Live from the plantation!

So I’m doing something a little different today, I’m blogging while I’m at work. Clearly this means that I am not out on site but in the office. I just had some thoughts and ideas and concerns and where else could I go but to the blog?!

In garden news, the deer have discovered the garden, have taken the tops off of all of my okra (as if the beans weren’t enough for them) and now I am left with the task of taking everything out and starting over. This means that next week I will spend a day with our farmer and replace the waddle fence that surrounds the garden, as well as till the soil and replant some things with the help of transplants instead of seeds. While the garden will still be historically accurate, there is a thing called aesthetics and when the garden is one of the first things visitors see because of its location, I need to do what I need to do, and I need to put some transplants in there. Also I need to fix the fence because it looks rather janky right now. I just hope no snakes show up as I am working. I don’t like the snakes.

Which brings me to my next thing. Snakes have kept me out of the slave cabin all summer long. Literally. I can’t go in there because I know there are snakes around, and while they aren’t poisonous (we have black rat snakes), I can’t help but fear them in the same way that they fear me. So I’ve been hanging out around the kitchen, the homestead, outside of the slave cabin, but not right in there, where I would have called home. I realize this has to change and rather quickly, but what can I say? I’m just downright scared to be in there. I am going to start working on the winter garden and getting that ready so I guess I will need to get over all fears and get moving.

Improvements: After doing some more research, our skilled slaves have the benefit of eating the same foods that the masters had, which means when I am cooking in the cabin this fall, there will be a more sophisticated variety of foods. This might throw the visitor off a bit, seeing how most know that slave diets were pork and cornmeal mostly, but for some domestic slaves, there was the benefit of having their gardens reflect that of their masters, and their meals reflect that of their masters. I am hoping that this will shed some light on the many differences that were a part of the slave culture. Slaves weren’t treated equal, not just in life assignment, but in food, clothing and shelter. We’ll have to explore that a little bit more.

Alright, time to go back on site and greet the people!

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2 Responses

  1. Le Loup says:

    If the garden is fenced, how are the deer getting in? I only ask because it is pretty obvious that 300 years ago the gardens must have been fenced, and they had to keep the deer out, so why is it not working now?
    Regards.

  2. historychic says:

    The fence has some weak spots in it and it's not really done right. I will need to go back and rebuild it just to keep the deer out. They leave 2 calling cards, their footprints and then the remains of the meal the just had. But that is on tap for next week.

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