Happy Independence Day, loyal Marketeers! Today I thought I would share some Founding Father wisdom with you. In this case, I present a brief take on the farming and culinary pursuits of my two favorite Founding Dudes, Washington and Jefferson.

 

“I am once more seated under my own Vine and Fig-tree, and hope to spend the remainder of my days…making political pursuits yield to the more rational amusement of cultivating the earth.” - George Washington in a 1797 letter to his plantation manager

 

Every good student knows that George Washington was called the Father of our Country but what is often overlooked is the possibility that he could also be called the father of our agricultural system. Among other things, Washington has been called America’s first composter. As early as 1760, he was mixing compost and using manure on his fields based upon principles he learned from the English farmers of the day. And, desperate to find a way to re-nourish his fields after the scourge that growing tobacco visited upon them, he was also among the first Americans to implement a crop rotation system.

 

He was also a keen student of animal husbandry and was the first American to breed horses with donkeys. This earned him another fatherly title, Father of the American Mule. As if all this wasn’t enough, he was also a commercial fisherman (once called the First Angler), a brewer (this time earning the title First Fermenter), a distiller, and a miller. While I have not heard it applied I think he should also be given the title, Father of the American Entrepreneurial System, because not only did he do all these things but he knew how to make serious money doing all these things.

 

“I am tired of a life of contention and of being the personal object for the hatred of every man who hates the present state of things” – No, that’s not a quote from either our current or former president but from a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to his daughter, Martha.

 

In 1807, when the above quote was written, Thomas Jefferson, at the time in the last two years of his Presidency, was busy planning for his final retirement to Monticello. In that retirement he planned to return to the pursuits that brought him his greatest pleasure. At the top of that list were good food and wine. While serving as America’s minister to France during the 1780s he took the opportunity to greatly expand his knowledge and collection of great wine. He bought more than 250 bottles in the first month alone! He also sent his slave James Hemings (who automatically became a free man when stepping foot on French soil) to be trained in the French culinary arts. James went on to become chef de cuisine at a famous Paris hotel before returning to America with Jefferson in 1789.

 

Of course this meant that Hemings would give up his freedom once on American soil. However, Jefferson promised to set Hemings free once he trained his brother, Peter (yes, Sally Hemings was their sister), to be Monticello’s new chef. Jefferson lived up to his end of the bargain but, alas, James committed suicide a few years later in Baltimore.

 

Jefferson’s White House became known for his opulent state dinners and other parties which featured the finest cuisine America had to offer along with a selection of the world’s finest wines. In those eight years Jefferson purchased over 20,000 bottles of wine. Since Presidents had to foot their own bills back then Jefferson left office deeply in debt.

 

Unfortunately for Jefferson, for all his scientific accomplishments, he was never the successful entrepreneur that his pal Washington was. While Washington was always offering wise farming counsel to his friend, it seems that, whether thru incompetence or just plain bad luck, Jefferson’s farming fortunes rarely seemed to pan out. One of his great disappointments was the failure of his vineyards at Monticello (ironically, Jefferson Vineyards, just up the road from Monticello, makes some great wines today). While he was known as one of the greatest agricultural scientists of his day, Jefferson was never able to figure out ways to profit monetarily from this success. In this field, as in so many, Jefferson’s legacy is that of the great experimenter.

 

Most of the information I shared with you today came from a fascinating book written by food historian Dave DeWitt called The Founding Foodies: How Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin Revolutionized American Cuisine. It is very entertaining and would be a great beach read if you are interested in more information on this subject.

 

In closing I want to briefly share with you an episode that occurred at the Market a few weeks ago. This happened a few days after a story had run on this very website by our good friend, Julie Perine. This particular story had to do with that pesky punctuation mark, the dreaded apostrophe. To be specific, I am speaking of the lack of said apostrophe in the name “Bridgeport Farmers Market” and the reason why it’s not there.

 

An old friend of the Market who happens to be a retired English teacher made the argument that the word “Farmers” should be “Farmer’s” or possibly even “Farmers’”. Now, this is far from the first time we have had heard this opinion over the course of the last six years. To set the record straight, when the Market was named six years ago we referred to the Associated Press stylebook which says that the word “farmers” in our case is being used as an adjective that describes the Market. The Market is not owned by the farmers but it is a Market for farmers. Since in this case it is descriptive and not possessive, the decision was made to forego the apostrophe. Don’t worry, we won’t get upset if you put the apostrophe in when writing about the Market but, officially anyway, we are the Bridgeport Farmers Market. See http://tinyurl.com/d3c4fxxif you don’t believe me!

 

By the way, we were more than happy to see it even with the apostrophe in the above photo! The BFM board would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank the Greater Bridgeport Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Meadowbrook Mall for including the Market in the Connect-Bridgeport.com Kids Zone which recently opened in the Sears court of the Mall. Beautiful work, folks!

 

Until next week, Stay Fresh!

 

The Bridgeport Farmers Market Association is the seven member all volunteer board of directors that governs the Bridgeport Farmers Market. It is supported by a wonderful group of community volunteers who help in the setup and maintenance of the market. For more information on the Farmers Market or to see how you can help please e-mail us at bridgeportfarmersmarket@yahoo.comor, better yet, LIKE us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. You can also check out the Market’s own YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/BridgeportFarmersMktor for more BFM video content you can now go to http://vimeo.com/bridgeportfarmersmarket/videos