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United States School Garden Army

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
School Garden Army recruitment poster by Edward Penfield (1918)

The United States School Garden Army (USSGA), was founded by the Bureau of Education[1][2] in 1917 during the administration of President Woodrow Wilson's.[3] Wilson described gardening as "just as real and patriotic an effort as the building of ships or the firing of cannon"[4] and opined that "food will win the war".[5] The USSGA was set up to encourage gardening among school children, in the hopes of preventing a potential food scarcity after World War I.[6] Funding for the entity comes from the War Department.[5]

The Bureau of Education distributed manuals and guides (featuring data on soil health)[7] across the nation to children ages 9–15[8] and their teachers. By Armistice Day, a large number of American children had answered the call to become "Soldiers of the Soil".[9] War Gardens are now known as Victory Gardens.[10]

References

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  1. ^ Dooley, Yvonne (2017-01-25). "The School Garden Army in the First World War | Inside Adams: Science, Technology & Business". blogs.loc.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  2. ^ United States School Garden Army, Bureau of Education. "Join the United States School Garden Army". War Posters – World War I. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  3. ^ Schumm, Laura. "America's Patriotic Victory Gardens". HISTORY. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  4. ^ "Join the United States school garden army – Enlist now | NCpedia". www.ncpedia.org. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  5. ^ a b ""Food Will Win the War," 1917 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History". www.gilderlehrman.org. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  6. ^ Resources, University of California Agriculture and Natural. "United States School Garden Army, ca WWI". ucanr.edu. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  7. ^ Hayden-Smith, Rose (2007). ""Soldiers of the Soil": The Work of the United States School Garden Army during World War I". Applied Environmental Education and Communication. 6: 19–29. doi:10.1080/15330150701319453. S2CID 144111531 – via Research Gate.
  8. ^ "MSU Libraries". MSU.
  9. ^ "Soldiers of the Soil – United States School Garden Army — City Farmer News". cityfarmer.info. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  10. ^ "A short history of the victory garden, or how to get through the COVID-19 crisis by planting your own food". Los Angeles Times. 2020-04-16. Retrieved 2020-04-29.