About Us

"VictoryGrower" is published under the auspices of the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources, by Rose Hayden-Smith, a 4-H Youth Development Advisor and a Food and Society Policy Fellow.

Hayden-Smith's work focuses on providing gardening and food systems education to youth, educators, and community audiences. She chairs UC's Garden-Based Learning Workgroup. She also serves on California's Instructional School Garden Committee, which helps to implement and support California's landmark legislation supporting school gardens, Assembly Bill 1535 (California Instructional School Garden Act).

A practicing U.S. historian, Hayden-Smith researches the history of agriculture and gardening, particularly during the Progressive Era and World War I; agricultural policy; and the American homefront during wartime. She has been strongly influenced by what she has learned about the successful national gardening programs of World War I and II. These programs not only increased the nation's food security and improved health and nutrition, but provided common purpose for a diverse nation that was at war.

Hayden-Smith is a 2008-2009 Food and Society Policy Fellow (FASP). The Food and Society Policy Fellows Program hopes to catalyze cultural shifts and policy changes through innovative and creative communications toward sustainable food and farming systems that are diverse, just and health promoting. For additional information about the Food and Society Policy Fellows Program and its many activities, please visit www.foodandsocietyfellows.org.

You can reach VictoryGrower via email by contacting rmhaydensmith@ucdavis.edu or via victorygrower@sbcglobal.net.