Feeding the farm family: Domestic outbuildings and traditional food ways in the Blue Ridge

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Sep 2002 by Wyatt, Sherry Joines

The basic sustenance provided by the farm's grain crops and livestock was greatly supplemented by the vegetable garden. The garden at the Tyre and Lula Crouse farm is featured in a prominent location among the farm's buildings and plays a significant role in the memories of the Crouse children.6 Lillie Crouse Edwards recalls her mother's garden fondly. "We always planted our potatoes the first thing and onions, now, that was the first, and she always had a row of mustard an' our lettuce bed was right here at the corner, that was her big lettuce bed and then her cucumbers, I can see them now."7 Tomatoes, parsnips, green beans (planted in the corn field) and sweet potatoes were also planted in late spring. The work involved in producing a garden of this magnitude is not quite so steeped in nostalgia, however. Mrs. Edwards remembers, "Another thing she always liked was peas... We'd have to go to them woods and cut them old twigs or brushes, you know, and stick the peas. That'd take just about a solid day!" It is notable that Mrs. Edwards refers to the garden as being her mother's. While it is likely that Tyre Crouse plowed the soil each spring, the garden was seen by the family as Lula Crouse's sphere of work.

Fruits were also an important part of a farm's produce. Apples were especially prominent, with nearly every farm having an orchard containing several varieties such as Fallow Water, Ben Davis, and Johnson Winter. Peaches, pears, cherries, plums, grapes, currants, and raspberries were also commonly grown. Quince, wild grapes, persimmons, and blackberries were part of the annual produce as well, but rather than being cultivated, these fruits were usually gathered from where they grew wild on the farm. Chestnuts, chinquapins, and other nuts could also be gathered from the woods.

It was not enough for these minimal-cash farmers to grow a garden for summer use or gather fruit in the late summer and fall. Without a significant source of income, the food grown and gathered had to be made to last until the following spring. Some of the common food choices on early twentieth century farms, such as the prevalence of pork over beef, are directly related to the ease with which they can be preserved. Similarly apples were produced in large quantities on most Alleghany County farms because of the beneficial growing conditions, but also because they could be dried easily for winter use. Beans were also an abundant food item since they, too, could be dried successfully.

The techniques for drying food were relatively simple. Apples had to be sliced and laid on clean sheets or screens to dry for several days in the sun. Beans were made into leatherbritches by stringing the bean pods onto long threads that were hung to dry. There were drawbacks, however, to these methods. Beans had to be soaked and cooked for long periods of time after being dried and apples lost much of their firmness. To avoid the chewy texture caused by drying, apples could also be preserved with sulfur. To accomplish this, the apples were placed in a mesh basket inside a barrel where a sulfur-laden fire was smoldering. The apples would remain plump and firm, with only a hint of sulfur taste.8