The Pioneer Vegetable Garden

I planned on writing about my spring vegetable garden. Unfortunately neither my garden plot nor the weather cooperated. And to be honest, the main problem was my ignorance.

My garden was supposed to look like the first photo at this point. Instead, this is what it looks like. Fortunately, I don’t have to depend on my garden to survive, unlike the settlers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Settlers traveling west depended on their gardens for eighty percent of the family’s food, but also for medicine, fragrances, dyes, and flavor-enhancing herbs. With so much on the line, nothing was left to chance except the weather.

Responsibility for the kitchen garden fell to the women of the family, their knowledge acquired from their own mothers and grandmothers, their skill honed by working in the garden from earliest childhood.

They didn’t have the variety of produce we can find in the grocers of today, but their produce was extensive, including apples, beans, beets, berries, cabbages, carrots, corn, lettuce, onions, peas, peppers, potatoes (white and sweet), pumpkins, sage, squashes, turnips, and wintergreen. That’s a more balanced diet than mine.

With nothing more than the Old Farmer’s Almanac to guide her, the housewife staked out her garden as soon as the house was built. The site had to be either completely flat or slightly raised to encourage drain-off. The space allocated for the garden had to have plenty of sunlight but be as close to the kitchen as possible and handy to the chicken coop too, because chicken manure was a favorite fertilizer, and the remains of harvested vegetables were thrown to the chickens.

Often the garden was enclosed with a fence of spikes to keep rabbits and other pests out.

America’s earliest settlers used the Indian method called the Three Sisters Garden. A dead fish or eel was planted at the bottom of a circle of raised earth. Corn was planted in the center of this mound and surrounded by pole bean seeds. Next squash was planted around them. The beans provided nitrogen needed by the corn, the corn provided the trellis to support the beans, and the squash served as a mulch, preventing weeds from germinating.

Obviously, the Indian methods limited vegetable variety, and settlers soon moved to the European method—placement of plants was dictated by fragrance. Sweet smelling herbs and flowers were planted just under the kitchen windows. Strong smelling plants like cabbage, onion and chives were planted as far away as possible.

Perennials were planted together so their roots wouldn’t be disturbed when crops were harvested. Parsnips and carrots grew together, while radishes, lettuce, and onions were grouped, so they could be easily reached for daily harvesting.

The main thing these settlers did that I neglected was planning—from plot preparation to harvest and beyond. Seeds were expensive, and every one was saved and preserved for planting the next season. All scraps not fed to animals went into the compost pile. There was no waste—ever. The harvest was preserved by canning or drying. Here’s an interesting tidbit about fruit drying I didn’t know before. The western settlers would dry their apples, covered in cheesecloth, on the roof. My research didn’t say how they kept birds from pecking through the cheesecloth. But the next time I read about those dried apple pies in historical romances, I’m going to wonder if they dried their apples on the roof.

I can forget my plans for an early spring garden, but I’ve learned enough to prepare my garden for the summer. Maybe I can gather a basket of fresh veggies like this later. How about you? Do you plan a vegetable garden this year?

FREE EBOOK ALERT!!! Book 2 of my mail-order brides series is free today through March 18. For those who've never read this series, please download. Reviews are always appreciated!

http://www.amazon.com/Ramees-Fugitive-Cowboy-Mail-Order-Brides-ebook/dp/B0115SCWKQ 

Book Review - An Untamed Land

Do you like to reread favorite books? I do, especially those I haven’t read for several years. It’s like visiting an old friend.

After my husband’s passing, I’ve been struggling with depression, not wanting to do anything. But God provides our needs even in times such as these. My college bound grandson moved in and will attend a local college. He has been such a blessing. 

As I was cleaning out the bookshelves in the spare bedroom, I ran across Lauraine Snelling’s Red River of the North series. My memory snagged on an incident in the first book in that series, An Untamed Land. The heroine, Ingeborg, lost her husband and went into what the author called “a dark pit.” When I first read the book, it had no particular significance for me. Now it did. I could relate to Ingeborg’s emotional struggle in a way I didn't when I first read it.

As I reread the story, I realized why this book became a keeper in the first place. It's one of the best novels about immigration in the United States during the late 1800s ever written. The saga follows a Norwegian family as they travel from Norway to settle free land in North Dakota. After an arduous Atlantic voyage, they process through Ellis Island.

What impressed me was how orderly the immigration process was compared to the chaotic system now in place. Settlers were checked medically and deemed fit both health-wise and financially before entering.

Lauraine Snelling didn’t sugar-coat the experience, however. Immigrants faced prejudice and unscrupulous people, and language was a major problem from the beginning. Only the desire for land and a future for their children drove them on, and it soon became evident only the strongest would survive the harsh conditions.

As the title implies, the antagonist of the story is the land itself. Rather than long descriptions, the author presents a compelling picture of this wild territory through the characters’ experiences, from cooking in an earthern firepit to building a sod house to fighting the brutal winters. The reader can picture the land and feel the desolation and beauty.

I thoroughly enjoyed rereading An Untamed Land, and as I expected, I understood Ingeborg better this time. Her faith helped strengthen my faith. There is no better reason to read Christian fiction. 

The promise of free land lures Roald and Ingeborg Bjorklund from their belowed home high above the fjords of Norway in 1880, and after three long years of scrimping and saving to buy tickets for their passage to America, they finally arise at the docks of New York City. This new land promises a rich heritage for their children, and here they hope to build a good life. When the Bjorklunds finally arrive in Dakota Territory, they settle on the banks of the Red River of the North. But the virgin prairie refuses to yield its treasure without a struggle. Can they overcome the hardships and tame this new land?

What favorite book have you enjoyed reading again?

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