Wartime Gardener


Cabbage does remarkable work in clearing the complexion,making cheeks pink,lips red and infusing you with vitality. Ministry of Food ad,Sept 1944

If that does not make you go out and grow your own veg nothing will!The history of allotments especially during the war years is the subject of an exhibition open from now until Jan 2011 so anyone making a trip to London should try to visit ,the admission prices are very reasonable and attractive for families to visit.

I visited nipitinthebud today and was fascinated by her post on the ministry of food exhibition and blog.The above is from her blog and there are links to videos etc.
Any available land was dug up and planted even in schools. I saw this pic of school children enthusiastically getting stuck in and became immediately aware of the lack of safety boots,gloves,goggles,hard hats,all of which would be de rigour today if we were to find ourselves in this position!This of course was before Nanny states took over or more to the point we allowed them to take over and any sort of spontaneous action is frowned upon.
I wonder how many injuries were reported and sued for?!
The Ministry of Food blog
and nip on over to nipitinthebud to read the full post and follow the links to videos etc.I have been twice already and will be visiting again as it is one of the most interesting reads I have come across!

Comments

Anna Bee said…
oooh, this looks fab - thanks for sharing!

Anna
February 17, 2010 at 7:50 PM
Anonymous said…
bless you Peggy, I feel all warm and fuzzy now :o)
I wanted to offer a bloggers eye view and capture the ordinary human stories. I had a lovely chat with Steve and we went round the exhibition together while the proper journalists were doing interviews with 94 year old Marguerite Patten (nutritionist who did the 'Kitchen Front' radio broadcasts) and Jane Fearnley-Whittingstalls mum whose written a cookery book with the museum.
cheerio and I hope you'll enjoy the next installment just as much :o)
February 18, 2010 at 11:53 AM
Anonymous said…
oops, can you edit out the 'mum' bit of my comment. It was Jane F-W who is Hugh F-W's mum (then delete this comment!)
February 18, 2010 at 11:54 AM
BT said…
Dig for Victory it was called I think, and what a great idea. I once took part in a production to celebrate VE Day and had to be the BBC radio announcer at one point. 'Ladies, don't throw away your cabbage water, use it to make nourishing soup', then we'd all go 'Uuugh'!! It sounds disgusting!
February 18, 2010 at 7:39 PM
Dirty Girl Gardening said…
This is a great post... fabulous pics!
February 20, 2010 at 12:26 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Faux Stone Trough

Image
The word faux is a really nice word,somehow it does not seem to mean false, just a kind of copy! I had read about making these stone looking troughs or flower pots and again it was on my list of things to try.With my supply of donated flower pots I decided this was as good a time as any.The first pic is of the completed trough or tub filled with compost waiting on plants. I began with a plain white plastic tub, it does not have to be white it can be any colour.Glue ,I used PVA which was painted on thickly and left to get tacky and either sand or I used a mix of small stones and sand, sold in the builders suppliers as 'filling'. It is not a quick job to do as each side is pasted, shake on the sand thickly and press down to dry, I also did the opposite inside edge. I left it overnight each time but if it was sunny and warm it would probably dry faster.The first side drying, when it is dry shake off the excess leaving a thin covering. The final application and it is completed onl
Read more

Instacrafting/ crafters and DIY

Image
I set up an Instagram account a few  years ago and promptly forgot about it until some months ago and began browsing and got hooked enough to start posting, mainly about gardening.  I noticed some DIY crafting posts and began following them as I had always knit/sewed/made and done etc as many of my generation did because we had to , to look after a family and make ends meet. It was immediately very clear this new generation of crafters enjoyed the creativity and colour in each DIY project they did My monks bench was vintage white with a pale grey stencil, after looking at the colour and style of Joanne Mooney whose blog and instagram  account A PROUD HOME has won followers and awards I stepped outside my comfort zone and went for Petrol in Colortrend paint and some mad colours in cushions  of the plain greys I had originally intended!                                           Another award winning Blogger is Catherine Colton better known as Dainty Dress Diaries, Catherine had m
Read more

Runner bean soup and Dog Blog

Image
Our runner beans are coming to the end and as there are 16 bags of frozen runner beans in the freezer the ones I picked yesterday were turned into soup.I found this site on my site surfing everything-runnerbean with all sorts of interesting recipes for the runner bean.I used the ingredients stated and also added potatoes and some leek, all from the plot.I made a big pot of it last night and reheated it today just adding some milk and freshly cut parsley. Runner Bean Soup 500grms runner beans 1 large onion 1 large carrot 700mls vegetable stock 2tbsp Butter salt & pepper to taste. Top & tail the runner beans,removing stringy sides Chop into slices with the onion and carrot Heat butter in pan and add vegetables.Cook until soft and the carrot is translucent not browned Add stock,cover and simmer for about 30 minutes I used a hand blender to puree but left it quite chunky with bits of veg. Matron over on down at the allotment blog has posted her Dog Blog featuring some of our four
Read more