2013 John Brown House Planting

MG Donna Berard Lashing the Tops

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

We replaced the four year old bean tripods at the John Brown House and finished the last of the plantings there for the Demonstration Kitchen Garden.

Franklin County Master Gardeners work with Dr. Doris Goldman of the German Four-Square Garden at the Renfrew Institute in Waynesboro, to plant a demonstration kitchen garden using vegetable varieties that were grown in the 1860's, when the property was used as a boarding house, with John Brown its famous tenant. 

The raid at Harpers Ferry was planned from this location. 

Some of the plants we grow there include Cardoon (more here.), Salsify, Turnips, Beets, Carrots and Parsnips. 
 
Multiple Heirloom beans, including Lazy Housewife (so named because it was the first "stringless bean", marketed to housewives as easier to prepare), German Red Lima, Christmas Lima, Scarlet Runner (also used as jewelry beads), Radan Yellow Wax, Spelt, and Moesteller Goose Bean - named after the Moesteller Farm where the original bean was found in the foot of a Goose, and seeds were saved.

Clockwise from Top Left, Lazy Housewife, Christmas Lima, German Lima
Radan Yellow Wax, and Scarlet Runner Beans

We save seeds every year, as was the practice at the time.

The bean poles that were made the first year were starting to break down, so we replaced them.

MG Ray Eckhart Planting Beans

Watered in (using 21st century hose)

Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplant, and Cardoon

In another bed, Tomatoes, Cardoon, Peppers and Eggplants were planted.

A Concord Grape Arbor

Another bed (not pictured) was planted with various cabbages, kholrabi and cauliflower, again, using varieties that were grown in the 1860's.

The John Brown House is maintained as a museum and visitor stop by the Franklin County Historical Society - Kittochtinny.  Visiting hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 4 PM, please note that the last tour starts at 3 PM.  Admission fees are: Adults $4, Children (6-17) $3; Combination tickets for the Old Jail and John Brown House are $7 each; maximum charge for families in one household is $10 at either site.  Group tours are by appointment; please call (717) 264-1667. 

When you go, be sure to pay attention to the "Bean Pole" incident that occurred as participants in the raid fled back to Chambersburg.

Not Triffids, Tribbles

Back in June, I showed you pictures of the weird and wonderful Cardoon plant that overwintered at the John Brown House historic vegetable garden, and flowered this year.

Cardoon Seed Pod

Here are what the seed pods look like.

They remind me of the cute and cuddly but overly fecund friends from The Trouble with Tribbles episode of the original Star Trek series.

There's an invasive species message in there somewhere.

After the first frost in a few weeks, we'll cut back the foliage, and mulch these guys well and see if we can keep them going into 2013.  Even if not, we were able to collect enough seed to have plenty of plants for the next couple years for our efforts here and at Renfrew, plus leftovers for the plant sale.

At a Deadly Pace, It Came from Outer Space ...

...and this is how the message ran. 

A Triffid?

Is it a Triffid?

Audrey II?

Just what is that thing?

Audrey II?

Cardoon Flower

None of the above. It’s a cardoon,  or Cynara cardunculus, and it comes from Southern Europe and Africa, and we grow it here as a part of our efforts with the John Brown House.

One We Started in late March in the Greenhouse - This was taken on June 26th

Back in 2008 and 2009, after having been contacted by the local Historic Society about establishing an historic kitchen garden at the John Brown house, Bob Kessler and I did the initial research before presenting to the Master Gardeners and asking if there was enough interest to proceed.  Obviously, there was, but during the beginning research phase, I came across references to growing Cardoon.  I had never heard of it before, but the name itself was intriguing enough for me, so Dr. Doris Goldman, curator of the Renfrew Historic 4-square garden, and professional consultant for our efforts with the John Brown House was happy to provide seed, and give us the opportunity to try to grow the vegetable.  It's a perennial plant, but for Zone 8 and above, so it's usually grown in our climate as an annual, not dissimilar to the way we grow tomatoes as annuals, even though botanically they're perennial. 

Cardoon Bloom - My Hand for Perspective

This was taken by Linda about a month ago

Another by Linda about two weeks ago

With the cardoon plant, the stalks are the part that is eaten. They are blanched (hidden from the sun via straw, or earth for several weeks) toward the end of the growing season, like what is done with celery, then harvested and used as a vegetable. Here's a recipe from 1868:

Cookery of the cardoon (Field & Garden Vegetables of America 1868) History

When a cardoon is to be cooked, its heart, and the solid, not piped, stalks of the leaves are to be cut into pieces, about six inches long, and boiled like any other vegetable, in pure water, not salt and water, till they are tender. They are then to be carefully deprived of the slime and strings which will be found to cover them; and having thus been thoroughly cleaned, are to be plunged in cold water, where they must remain till they are wanted for the table; they are then taken out and heated with white sauce, marrow, or any other of the adjuncts recommended in cookery books. The process just described is for the purpose of rendering them white, and depriving them of a bitterness which is peculiar to them; if neglected, the cardoons will be black, not white, as well as disagreeable.

- Fiering Burr Field and Garden Vegetables of America (Boston, 1868), p. 165

Hmmm...Perhaps that explains why it fell out of favor.

Flower Bud

In our climate, it almost never reaches the stage of flowering and producing seed, except on the rare occasions when the winter is mild enough, or the plant is protected enough, to maintain zone 8 conditions, and allow for second and subsequent year growth. The winter of 2011/12 was just such an occasion, and this is the result – a spectacular display.

We'll be able to save seeds from this fella, which should give us up to seven years of viable seed to use for our efforts at Renfrew and the John Brown House.

Moon Rue and Mary's Root

Linda S. and I met with Dr. Doris Goldman of Renfrew today, to discuss the plants we'll start from seeds for the historic vegetable gardens at Renfrew, as well as a smaller subset for John Brown’s House. Extras will be made available for the plant sale. We’ll have cabbages, cauliflowers, collards, brussel sprouts, kale, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. These are all varieties that were used in the 1800's in the kitchen gardens of the time. New for this year are two varieties of cotton and an artichoke, as well as medicinal herbs rue and black lovage. Alas, cardoon is not on the menu. Perhaps one of these zone 7 perennials that we planted last year, will overwinter and produce seeds.

Dr. Goldman will be the first speaker in a Spring Lecture series at Renfrew, talking about the Pennsylvania German Four Square Garden. The lecture is this Thursday, March 4 at 7:00 PM at Renfrew. Details for the whole series can be found at the link. We purchased a copy of her book, Moon Rue and Mary’s Root, and loaded it on the MG computer for your use. It will make great reading during down times when you're covering the hot line.

Update: Here's a beautiful slideshow of the garden at Renfrew. I'm looking forward to the updated, larger version coming this Spring.

Historic Vegetable Gardens (Part 2)

Other historical gardening books for further reading and research:

The Family Kitchen Gardener by Robert Buist, published in 1861.

The Kitchen Gardener's Instructor by Thomas Bridgeman, published in 1847. Here's an excerpt on my favorite big berry:

A celebrated writer observes, that " the common Tomato
made into a gravy, by stewing over the fire, and used as a
sauce for meat, has been known to quicken the action of the
liver and of the bowels, better than any medicine he ever
made use of." He states farther, that " when afflicted with
inaction of the bowels, headache, a bad taste of the mouth,
straitness of the chest, and a dull and painful heaviness of
the region of the liver, the whole of these symptoms are
removed by Tomato sauce, and the mind, in the course of
some few hours, is put in perfect tune."

And that was long before we heard anything about lycopene!
A New York Times article from 1993 discusses historical gardening and highlights Pennsylvania's Landis Valley Museum and its Heirloom Seed Project.

If you are interested in the vegetables and flowers grown by the Germans who settled in Pennyslvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Landis Valley Museum in Lancaster, Pa., offers seeds through its Heirloom Seed Project.

"One of our most interesting seeds is the Mosteller wild goose bean," said Nancy Pippart, the coordinator. "This bean has stayed with the Mosteller family for 125 years, and it was first found in the craw of a Canada goose by a woman who went to dress the bird."

The Wild Goose Bean is one of the beans we planted at John Brown's House, and saved for next year. They were donated by Plasterer's Florist and Greenhouses here in Chambersburg from their Landis Valley Heirloom Seed Project section. A PDF with seed descriptions is here.

Historic Vegetable Gardens (Part 1)

Linda S. took these pictures of the gardens at John Brown’s House in Chambersburg earlier this month (We promise to get some pictures of the garden in season next year.) In case you were unaware, the Master Gardeners of Franklin County worked with the folks at the Franklin County Historical Society-Kittochtinny, to establish a demonstration kitchen garden to go along with the restoration of the boarding house used in the mid 19th century. Its most famous roomer was, of course, John Brown, who planned and executed the raid at Harpers Ferry from these premises. You’ll have to take the guided tour at the house to learn about the “Bean Pole Incident” that we tried to portray with the supports you can see in the picture. If you go on certain Fridays, our leader, Linda S. will be your host guide, all gussied up in period costume, hoop dress and bonnet.

Those poles were cut from the woods behind my house, and lashed together by Donna B. using techniques described here and here. (I really like those 1863 hoop training tomato supports shown here in "The field and garden vegetables of America" book).

The garden was designed by our own Jill H. and planned with help from Renfrew Institute's staff biologist, Dr. Doris Armstrong Goldman, the recently published author of Moon Rue & Mary’s Root, Plants of the Pennsylvania Dutch Four-Square Garden. The comprehensive volume covers more than 400 plants—cultivated and wild—grown and used by Pennsylvania Germans (also called Pennsylvania Dutch) in their traditional “four square” gardens.

Entries include fruits, vegetables, cooking herbs, ornamentals, and plants used for medicines, soaps, perfumes and children’s toys from around 1800 through the Civil War era. More than 100 botanical illustrations highlight the text.

Each entry in the book includes the scientific, Pennsylvania Dutch and common English names for the plant, plus geographic origin, when the plant was first used, and how it was used by the Pennsylvania Dutch and others. Tips on traditional medicinal uses, recommended historical varieties and hints for cultivation are also included. The volume is published on a CD using PDF format.

Although the privy in the picture above is for display only, and non-functional (it houses some garden tools), the archaeological excavations of the outdoor privies at Renfrew show that many of the seed varieties covered in Dr. Goldman's book were grown there.

Some of the historical vegetable seeds used at Renfrew and John Brown’s – heirloom varieties that were grown at the time - include Cardoon, Salsify, Scarlet Runner Beans, Goose Beans, Spelt Beans, and German Red Limas, hot pepper Hinkelhatz (chicken heart), as well as the variegated leafed Fish Pepper. Tomato varieties included Amish Paste, Riesentraube Cherry, Purple Calabash, and Pittman’s Plum. There were multiple cabbage varieties, as well.

Master Gardeners worked with Dr. Goldman this past Spring, starting about 600 plants for both locations at Renfrew and John Brown’s House. The Four Square Garden at Renfrew is planted entirely by school children of Franklin County. In 2009, there were over 41 classes, representing over 900 children learning both history and horticulture.

In 2010, the Four Square Garden at Renfrew will be moved to an expanded area.

You can order Moon Rue and Mary’s Root by contacting Renfrew Institute at:

renfrewinst@innernet.net

It’s priced at $24.00 including shipping, or $21.20, if you go there to buy it.

I'm looking forward to continued collaborative efforts with Renfrew and the Historical Society in 2010.