Garden Affections
People garden for many reasons, and giving is not the least of them.

By Cathy Orr

“Anybody want any zucchini?”
When someone you know has a garden, you know it. You find yourself on the receiving end of the fruits of their labors, as it were, and people start passing around the recipes for zucchini bread, rhubarb pie, and tomato whatever (or they start making a lot of BLTs). Some view these horticultural “gifts” more as a burden than a blessing.

But there was a time when gardening was a necessity for literal survival, a time little known to Baby Boomers and the generations that came after them. For those who grew up experiencing the global strife of the World Wars, gardening meant the difference between eating and going hungry, whether for families here or those abroad. Vital resources—food, fuel, and manpower, including farmers—had gone off to war, forcing a new reality on folks at home: food rationing.

How little today’s consumers know of the personal and national sacrifices involved in waging and winning those wars. On a community level, the Victory Gardens that began in 1917 at that start of World War I were a focal point for forging patriotism and nutritional support for the millions of men who left fields and farms to fight. “Food Must Follow the Flag” became a household phrase across the nation, and the National War Commission sloganized “Put the slacker land to work.”
Those gardens—over 5.2 million in 1918—were grown on every spare plot of land in cities and towns across the country, and soon backyards and vacant lots were producing the nutritional equivalent of the meat ration in a serviceman’s diet, and on a scale that would feed a million-man army for nearly a year.

“Everybody was working together in the same frame of mind to have the money to survive,” says my dad who, as a boy during World War II, took parsnips from his father’s neighborhood garden downtown to sell. And it was all by hand, says Dad. “I can remember standing out there and watching that horse with a single plow,” a plow that broke up the soil, harrowed it, and now sits in Dad’s yard.

Today, gardening passes more as a leisurely pastime than a passionate, patriotic effort, more of a luxury than a lifesaving lesson in community spirit, more as an option than necessity. Folks born after World War II aren’t likely to understand the concept of rationing as a way of life. Back then, it was gasoline, meat, coffee, sugar, and rubber tires, but a lot of people had vegetables, Dad says.
Past reflection can put the present, such as that little plot of spaded ground in your backyard, in a whole different light. What a privilege to enjoy well-stocked grocery shelves 24/7. And yet even that doesn’t compare to the pleasure of biting into a homegrown tomato still warm from the sun, or the taste of just-picked strawberries, juicy and naturally sweet.

Tilling the soil has always been a labor of love for someone or something and is still a rare pleasure indeed. May we give and receive what’s grown in the same spirit as those who sacrificed to ensure a free world.

Corn Relish Salad
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vinegar
¼ cup vegetable oil
3 cups cooked fresh corn cut off cobs*
8 ounces Land O’ Lakes Cheddar, Colby, or Monterey Jack Cheese, cubed ½ inch
1 medium (1 cup) tomato, chopped
½ cup green pepper, chopped
¼ cup onion, chopped
½ teaspoon celery seed
¼ teaspoon salt

Stir together all ingredients in large bowl. Cover; refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Stir before serving. Yield: 12 (½-cup) servings
*Substitute 1 (16-ounce) bag frozen whole kernel corn, thawed, drained.
Courtesy of Land O’ Lakes

Grilled Garden Vegetables
2 medium red and/or yellow bell pepper, cut into 8 wedges
2 medium zucchini and/or yellow squash, cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces
8 small carrots with 1-inch greens intact
6 green onions and/or red scallions, cut into 3-inch pieces
2 Tablespoons Land O’ Lakes Butter, melted
½ teaspoon instant minced garlic or garlic salt
½ teaspoon pepper, coarsely ground
¼ teaspoon salt

Heat gas grill on medium or charcoal grill until coals are ash white. Make a 12-inch square aluminum foil grilling pan with rectangle of double thickness heavy-duty aluminum foil or use purchased foil pan. Place peppers, squash, carrots, and onions in grilling pan. Drizzle with melted butter; sprinkle with garlic, pepper, and salt. Place pan onto grill. Cover; grill, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are roasted (8-12 minutes). Yield: 6 servings
Courtesy of Land O ‘Lakes

Strawberry Salsa
1 English or seedless cucumber, finely chopped
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon cilantro, cut into strips
3-4 Tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 cups fresh California strawberries,
hulled and diced small
1 yellow pepper

Mix cucumbers, green onion, cilantro, and vinegar. Cover and chill at least one hour. Just before serving, add strawberries.
Courtesy of California Strawberry Commission

Sweet and Smoky Carrots
6 medium (3 cups) carrots, sliced ½ inch
¼ cup cooked, crumbled bacon
3 Tablespoons Land O’ Lakes Butter
1 Tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons green onion, sliced 1/8 inch
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Place carrots in 2-quart saucepan; add enough water to cover. Cook over medium-high heat until water comes to a boil (8-10 minutes). Reduce to medium. Cook until carrots are crisply tender (8-10 minutes). Drain; return to pan. Add all remaining ingredients. Cover; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through (4-6 minutes). Yield: 4 (2/3-cup) servings
Courtesy of Land O’Lakes.