Gen Tales
German-American Family Shows Off WWI Victory Garden
T he German-American Nasch family in St. Paul, Minnesota produced an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables and vibrant blooming flowers in their post-WWI “Victory Garden.” Photographic evidence from the 1910s to 1920s show lush vines, trees, and shrubs, as well as giant heads of summer cabbage likely to be canned into “Liberty Cabbage” sauerkraut.
West Side St. Paul Home Gardeners Pose Proudly
M artha Nasch (front and center-right approx. late 20s), stands proudly in her St. Paul, Minn. front yard garden with a summertime crop of cabbage, nearly ready to harvest. The canned sauerkraut made from the vegetable could be enjoyed during the freezing winter months, or it might have been exported overseas to World War I allies who faced shortages.
Both Martha and her husband, Louis Nasch Jr., were of German descent and the seasonal harvest may be a nod to their personal heritage, as many Americans were urged to start a patriotic “Victory Garden” in 1917. Sauerkraut received the revised nickname, “Liberty Cabbage,” near the end of the War, as anti-German prejudices emerged. Despite those sentiments, many families continued aiding the war efforts overseas and reduced the economic toll at home by converting their yards into gardens.
To see the family posing with expressions of pride, joy, and seemingly at peace in the garden is, perhaps, a testimony of how the hobby can positively impact one’s mental and emotional health at such an extraordinary time.
The neighbors were known to admire the property and Louis Nasch (shown on the far right) took advantage of this by selling his extra produce and flowers to the locals. “My father kept [the yard] very nice and worked hard to make it attractive to all visitors,” said Louis’ son, Ralph in a 1987 reminiscence (Nasch, 1987).
A Photographic Tale
F rom photographs, historians have identified the Nasch’s home garden boasting grape vines, apple trees, corn stalks, summer squash, Alstroemeria, Phlox, Daisies, Dandelions, and an oversized, blood-red “Crested Cockscomb” Celosia.
Louis Nasch Jr. (shown below with son) was known to peddle the flowers (and likely the spare fruit) to the neighborhood locals and in his father’s grocery store on Stryker Avenue. Ralph later wrote that his father worked hard to keep the yard attractive and “he would often scold me and my friends if we did any damage to plants, shrubs, or the vegetable garden.”
While Louis was the family photographer and his only child Ralph, the defacto scrapbooker, it was Martha who forever memorialized the family garden through poetry.
Poetic Preservation
Martha wrote fondly of her home garden as a field of precious jewels, a source of pride, and a place of sweet memories. Martha wrote these and other rhymes about missing her home and family during her 1928–1934, psychiatric committal to the St. Peter State Hospital for the Insane. Her husband sent her there after she claimed a strange and sudden inability to eat or drink (more on that story HERE). From her collection of poetry, readers get the impression that the garden was quite robust, beyond what can bee seen in the scrapbooked images:
“A lush garden, once mine, on top of a mound with fruit trees and bushes and vines spread around, with shade trees and shrubbery, and flowers so fair…”
(“Outcast,” Martha Nasch, 1934)“The trees and flowers were lovely to see. The garden was cherished by you and me…” (“Home,” Martha Nasch, 1934)
“You raise flowers of every hue. The Rose, Iris, Larkspur blue…”
(“The Blue For-Get-Me-Not,” Martha Nasch, 1934)
Keeping Up The Garden
I n 1959, after Martha’s release from the asylum and divorce from Louis, he continued to maintain the home and garden to a high standard. A short feature by Lu Jarvis in the West St. Paul Riverview Booster shows Louis Nasch checking out his 75th birthday gift from the neighborhood: a “money tree.” The article reads that at 75, he “loves to work in his garden and listen to his favorite radio program.”
In a morbid twist on this tale, in 1964, Louis Nasch passed away in his beautiful yard at the age of 80. A heart attack claimed his life while he was out mowing the lawn.
Award-Winning Poetry, Now Available
Martha’s poems have since been published by descendants in the 2021 nonfiction, Poems from the Asylum. Gardening enthusiasts may find a special connection to the poet because of the highly emotional scenes Martha paints using floral references.
The book includes a full biographical sketch of the family plus the entire collection of poetry composed in the asylum (with annotations and illustrations). Martha’s writing has earned posthumous merits via two American poetry societies. She also remains a person of interest for a future television documentary and for a potential full-length motion film.
For updates on Nasch family research, new articles published, speaker presentations, podcasts, tv, or radio spots, stay tuned on Facebook.com/SevenYearsInsane (@SevenYearsInsane).
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