The Rural Voice, 2005-02, Page 32Gardening
Celebrate our heritage in our gardens
Rhea
Hamilton -
Seeger and
her husband
live near
Auburn. She
is a skilled
cook and
gardener.
By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
February 21 marks Heritage Day
and the theme this year is "Heritage
of Faith: Spiritual and Sacred
Places".
Promoted by the Heritage Canada
Foundation, Canadians are
encouraged to celebrate our
architectural heritage and historic
places. The theme this year is
supported with a guidebook
describing 15 spiritual places in
Canada that relate to one of four
sections: traditional spiritual sites,
missions, sacred places and early
settlement.
Unfortunately with the bustle of
everyday pressures and inclement
weather there is often very little
celebration in February. But I think
gardeners appreciate the theme of
spirituality. Add a little thought into
the history of it all and we can
celebrate our heritage every day, all
year round.
How many of us have relaxed in
gardens and felt a bit of a kinship
with nature while working the ground
and tending the plants. Gardens and
the act of gardening can be both
soothing and spiritual. We let
ourselves go in gardens and try to
learn to be at one with the greater
spirit. We have an affinity with the
land and this could be one of the
reasons that so many are turning our
hands to gardening; from great lawns
being turned over to swaths of
perennials and lines of vegetables, to
pots lining balconies in city high
rises. We are a part of nature despite
our best offers to think we are above
it all. We are learning to embrace
nature with our return to gardening,
to enjoying our parks and our great
outdoors. It is this return that will
28 THE RURAL VOICE
make us spiritually strong.
The first people living in North
America were in tune with the life
around them. Time, intuition and, of
course, trial and error enabled them
to prosper and enjoy life. Hundreds
of plants made up their menu and
hundreds more were for medicinal
and ritual care. Pioneers looked to
plants for their mainstay and crops
and vegetable gardens were their
priority. Their choices were selected
from plants brought with them and
from the wealth of plant material
here.
So how can we celebrate our
heritage today? First pick an area of
gardening that most pleases you. For
some it is the fragrance of favourite
flowers and herbs while for others it
is the edible wealth of vegetables or
the satisfaction of planting trees.
Consider the historical aspects. This
year plant something that is part of
your heritage. The simple act of
planting and tending is spiritual in
itself and combined with the heritage
aspect we have met the theme of
Heritage of Faith.
Gardeners with a passion for
vegetable gardens will already tell
you about the three sisters; corn,
squash and beans and how the native
North Americans planted the three
together to help sustain them through
the year.
Did you know that a lot of seeds
were sent to North America from
France and England to encourage the
settlers to become self sufficient and
in time be able to have excess to sell
and support themselves.
The Hudson Bay company was
very optimistic when they sent seeds
each year to the forts around Hudson
Bay. They had no concept of the
weather or soil and expected the
company employees to reduce their
dependency on the company stores.
Records from 1803 show a good
selection of seeds for peas, beans,
cabbages, kale, radishes and white
celery were sent but there are few
notes on the success of the gardens.
Imagine being tied so closely to your
garden for survival.
The Loyalists who immigrated
into Ontario in the 1780s were
grateful for the government's gift of
grain, turnip seed, Indian corn, kale,
and pumpkin which staved off
starvation for a few years. Many
came from large urban centres in the
United States and they had to learn
quickly how to harvest, save seed and
prepare for another year in order to
survive.
Catharine Parr Traill, of the
Peterborough area, gives us a
wonderful picture of pioneer
gardening when she wrote of the
results of her garden in 1834.
Although the drought was disastrous
for the potato crop, the peas, melons,
pumpkins and Indian -corn prospered.
As an immigrant from England,
Catherine, her sister Susanna Moodie
and their brother Samuel Strickland
wrote extensive letters home
describing a life hewn out of the
backwoods of Upper Canada.
Any plant you pick has a history,
whether it is in this country or in a
country it is imported from. It is just
a matter of reading about it.
Medicinal herbs and vegetables have
followed mankind in his travels
around the world. As nomads travel
they take seeds with them, explorers
brought back wonderful new
discoveries and settlers took with
them their basic seed and slip
supplies when they travelled to new
lands.
That leads us to the whole issue of
heritage seeds. Many of us are aware
of the development of hybrid seeds
and plants and the movement to save
seed stock. There are volunteer
organizations that dedicate
themselves to preserving heirloom
seeds that have been handed down
through generations and that are
threatened now with being lost
forever.
And there are the native plants. As
we plant to attract wildlife to our
backyards we help preserve that same
plant life that is threatened by
development. Want to learn more?
Check out A History of Canadian
Gardening by Carol Martin and