KEARSARGE — The concept of Victory Gardens began in World War II, when Americans were encouraged to grow their own produce to help ease pressured supply chains and food shortages. Now, in a time when Triple AAA reports New Hampshire’s gas average last month as nearly $4.90 per gallon, and high inflation rates continue to challenge the average consumer, members of the Kearsarge community are reintroducing Victory Gardens as one solution.
Hanna Flanders, of the Kearsarge Food Hub, is one of the main brains behind this Victory Garden Revival project. Flanders says that not only are Victory Gardens a way to combat a stressed supply chain, but they also encourage community building in what is now an isolated, post-pandemic country.
“It’s a way to re-center resiliency hyper-locally, in your own backyard or in a small community,” Flanders said.
Inspiration for the Victory Garden Revival came from FEED (Food Expansion, Education, Distribution).
Flanders described the Victory Gardens as the “second leg” of the Tray it Forward program. That initiative involved trays of plants that are donated by the community, with seedlings started by Spring Ledge Farm of New London, and distributed to registered individuals by volunteers. This year more than 400 free seedling trays were delivered to 108 individuals, food pantries, and local organizations. Many of the individuals who receive trays register through food pantries, ensuring FEED Kearsarge’s goal of helping people who are food insecure.
FEED Kearsarge aims to not only provide seedlings, but ensure their success within the recipients’ gardens.
Andy Jeffrey, volunteer at the Kearsarge Food Hub and Kearsarge Neighborhood Partners, said FEED Kearsarge has three main goals. The first is to get the seeds out through Tray it Forward. The second is to turn them into food through Victory Gardens. The third is distribution. This is where the concept of the “Freedge” — free fridge — comes into play.
“If you think about the electrical grid — in order for your toaster to function, you’ve got to have a power line coming to your house and a socket to plug it into,” Jeffrey said.
“This group views the food delivery system in the same way as electrical deliveries. We want to make sure that we are reaching everybody, and that everybody’s not just getting some food, but adequate and high-quality food.”
The Bradford Victory Garden is now directly supplying produce to the “freege,” which is located at the Kearsarge Food Hub’s Sweet Beet Market & Cafe in Bradford.
“There’s a lot of energy in this particular region,” said Melissa Lee, field specialist at the Merrimack County Extension Office and Co-Director of the Building Community Resilience project. According to Lee, the choice to direct funds to Kearsarge was a “sense of readiness” in the community, which needed not more resources, but an “opportunity to increase communication.”
Both Flanders and Jeffrey attribute FEED Kearsarge’s continued accomplishments to the Kearsarge Community Network – led by Carol Conforti-Adams – that holds monthly meetings to link like-minded organizations together. The group is funded by the UNH Cooperative Extension, which received funds from the Rural Health and Safety Education grant to improve community resilience in rural New Hampshire communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Carol’s involvement and her passion for community wellness, joy, and vitality — she’s really interested in making sure that the work that’s started by the grant is continued once the grant is over,” Flanders said.
Conforti-Adams recognized the positive feedback she’s received from the network’s members.
“What the KCN has allowed us to do is for people to see each other, talk to each other, and share what they’re doing — then the spark happens,” Conforti-Adams said. “The more we can learn about each other, the more we can collaborate, the more resources we can spread across the board while engaging our clientele and community members.”
FEED Kearsarge continues to support Victory Garden participants by offering tours at the three established community gardens in Bradford, Warner, and New London. These gardens serve as models to participants who may lack the knowledge necessary to grow their own garden.
“When we had the Victory Garden tour at Colby-Sawyer, the response was amazing – the participants wanted to bring their friends and family back to show them what’s possible. It’s an eye-opening experience,” Jeffrey said. “People just assume that you have to be a ‘green-thumb’ gardener or farmer in order to produce food. When you see how simple, straight-forward, and inexpensive it is… it’s a bonding experience.”
A second effort to support participants is a Facebook group run by Colby-Sawyer College Intern Makayla Wilbert. Members can submit photos of their gardens, view and chat with other community members, and participate in the “Victory Garden Superlatives.”
“We are offering prizes to folks who submit photos in different categories throughout the growing season,” Flanders said. “Then we have gift cards to Spring Ledge Farm, Sweet Beet, and Warner Public Market, just to make it exciting.”
To get involved with these various organizations, and to learn more about future events with the Victory Gardens, join the Facebook group. You can also email Hanna Flanders at hanna@kearsargefoodhub.com.