Over a century ago, the Industrial Revolution changed the American landscape. The rise of our great manufacturing empire lured poor, struggling farmers to the city to take jobs in factories. In coming to the city, they carried with them the knowledge of how to grow their own food, and many of them began tiny gardens filled with basil and tomatoes and oregano.
The movement to establish Labor Day began in the 1880s. Its essence is stated on the U.S. Department of Labor Web site. "It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom and leadership -- the American worker." And on this day, in the harvest season, we can also remember the role of home gardens in supplementing and augmenting the hard laborer's livelihood.
The small urban or suburban food garden is a little-known aspect of our workingman's tradition here in America. It is the counterpart to the English cottage garden created by workers and domestics of the landed gentry. Whether living in a tiny row house or a cramped cottage, these folks knew long ago that a garden could turn an ordinary life of a laborer into one of simple abundance.
Uncertainty, like that experienced in the economic meltdowns of the late 1800s, the 1929 Crash and the oil crisis of the 1970s, plagues today's world. In the past, whenever times got hard and jobs were lost, Americans returned to the soil. Whether using a tiny postage stamp of earth, boxes of soil on a rooftop or a few small pots of herbs on a windowsill, working-class people employed gardens to raise their standard of living.
Rampant unemployment today means more folks have free time. The best way to ease the strain on the household budget is to produce a garden for food and medicine. These are the same crops the Victorian factory worker depended on to ease the suffering of a colicky child or to add a vitamin-rich variety to a bread-dominated diet.
Recently, I watched a friend create a laborer's garden where a lawn once sat. The lawn did nothing for her family and only demanded time and energy to mow and feed. Rather than succumbing to the cost of raised beds and gimmicks, she returned to the soil with little more than a shovel and spading fork. Sure, the backbreaking work took time, but it was well worth it.
She used the native soil behind her house, and a nearby horse stable supplied her with all the free manure she could haul. She worked that ground, blistered her hands -- and loved every minute of it. And for less than $10, she purchased all the seeds she needed to plant healthy, hardy greens that would feed her family all winter long.
During those laborious hours, she ceased to dwell on her lost job and dwindling bank account. She heard the birds singing rather than the phone ringing. Tired muscles relaxed at the end of the day rather than tightening with the tension of inactivity. She was doing something proactive to make her life better, and the harvest provided more than just food. The garden became her lifeline to sanity in a stressful world of uncertainty.
Labor Day celebrates all of those lucky enough to hold jobs. For many, it means cutbacks and fewer hours, and it will most certainly be a poignant holiday for those who have lost their jobs altogether and don't know where to turn. But perhaps all of this will give birth to a rediscovery of the garden as insurance -- as a backup plan to ease stress and bring healthy, organic food to the dinner table while waiting for the jobs that, one day, will surely return.
(Maureen Gilmer is a horticulturist. Her blog, the MoZone, offers ideas for cash-strapped families. Read the blog at www.MoPlants.com/blog. E-mail her at mogilmer(at)yahoo.com. Also, join her online for the Garden Party social networking at Learn2grow.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
YARDSMART
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