Author: sara

Take an Agricultural Tour of the World with Gateway Greening!  For the next few weeks, we’ll be posting a new blog post each Monday highlighting a regional bed from our Demonstration Garden. While these posts will not include growing instructions, they will be history lessons on the agricultural practices of regions around the world.

Similarly to the Andes Mountains in South America, Mesoamerica developed their form of intensive agriculture throughout the Valley of Mexico. Built by the Aztecs, chinampas are a form of intensive agriculture that was carried out on a large scale in and around Lake Texcoco. Aztec engineers artificially constructed small rectangular shaped areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lakebeds. These floating lakebeds were referred to as “floating gardens” by the Spanish conquistadors, primarily centered around the lakes Xochimilco and Chalco. Near the natural springs that flow alongside the south shore of the lakes. The Aztecs cultivated maize, beans, squash, amaranth, tomatoes, chilies, and a diverse array of flowers, which were prevalent in Mesoamerican festivals and feasts. The fields surrounding the imperial capital of Tenochtitlan were estimated to have provided enough food to feed at least one-half to two-thirds of the populace of the city. 

The majority of farming in the forested areas of Mesoamerica was conducted using slash and burn agriculture. By using this particular method, the chinampas were fertilized by cutting and burning the vegetation to clear ground. Fernando de Oviedo’s description of “slash and burn farming” stated, “The Indians first cut down the cane and trees where they wish to plant it… After the trees and cane have been felled and the field grubbed, the land is burned over, and the ashes are left as dressing for the soil, and this is much better than if the land were fertilized.” (Fernandez de Oviedo 1969 [1535]: 13-14). The initial preparation of agricultural plots was followed by the construction of small earthen mounds or platforms, that measured one foot high and three to four feet in diameter in some areas. Mounds on which they grew their crops on. Their fields or “conucos” consisted of a series of small circular earthen mounds, on which a variety of plants were grown. This method of farming would spread into what is now the United States. Roughly two centuries later, English and French explorers encountered the Iroquois who practiced a similar approach, cultivating the “Three Sisters,” maize, beans, and squash which grew on similarly constructed large earthen mounds.

The Maya would also develop raised field systems near the Candelaria River. At first, the Spanish Conquistadors did not recognize the significance of the fields. However, it would be noticed by the chronicler Francisco Lopez de Gomara who informed General Cortes in 1519 that the Mayan agricultural fields; “both worked and in fallow…” [are] “difficult to cross… [that those on foot could], “walk on a straight line, crossing ditches at each step.” On the Gulf Coast, the Cempoalans constructed a series of aqueducts that flowed from the river into storage tanks or cisterns. From these storage facilities, water was then channeled to other cisterns through the aqueducts until finally emptying into the canals.

While maize played a significant role in these pre-Columbian societies, cacao and vanilla beans were also important, serving as an important commercial crop during the pre and post-contact times. Cacao and vanilla beans served as forms of currency, while other major commercial crops like beans, manioc, and squash were commonly featured in their diets. 

The arrival of the Europeans also brought with them their dietary categories, either intentionally or subconsciously, imposed their food and cuisines to the New World. While crops like maize were likened to wheat, many of the traditional Mesoamerican foods and processes were alien and at times revolting to European tastes. Particularly the insect-based or rotten foods such as, “large fat spiders, white worms that breed in rotten wood, and other decayed objects: did not resonate with established European tastes, despite the fact that rotten foods such as aged cheese, pickled fruits, and aged smoked meat were essential components of Western diets. When Columbus first encountered the Taino tribes he established relatively friendly terms; the “other decayed objects” included a specialty-zamia bread, which was manufactured from a species of cycad, made by grating the zamia root and then shaping the grated pulp into balls. After leaving them in the sun for two or three days to ferment, they turned black in color and wormy. When ripe, the zamia balls were then flattened into cakes and then baked over a fire on a griddle. The Tainos informed the Spaniard if it is eaten before it was black of not full of worms, then the eater would die. Zamia pulp unless fermented or thoroughly washed may be highly toxic. The societies of Mesoamerica had and still has, a long tradition of eating plump insects and algae that were plentiful in their environment. The maguey worm or the chinicuiles was a delicacy much favored by the Aztec court and still is a delicacy today. One dish that was more tolerable to the Spaniards was a bread made from the toxic yuca plant. Manioc roots were peeled and grated, and the juices were squeezed out under heavy pressure. When boiled, it was used to make a harmless cassareep sauce, which then can be transformed into tapioca. The Spaniards enthusiastically adopted cassava; in some accounts even claiming it as being superior to wheaten bread. 

Crops like maize had significant religious importance to the pre-Columbian societies, noting that shamans still use kernels to interpret omens. Its ancient divinity is evident by its iconographic and hieroglyphic association with primary deities and origin myths. According to iconographic interpretations on Classic Maya stelae and architecture suggested that the maize god was the “first father” and the Quiche Maya term Qanan or maize meant “Our Mother.” In the Mayan creation story known as Popol Vuh, it states that the gods used maize from the Mountain of Sustenance at Paxil Cayola as the main ingredient for the design of humankind. The mountain was filled with, pataxte (similar to cacao), cacao, zapotes (soft edible fruit), annonas (from the sugar apple family), jocotes (plum-like fruit), honey, and most importantly, yellow and white ears of maize. According to the creation story, Xmukane ground white and yellow kernels of maize that was provided by the Mountain of Sustenance. Modern Maya believes that eating maize offers a means of incorporating the divine or their ancestral flesh into their bodies allowing access to their ancestral language and esoteric knowledge regarding the spiritual realm. 

“Mesoamerica.” MesoAmerica. Accessed August 21, 2019. https://laulima.hawaii.edu/access/content/user/millerg/ANTH_151/Anth151Unit3/MesoAmerica.html.

“Pre-Columbian Civilization.” Pre-Columbian Civilization. Accessed August 21, 2019. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Pre-Columbian_Civilization.

Staller, John, and Michael Carrasco. Pre-Columbian Foodways Interdisciplinary Approaches to Food, Culture, and Markets in Ancient Mesoamerica. New York, NY: Springer New York, 2010.

Take an Agricultural Tour of the World with Gateway Greening!  For the next few weeks, we’ll be posting a new blog post each Monday highlighting a regional bed from our Demonstration Garden. While these posts will not include growing instructions, they will be history lessons on the agricultural practices of regions around the world.

Some of the plants growing in the demonstration garden this year are native to the Andes and South America which have been cultivated by indigenous peoples for thousands of years. These indigenous peoples included the Chibchas, Quechuas, Tairona, and Aymara peoples. Each had their lasting legacy that is still seen today. Recent archaeological finds and research shows that the pre-European contact civilizations in South America were a lot more advanced Europeans believed them to be. Each of these pre-contact civilizations was independently established and developed permanent or urban settlements, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture and followed complex societal hierarchies. Many of whom collapsed by the time of the arrival of the first permanent European colonists who reached the Americas. When the European explorers arrived in the New World, both native and European accounts state that the “New World” civilizations possessed many impressive feats. Such as having the most populous city in the world as well as modern theories of astronomy and mathematics. 

The history of the native peoples in South America begins with an Asiatic migration over the Bering Land Bridge, now known as the Bering Strait. Throughout millennia, people spread across all over the continent. These early peoples would form the first complex civilizations on the continent– the earliest being estimated to emerge around 5,000 BCE. The first inhabitants were hunter-gatherers and lived in local hegemonies throughout the Americas. In South America in particular, people spread over parts of modern-day Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.

The first evidence of agricultural practices in South America dates back to 5600 BCE, from the Norte Chico civilization. Considered the first complex society established in South America, they cultivated maize, potatoes, beans, avocados, among other native plants. To put this into context, the Norte Chico emerged around the same time the pyramids of Ancient Egypt were being built and predated the Mesoamerican Olmec by nearly two thousand years. They later significantly improved their agricultural practices with the construction of massive stone terraces in the high mountains of the Andes without beasts of burden or metal tools. The stone terraces not only extended the cultivated area, but also protected microclimates, allowing specific varieties to flourish. Archaeologists even suggest that an “amphitheater” found in the Cuzco region was an experimented field where the concentric terraces reproduced tiny variations in the upland environment. The Norte Chico can serve as a reminder that no one civilization can claim to have led the whole world and the human race in developing technology, culture, society, political organization, or religious belief.

These agricultural technologies and practices would be continued and expanded upon by the Incan Empire. They developed resilient breeds of crops that can thrive in harsh climates. They built cisterns and irrigation canals that lined mountains — further building more terraces into the hillsides, becoming progressively steeper. At the height of the Incan empire in the fifteenth century, the vast system of terraces, cisterns, and irrigation canals covered an area of an estimated one million hectares (just under four thousand square miles!) throughout Peru and was able to feed one of the most populous empires in the world of the time. However, these practices and traditions was lost to history when the Spanish Conquistadors invaded. The local populations were destroyed by war and disease; some researchers estimate as many as half of the total population perished following Spanish conquest. Though the methods may have been lost, remnants of the terraces remain. Inspired by recent archaeological research, people living in the Andes have made an effort to revive traditional crops and methods of planting. The reasons being that Incan agricultural techniques were extremely productive and more efficient in terms of water use than our current systems. Modern farmers have been looking at Incan ways that can offer simple, relatively easy solutions to help protect their communities, especially as climate change makes it more challenging to cultivate certain varieties of crops. 

The archaeologist Ann Kendall, in the late 1960s, discovered that the Incan stone terraces had several unexpected advantages. The stone retaining walls heated up during the day and slowly released the heat to the soil as temperatures plunged at night, keeping the plants’ roots warm during the often frosty nights and expanding the growing season. The terraces are also extremely efficient at conserving scarce water from rain or irrigation canals. Kendall said, “We’ve excavated terraces, for example, six months after they’ve been irrigated they’re still damp inside. So if you have a drought, they’re the best possible mechanism.” She also goes on to state that the Incan terraces are even today probably the most sophisticated in the world, building upon roughly 11,000 years of farming.

In addition to the agricultural advances being made in the Andean region there were also advances being made in the Amazon River basin by farmers in the rainforest.  Here they developed a way to enhance soil to create what is known as terra preta, a soil with a large amount of charcoal in it that is rich in nutrients and in university trials, has increased crop yields up to 800%. In addition to higher yields this soil can control water and reduces leaching of nutrients from the soil. Recent research conducted shows high levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium in the soil. We know that Terra Preta was a man made soil due to the discovery of unfired pottery in the soils, similar to the way modern gardeners add perlite or sand to potting mix. This serves as a way of keeping the soil from baking completely tight under the intense tropical sun before vegetation grew to cover the soil. The soil tends to be black or dark brown and the the way Terra Preta soil is made give it the ability to sequester carbon at such a high rate that it actually sequesters more carbon in its making than is used to make it, giving it the potential to help with the problem of climate change. The astonishing part is that this agricultural technology was made without modern science and was made by the early pre-Columbian South Americans; technology that was lost following the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors. 

Though a lot of the traditions and cultural practices of these pre-Columbian South American civilizations would be largely lost, recent research and studies being conducted are revealing more information every day. Recent evidence suggests that the Norte Chico may have been the most densely populated area of the world at the time; the only exception could have been in northern China. Contrary to what was initially believed, many of these civilizations are what we consider advanced civilizations, which challenges much of what is left out of our history textbooks taught in schools today. 

Winklerprins, Antoinette. “Terra Preta.” The Soil Underfoot, 2014, 235-46. Accessed July 30, 2019. doi:10.1201/b16856-22.

Erickson, Clark L. “Raised Field Agriculture In the Lake Titicaca Basin.” Expedition30, no. 3. Accessed July 30, 2019. https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cerickso/articles/Exped.pdf.

“Pre-Columbian Civilization.” Pre-Columbian Civilization. Accessed July 18, 2019. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Pre-Columbian_Civilization.

Smith, Michael E., and Katharina J. Schreiber. “New World States and Empires: Economic and Social Organization.” Journal of Archaeological Research 13, no. 3 (September 2005). doi:10.1007/s10814-005-3106-3

Jordan, David K. “Chronological Table of Mesoamerican Archaeology.” Jordan: Mesoamerican Chronology. April 04, 2019. Accessed July 18, 2019. http://pages.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/arch/mexchron.html.

O’Brien, Patrick. (General Editor). Oxford Atlas of World History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. p. 25

Native to Northeastern Africa, sorghum is one of the world’s most important grains for human consumption and is a staple food for more than 500 million people in over 30 countries. It is extremely versatile and can also be used for alcohol production and foraging. In the nineteenth century, sweet sorghum syrup was used as a sugar-substitute by many small communities. By the late 19th century, it was a dominant crop in the South, reaching a peak production of 24 million gallons, later declining due to the rise in corn-based glucose crops. The stem of certain varieties can be used for building, fencing, weaving, broom making, and firewood. For industrial purposes, sorghum can be used as an alternative to vegetable oil, waxes, and dyes. Sorghum should be planted shortly after corn when the soil temperatures are around 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing the crop to be planted in the spring season and can be planted until mid-summer if the rains are late. Easily adaptable to various climates, it can be grown in a wide variety of soils and is resilient in droughts. However, it is still susceptible to pests, such as birds and bugs. In temperate regions, sorghum will typically be harvested annually, whereas, in the tropics, it is a perennial and able to be collected many times throughout the year using a technique called ratooning.  The earliest evidence of sorghum was found as far back as 3,000 years ago and eventually spread to the drier regions of Africa. By 1,000 BCE, it was reported to be under cultivation in India. By the start of the Christian era, the crop spread along the coast of Southeast Asia and later to China.

Sorghum’s seemingly never-ending versatility saw the crop quickly adopted by many different cultures all over the world. In China, sorghum is a critical ingredient for the production of distilled beverages such as Maotai and kaoliang and was even featured in the 1987 film Red Sorghum. In southern Africa, sorghum is used to produce many different varieties of beer, even being included in their local version of Guinness. African sorghum beer tends to be a brownish-pink beverage with a fruity, sour taste, with its alcohol content varying between one and eight percent. South Africa also uses sorghum to make a stiff porridge – also known as mabele in Northern Sotho and brown porridge in English. The porridge can be served with soured milk known as maswi or with merogo (a mixture of boiled greens) similar to collard greens or spinach. In the Indian province of Uttara Karnataka, a variety of unleavened bread is usually made with sorghum and is a staple diet throughout parts of India. In the eastern Karnataka and the Rayalaseema area of the Andhra Pradesh region, a round flatbread called roti is made using sorghum and is the staple food for the communities who live there.

Sorghum is similar to maize in many characteristics in appearance and versatility; a cane-like grass that has the potential to grow up to six meters tall with large clusters of grains branched out from the stem. The individual grains are relatively small compared to other grains, typically only three to four millimeters in diameter. Depending on the variety cultivated, the colors of the grains can vary anywhere from a pale yellow to reddish-brown to a dark brown.  The head of the sorghum is called a panicle, with spikelets paired with one another. Though they are ordinarily self-fertilized, they can also cross-pollinate. Before the 1940s, most grain sorghums grew up to five to seven feet tall, which created harvesting problems. Today, most varieties of sorghums have two or three dwarfing genes and are typically two to four feet tall and are usually called milo in the United States. 

A specific variety known as broomcorn has had a major impact for storing, cleaning, and ornamental uses. It differentiates itself from other cultivars of sorghum in that it produces heads with fibrous seed branches that can grow as large as 36 inches long. Native to Central Africa, production of this crop then spread to the Mediterranean. Use of this crop would be especially prevalent during the Dark Ages. First described in Italy in the late sixteenth century, it would be introduced to the United States in the early eighteenth century. Initially grown as a garden crop, commercial production started to gain popularity by 1834. Illinois being the largest producer of broomcorn in the 1860s before ceasing in 1967. Broomcorn was commonly used for wreaths, swags, floral arrangements, baskets, autumn displays, and like the name suggests, brooms. 

Highly versatile and adaptable, sorghum can be grown in harsher climates than other grains like maize and wheat while still producing an impressive yield and be used in numerous applications. Though the journey of sorghum to the Americas was relatively recent, within the past two hundred years, the crop was quickly adapted by groups that have been marginalized by outsiders. The Tarahumara, from which the variety shares its name, is one of the largest groups indigenous in North America, with a population of nearly 100,000 people, who have been cultivating this specific variety. Best known for their long endurance running, the majority of the Tarahumara are concentrated in the cool highlands of the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico. These highlands allow them access to lumber and land for sheep, cattle, and goats to graze. While others live in the tropical Las Barrancas or the gorges below the highlands, which allow the cultivation of fruit trees, tobacco, and other tropic-grown crops, many would migrate between the two regions depending on the seasons. Though the two areas produce different resources, both groups of the Tarahumara have similar lifestyles. As the lands around them were developed and modernized, the Tarahumara remained relatively uninfluenced by Mexican culture due to the harsh landscape of the highlands and their general reluctance to embrace outside influence. Their culture is bound to their physical environment and their way of life, the remoteness of their surroundings, making running their primary mode of transportation. Their diet was primarily vegetarian with meat usually only eaten on special occasions. Instead, they tend to use their livestock as a source of fuel and manure. They cultivate a variety of Mesoamerican crops such as corn, fruit, potatoes, beans, and squash. Occasionally supplementing their diet with hunting and gathering herbs, nuts, berries, cacti fruit, and seeds. 

Gateway Greening offers Tarahumara Popping Sorghum seed packets for $1/each.  You can purchase these packets at our office, Monday-Friday 8-4 PM or at our Demonstration Garden on Saturdays 9 am-noon.  

References:

https://cals.arizona.edu/fps/sites/cals.arizona.edu.fps/files/cotw/Sweet_Sorghum.pdf

Native to Central and South America, the sweet potato is one of the world’s most important crops. Versatile, the sweet potato can be used in numerous applications. Famous chemist and botanist, George Washington Carver, a Missouri-born agricultural scientist, and innovator were able to discover a little over a hundred uses ranging anywhere from flour, starch, sugar, molasses, to stains, dyes, paints, and even medicine. Regarded as the world’s fifth most important crop, they can be enjoyed in a variety of ways, whether boiled, baked, or fried. Although high in starch like many grains and root crops around the world, it is also very rich in nutrients allowing it to serve as both a staple crop and vegetable (something pretty rare in the world of crops).  Therefore, multiple ethnic groups across the world have made the crop a staple in their cuisines. Although not widely known, the greens of the sweet potato are edible and very nutritious and widely used in some Southeast Asian and New Guinean cultures. 

The sweet potato is enjoyed around the world by many different cultures from Africa, Asia, and America. In Africa, particularly West African countries, the young leaves and vine tips are frequently consumed as a vegetable. In Egypt, the tubers of the sweet potatoes are known as “batatas” (بطاطا) and are common to see street vendors selling the crop. At times being baked as a snack or dessert, they are typically coated in honey. In East Asia, roasted sweet potatoes are quite popular. China typically has the yellow cultivars which are baked in a large iron drum and are also sold by street vendors. In Korea, the starch is used to make naengmyeon (cellophane noodles), even using sweet potatoes as a pizza topping. In the United States, sweet potatoes are mostly featured on Thanksgiving, but sweet potato fries among other uses have been gaining more popularity in recent years. 

There are three broad categories of sweet potatoes grown across the world.  There is a white starchy kind similar to potatoes, a hard, dry yellow kind, and the moist, sweet, and dark orange kind that is popular in the U.S., which is confused with the yam. Although sweet potatoes are commonly referred to as yams in North America, the sweet potato is a part of a different plant family. Yams are a part of the Dioscoridae family, which were domesticated in West Africa, whereas the sweet potato was domesticated in Western South America.  This confusion between the sweet potato and yams happened before the Civil War. Ships that brought West African slaves over to the United States via the Trans-Atlantic slave trade carried crops native to Africa as food for the long voyage. The crops included an African species of rice and other grains, okra, yams, and various kinds of beans and peanuts. The word yam is of West African origin with two languages having similar pronunciations of the word. In Fulani, yams translate to nyami meaning “to eat,” and in Twi, it translates to anyinam. Seeing that the two are relatively similar to one another, the West African slaves continued to use yams as the name for sweet potatoes. 

Sweet potato vines can grow up to nine to ten feet at a relatively fast rate, and although it is a perennial in the tropics, it will not survive our winters here and therefore is grown as an annual crop. A hermaphrodite, the plant has both male and female reproductive organs. Although sweet potatoes are pretty adaptable plants, they grow best in light and medium soils that are well-drained and require full sun for best yield. Its leaves can grow up to 10 centimeters and are typically heart- or egg-shaped with unlobed and sometimes toothed-margins. In late summer they produce pale purple or white trumpet-shaped flowers similar to a morning glory up to seven centimeters long and is often darker in color inside the tube. They grow in both tropical and temperate regions that experience hot summers. Due to its need for warmer climates, they have become a staple across Asia and Africa. When cooked, the sweet potato is sweet and highly rich in nutrients with some varieties having softer skins while the dryer white and yellow types are bred for their high starch content. When it comes to storing, if handled gently and left unwashed, the sweet potato can last for several months. They should not be stored in refrigerators as they can develop an off-taste and a hard core in the center. For preparation, the sweet potato should only be washed right before cooking because moisture can promote spoilage.

There are several theories about the sweet potato and its journey across the Pacific. According to findings from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that ancient Polynesians may have interacted with people living in South America before European contact. Archaeologists have hypothesized that ancient samples found in Polynesia around 1000 to 1100 CE originated from the western coast of South America. Pat Kirch, an archaeologist at the University of Berkeley, believes that the ancient Polynesians had the technology required to make the long ocean voyage across the Pacific to South America. They were great navigators of water, and in more recent years, further evidence has accumulated that the ancient Polynesians had made landfall in South America at some point. Making the voyage in large, sophisticated, double-hulled canoes which had the capability of carrying eighty or more people and was large enough to be out at sea for months. A linguistic link between the ancient Polynesians and the ancient South Americans seems to affirm the theory about the sweet potato’s movement across the Pacific as sweet potatoes have been found in Hawaii to Easter Island to New Zealand. The Uto-Aztecan word camotli seems to be the root of all words found across the Pacific. This evidence indicates that the center of domestication for the plant located in western South America.

Further theories have emerged as some believe that the sweet potato was deliberately or accidentally put on a boat that drifted across the Pacific, although both scenarios may seem unlikely, they are plausible. Ocean currents like the Humboldt current are slow and sluggish compared to the Gulf Stream, with cold water from Antartica flowing up the coast of South America where it dissipates and eventually flows towards the west. A third theory is that the sweet potato was first brought to Europe and then later introduced to Asia following Columbus’ expedition in 1492. Later continuing its journey eastward through the Silk Road, when explorers arrived in Polynesia in the eighteenth century, the sweet potato was already ingrained in their culture. However, the crop would not be identified by European explorers until the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto made landfall in South America. Tradition states that the Spanish explorers were the first to introduce South America’s native sweet potato and the white potato to the rest of the world; with its westward journey across the Pacific guided by Portuguese voyagers arriving at the Philippines and the East Indies. However, this theory tends to be Euro-centric and discounts the maritime capabilities of the ancient Polynesians who were even able to colonize Madagascar, later becoming the Malagasy people. 

“Carver Sweet Potato Products.” List of Products Made From Sweet Potato By George Washington Carver. Accessed July 02, 2019. https://www.tuskegee.edu/support-tu/george-washington-carver/carver-sweet-potato-products.

 “Sweet Potato (Ipomoea Batatas).” Accessed July 02, 2019. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/62941-Ipomoea-batatas.

Coe, Sophie D. America’s First Cuisines. University of Texas Press, 2015.

Bryant, Alice, and Ashley Thompson. “Many Food Names in English Come From Africa.” VOA. February 12, 2018. Accessed July 11, 2019. 

“Ipomoea Batatas (L.) Lam.: Plants of the World Online: Kew Science.” Plants of the World Online. Accessed July 02, 2019. http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:1101088-2.

Cantaluppi, Carl, and Gwen Rubio. “Sweet Potato History-Did You Know?” NC Cooperative Extension News. Accessed July 02, 2019. https://granville.ces.ncsu.edu/2013/09/sweet-potato-history-did-you-know-2/.

 Doucleff, Michaeleen. “How The Sweet Potato Crossed The Pacific Way Before The Europeans Did.” Food History and Culture. January 23, 2013. Accessed July 02, 2019. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/01/22/169980441/how-the-sweet-potato-crossed-the-pacific-before-columbus.

“Who Are the Malagasy?” Exploring Madagascar, a Land of Cultural and Biological Richness. Accessed July 02, 2019. https://www.wildmadagascar.org/overview/FAQs/who_are_Malagasy.html.

There is a lot happening in the soil of your garden that you can’t see without using a microscope!  Did you know there are more soil microorganisms in a teaspoon of healthy soil than there are people on earth?  The Soil Your Undies Challenge was recently popularized by American farmers to help promote the importance of healthy soil, but it’s also a great activity to use with children in the school garden or in the backyard.  Bury a pair of cotton underwear in your soil for two months to learn how healthy your soil is!

We followed GGI Educator Tonia when she co-taught this experiment with Mrs. Flanders’ kindergarten class at Mallinckrodt.  Mrs. Flanders found the experiment in the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Xplor magazine and thought it would be a great way to connect to the school garden. 

Experiment:

The class chose two spots in their school garden – one in a raised bed and one in the grass lawn – for their test sites.   Then, they shoveled into the soil 6” under the surface and buried a pair of 100% cotton underwear in both holes.

Mrs. Flanders asked her students to make predictions on what they think each underwear will look like in two months.    The majority of the students believed that both sites would have healthy soil.

Results:

            After waiting two months, the class recalled their predictions and dug up each pair of undies.  The underwear in site #1 in the garden bed was dirty and severely shredded leaving almost just the elastic waistband.  This meant that their soil has a healthy soil food web with lots of hungry critters! 

When they dug up the underwear at the site #2 in the grassy lawn, they found the pair was more intact and less of the cotton had been eaten.  The students learned that the soil in this spot is losing its nutrients and the critters need their help.  They brainstormed ways to revitalize the soil like mulching and loosening up the soil and adding more plants.

Tonia advises that this experiment worked well using a garden bed that was full of growing plants because the live roots attract microbe activity – and eat your undies!  Having a second site helped students to compare and brainstorm what needs to be changed in an area without healthy soil. 

Mrs. Flanders says, “It’s a hilarious and fun way to get students discussing healthy soil and decomposers!”

More soil health facts: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb1101660.pdf 

Deriving its name from the Greek word amarantos, “one that does not wither” and native to South America and Mesoamerica is the pseudocereal known as Amaranth. A common name that encapsulates more than 74 species, with approximately 55 native species to the Americas, and the remaining 19 native species to Eurasia, South Africa, and Australia/Oceania. Amaranth is able to grow in a large variety of climates: warm temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions around the world. “New World” amaranth was brought to Europe via the Columbian Exchange. Though underappreciated by many who live in the Western hemisphere, it has been popular in India, Nepal, China, and Russia and grown as a high quality, gluten-free grain, with the greens used as a leafy vegetable. What differentiates Amaranth from other grains are its nutritional benefits like being high in protein, cholesterol-lowering, and anti-inflammatory properties, high in vitamins A and C.

Amaranth is typically tall and has broad green leaves with bright purple, red, or gold flowers. The plant is large and bushy and can reach over 6 feet in height. The seeds are small; each one is about 3-4 millimeters in diameter and the roots of the crop are generally sparse. Although amaranth is highly adaptable to their environment, it is frost-sensitive and requires warm weather.  It is drought tolerant and can grow in a wide variety of soils but prefer good drainage. The leafy vegetable varieties of amaranth measure around 1-4 feet tall and are bushier than those varieties that are primarily for producing grain. Weekly harvesting tends to delay flowering and encourages new shoot and leaf growth. 

The leafy vegetable varieties of amaranth are highly nutritious, with African varieties notably providing up to 25 percent of one’s daily protein. Boiled amaranth leaves and stems are soft in texture and have a mild flavor with little to no bitterness. The U.S. Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Maryland conducted taste tests for 60 participants and found that, of the 60 participants, a large majority said cooked amaranth tasted at least as good as spinach. Some even saying that the taste was similar to that of artichoke. 

Part of a long and colorful history throughout the “New World” and used for its greens and grains, Amaranth was consumed by the American Indian populations in the American Southwest and Great Basin. These populations included the Navajo, Tewa, Zuni, Havasupai, Yuman, Apache, and other Pueblo Indians, who used the greens and seeds of the amaranths extensively, even cultivating several types. It is recorded that the native tribes as far north as Montana ate the leaves and seeds of the wild prostrate Amaranth. A traditional Zuni myth states that the rain priests scattered the seeds of the prostrate Amaranth across the earth; this symbolizes the cultural importance this plant once held by the native “New World” populations.

In Mesoamerica, the Aztecs also cultivated Amaranth as one of their major crops. Known to the Aztecs as huauhtli in Nahuatl (Aztec language) and bledo in Spanish, it was used to make idols of dough, called zoale, meant to represent the god of war, sun, and human sacrifice, Huitzilopochtli. These idols were featured during festivals, which took place throughout the year. Zoale was a dough made of milled Amaranth and toasted corn seeds mixed with honey or maguey sap. During the festival of Huitzilopochtli, which took place sometime in May, these idols were broken up, distributed, and eaten in a communion ceremony. Use of zoale and Amaranth was featured in at least six other seasonal festivals honoring various deities within the Aztec religion. They also used amaranth flour to make tortillas and tamales and used the greens for vegetables. However, use of the plant quickly declined during the Colonial Period due to the Spanish Christian missionaries attempting to convert the Aztecs. Because the plant was associated with pagan festivals, it was banned by the Colonizers. The importance of Amaranth in the Aztec civilization is shown when the Spanish conquistador banned the cultivation and possession of the crop. Using brutal, violent tactics, he actively sought to suppress Aztec culture, traditions, and religion. However, Amaranth is still enjoyed by some in Mexico, who continue to create a popped amaranth confection called dulce alegria which is similar to zoale.

The suppression of Amaranth saw the crop fade into obscurity with little industrial-scale statistical data.  However, this crop has the potential to replace maize, wheat, and other grains because of its’ ability to grow in dry, drought-ridden areas.  Though commonly referred to as pigweed and misunderstood as a weed in the U.S., amaranth is a popular crop in developing nations. An easy-to-grow, nutrient-rich, high yielding food, amaranth can boost the nutrition and food security problems that affect many underserved communities, especially as climate change continues to affect climates around the world. 

“Amaranth – May Grain of the Month.” Amaranth – May Grain of the Month. Accessed July 25, 2019. https://wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/grain-month-calendar/amaranth-may-grain-month.

“Read “Lost Crops of Africa: Volume II: Vegetables” at NAP.edu.” National Academies Press: OpenBook. Accessed July 25, 2019. https://www.nap.edu/read/11763/chapter/3#34.

Benfer, Adam. “Foods Indigenous to the Western Hemisphere.” Pigweed. Accessed July 25, 2019. http://www.aihd.ku.edu/foods/Pigweed.html.

Davison, Jay, and Beth Leger. “The Potential of Amaranth as a New Crop for Nevada.” https://www.unce.unr.edu/publications/files/ag/2012/fs1219.pdf.

Tubene, Stephan L., R. David Meyers, and William J. Sciarappa. “Ethnic and Specialty Vegetables Handbook.” https://extension.umd.edu/sites/extension.umd.edu/files/_docs/EthnicVegHandbook2008.pdf.

Wolfe, Kathy. “Amaranthus: A Plant of Many Faces.” From Brilliant Blossoms to Nutritious Gluten-free Grain, September 2, 2016.

Turnips are a very popular vegetable for both its bulbous root and its spicy, nutritious greens.  Although all turnip greens are edible, there are specific varieties that have been bred for their prolific production of delicious turnip greens.  One variety in particular that we sell at Gateway Greening is the Seven Top Turnip. The Seven Top Turnip is part of an ancient lineage of turnips. Turnips were domesticated in two separate places with the European varieties developed around the Mediterranean region.  In fact, the Early Greeks cultivated several types as early as 300 BCE. The turnip was also grown in Asia for the past 4,000 years, theorized to have originated from Central Asia, west of the Himalayan mountain range. Modern-day turnips grew in what is now France at least as early as 100 A.D. 

The Seven Top Turnip variety was first noted in Virginia, later becoming a regular garden fixture throughout the Eastern Atlantic region and the South during the nineteenth century. The greens of the Seven Top would gain further popularity in the twentieth century as seed companies began distributing the plant around the country.  It eventually developed a strong following in Kentucky, southern Ohio, and right here in Missouri. However, despite its popularity in home gardens, it wasn’t grown on an industrial scale since it doesn’t produce the bulbous root that many like to eat. For those who love turnip greens though, the Seven Top is the standard and highly regarded in the South. Enjoyed by all, the greens are commonly featured in wilted salads, with hot bacon grease and salt poured on top. The flavor of the greens is not as sharp as mustard and more peppery than lettuce, cress, or pepper grass.

The Seven Top is part of the Brassica genus and is in the same family as mustard greens and cabbage.  Almost all parts of the plants in the Brassica genus are developed for food, including the root, stems, leaves, flowers, and seeds which can be used in various culinary recipes. Roman author and naturalist Pliny the Elder stated, “it (turnips) should be spoken of immediately after corn, or the bean, at all events; for next to these two productions, there is no plant that is of more extensive use.” Not all turnips are the same and many vary in shape, size, and color – some can potentially a weight of fifty pounds.  They can be round, flat, or even cylindrical; the colors can be yellow or white, with or without green, red, or purple near the top. They typically are planted in the fall and winter seasons, and the foliage of the Seven Top is harvested around forty-five days after planting. 

Mentioned by Roman agriculturalists Cato and Columella, the crop may have been introduced to England by Roman colonizers and later naturalized following the Roman evacuation of the country. However, the turnip would not gain popularity until the seventeenth and eighteenth century. John Gerard, an English botanist, would note that the cultivation of turnips as a food source centered around the village of Hackney, located on the outskirts of London. This suggests that the inclusion of the turnip into the English diet was primarily due to Dutch expatriates living in the country. In those times growing turnips required some skill, mainly to avoid the turnip fly’s devastating ability to destroy the seedling sprouts of the turnips. The farmer’s solution was to germinate their seeds in water for a day, with the more adventurous farmers using warm water and then proceeding to douse the seeds in lamp oil or lime to impart a flavor that is offensive to the fly.  Although the turnip was not fully adopted into the English diet during the nineteenth century, the United States saw a particular interest in the plant with people from every region and class enjoying it. The first turnips were brought to modern-day Canada by the Breton explorer Jacques Cartier in 1541. It would also be planted in Virginia by colonists in 1609 and later Massachusetts in the 1620s. The cultivation of the turnip would not go unnoticed by the American Indians and they would adopt the turnip for food.  

Due to the greens long growing season and high nutritional content, greens became a staple food across the South.  Influenced by the African Diaspora, southern cooking is a mix of European, African, and Native American culinary practices and traditions. Before the nineteenth century, the majority of Africans entered the United States as enslaved people, with their time spent in Africa mostly working in agriculture-related pursuits and domestic service to one another. Ironically, their enslavement was well placed to influence their masters. This influence not only extended to the dishes they ate and served but also the crops they grew, methods of agriculture, various culinary techniques, and arguably, even ideas of hospitality. Starting on the African continent, a soupy stew eaten over a starch was most certainly in effect before European contact, varying from region to region. 

North Africa had millet and hard wheat; the west was cultivating yams and rice; the horn of Africa growing teff and eleusine. The culinary techniques primarily revolved around the three rock stove: boiling their food in water, toasting near the fire, roasting in the fire, steaming by wrapping the foodstuff in leaves, baking in the ashes, and even frying them in deep oil. These techniques would be carried over the Atlantic and would later form the foundation of the cooking in which African Americans would excel at and later add to the culinary traditions of the South. Before the advent of grocery stores and modern shipping, a person’s diet mainly depended on where they lived, especially for the enslaved living in the economically disadvantaged South. Meat such as beef and pork were expensive, leading many to rely on vegetables for nutrition.  

1.  “Brassica Rapa (Rapifera Group).” Plant Finder. Accessed July 02, 2019. http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=261918&isprofile=0&cv=5.
2.  Slow Food USA. “Seven Top Turnip.” Ark of Taste. Accessed July 02, 2019. https://www.slowfoodusa.org/ark-item/seven-top-turnip.
3.  “Turnip.” Accessed July 02, 2019. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Turnip.
4.   “Brassica Rapa (Rapifera Group).” Plant Finder. Accessed July 02, 2019. http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=261918&isprofile=0&cv=5.
5.  Shields, David. “The Turnip.” The Roots of Taste. April 2011. Accessed July 02, 2019. http://www.common-place-archives.org/vol-11/no-03/shields/.
6.  Anderson, Martin. “Turnip and Its Hybrid Offspring: Archives: Aggie Horticulture.” Turnip and Its Hybrid Offspring | Archives. Accessed July 16, 2019. https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/publications/vegetabletravelers/turnip.html.
7. HARRIS, JESSICA B. “African American Foodways.” In The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 7: Foodways, edited by EDGE JOHN T., by WILSON CHARLES REAGAN, 15-18. University of North Carolina Press, 2007. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469616520_edge.6.

One of the many plants growing in our Demonstration Garden this year is the Seminole pumpkin.  It has grown so well for us that we’ve decided to offer it for sale to the St. Louis community.  Our Seminole pumpkin seed packets are available at our office Monday-Friday and at our Demonstration Garden on Saturdays 9 AM to noon.  

In addition to its great horticultural properties, the Seminole pumpkin also has a rich and fascinating history.  Once highly sought after, the plant is native to Florida’s Everglades and bears a similar sweetness to butternut squash.  Found throughout Florida, this variety of pumpkin was previously cultivated before the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century. Though the pumpkin shares its name with the Seminole tribe, it was widely consumed and grown by the Miccosukee, Creek, and other tribes indigenous to Florida. The Miccosukee named the Seminole Pumpkin, “Chassa Howitska” or “hanging pumpkin,” referring to the method in which the pumpkin hangs on the bare limbs of the tree. Planted at the base of girdled trees, its’ vines grow up the tree’s trunk, allowing the fruit to develop. This particular method produced large yields of the crop, allowing immigrants from Europe coming to Florida to cultivate hundreds of acres. The pumpkin was a staple food for the early Indian tribes and later the Seminoles, with the fruits and flowers still being used today in soups, breadmaking, or eaten as a vegetable.

Pictured above is an immature seminole pumpkin growing from the base of a girdled tree in north Florida.  You can also see the unique white/silvery color the foliage usually gets.

    The Seminole Pumpkin will typically feature velvety-hair, that can range anywhere from shallow to deep lobes, with broad-ovate to kidney-shaped leaves with toothed margins.  It’s leaves often have white spots on the veins and are silver-lined, creating an almost-shiny reflection that deters pests when in direct sunlight. In late spring, single axillary flowers will bloom that are typically a creamy white to orange-yellow color. The pumpkin itself is pear-shaped or spherical with an incredibly hard rind.  The color of the shell can be deep gold to a light salmon and pinkish buff color. Inside, the flesh is beige to orange and has a fine-grained texture.

The Seminole Pumpkin has a long history of cultural and historical significance to the indigenous groups in Florida. The first inhabitants of Florida consisted of multiple tribes; the Calusa, Tequesta, Tocobaga, Jobe/Jaegas, Ayes, and the Apalachee. These Floridian tribes would later become collectively known as the Seminoles, a name meaning “wild people.” The majority of the Seminole population would be an amalgamation of the earlier tribes and it would later include runaway slaves who found refuge in Florida. The Seminoles would continue living in Florida until the turn of the nineteenth century when run-ins with American settlers became more frequent as they sought Seminole land and their former slaves returned — threatening Seminole autonomy and their ancestral lands.

A U.S. Marine boat expedition searching the Everglades during the Second Seminole War.

Further transgressions against the Seminoles later escalated into a series of wars collectively known as the Seminole Wars. Beginning shortly after the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830, the U.S. government attempted to relocate the Seminoles to a reservation in Oklahoma.  Chief Chekika, a chief of Spanish and Indian descent, led a series of attacks against American settlers and traders. Shortly after Chief Chekika’s attack on the town of Indian Key, General Walker Armistead authorized Lt. Col. Harney and ninety soldiers from the 2nd Dragoons and 3rd Artillery to conduct one of the first Special Forces operations in U.S. Army history. However, Chief Chekika proved to be elusive and further frustrated Lt. Col. Harney. In one instance, Harney discovered an abandoned Seminole campsite with pumpkins left behind, hanging from the trees, seemingly taunting the American soldiers.  No written records have been found regarding who fired the first shot, but in the end, all the pumpkins lay broken. Although there was no clear explanation to why the pumpkins were shot at; however, one possibility was to deny and eliminate food supply intended for the Seminoles. In other regions of the U.S., Native Americans of the time frequently buried their gourds, pumpkins, and dried meat in the ground in order to avoid the destruction of their food supplies. However, in the Everglades, the wet ground is unsuitable to storing foods because of spoilage so the Seminoles used the Seminole pumpkin for food storage, taking advantage of the pumpkin’s ability to grow as a vine in the canopies above and its naturally long storage life.

So why should the Seminole pumpkin be cultivated? Aside from the Seminole pumpkin’s ability to store for long periods, the pumpkin is very resilient to heat and humidity, which makes it great for growing in hot St. Louis summers.  The pumpkin is resistant to downy mildew, diseases, and pests like the dreaded squash vine borer that is difficult to control and kills most squash. Squash bugs will still feed on the Seminole pumpkin, but they are not harmful and won’t disturb its growth.  Seminole pumpkins also require little maintenance for the gardener, some even claiming that the pumpkins thrive under neglect. This particular variety is quite productive, though its vines are capable of reaching twenty-five feet in height, making space a necessity. Once harvested, the pumpkin can store without refrigeration for an average of six to twelve months. Though it was and still is common to plant Seminole pumpkins at the base of girdled trees, use of trellises have been met with success and offer a great alternative.   Its flavor is very similar to butternut squash and can be used as a baking pumpkin – it’s 6” size makes about 1 ½ cups of pureed pumpkin! 

The Seminole Pumpkin’s flesh is beige to orange and has a fine-grained texture

1.Slow Food USA. “Seminole Pumpkin.” Slowfood USA. Accessed June 18, 2019. https://www.slowfoodusa.org/ark-item/seminole-pumpkin.

2. Allen, Ginger M., Michael D. Bond, and Martin B. Main. “50 Common Native Plants Important In Florida’s Ethnobotanical History.” Accessed June 18, 2019. https://www.growables.org/informationVeg/documents/50NativePlamtsEthno.pdf.

3. “Cucurbita Moschata.” Cucurbita Moschata – Plant Finder. Accessed June 18, 2019. http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=e451.

4. Slow Food USA. “Seminole Pumpkin.”  https://www.slowfoodusa.org/ark-item/seminole-pumpkin.

5. History Web Committee. “Seminole Indian War.” History: Town of Jupiter. Accessed June 18, 2019. https://www.jupiter.fl.us/DocumentCenter/View/2186/Seminole-Indian-War?bidId=.

6.  “Seminole History.” Florida Department of State. Accessed June 19, 2019. https://dos.myflorida.com/florida-facts/florida-history/seminole-history/.

7. Campbell, Richard. “Attack of the Seminole Pumpkins.” Edible South Florida. October 31, 2016. Accessed June 18, 2019. http://ediblesouthflorida.ediblecommunities.com/food-thought/attack-seminole-pumpkins.

8.  “Seminole Pumpkin.” Seminole Pumpkin – Gardening Solutions – University of Florida. Accessed June 19, 2019. http://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/edibles/vegetables/seminole-pumpkin.html.

Britt Tate is the art teacher at Columbia Elementary and Bryan Hill Elementary.  Columbia Elementary is one of Gateway Greening’s Seed to STEM sites, where GG educator Nick Speed teaches weekly garden classes with each grade. 

The second you step into Britt’s classroom, her passion for plants and social justice is immediately obvious.  She has a large collection of plants from various points in her life and is a proud plant mom to “the weirdest, coolest plants.” Her passion for teaching children about the living world inspired her to start recycling efforts at the school, which snowballed into starting a garden and growing vegetables for the school.  

Britt pulls inspiration from what Nick teaches and they often collaborate on what’s happening in the garden. On Mondays, Nick checks in with Britt to share his lesson plans for the week so Britt can connect what she’s teaching in her art classroom with the garden. She keeps a mini-fridge in her classroom to store extra harvested vegetables to use in a lesson or a spontaneous student taste test. 

Britt proudly takes a nonconventional, unique approach in her classroom. Her teaching style focuses on the therapeutic process of making art, why we make it and examines the experience, rather than the end result. Similarly, the garden provides a space for students to learn the journey of where their food comes from and the work that goes into it. The garden is not only inspiration for the art they create, but also allows Britt to teach cross-curricular subjects in a visual way – like a lesson she gave on bees pollinating in the garden.  Britt asked her students to illustrate the role a bee plays in the garden ecosystem, using various styles of art. The outcomes were adorable, but more importantly, they represented how each student learns and expresses themselves differently. 

Britt’s “living classroom” doesn’t just include plants, it is also home to the classroom pet bunny, Vanilla, and two chicks.  This past school year, Columbia participated in MU Extension’s chick hatching program and had three incubators at the school to raise chicks.  During a lesson with the chicks, one student was upset when they made the connection between chicken wings and their new fuzzy friends. Britt believes the students’ daily interactions with animals and animals encourages them to buy responsibly and hopefully makes them more conscious consumers in the future.  The students appreciate the garden for providing food for Vanilla while learning how to care for an animal.   

Britt enjoys finding the overlap between art, science, and sustainability in her classroom and encourages other teachers to not be afraid to fail or try new things.  She says, “life is a science fair project.”  

Written by Rachel Wilson, Education VISTA

Mike Herries and his wife, Paula, are the garden leaders at St. Francis of Assisi parish and school.  As the STREAM Coordinator at the school, Mike is passionate about connecting the garden to his curriculum.  He joined St. Francis of Assisi School as a substitute teacher when he returned to St. Louis after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his family’s home.  His engineering background (and excitement for learning) allowed him to transition easily into his current full-time position leading the STREAM curriculum. In 2017, he discovered Gateway Greening’s Youth Garden Program and decided to start a garden. The parish and faculty were immediately on board and continue to be huge supporters of the garden. 

The St. Francis of Assisi garden is particularly busy this spring with Gateway Greening’s First Peas to the Table Contest!  Using Gregor Mendel’s pea plant studies, Mike’s students performed their own crossbreeding experiments with peas they’d grown in the garden. Though Mike doesn’t expect a large harvest of peas, (last year, they won the award for “Most Patient” peas!) the contest has attracted more students to participate in the garden. 

Mike found that sending out a monthly email with garden updates has engaged more teachers to get involved.The students enjoy getting outdoors and are often shocked to learn where their food comes from. They’re always excited to try new vegetables growing in the garden! Several teachers incorporate the garden into their classrooms and try to get the students to walk through the garden every day. The pre-K teachers take their students through the garden each day and are growing tomato seedlings in their classrooms. 

While Mike works primarily with middle schoolers, he’s able to interact with students of all ages in the garden. He and Paula are particularly proud of their pumpkin graveyard lesson in the fall, where the students observed their pumpkin harvest decompose. 

Mike prides himself on the fact that the St. Francis of Assisi garden “is all about learning, not production!”.  He is not afraid to lose some vegetables to pests and says that “bugs are a learning opportunity!”  Most of the produce is eaten right off the vine, but when there are leftovers, the harvest is given to members of the parish. Providing experiential learning for the students is very important to Mike, and the garden plays a key role in his lessons.  Mike hopes to include a pollinator garden, sensory beds, a chicken coop, and bees in the future. 

His advice for other school garden leaders: “Collaborate with other teachers to find out what they enjoy doing.  If the garden doesn’t feel like a chore, they’ll be more eager to participate.”

Written by Rachel Wilson, Education VISTA