Wild speculation (was RE: Northern Foods was Re: SV: SC - Introducing Myself)

[Cindy Renfrow]

>So here comes the wild speculation...If planting and harvesting by "the
>signs" then perhaps "the right time" to bring in the harvest would be
>before the grain was ripe?
>
>Has anyone encountered any references like this in Old World ms?
>
>Agriculturally yours,
>Emme
>

Hello!  There are myriad references to planting by the zodiac and by the
Moon in Old World. That's where your Appalachian folks originally came
from, after all.

Thomas Hill's The Gardener's Labyrinth (1577) contains more than a chapter
on *sowing* different seeds in this manner, & cites many Greek & Roman
sources such as Columella and Cato.

Hill doesn't discuss rye, but under melons he says "Also the Gardener ought
to conceive, that those named the winter Pompons, doe never grow to a full
ripenesse on their beds, and for that cause to procure them speedily to
ripen, he must (after the gathering) hang them up in the roof of the house,
and eat of those, when they appear yellow within."  So the concept of
picking unripe fruit & ripening it indoors was known to them.

But any farmer who blindly followed such planting & harvesting schedules,
without taking into account that they were written in warmer climates,
would soon be very hungry.

Regards,


Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu
renfrow at skylands.net
Author & Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More, A Collection of 15th
Century Recipes" and "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing
Recipes"
http://www.alcasoft.com/renfrow/


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