One last post from our New England tour: a visit to the waning garden at the Wolcott house at Hamilton college. Many of the residential halls here are filled with students with shared interests.
This house is focused on growing foods and using these foods to prepare the meals for the house, the garden is located just behind the house.
The school is nearly 200 years old, so this year they planted a special garden, as the sign below reads “Our goal is the recreation of an early 19th ~ century Central New York kitchen garden in celebration of the upcoming bicentennial of the chartering of Hamilton College”.
I am sure this garden felt lush and abundant during the summer months, but I thought the fall remainders were beautiful. The “formal” entry was framed by a branched canopy, crawling with bean vines.
The last of the tomatoes clung to their vines.
But the cabbages and kale should last for awhile.
There were no store bought stakes in this garden, plants were supported with branches from nearby trees.
In addition to using early growing methods, they found seeds and roots that were used in gardens 2 centuries ago.
Signs identified the heritages.
These Catawba grapes “played an important role in the early history of American wine. During the early to mid~19th century it was the most widely planted grape variety in New York state”.
The seeds from the sunflowers were ready for roasting.
And the hops appear ready for brewing.
Have you ever smelled hops? They are extremely fragrant, sort of like an earthy bay leaf.
Random shot: this is a sitting area in the student recreational area, love those chairs against the butter yellow wall.
The leaves in Seattle are stupendous right now, how are the leaves in your area?
What a wonderful initiative! I've found that quite a few schools are trying to support their local agricultural community but I don't think I've ever heard of one trying to replicate an antique garden in their backyard!! Hamilton is such a beautiful campus!!
These pictures are so beautiful and I love how they tried to recreate an 1812 garden…how incredible! Beautiful foliage….