O’Sheas’ Victory Garden – A Patriotic Duty
Tara McAndrew
/ Categories: History

O’Sheas’ Victory Garden – A Patriotic Duty

During WWI, the federal government struggled to provide enough food for troops overseas. So, it encouraged citizens to grow their own food to help, and the so-called “Victory Garden” or “War Garden” was born. It was rekindled during WWII when the government went a step further and rationed food.

A 1943 U.S. Department of Agriculture pamphlet explained: “The burdens of WWII are already creating serious food production, distribution, and preservation problems. Labor and machinery shortages interfere with production, overloaded railroads and restricted motor transport interfere with distribution, and inadequate supplies of labor, steel, and tin demand that civilians depend less on foods canned in tin.”

Then Illinois Governor Dwight Green declared a “Victory Garden week” in 1942. Springfield held Victory Garden contests and educational workshops. Local businesses advertised seeds, garden tools, and chicken sheds for raising chickens. One such ad in the March 18, 1945 Illinois State Journal read: “Garden for Victory in 1945.”

The growing O’Shea family did just that, as Bud O’Shea, who was a young boy then, recalls. He and his three brothers helped their father, Harold, and mother, Jane. They had a 40’ wide by 150’ long vacant lot next door to their house, Bud says. The boys helped their dad weed, water, and plant seeds, including corn, pumpkin, tomatoes, peppers, onions, radishes, green beans, and melons, according to Bud and his brother, Jim. Their mother also grew sage for Thanksgiving stuffing.

Meat, like sugar and other products, was rationed, which made it hard to get, especially if you had a family with four kids. Harold raised chickens in their backyard for food and the boys helped. “We liked it,” Jim says. “We’d go out to feed the chickens. They were easy to care for. Dad cut a small hole in the garage so the chickens could go in there at night. There was hay in there and up high, above the floor, there were boxes. That’s where the chickens went to lay their eggs. In the morning, it was fun to see if they had eggs and collect them. Sometimes they’d still be warm.”

“Dad bought chicks in quantities of 50 as he needed them,” according to Bud. Jim recalls: “They would be in a box in the basement of our home and we would keep it filled with chicken feed.” Each of the boys had their own pet chicken. Their brother, Pat’s, only had one leg. “I named him Stanley,” Pat explains. “One of my favorite baseball players in those days was Stan Hack. He played third base for the Chicago Cubs. Poor Stanley (the chicken) couldn't move very well, but I liked him anyway.” 

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