SC - Agriculture revisited

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/26/00 5:51:02 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
DianaFiona at aol.com writes:

<< Even things that were grown at 
 the manor or castle would have limits--say, the first spring greens might 
not 
 come up in sufficient profusion to feed more than the lord and his family, 
so 
 the others in the household wouldn't get any until later in the season. Or, 
 the hunting might have procured several different kinds of birds, that would 
 be cooked in various ways and served separately. >>

This may or not be true in isolated cases. However, Chiquart clearly 
indicates that literally thousands of animals, including birds were prepared 
for any given feast.  The quantities listed in his suggested stores for a 
feast clearly indicate that vast quantities of almost everything were used. 
We have little or no indication of what would have been consumed at everyday 
meals but the manuscripts we do have were written, SFAIK, for use at large 
gatherings not day to day cooking for the most part. 

To supply these needs (which were often a burden on the communities where 
they were held) more space than 2X2 foot are indicated. There are pictures 
showing other types of crops being grown en masse. 

I tend to think of the cutsy 'homey' type pictures showing kitchen gardens 
such as you describe to be very similar to those we see nowadays in most 
gardening magazines. Such pictures are not inaccurate in portraying the small 
kitchen garden but are not a basis for assuming that these are accurate 
representations of the vast agricultural machine of either the Middle Ages or 
the modern world.

Just a thought or two......

Ras