We are almost into January and the warmth continues. Thus far, even in upstate New York, we have not had a killing frost. I still have beets
and kale
Moreover, my poor dog is suffering. She grew in her winter coat. And now it looks like her April hair; ragged as she sheds. This is her flank one day after brushing.
I, however, am not complaining. Maybe this year I will actually get my peas in to the ground mid-March instead of being held back by snow.
With Thanksgiving coming up, my thoughts turn naturally to food.
One of the first things that strikes a modern person when one researches food from this era is how meat heavy it is. The American plate for the last fifty or so years has been meat, a vegetable and a starch like potato or rice.
Johnny cakes or cornbread would have more likely been the starch on the table. And while vegetables from the garden would be available in the summer and early fall, people would have been limited to good keepers like cabbage apples, and carrots after that.
Refrigeration was primitive. Root cellars, holes dug into the ground and cool, were further cooled with ice covered in sawdust for insulation.
But meat, both from domesticated animals and whatever a hunter could bag, was available all year. (Assuming enough wealth to own animals or the skill to hunt successfully.)
Here is a list of some of the animals eaten:
The regular domesticated: beef, pork, mutton, lamb and chicken.
Fish: salmon, shad, Hannah Hill (sea bass), oysters, lobster, cod, haddock, perch, eels
Wild: ducks, geese, partridge, deer, snipes, pigeon, hares and rabbits, turtles and of course turkey.
Recipes included many herbs.
No wonder people longed for greens in the spring.
Salad has a long history. One source I read claimed that the Greeks and Romans ate mixed greens with dressing.
I have salad recipes in my Queen Elizabeth I and King Richard cookbooks although they also include things like figs and are sweeter than we normally think of salad, which is now seen as more of a healthy food. The recipes from these renaissance cookbooks read more like dessert.
Besides wild greens and the tops of beets and turnips, early American farmers also grew several varieties of lettuce, cucumbers, radishes. What’s missing from the usual American salad? Why, tomatoes. Although now considered Italian, tomatoes are actually, like potatoes, from South America It was brought to Europe by Spain. And, a member of the nightshade family, it was considered a poison. It was not eaten at all during the Colonial period ( and grown as a decorative plant) but by the early 1800s was popular as a food. One story lists Thomas Jefferson as the who began planting and eating tomatoes. He was a passionate gardener who tried new foods but we don’t really know for sure.
But I digress. Cucumbers were frequently used as a salad and I have found old recipes for cucumber salad which usually consists of chopped cucumbers and vinegar.
Other vegetables: artichokes, onions, garlic, parsnips, asparagus and of course things like cabbage were popular. We think of the diet at this time as meat heavy, and it was, but cheese and diary and grains, as well as the vegetables, were also a big part of the diet.
I always mention food in my books. I’m a gardener myself and clearly a foodie – which regular readers of my blog can surely tell. And I find it fascinating to discover what our forefathers ate and didn’t eat. Sometimes it is surprising.
After a very dry summer, we finally had rain. And a lot of it. Overnight close to a foot;
The above pool cover was dry before the rain.
I am glad for my garden. Cucumbers and beans were beginning to wither, despite my watering. And the tomatoes!
See the cracks? That’s what happens to tomatoes when they suffer stress from irregular watering.
Now we are waiting to see if Joaquin hits. When Sandy hit, I lost power, my library flooded, and nearby towns were awash.
Ah, weather.
This is a funny year. I always find surprises, partly because many plants reseed themselves. Tomatoes is one. Random plants come up all over the garden and I can never bear to pull them, which may be one reason I end up with 11 plants.
Two tomato plants came up here along with what looks like squash. And in the background it looks like cabbage even though the package said broccoli. There are four broccolis in front of the cabbage, planted too close.
This year is odd as well. I have flowers on my peas, because they went in late (snow on the ground) and flowers on the tomatoes (begun in the house). Tomatoes and peas at the same time?
And finally, just something nice. My weigela – I just missed a butterfly on it. I love spring!
