By Jacquie Foote In addition to seeing to it that…
By Jacquie Foote In addition to seeing to it that their children were well mannered, literate, knowledgeable about math and their country's history and government,…
By Jacquie Foote
In addition to seeing to it that their children were well mannered, literate, knowledgeable about math and their country’s history and government, the Geauga parents of the 1800s instilled a solid work ethic in their children. And, they began with household and farm chores.
From a very early age, the Geauga child of the 1800s (as elsewhere in the America of that time) worked alongside the parents in feeding animals, gathering eggs, weeding the garden and keeping the house neat. As time went on, chores became more gender specific, with the boys usually being the ones to learn to plow and the girls being the ones to learn to cook and sew.
But, the gardening chores remained the tasks of both boys and girls. Little wonder, for the garden was needed to provide not only food for today, but also the surplus to put away for tomorrow.
And what was planted in these kitchen gardens? Many things you’d recognize. Among these is what is considered by many to be the world’s oldest vegetable … the onion. It is believed to have been first grown in western Asia and was certainly widely known in ancient Egypt. It is believed that the early settlers from England brought this vegetable to America.
Of course, corn was a garden staple by then. The Indians grew it before America was discovered and was one of the vegetables called the Three Sisters by the Iroquois, who used them in companion planting. Actually, corn is a bit of a mystery. Other garden vegetables once grew wild, but corn cannot grow wild; it must be cultivated. No one knows where it came from originally … or even how old it may be.
The second of the Three Sisters, beans, and the third, pumpkins could be found in most Geauga gardens from the beginning. Beans are thought to have been grown as a food by the Indians of the Southwest for thousands of years. Over time, they were introduced to other Indian groups as far east as the Atlantic coast. Pumpkins became important to the settlers as more than just a food during the Revolutionary War. The shortage of sugar led some to use pumpkin syrup as a sweetener.
Some gardens contained asparagus plants. This vegetable once grew wild in England, Russia and Poland and was used only as a medicine. It wasn’t until about 1680 that the English began growing it for food. Settlers from England brought it to America.
English settlers also brought carrots here. Carrots are thought to have grown wild in England and Western Europe and began being grown as food in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Another English import is the cucumber. This is one of the oldest vegetables known. It is believed to have come from India and was grown as food by the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. The English grew cucumbers for centuries, calling them cowcumbers.
Although salads were not thought as important then as now, lettuce was found in many Geauga gardens of the 1800s. It was grown by the Persians hundreds of years before the birth of Christ and was commonly grown in England as a decoration as well as a food from the 1500s.
These garden plants, most of whom were not indigenous to Geauga grew in competition with the native weeds … making lots of weeding work for the children of the 1800s.
For information on the events at the Geauga County Historical Society’s Burton Century Village Museum, call 440-834-1492 or visit www.geaugahistorical.org.
