Vegetables in the New World For this episode I will write as a European who has recently arrived in the New World. Even though the descriptions of vegetables and methods of farming came from primary sources, the characters are fictional. 20 March, 1597. Dear Journal, My name is Christopher Clark. I have arrived in the New World. It took many months to get here, but we made it. I have decided to record my experiences in this journal, which I will then send home to my family. Since my sister is ill, my parents stayed behind to tend to her, leaving me to make the voyage alone. I have mixed feelings of fear and excitement for the New World. Most of today is going to involve unpacking the items on the ship and setting up our new homes. I shall return tomorrow to tell you of my experiences.  Dear Journal, Today I met a young man, around the same age as I am, who lives here in the New World. He says that his name is too hard for my people to pronounce and that I can just call him John. He said that he has lived here all of his life. His home that he lives in with his family looks very different from mine. His family also eats different foods than the ones that I have tried before. Most of the foods that they eat come from the ground. They have a garden next to their house where they grow most of this food. John said that this week he will show me how to grow some of these foods by my own house. I am very much looking forward to this lesson. 23 March, 1597. Dear Journal, Today John taught me all about corn. This is a very interesting plant. I saw some of it growing in his yard. John said that some people call this plant maize. There seem to be many different kinds. All of the plants of corn have the same shape and size. There are kernels that are lined up in rows inside of a husk. There are different colors of corn; yellow, white, blue, green, red, and gold. I am interested to see if the different colors have a different taste. John says that the best time to plant corn is now. It needs to be planted in the spring, but it is not ready for harvest until the fall. During the time when it is growing, I will see the plant grow from a mere seed to a towering plant. Corn can be eaten in different ways. Some people prefer to eat it right out of the ground. Other people let the corn dry out and then grind it up to turn it into a powder that will be used to make bread and cakes. John says that the white corn makes the best bread and cakes. John told me an interesting story about how his ancestors are responsible for the creation of corn. He says that long ago there were three women in his tribe, called the maidens of the maize, who had no ears. One day these women were met by a sorcerer who asked the women why they had no ears. When the women said that they had been looking for their ears but could not find them, the sorcerer stomped the ground and up rose six different stalks of corn, each a different color. The three women were overjoyed to have found their ears. Whenever there is a season of bad crops, it is because the maidens of the maize have been offended.  28 March, 1597. Dear Journal, Today I planted corn outside of my house. John says that corn is the easiest plant to grow. The planting process that we used was very simple. We did not used any kind of plow and there was not even an animal involved in the planting process. Instead of using a plow, we used our fingers. We poked a hole in the ground and dropped one seed in the hole. We then covered the hole and the rest of the process is left up to the rain. John says that I will begin to see the stalks come out of the ground in three months. I will continue this section of my journal when the corn begins to grow. 2 August, 1597. Dear Journal, The corn stalks are growing very tall; they are already as tall as I am. Each stalk has different colored corn than the stalk next to it. The corn is not yet ready to harvest, but when it is, there will be a celebration. 1 September, 1597. Dear Journal, The corn is finally ready for harvest. Since all of the corn in the area is ready for harvest, there will be much celebration today. We pick the corn from the stalks and many different types of food are made. I am beginning to learn all of the foods that can be made using corn. During the celebration today we had porridge made with ground up corn and honey, flat cakes that were made with flour that contained corn, and many different breads that were each made with a different color of corn. I am amazed by all of these foods that come from one stalk of corn. I look forward to learning about more vegetables that can be grown in my garden. I will bring this information back to my family in Europe to help them successfully grow crops there.  Interpretation: The purpose of this episode was to show not only the process that people used to go through to grow crops, but to also show where corn came from. I know that the story of the "maidens of the maize" is hard to believe, but it is important to know the origins of food that people once believed to be true. Corn was a very important staple in the diet of Native Americans and the settlers who came later. Although corn could not be the only food consumed in a meal (because it is low in vitamins) it was still a part of most meals. References: Gerard, John. The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. London. 1597. This reference was great for the descriptions of the corn and the times to plant and harvest. Gerard not only described in detail the stalks of corn, but also included pictures. Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne and Anthea Bell. A History of Food. Blackwell Publishing: 1994. This book included the story of the "maidens of the maize" as well as the different kinds of food that could be made with corn. This was a very interesting reference because it traced the history of corn all the way from the Aztecs to today. Pictures: Cornfields. Serendipity Ltd. Weblink. Corn stalks and white corn. Gerard's Herball. Weblink. Different colored corn. Gerard's Herball. Weblink. Email me! Back to Project Page |