A poem from 1941 and a short film I’d like to share. I hope you enjoy it as I did.
Mrs. T.’s Cabbage Patch where she Digs for Victory
“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.”
L P Hartley
Mrs. Turner, called Mrs. T.
Cooks and digs for Victory.
She grows herbs in her window-box.
Cress on a plate.
Her allotment she keeps
In an excellent state.
With potatoes and carrots,
And onions in rows,
While each cabbage and cauliflower
Lavishly grows.
So the Turners eat well,
And the food they don’t need
The Community Kitchen
Can use up with speed.
The U-boats and Dorniers
Will soon meet their match,
When each one of us feeds
Off our own Cabbage Patch.
Loved seeing Mrs T and her allotment. I was brought up on fresh veg and now grow my own and enjoy them so much, such a good fresh taste, beats anything in the supermarkets.
I also was brought up on what my father grew in the garden now I grow everything (or try to) my children and even great grandchildren are following on the small children love to grow their own tomatoes and my children grow everything, potatoes in bags this year as space is limited
Enjoyed this video very much It has inspired me to use more vegetables in my cooking this year for health for the whole family. Children today dont seem to enjoy them as much which is a shame.
This film is resonant vis a vis our present pandemic problems. Many more people are growing their own, community kitchens have reappeared (though not British restaurants for obvious reasons) children’s access to proper nutrition continues to be a major concern, and the ingenuity and commitment on display in wartime has resurfaced today.
I’m going to ensure that my older grandchildren (9 and 13) watch it, take it in and hopefully understand why grandpa has got an allotment and grandma works wonders in the greenhouse.
Thank you John, for your resourcefulness in finding this gem.
Great little film. I am glad that I bought John’s wartime Dig for Victory book. I tend, weed and sow for years and fail to grow much and nowhere near enought to be self-sufficient.
Succession sowing is definitely the answer! I feel renewed with enthusiasm!
How lovely was that?
I’m going to share it with a dear friend, an elderly lady in her 90’s.
She loves to reminisce about this time period. I asked her how the pandemic compared. She said, “at least I could go out back then.”
Thanks for sharing.
Enjoyed Mrs.T’s film! it will not go into full screen mode,unless u play another old short, then it will go into full screen,discovered this by accident! Great stuff John!
I’ve tried to solve that but it seems the system overrides the YouTube code and removes non-standard parameters like allowfullscreen – so thanks for the workaround
This past year as difficult as it has been, has changed the way I garden for good. I want more good organic produce from my plot and have become far more self sufficient, due to the pandemic. I sent out many food parcels of jams, purées and pickles this year to family & friends, from yields out of my own garden and collected whilst out foraging. Many similarities to Mrs T’s war time provisioning, sadly without being able to sit around the table with my nearest & dearest (we shall make up for that).
Trouble is, they have put in requests for repeat orders this year as well 🙂
An excellent film, and now I know why my mother likes parsley pasties!
Modern gardening programmes seem to focus more on blooms and flowers than food production and storage, so your focus is very inspiring.
I grew parsley in two hanging baskets last year and was the best crop ever, plus it freed up more ground for rocket.- watch out for the wasabi rocket!
Thank you John for that little piece of film. I’m moving house and will have a decent garden, so I’m looking forward to getting seeds in soon, and enjoying the fruits of my labour.
Enjoyed the film very sweet. Harkens back to days gone by. I have an allotment in Chiswick and am almost self sufficient. It’s so important that children learn to cook and know where there food comes from. Not wrapped in plastic that’s for sure.