban farmers.

The development of convenient field rations for our servicemen resulted in similar products for the public and home-canned products gave way, for a time, for the easier “store-bought” products. It may have been the ex-servicemen’s longing for real home cooking, or the women who had taken over jobs while the men were away and once again had time, that brought about a resurgence of gardening and home canning. Caned applesauce, homemade pickles, jams and jellies made from fully ripened fruits and berries, soups and stews were the tastes of home and family. Commercially processed versions lacked the care and uniqueness of handed-down family favorites. People continued to garden and considered the results to be not only better tasting, but more nutritious than those they could buy.

Pressure canners were now available, making homecanning safer and easier, resulting in an increasing demand for fresh garden products. Housewives not only saved quality and memories, but money from the grocery budget as well. During wartime, with shortages and rationing to cope with, home cooks devised a number of ways to utilize available products in new ways. That innovative spirit and the availability of such things as canned soups and other readyto-eat products were largely responsible for a vast array of casseroles. Working women depended on them and it wasn’t long before they realized that those one-dish meals could be made in quantity and frozen in family-size batches. This created a demand for home freezers which, in turn, fostered the popularity of individually packaged meals – the TV dinner!

The freezer also fostered an interest in freezing, rather than canning, much of the garden produce and, the appreciation of such things as the freshness of creamed sweetcorn, frozen instead of canned, and bright green peas and green beans, all changed how a lot of us thought about raising our own. I have a rich history of food preparation and preservation, from making sauerkraut and corned beef and feeding a bread starter, all the way to filling two large freezers with fresh garden vegetables and canning hundreds of jars of jams, pickles, and tomatoes for use until the next supply appeared in the garden. My sons have partially adopted the habit, raising only some of those things that simply can’t be bought for any price. Today, I have grandchildren who garden as a hobby or to satisfy a curiosity or decorate the deck or patio. Is there a gardening gene? Will it flourish again if needed?

I hope so.