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Gardening in a Dust Bowl title image

Girls with harvested apples
Jack and Kathleen Werner display giant vegetables from
family garden, SHSND# 0080-Box3-file 25-12
Over many years of Extension work at NDAC/SU, the emphasis was on the economics of gardening, but since the 1990s, especially under the direction of Ron Smith, gardeners have been urged to think of gardening as a family activity. Parents can not only teach their children gardening skills but can encourage children to enjoy vegetables as food that they have grown themselves, and to get some much needed outdoor exercise. (Eat Smart Play Hard). Believing that there is a gap in the generational transmission of gardening knowledge, Smith plans to teach a course in the basics of gardening fall semester 2009.

Some of the sources referenced in this exhibit, notably Low and Defender Wilson (in Courtin’), suggest that children also took pride in their contributions to the family’s food supply. Though they understood their part involved work, it was work that was valued by the family and the community.

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