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The book \u201cHeirloom Vegetable Gardening\u201d was a classic almost from the moment it was first published in 1997.\u00a0 The author, William Woys Weaver, is a rare scholar of the kitchen garden with a PhD in food ethnography, or the study of cultural eating habits.<\/p>\n
Weaver easily could have written a pompous tome.\u00a0 Fortunately, he is a skilled writer and hands-on gardener (and cook, too) who combines dry wit with both practical and historical information.\u00a0 I am not an extensive vegetable gardener, but his stories are compelling and I happily read the encyclopedia of recommend varieties from cover-to-cover.<\/p>\n
If you do grow your own veg and enjoy experimenting, this book is an investment that will pay in long-term dividends. \u00a0Now there is a new (2018) edition.\u00a0 While much of the descriptive material and selection of the varieties is the same as the original, there are minor updates and additions.\u00a0 Both editions are available from the Miller Library.<\/p>\n
The author is especially interested in how certain foods have connected different cultures.\u00a0 For example, I learned that lima beans are well named, originating in Peru possibly 7,000 years ago and named in English after that country\u2019s capital city.\u00a0 The Spanish occupiers observed that the indigenous people reserved the crop for the elite of their society.<\/p>\n
Is that why the Spanish disseminated these delicious beans to the rest of the world?\u00a0 Perhaps.\u00a0 However, when Weaver was asked to cook a dinner of American foods by friends in Germany, he had trouble finding a source for lima beans.\u00a0 Northern Europeans have not embraced this food like Americans because they are a warm weather crop and don\u2019t thrive north of the Alps.<\/p>\n
Weaver references many historical writings and includes a gigantic bibliography of cited sources in his appendices.\u00a0 Many are quite old (dating back to 1591) but still very useful for gardening tips, such as putting out whiskey to discourage crows from corn.\u00a0 \u201cI would use the brand of corn whiskey called Rebel Yell.\u00a0 It seems to fit the remedy and evoke some of the sounds I now associate with the birds at the height of their raucous inebriation.\u00a0 Incidentally, it works.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Published in Garden Notes: Northwest Horticultural Society<\/em>, Winter 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The book \u201cHeirloom Vegetable Gardening\u201d was a classic almost from the moment it was first published in 1997.\u00a0 The author, William Woys Weaver, is a rare scholar of the kitchen garden with a PhD in food ethnography, or the study of cultural eating habits. Weaver easily could have written a pompous tome.\u00a0 Fortunately, he is a skilled writer and hands-on gardener (and cook, too) who combines dry wit with both practical and historical information.\u00a0 I am not an extensive vegetable…<\/p>\n