What do a famous city in South Carolina, a picturesque old home and six national bloggers have in common? Come along on this tour of one of America’s most important historic gardens and I’ll tell you about it.

Cooper-O’Connor House

Recently, I found myself in Charleston, South Carolina – a beautiful city with a rich history. “Charles Town” was founded in 1670, and later changed its name to Charleston in 1783.

The oldest city in South Carolina is filled with charmingly restored homes, such as the Cooper-O’Connor house on Broad Street (shown above) constructed circa 1855.

During the Civil War, the house was used by the Confederacy as a prison for Union officers, according to the Historic Charleston Foundation.

Image courtesy of Library of Congress

Here’s a photo of the Cooper-O’Connor house right after the Civil War. You can see how it has changed a bit over the years, but perhaps most noteworthy, is that the house is still standing … unlike its neighbors. Considering I married an O’Connor, you can see why I took an interest in the place.

My host for the Charleston trip was Troy-Bilt, and I was joined by five accomplished garden and DIY bloggers. More about this information in a moment… But first, let’s tour Middleton Place.

Middleton Place

The 18^th century Middleton Place sits along the Ashley River, with 65 acres, and is a National Historic Landmark.

It’s interesting to note the family history. In one generation, Arthur Middleton signed the Declaration of Independence. Nearly a hundred years later, Williams Middleton and his older brother signed South Carolina’s Ordinance of Secession. This removed South Carolina from the United States, and started the Civil War.

The only surviving part of the residence is the former gentlemen’s guest quarter (shown above) built in 1755.  Two other parts of the South Carolina home were burned by the Union troops in 1865, just two months after the end of the Civil War.

Historical Landscape

Middleton has the oldest landscaped gardens in the United States, dating back to 1741.

Classic French garden design techniques can be seen here, including a strong focus on symmetry, geometric shapes and order.

There are hidden treasures here, including a sweet statue that sits at the end of a walkway.

In early March 2015, the azaleas were just starting to bloom. Can you imagine how this space will look in a few weeks, when the flowering shrubs are a riot of colors?

Early Camellias

Camellias hold a special place at Middleton Place. In 1786, a French botanist gave the Middleton family some of the first camellias grown in a United States garden.

Unfortunately, I don’t know the variety of these red camellias, but they looked rather stunning with the Spanish moss.

Today, there are more than 3,500 camellias in the Middleton Place gardens, including this one I photographed during our tour.  Camellias add vivid colors to this Southern garden during the late-fall and winter months.

Many camellias at Middleton Place are older than 220 years. And, yes, one of the original four camellias from the French botanist is still alive.

Here’s more about the fascinating history of camellias at Middleton.

Guests to Middleton Place can buy several varieties of camellias at the garden shop.

Growing Camellias

To have success with camellias, you’ll want acidic soil in your garden. These flowering plants, just like azaleas, can run into problems with neutral or alkaline soils.

A general guideline about pH is that wetter climates with forests, like the Eastern United States or the Pacific Northwest, tend to have more acidic soil than drier areas out West, which often have alkaline soil. However, your soil may have changed when your house was built with new topsoil. So if you are curious, get a pH soil test from your local cooperative extension service.  Or, purchase an inexpensive pH test.

Here’s good growing advice for camellias from Southern Living magazine.

Gators in South Carolina

During our garden tour, several alligators were visible in Middleton Plantation’s lakes and creeks.

Alligators are indigenous in South Carolina, and our tour guide mentioned the gators are quite common. Here’s more trivia about alligators around Charleston.

Natural Dyes and Peacocks

Around the property, there are different Colonial-skills demonstrations recreated at Middleton, such as spinning wool or milking cows.

The above display shows how different colors were made in earlier times, using onion skins, berries and Spanish moss as natural dyes.

Peacocks strutted their stuff and showed off a bit for us as we were leaving.

This guy’s impressive display ended our tour of Middleton Place with an appropriately dramatic finish, worthy of such a historically important place.

Saturday6 Announcement

My trip to Charleston, S.C. was sponsored by Troy-Bilt, a well-known manufacturer of lawn and garden tools. Troy-Bilt is the brand who introduced the first rototiller for U.S. gardens back in the 1930s.

Seasonal Wisdom was asked by Troy-Bilt to be part of its Saturday6 blogger program for 2015, along with these five accomplished bloggers from across the nation:

PithandVigor.com

GardenFork.TV

VeggieGardeningTips.com

TheImpatientGardener.com

SandandSisal.com

Seasonal Wisdom does occasionally accept sponsorships from select companies, which have proven quality products and admirable corporate values.  I evaluated this opportunity carefully, and was encouraged by what former Saturday6 bloggers Gardening with Confidence and Our Little Acre said about their experiences last year.

What does this mean to you? Not much really. During 2015, you’ll see a few Troy-Bilt sponsored posts, which will be clearly identified with the Saturday6 disclosure. I’ll also be writing for Troy-Bilt’s own publications. I’ll mention these stories over on Seasonal Wisdom’s social media platforms; so you can find them there, if you’re so inclined.

Any sponsored posts or product reviews on Seasonal Wisdom will continue to be treated with objectivity and honesty. Thanks for your support, and happy gardening.

Learn More

Middleton Place

Charleston Garden Tours

Mount Vernon Garden Tour

Monticello Garden Tour

North Carolina Native Plants

With kids back in school now, Seasonal Wisdom reflects back on an inspiring World War I program that made millions of children “soldiers of the soil” in the United States School Garden Army – and growing your own food educational and patriotic.

Nearly 100 years later, Seasonal Wisdom sits down with University of California academic Rose Hayden-Smith to discuss these early school gardens and her acclaimed new book Sowing the Seeds of Victory: American Gardening Programs of World War I.  Surprisingly, these historic programs are more relevant than ever today.

A Little History  

Before this story gets started, however, I need to make a confession.

This well-known historian and I have a history together.

To the world, Hayden-Smith is a highly sought-after speaker, author and academic with the University of California.  Her knowledge about wartime gardens, food systems and sustainable agriculture is renowned. She’s a former W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Policy Fellow. The White House Project named her one of the nation’s thirty most influential women in sustainable food systems. In 2013, she was honored with UC Davis’ Bradford-Rominger award for her distinguished work in agricultural sustainability.  In other words, she really knows her stuff.

But to me, this talented, hardworking professional is simply “Rose” – a charming and cheerful lady, who I’ve known for more than a decade. She has actually been my neighbor TWICE; most recently, when my family bought a house nearly across the street from her a few months ago.  But that’s another story.

You may recall Seasonal Wisdom’s earlier interview with this captivating historian about Victory Gardens a few years back.  You can see Rose talk about Victory Gardens with Joe Lamp’l on PBS-TV’s Growing a Greener World.

In her new book Sowing the Seeds of Victory (McFarland; 2014), Rose examines the various national gardening programs of World War I.

What many people don’t realize is that the Victory Gardens of World War II actually had their origins in the lesser-known Liberty and Victory Gardens of World War I (1917-1919). And Rose makes a compelling case that these progressive wartime programs continue to provide lessons nearly a century later.

U.S. School Garden Army

Sowing the Seeds of Victory covers in detail federal gardening programs, such as the National War Garden Commission and Woman’s Land Army. But as a fan of getting more kids in the garden, I was particularly interested in the United States School Garden Army.

Launched during World War I, the United States School Garden Army was a federally promoted educational program with the slogan A Garden for Every Child. Every Child in a Garden.  Developed by the Federal Bureau of Education, the national gardening curriculum for urban and suburban youth was funded by the U.S. War Department (now the Department of Defense). Yes, you read that correctly.

“President Woodrow Wilson himself made the decision to fund an army of school gardeners, affirming that their work in gardens was of great importance to national security,” writes Rose in Sowing the Seeds of Victory. “Wilson used money from the National Security and Defense Fund.”

This historic program represented an unprecedented governmental effort to make agricultural education a formal (and informal) part of the public school curriculum.

With so many kids growing up on junk food, and not knowing how to garden today, it cheers my heart to think of an army of students learning about cultivating and preserving homegrown vegetables and fruits, courtesy of U.S. government defense dollars.

Our conversation about the United States School Garden Army:

SW: How did you learn about this army of student gardeners? Is it very well-known?

Rose: I learned about it by chance in an obscure reference in an article by O.L. Davis, probably in the fall of 2002. I was immediately hooked. Why had no one heard about this or written anything but a short article?

SW: What did you find the most fascinating about this national group of student gardeners?

Rose: Several things. The United States School Garden Army was likely the first federal curriculum from the nation’s Bureau of Education, and it elevated gardening and food production – and education about that – to an act of vital importance to national security, an act of civic virtue, of patriotism … all within the context of wartime.

SW: How did this school garden program reflect what was happening in our nation’s history at that time?

Rose: The U.S. School Garden Army reflected progressive impulses, notions of experiential education, “sheltered” childhood, and it used imagery and rhetoric, such as propaganda and World War I poster art, to influence youth and engage them. The historic garden program also reflected federal concerns about food security, rural depopulation and the declining number of U.S. farmers.  These school gardens sought to reconnect rural and urban American, and to build unity around the war effort.

SW: So, what type of impact did this program have on society?

Rose: Through this and Liberty/Victory Garden programs, as well as food preservation/conservation programs (under Hoover’s food administration), the U.S. was able to greatly increase food exports to our European allies and feed the nearly 3 million newly drafted American troops.

It also reinforced – in my opinion—a sort of ethos around the culture of gardening/farming that has remained a consistent strand in American thought.  It was an important act of civic engagement.

SW: Wow, it sounds like this little-known wartime school program had quite an impact.

Rose:  Yes, the U.S. School Garden Army impressed upon youth participants how to cultivate food, and how vital that was to national security and personal health.

The program empowered youth to take action at school, at home and in their communities. This was a collective action that united youth, and it provided a vital means of educating youth about the important of agriculture.

SW: So, what are some of the ways this World War I program is still relevant nearly a century later?

Rose:  Lots of reasons. The number of American farmers continues to decline. Youth still need to know where their food comes from. All Americans should acquire basic food cultivation skills.

There is nothing more important that we could be teaching youth than how to grow food, why farming is important, about human nutrition, food waste, food conservation, sustainability and environment. It all ties to improved academic performance and science achievement if done properly – and also with improved nutrition and health. And the civic aspect is unbelievable. There is an opportunity with the new Common Core curriculum to once again embrace this sort of integrated approach to education. We should seize it!

SW: Thanks for your time. Is there anything you’d like to add?

Rose: “A garden for everyone. Everyone in a garden.”

SW: That’s good advice even today.

Why do you think children should be taught to garden and grow food today?

Connect with Rose! Her blog, her book

More Stuff: Learn  more about Victory Gardens.  See how Victory Gardens inspire community gardens, such as Chicago’s Peterson Garden Project

Today’s famous foodies and stylish hostesses could learn a lot from Martha Washington. In the early days of the United States, George Washington’s wife was renowned for her hospitality and cooking. As the first First Lady, she entertained thousands of guests at Mount Vernon and helped establish the young nation’s culinary tastes.

Travel back to 18th-century Virginia as Seasonal Wisdom brings you an authentic recipe for Martha Washington’s Great Cake — as well as a modernized version — just in time for the holidays… Photo copyright Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.

As historians have discovered, George and Martha Washington were among the nation’s first foodies and featured sophisticated meals concocted from foods grown in their kitchen garden, as well as exotic commodities that originated in Asia, the West Indies and the Mediterranean.

Photo copyright Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association

Martha Washington’s Great Cake Recipe

This is the original recipe written by Mrs. Washington’s granddaughter Martha Parke Custis Peter (Patsy), so other family members could serve her cake at holiday parties, Christmas dinners or Twelfth Night parties.

“Take 40 eggs & divide the whites from the yolks & beat

them to a froth then work 4 pounds of butter to a cream &

put the whites of eggs to it a spoon full at a time till it is

well work’d then put 4 pounds of sugar finely powder’d to

it in the same manner than put in the Youlks of eggs and

5 pounds of flower and 5 pounds of fruit, 2 hours will bake

it add to it half an ounce of mace and nutmeg half a pint

of wine & some fresh brandy.”

Keep in mind that this elegant cake was created in Washington’s humble kitchen at Mount Vernon, which lacked the modern conveniences we take for granted today.

Below is a modernized version of Martha Washington’s Great Cake, created by the author of Dining with the Washingtons (Nancy Carter Crump): 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups currants

1/3 cup chopped candied orange peel

1/3 cup chopped candied lemon peel

1/3 cup chopped candied citron

3/4 cup Madiera, divided

1/4 cup French brandy

3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground mace

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 large eggs, separated

Directions: 

1. Combine currants, orange and lemon peels, and citron in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup of Madeira and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap, and set aside for at least 3 hours, or overnight. Stir the reminder of the Madeira with the brandy; cover and set aside.
2. When ready to bake the cake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
3. Drain fruits in a large strainer set over a bowl, stirring occasionally to extract as much Madeira as possible. Add the strained Madeira to the set-aside Madeira and brandy.
4. Combine 1/4 cup of the flour with the fruit, and mix well. Add the almonds, and set aside. Sift the remaining flour with the nutmeg and mace.
5. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until it is light. Add the sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating for several minutes after adding each ingredient. Whisk the egg yolks until they are light and smooth, and add them to the butter and sugar. Continue to beat for several minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
6. Alternatively add the spiced flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and the Madiera and brandy, beating until smooth.
7. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to form stiff peaks. By hand, gently fold them into the batter, combining lightly until well blended. By hand, fold in the fruit in thirds, mixing until well combined.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula, or the back of a spoon. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Set the cake on a wire rack to cool in the pan for 20 minutes. If serving the cake plain, turn it out of the pan to cool completely. If finishing it with icing, turn the warm cake out of the pan onto a baking sheet, and proceed with the icing.
9. To ice the cake, spread Sugar Icing generously onto the surface, piling it high and swirling it around the top and sides. Set in the turned-off warm oven, and let sit for at least 3 hours, or until the cake is cool and the icing has hardened. The icing will crumble when the cake is sliced.

Sugar Icing Recipe for Great Cake

Ingredients:

3 large egg whites at room temperature

1 1/2 cups of sugar

2 tablespoons rose water or orange-flower water

Directions:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, start beating the egg whites on low speed, gradually adding 2 tablespoons of the sugar. After about 3 minutes, or when they just begin to form soft peaks, increase the speed to high and continue adding the sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until all the sugar is incorporated and the egg whites form soft peaks.
2. Add the rose water, and continue beating to form stiff peaks. Use immediately to ice the cake.

Learn More:

Get more information on Mount Vernon.

Take a tour of Mount Vernon’s famous Colonial Revival gardens.

Learn how George and Martha Washington were among the nation’s first foodies, and get another recipe.

See how Thomas Jefferson created Monticello’s garden with a tour from historian Peter Hatch.

Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States, author of the Declaration of Independence and father of the University of Virginia. But in his heart, he was a gardener. “No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden,” wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1811.

Few know this better than Peter Hatch, who for nearly 35 years maintained, interpreted and restored the 2,400 acre landscape at Jefferson’s Monticello. Recently, Seasonal Wisdom met the renowned historian — a month before he retired — to discuss the gardens, his new book and why Jefferson was our nation’s first foodie. Take a peek…

One morning in May, I was fortunate to spend some time at Monticello with Peter Hatch, director of gardens and grounds since 1977.  About to retire, Hatch had just published the critically acclaimed book, A Rich Spot of Earth: Thomas Jefferson’s Revolutionary Garden at Monticello.

The 280-page book, with 200 full-color illustrations, is as lovely and interesting as the actual gardens. Food-lovers and gardeners will delight in the juicy historical facts, luscious photos and centuries-old horticultural advice distributed throughout this authoritative book.

The section on fruits, roots and leaves (a catalog of selected Monticello vegetables) is reason enough to buy the book. It provides a rare look into late-eighteenth/early nineteenth century gardening and culinary practices for everything from artichokes to peas. There’s also an appendix with specific historic varieties.

“This vegetable garden was Jefferson’s chief horticultural achievement,” says Hatch. “He documented growing 330 varieties of 99 species of vegetables here, including native seeds discovered on the Lewis and Clark exhibition. This experimental laboratory was the garden of Jefferson’s retirement years.”

Gathering seeds from around the world, Jefferson was instrumental in introducing many vegetables into mainstream society. As Nicholas King, mapmaker for the Lewis and Clark expedition explained, “no person has been more zealous to enrich the United States by the introduction of new and useful vegetables.”

The first section of the book explores how Monticello’s 1,000 foot long vegetable garden was restored in the early-1980s with archaeological research and Jefferson’s own garden journal, featuring 60  years of detailed notes. The above photo — taken after a heavy May rainstorm — shows only a portion of the garden.

The original terraced garden, however, was painstakingly built by seven slaves with a mule and a cart over three years, under the supervision of Edmund Bacon. More than five thousand tons of rock were built as high as 12 feet high, and extended across the garden. This provided ideal southeastern exposure for growing food, as well as breathtaking, 40-mile views to the south and east.

Jefferson was so proud of this kitchen garden, he used the term “garden” exclusively for his vegetable garden, not his flower beds. Vegetable-rich meals (where meat was eaten more as a condiment) were prepared  for the president’s family and friends by the finest chefs brought over from France.

“Today, we take many of these foods for granted,” adds Hatch. “But Jefferson introduced many culinary traditions to the young nation, and was one of our first foodies.”

As we sat in the garden pavilion shown above, Hatch described the challenges of finding varieties grown by Jefferson — despite the president’s detailed garden records.  As Hatch and his staff restored the gardens in the early-1980s, the project often felt like detective work.

“Vegetables have changed a lot over the years,” admits Hatch. “Another challenge was that Jefferson often named varieties after people who gave him seeds; after places where the seeds originated; or after physical characteristics of the plant. Fortunately, we’ve uncovered several varieties that grew in this garden and were documented in Jefferson’s records. As a result, I believe Jefferson would certainly recognize the garden as it looks today.”

The view from the rebuilt pavilion — also called the garden temple or observatory — is wonderful, as you can see.

As we talked, I couldn’t help but notice Montalto, Jefferson’s “high mountain,” which is part of the Carters Mountain range. Reaching more than 1,200 feet high, the mountain is also called Brown’s Mountain today.

Lettuces, beans and other vegetables are planted in tidy garden rows.  As Hatch’s book explains, more than 20 different lettuce types grew at Monticello, including Tennis Ball, Brown Dutch and Ice. Some were eaten fresh, others were steamed like spinach. Lettuces were harvested every month of the year, and often sowed on Monday.

“… a thimbleful of Lettuce should be sowed every Monday morning, from Feb. 1st to Sept. 1,” Jefferson wrote in his General Gardening Calendar.

Beans were also popular for the former president. He planted all types, including lima beans, kidney beans and snap beans. Scarlet runner beans (still commonly grown today) were cherished for “the beauty of their flowers and for the flavorful nourishment of the immature beans,” writes Hatch in A Rich Spot of Earth.

About 35 varieties of cabbage grew at Monticello, including Choux de Milan and Early York. In his book, Hatch describes a cabbage recipe from Jefferson that featured “lean beef, egg yolks, suet, onions and bread crumbs.” Red and green cabbages were also pickled or preserved into a Virginia-style sauerkraut.

Artichokes were a “trophy plant” enjoyed by Jefferson and his fellow gentlemen farmers of the day. In fact, at Mount Vernon a few days later, I learned artichokes were one of George Washington‘s favorite vegetables.

At Monticello, the perennial vegetable had its own garden square. Artichokes were protected from winter’s cold with “pea haulm, tan bark, long [rotted] dung or straw,” according to Hatch.

English peas were easily Jefferson’s favorite vegetable, and a great deal of garden space was devoted to growing this cool-season food at Monticello.

Jefferson delighted in participating in spring pea-growing contests with neighbors, and his pea plants were staked using peach tree clippings pruned from the garden.

Farm-to-table meals were a way of life at Monticello, and the food was as fresh as possible.

Fish from neighboring streams, for instance, were kept alive in this shallow pond near the Monticello house. The freshly caught fish stayed in the pond until they were ready to be enjoyed at the dinner table.

Be sure to take time to visit the flower gardens at Monticello, as well as the impressive fruit orchards.

Back at the classic garden pavilion, Hatch explained to me how the Monticello gardens were created and why Jefferson should be saluted for his horticultural achievements.

Read All About It – A Rich Spot of Earth is the first book devoted to all aspects of Jefferson’s vegetable gardens. This lovely book is one I will read and reread for many years. It’s a fascinating way to learn more about this founding father’s amazing horticultural experiments at Monticello. Highly recommended.

Disclosure: Seasonal Wisdom was not sent a review copy. I purchased this book at Monticello, and then immediately asked for an autograph from the author. He kindly obliged.

Incidentally, Jefferson’s journal served as a valuable resource during Monticello’s renovation project, as mentioned. Above is a special edition of The Garden and Farm Books — published by Fulcrum in 1987 — which I bought at my library book store for two dollars a few years ago. If you aren’t that lucky, consider buying a copy online.

Don’t Miss -Celebrate Jefferson’s wonderful legacy by attending the sixth annual Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello on Sept. 14-15.

Along with seed swaps and heirloom food tastings, you’ll find interesting presentations by folks like Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm and Joe Lamp’l of PBS-TV’s Growing A Greener World. Believe me, if I could … I’d be there too.

Meanwhile, how many of you have already visited Monticello? What impressed you the most about the gardens? Why do you think it’s important to keep this gardening and culinary heritage alive in the United States?

More Reading:

Great Garden Advice from Thomas Jefferson

George Washington — One of Our First Foodies (And a Recipe)

A Garden Tour of Mount Vernon

A Historian Looks Back at Victory Gardens

Imagine traveling back to the earliest days of the United States, and having the chance to dine with the first president, George Washington, and his wife Martha at Mount Vernon, their plantation on the Potomac River.

Ingredients for your meal would have come from this attractive Lower Garden. The kitchen garden supplied farm-to-table vegetables, fruits and herbs to feed the thousands of visitors to the young nation’s most visited private home. Learn about the surprisingly sophisticated 18th-century foods these guests ate, and get a recipe for A Ragoo of Asparagus.

During a recent visit to Mount Vernon, I had the good fortune to see the Hoecakes & Hospitality: Cooking with Martha Washington exhibition running through summer 2013.

The eye-opening exhibition revealed the 18th-century cooking methods used by our nation’s first lady to impress and entertain guests long before grocery stores, farmers markets or modern appliances.

Harvests from the Lower Garden were grown and gathered by the hired gardener and two or three slaves. Overall, Mount Vernon provided the Washington family with homegrown fruits, vegetables, herbs, grains, meats and dairy products, while other food items were imported from distant lands. See more photos of the gardens.

Common foods grown at Mount Vernon included lettuces, turnips, onions, carrots, beans, cabbages, cauliflowers, leeks, parsnips, beets, celery, asparagus and artichokes (one of the president’s favorites).  These vegetables were often served in ragouts and other side dishes.

It’s hard to believe, but the well-stocked 18th century kitchen shown above is where meals for the first president and thousands of guests were prepared.

“A glass of wine and a bit of mutton are always ready, and such as will be content to partake of them are always welcome,”  wrote George Washington to a friend.

Dinner was served in the small or large dining room at 3 p.m. with two courses of meat and vegetables, and a dessert that might include cherry and apple pie, fruit tarts or gingerbread.

Sometimes ice cream was even prepared. It was made from frozen ice taken from the Potomac River in winter, and stored in a dry well or ice box until the spring milk was available from the plantation’s cows. More from National Public Radio on George Washington’s ice cream.

Fish from the Potomac — including the president’s favorite shad — was served at almost every meal. Father Jack was the slave responsible for providing the fish daily, “so that they might be served smoking on the board precisely at three o’clock,” according to Martha’s grandson, George Washington Parke Curtis.

Along with this feast, Curtis reported, “a ham was boiled daily.”

Whether it was a pound of cayenne pepper or a pipe of Madeira wine or a bushel of almonds, many food items for the Washington household traveled from as far away as the Mediterranean, West Indies and Asia. So, did the family’s tableware.

The distinctive blue and white Blue Canton china — with its rich, hand-painted scenes of Chinese villages — was the everyday tableware for the president and his family.

With locally grown asparagus and heirloom lettuces from my garden, I photographed some of the lovely ingredients you’ll need to make the below recipe from Mount Vernon.

The recipe for A Ragoo of Asparagus was inspired by the 1763 edition of The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse. The modernized version was created by Nancy Carter Crump for Dining with the Washingtons.

A Ragoo of Asparagus

Ingredients

1. 3 pounds asparagus, trimmed and cut into thirds
2. 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
3. 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
4. 2 Belgian endives, trimmed and thinly sliced lengthwise
5. 1 small head of soft-leaf lettuce (Bibb or Boston), cored and shredded
6. 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
7. 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
8. 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
9. 2 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade)

Directions:

1. Bring 2 cups of water to boil over medium heat. Add asparagus, reduce heat and simmer until the vegetable is barely tender. Drain, cover and set aside to keep warm.
2. In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the onion and endives, cooking for 5 to 7 minutes until they begin to soften. Stir in lettuce, salt and pepper, and continue cooking until vegetables are just tender.
3. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables, and stir to blend well. Add stock slowly, stirring until it simmers and thickens slightly.
4. Add asparagus, reserving a few tips for garnish, and heat until warmed.
5. Serve the ragout in a serving dish, and garnish with reserved asparagus tips.

“No estate in United America is more pleasantly situated than this …,” declared George Washington about his beloved home, Mount Vernon. The first president of the United States was not only a wartime hero, he also was a farmer who worked tirelessly for nearly 50 years to expand his plantation to 8,000 acres.

Take a quick tour of the renowned, colonial-era kitchen and flower gardens at Mount Vernon in this post, and see what creative ideas you might apply to your gardens today.

Aerial view of Mount Vernon and Potomac River copyright Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.

A charming array of flowers awaits you at Mount Vernon’s Upper Garden. Restored recently to its appearance in 1799, the recreated garden features three large planting bed with produce, flowering trees and perennials.

The estate’s gardener during this time was a talented young man named William Spence, recruited from Scotland by the president himself.

President Washington had high expectations for the gardener at Mount Vernon, and wrote in 1797, “the man ought to be a good Kitchen Gardener, to have some knowledge of a Green house and hot house; and how to raise things in hot beds.”

In return, the gardener “would be furnished with a good apartment, convenient to his work, to reside in.”

Not far from the Mount Vernon mansion, a magnificent magnolia tree bursts into bloom with flowers and bees during my May visit, mercifully low in humidity.

In the Upper Garden, charming cottage-style flowers mingle with leeks and old-fashioned trellises made with simple sticks found on the property. The gardener’s cottage was located not far from this garden, which is also near Mount Vernon’s greenhouse.

The garden began as a nut and fruit garden in 1762, but was transformed into a pleasure garden in 1785.  Not shown is a well-documented, recreated boxwood parterre in the shape of a French fleur-de-lis.

Mount Vernon researchers report the parterre was a way to honor Washington’s friendship with the Marquis de Lafayette and thank the French for helping the United States win the Revolutionary War against England.

The Lower Garden at Mount Vernon is a classic, English-style potager, which stole my heart. The carefully recreated kitchen garden has been called one of the most noteworthy Colonial Revival gardens in the United States.

Neatly mowed grass paths travel by orderly planted lettuces, lavenders, chives, espaliered trees and other herbs and vegetables found during the colonial era. This garden provided food for President Washington and his family, as well as many guests and dignitaries. Learn more about cooking at Mount Vernon.

Located near the stables, the kitchen garden received plenty of well-aged animal manure, which added valuable organic matter and nutrients to the soil.

Just as medieval gardeners in Europe did, Mount Vernon espaliered apples and other fruit trees on fences and walls to save space and create an attractive appearance. Apples, along with cherries and other fruits, were used in pies, tarts and other delicious desserts.

Cabbage and rosemary are just a few foods enjoyed at Mount Vernon. The cistern (one of several) helped to collect water for irrigating the garden during dry periods.  A modern-day rain barrel would function well today in our own gardens.

Cabbages were an important, nutrient-rich food, eaten especially during the colder months. The plant is attractive, as well as healthy and delicious.

Flowering chives and trellised peas create colorful accents in George and Martha Washington’s kitchen garden. The entire sunny garden is enclosed with a brick wall and white picket fence to keep animals out.

Peas provide edible and ornamental value to any sunny garden. These are trellised on old sticks found on the Mount Vernon property.

Artichokes were one of President Washington’s favorite foods. Also grown were kale, lettuce and lavender, as shown here.

A lamb grazes on the field near the Lower Garden at Mount Vernon, just as he might have done when the Washington family lived here.

When you visit, be sure to see the Fruit Garden & Nursery — which supplied the family with fresh fruit for six months of the year — as well as the Botanical Garden, where the president-farmer experimented with new seeds sent from friends around the world.

Together, with 2 or 3 slaves, his hardworking Scottish gardener Spence maintained these four gardens (which comprised six acres) for the first president of the United States. Incidentally, President Washington was the only Founding Father to release his slaves to freedom upon his death.

Nation’s First Foodies: Martha Washington was one of the young nation’s most important hostesses during the 18th century. Here’s another Seasonal Wisdom story on colonial cooking, and get a recipe for A Ragoo of Asparagus, inspired by the 1763 edition of The Art of Cookery.

As you’ll soon see, the first president and his wife were certainly one of the nation’s first foodies. More recipes and colonial food tips to come!

Take a tour of Monticello with Peter Hatch, who supervised the restoration of Thomas Jefferson’s renowned gardens.

Unless noted, all photos are copyright Seasonal Wisdom.

This is the time of year when even city folks start to dream of a little garden of their own. After the winter months, these warmer days have long inspired weather proverbs, poems and superstitions, as you’ll see from these old garden tips from long ago.

Busy Time: Since the earliest times, March and April have been among the busiest months in the garden, as this 16th century poet explains:

“In March and in Aprill, from morning to night;

in sowing and setting good huswives delight.

To have in their garden, or some other plot:

to trim up their house and to furnish their pot.”

Five Hundredth Pointes of Good Husbandrie,

Thomas Tusser, 1559

Weather Proverbs: March’s fickle weather — sometimes freezing, other times idyllic — has long kept farmers and gardeners on their toes. Basically, if it’s cold in the beginning of the month, it’ll be warmer at the end.  As this old English weather proverb explains:

“If March comes in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb,

If it comes in like a lamb, it goes out like a lion.”

Old Planting Tips: This 17th century gardening advice reveals the types of foods grown in early kitchen gardens in England, as well as the important role of the lunar cycle on planting schedules:

“In March, the Moon being new, sow Garlic, Chervil,

Marjoram, white Poppy, double Marigolds, Thyme and Violets.

At the full Moon, Chicory, Fennel, and Apples of Love.

At the wane, Artichokes, Basil, Cucumbers,

Spinach, Gillyflowers, Cabbage, Lettuce,

Burnets, Leeks and Savory.”

The English Housewife

Gervase Markham, 1683

Your Garden: Whatever you decide to grow this year, watch for more gardening, food and folklore information on these pages over the next few months. Stay tuned for more exciting giveaways coming soon!

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was the author of the Declaration of Independence and founded the University of Virginia. But he also was a highly knowledgeable gardener and farmer. At Monticello, he grew 330 varieties of vegetables, 170 fruit varieties and amazing flower gardens, such as these larkspurs (Consolida orientalis) growing in the west front of the property. Not surprisingly, this wise gardener practiced crop rotation in his garden too.

Photo copyright © Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.

Crop rotation is an old method of rotating the edible crops grown in a certain place, so the garden soil stays fertile and healthy. Basically, you want to avoid planting edibles from the same plant family in the same place in your garden, more than once every three years – sometimes longer.

Aerial photo of mulberry row, vegetable garden and south orchard.

Copyright Thomas Jefferson Foundation/Leonard Phillips.

To practice crop rotation, you’ll need to know the plant families of your edibles. Check here for that information. You’ll also need to keep good gardening records, so you’ll remember what you’ve grown over the years. That way you can avoid growing your favorite edibles and their siblings in the same spots in your garden.

Thomas Jefferson not only practiced crop rotation, but he also grew cover crops like clover and peas that added nitrogen and healthy organic matter to the soil.  These living mulches suppressed weeds, and attracted beneficial insects as well.

As he explained in a letter dated 1798, “My rotation is triennial… one year of wheat and two of clover in the stronger fields, or two of peas in the weaker, with a crop of Indian corn and potatoes between every other rotation, that is to say once in seven years.”

Using this method, wrote Jefferson, “aided with some manure, I hope my fields will recover their fertility, which had … been completely exhausted by perpetual crops of Indian corn and wheat alternately.”

 Monticello Mountain from south, main house,

vegetable garden, south orchard.

Copyright Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

Here’s a Seasonal Wisdom interview with Peter Hatch, the renowned historian who supervised the restoration of the Monticello gardens.

Learn more about cover crops, crop rotation … and Monticello.

Have you seen George Washington’s Mount Vernon yet? How about this asparagus recipe from 1763?

Source of Thomas Jefferson quote – “Nature’s Bank – The Soil,” (National Wildlife Federation; 1953).

Vintage magazines, cookbooks and educational materials offer wonderful ways to better understand our culture in earlier times. Often featuring delightful illustrations or old photographs, these vintage periodicals can be found at garage sales, flea markets, library bookstores, and antique markets for a couple dollars.

Pages from Nature's Bank - Copyright National Wildlife Foundation

Nature’s Bank – The Soil was book four in the MY LAND AND YOUR LAND CONSERVATION SERIES, published by the National Wildlife Federation for grades 6, 7 and 8.  The objective of this illustrated, 48-page booklet from 1953 was to help children understand the importance of protecting our nation’s soil, which the authors called, “the wealth of our country.”

Protecting and improving our nation’s soil was a big priority for George Washington, the first president of the United States. In 1796, he wrote that if gardeners and farmers “were taught how to improve the old, instead of going in pursuit of new and productive soil, they would make those acres, which now scarcely yield them anything, turn out beneficial.”

Extent of Erosion in United States. Copyright National Wildlife Foundation.

When we don’t protect our soil, it’s easy for erosion to wash away most of the precious topsoil, explained this wise booklet to gradeschool children in the 1950s. As you can see by this chart, was significant erosion in the United States from 1492 to 1949.

One of the worst examples of erosion ever measured was in California. According to Nature’s Bank, a farm had been planted with long rows of beans, and bare soil between each row. When a rainstorm suddenly dropped three inches, it carried away five hundred tons of soil from every acre. In other locations, these erosion gullies have been started by something as simple as water dripping from the roof and slowly eroding the earth.

Copyright National Wildlife Foundation.

The clever book encouraged children to understand that soil is alive.

“Soil that is rich enough to grow crops has decayed plants and animals in it,” wrote the authors. “Whenever a plant or animal dies one group of tiny workers [bacteria] sets about returning the chemicals that were in its body to the soil.”

Children learned that nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil “also take a gas called nitrogen from the air and put it into the roots of certain plants.” As the authors explained, these nitrogen-fixing bacteria “live inside little swellings on the roots of such plants as peas, beans and clover. Then when these plants are plowed under and decay, the nitrogen stays in the soil where it can be used by other plants.”

Ways to anchor soil and prevent erosion. Copyright National Wildlife Federation.

Schoolchildren learned how to anchor the soil and prevent erosion by using different methods such as crop rotation, as well as building terraces and contouring the fields. They also learned about strip cropping, where several kinds of crops are planted in strips across the field. In between the cultivated crops, are strips of cover crops like clover and alfalfa, which catch the water, hold the soil and add nutrients to the earth.

As this wise little book teaches, we all need to keep doing our part to save the soil. So, teach your kids and remind your friends and neighbors of the importance of preventing erosion gullies from occuring. In fact, one well-known Colonial War hero believed it was only patriotic to protect the nation’s soil.

As Patrick Henry explained, “He is the greatest patriot who stops the most gullies.”

Learn more about the National Wildlife Federation.

The seeds of the newly built White House kitchen garden were sown long before the Obama family arrived in the nation’s capital last January.

In fact, the idea started the year before at a much smaller white house in Maine on a cold February day. Not the best time for outdoor gardening, but definitely a good time for making gardening plans.

To learn the history behind the White House food garden campaign – otherwise known as Eat the View – I turned to the man who helped make it all possible – Roger Doiron, founder of Kitchen Gardeners International.

Seasonal Wisdom (SW): How did you come up with the White House food garden idea?

Roger Doiron (RD): First of all, I didn’t actually come up with the idea: President John Adams did in 1800 as the White House’s first First Resident. I knew the First Lawn had been an edible landscape in the past, both for animals and people, and that it wasn’t such a far-fetched idea.

I also knew the idea of a White House food garden had been championed by two of the good food movement’s rock stars, Michael Pollan and Alice Waters.

In thinking about my own call for a White House garden, I decided the idea didn’t need another rock star as much as it needed a “roadie.” In other words, someone who would work to make sure the amps and mics were on and cranked up to 10. That way the other voices – those of the people – could be heard.

SW: What did you want the White House food garden campaign to convey?

RD: The message was simple – the White House is America’s house and America’s house should have a kitchen garden. That idea made sense before and, given the changing times, makes sense again.

Eat the View was about recognizing and celebrating our gardening past, but more importantly about building a bridge to a sustainable and responsible future.

We were of course trying to influence the First Family, but we also wanted to offer an empowering and upbeat message to campaign supporters. We wanted them to realize that – regardless of what their elected officials do or don’t do – they could “be the change” by growing some of their own food.

SW:When you heard the announcement about the White House garden, what was your first thought?

RD: I was stunned because I was settling in for a longer campaign. I had spoken with a couple of the First Lady’s senior staff members and knew the idea was being considered. Still I was surprised it moved as quickly as it did. After a few moments of joy and amazement, I went into a more strategic frame of mind in an effort to ride the media wave and get the word out as much as possible about growing your own food.

SW: What would you like to see accomplished with Food Independence Day?

RD: Food Independence Day is a similar effort. In this case, we’re asking the governors – or nation’s First Families – to lead and eat by example by sourcing their July 4th meals locally.

Given our organization’s limited financial resources and the tight timeframe, we’re relying on people on the ground to find the best way of delivering this message to their first families. Learn how you can get involved.

Hopefully, we’re get a few governors to play along with us. It’s a great opportunity for these governors to show their commitment to farmers and food producers in their states. So, I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want to savor their independence.

But even if these elected officials choose not to participate, I think our campaign will be a success if we can show strong support and participation on the part of the American people.

If we can show that local and seasonal foods have moved into the American mainstream, the politicians won’t be far behind!

SW: Well, it would certainly be great if local and seasonal foods were once again considered mainstream in the United States. Thanks for helping to make this goal a reality.

Learn more about this topic:

White House Garden Layout
Food Independence Day
Eat The View Campaign
Victory Gardens in U.S. History
Victory Gardens of Tomorrow
Red White and Grew