TITLE: Chicago Victory Gardens: Yesterday and Tomorrow
SPEAKER: LaManda Joy
EVENT DATE: 05/13/2011
FORMAT: Video + Captions
RUNNING TIME: 61 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript (link will open in a new window)
DESCRIPTION:
During World War II, Chicago led the nation in urban food production with its Victory Gardens program of 1,500 community gardens and more than 250,000 home gardens. The city's North Park neighborhood was also home to the largest Victory Garden in the United States. In fact, the Victory Gardens campaign in Chicago was so successful that it was emulated across the country. Seventy years later, Chicago continues this tradition with an estimated 700 community gardens. In 2010, LaManda Joy launched the Peterson Garden Project, on land that was part of an original World War II Victory Garden from 1942-1945. The Peterson Garden is Chicago's largest community-allotment vegetable garden, with 157 plots tended by community members growing only organic vegetables. Volunteers and students also tend several garden plots and donate their produce to local food pantries and homeless shelters.
Speaker Biography: LaManda Joy is an award-winning gardener, blogger and founder of Chicago's Peterson Garden Project.
