Wisdom from our Grandparents! Growing Victory Gardens for Healing by Tiffany Hinton

Gardening and cultivating has been a way of life for thousands of years. Until recent times, food was consumed from locally grown crops that were in season. Several hundred years ago we learned how to preserve our foods grown throughout the summer season for winter consumption and enjoyment utilizing fermentation and hot water baths. This was further improved in the last two hundred years with the industrial revolution introducing factory preserved foods in cans and boxes, and most recently food science to create flavors and additives which satisfy our taste buds. 

With these evolutions in our food production we have gained improvements, yet at the same time lost vital nutrients our bodies need to have thriving health. In the last year the concept of Victory Gardens, a movement which dates back to the second world war has been re-introduced. The movement encourages American families to have a small garden in their backyard that produces vegetables and fruits to supply the family and perhaps close neighbors. The Victory Garden has become a new way of life for many since 2020. Our grandparents really did know a little something about growing foods for healing. 

The Victory Garden gives us a chance to reconnect to the earth while having better control over the environment our produce is grown. The gardener can choose the soil composition, amount of plants to grow, pest control methods and even how they want to preserve the food for winter. These choices create knowledge and confidence in the gardener as they experiment and learn more each growing season to improve their yield. The backyard Victory Garden can easily grow into a homestead for those who choose to expand their landscaping into consumable plants and herbs, or add fruit trees or vines to their yards. But most importantly, the Victory Garden can be planned to grow the perfect mix of produce and herbs to meet the needs of your personal allergen-friendly diet. 

When planning your spring garden it is best to start planning in December, as seed companies begin selling seeds in early January. In 2021 many seed companies ran out of specific seeds due to the increase in demand as gardening has become increasingly popular again. I will work with you creatively to draw out your garden on graph paper, and use easy to understand colored pencil renderings to accommodate your unique kitchen garden space. 

My mission is to inspire modern suburban homesteading from our ancestral roots using functional herbalism, lifestyle techniques and mindset to cultivate healthy guts, personal intuition and harvest more joy in life. Schedule a personalized, health-focused garden planning session with me today at a special cost of $125 for a video consultation and walk away with your plan in hand for the 2022 growing season. Just visit tiffanyhinton.podia.com/green-witch-gardening