‘V’ is for vegetables

James Clements
Published: November 16, 2008

When President-Elect Barack Obama is inaugurated in January, he’ll step into the leadership of a depressed country.

The economy is showing no response from the first $700 billion in government bailouts, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are easier to end on paper than in reality, and the general mood of our citizenry is anxious and fearful as we see the price of everything rising while we give thanks to simply keep our jobs.

But there’s a simple thing Obama can do in his first days in office, or sooner, that can change that mood.

After 9/11, President George Bush famously asked Americans to “go shopping” to do their part for the recovery of our economy. While technically correct (look what happens to our economy when we all stop shopping), the call for a spree left many scratching their heads.

We’d been celebrating the sacrifice of our grandparents’ “Greatest Generation” for several years and were ready to step up and do our part to rekindle that spirit. Seven years later, in the aftermath of another partisan election, you’d hardly recognize us as the same country that once gathered united for vigils and this call to service.

But as I said, Obama can change the mood simply by asking all of us to do what we can to get our country moving again. The American psyche is built on hope, a willingness to accept any challenge, and no fear of hard work. But the American psyche has been allowed to atrophy. Obama can change that.

News reports over the past few weeks have paid a lot of attention to the New Deal programs of Franklin D. Roosevelt (and with unemployment on the rise, the call for federal work programs to mirror the WPA and CCC will likely grow stronger). But the FDR administration also asked Americans to do something much simpler: Plant a vegetable garden. Obama should do the same.

Victory Gardens hit their peak in 1942 when more than 20 million were planted. What made these gardens unique was that they could be grown anywhere, including urban areas where the only garden space might be a patio or rooftop.

With processed canned goods needed to feed our soldiers, and with rations on gasoline and other commodities making it harder for farm goods to get to markets, the idea was to have Americans growing more of their food in their own yards.

The program was a tremendous success, with 40 percent of all vegetables grown that year coming from these small lots.

These gardens could be just as effective today. Many of our neighbors, myself included, already consider ourselves “gentleman farmers,” attempting to grow some of our own food. But where we tend to fail is that we all come to the project as individualists with no common call or purpose.

We can commiserate over bad weather or pest problems, but in the end, it’s just a hobby for us (unlike our neighbors who earn a living doing it). What we’re missing is a call to make our gardens the start of something bigger.

It seems like there should be more to it. Growing our own food can’t be enough of a call to duty, right? I’m not sure. But at least it’s a start. And history can be our guide.

What’s so different between the America where we live in 2008 and the one our relatives knew 66 years ago? Again we find ourselves fighting wars in multiple places, our economy is weak, and our mood is somber. Hard work, shared sacrifice, and community development got us out of one Depression, and it might just work again.

During the election, Republicans mocked Sen. Obama’s experience as a “community organizer.” Ironically, what our country seems to need most is not another leader who can sit around with like minds and “solve” the problems we face, but instead someone who will roll up his sleeves and ask us all to do the same. In short, it sounds like a job for a community organizer.

Obama can start this call to service, and then the rest of the job will be up to each of us. In that spirit, if anyone is interested in forming a community Victory Garden project, please send me an e-mail.

James Clements is a Culpeper resident and independent columnist who appears each Monday. E-mail