Did you know that school children were recruited to assist in the growing of our nations food supply in 1919 during World War 1. President Wilson sent letters to school children requesting their assistance. By the end of World War 1 several million children and 50,000 teachers had enlisted as 'soldiers of the soil." Harriet Johns, an elementary student in Long Beach, harvested “exactly 1769 beans from four stalks, raised from as many seeds." Fourteen thousand students worked 13,000 gardens and field sites in Los Angeles schools.43 The students at the small Ann Street Elementary School in Ventura raised and sold two tons of potatoes.
Information taken from: Soldiers of the Soil: A Historical Review of the United States School Garden Army. Read more about it by clicking on the button below.
Information taken from: Soldiers of the Soil: A Historical Review of the United States School Garden Army. Read more about it by clicking on the button below.