Story
Preserving the 100 Year Garden
It all started this past winter over some wine. John was sharing with me his idea for a garden based on a 100 year old seed catalog. This lead to more meetings, more wine and many sketches and scribbles in Johns notebook. Sketches of preserved vegetables in jars, many of which John drew from memories of his trips to Austria. Some he imagined as I described my Granny Walker’s jarred goods from days long gone. The idea of this garden was a mere dream in those cold grey days, but now it stands in front of us as a living musem. Everyday the variety and quantity of vegetables growing just like the smile on Johns face as he comes carrying a bushel baskets across the lawn in front of the Barn. So grows the numerous jars scattered about the preserve kitchen, all different sizes, shapes and colors like the pantries of the old timers I once knew. Jars filled with cabbage, beets, beans, onions, and cucumbers. A nice break from the uniformity of like jars I have been accustomed to, this has given me a renewed connection to my path to preservation, one that began many years ago when I was spending time with people who were as much a part of our heritage as the mountains themselves. People whose legacy remain unchanged through time like the beans in the 100 year garden. Those beans are tender and haven’t been altered to withstand the harvesting by machines or be shipped across the country to sit on a shelf for days. No hybrids or GMOs could match the flavor and texture. As far as Im concerned this garden and John himself are national treasures.
Shannon Walker, Preservationist It all started this past winter over some wine. John was sharing with me his idea for a garden based on a 100 year old seed catalog. This lead to more meetings, more wine and many sketches and scribbles in Johns notebook. Sketches of preserved vegetables in jars, many of which John drew from memories of his trips to Austria. Some he imagined as I described my Granny Walker’s jarred goods from days long gone. The idea of this garden was a mere dream in those cold grey days, but now it stands in front of us as a living musem. Everyday the variety and quantity of vegetables growing just like the smile on Johns face as he comes carrying a bushel baskets across the lawn in front of the Barn. So grows the numerous jars scattered about the preserve kitchen, all different sizes, shapes and colors like the pantries of the old timers I once knew. Jars filled with cabbage, beets, beans, onions, and cucumbers. A nice break from the uniformity of like jars I have been accustomed to, this has given me a renewed connection to my path to preservation, one that began many years ago when I was spending time with people who were as much a part of our heritage as the mountains themselves. People whose legacy remain unchanged through time like the beans in the 100 year garden. Those beans are tender and haven’t been altered to withstand the harvesting by machines or be shipped across the country to sit on a shelf for days. No hybrids or GMOs could match the flavor and texture. As far as Im concerned this garden and John himself are national treasures.
Shannon Walker, Preservationist
Shannon Walker, Preservationist It all started this past winter over some wine. John was sharing with me his idea for a garden based on a 100 year old seed catalog. This lead to more meetings, more wine and many sketches and scribbles in Johns notebook. Sketches of preserved vegetables in jars, many of which John drew from memories of his trips to Austria. Some he imagined as I described my Granny Walker’s jarred goods from days long gone. The idea of this garden was a mere dream in those cold grey days, but now it stands in front of us as a living musem. Everyday the variety and quantity of vegetables growing just like the smile on Johns face as he comes carrying a bushel baskets across the lawn in front of the Barn. So grows the numerous jars scattered about the preserve kitchen, all different sizes, shapes and colors like the pantries of the old timers I once knew. Jars filled with cabbage, beets, beans, onions, and cucumbers. A nice break from the uniformity of like jars I have been accustomed to, this has given me a renewed connection to my path to preservation, one that began many years ago when I was spending time with people who were as much a part of our heritage as the mountains themselves. People whose legacy remain unchanged through time like the beans in the 100 year garden. Those beans are tender and haven’t been altered to withstand the harvesting by machines or be shipped across the country to sit on a shelf for days. No hybrids or GMOs could match the flavor and texture. As far as Im concerned this garden and John himself are national treasures.
Shannon Walker, Preservationist