Introduction
Planting the Seeds
Native Agriculture and Plant Use
Canadian Flora
Pioneer Gardening
19th Century Seed Catalogues
Cultivating the Garden
The Cultivators
Reaping the Harvest
Bibliography
Photos by Beth Powning
Other Gardening Sites
Acknowledgements |
Planting the Seeds
Native Agriculture and Plant Use
| When the United Empire Loyalists arrived in Upper Canada, the Hurons introduced them to the Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), a member of the sunflower family. Its roots were eaten as a substitute for potatoes and saw many immigrants through the early, hungry years. |
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Macnab, Dorrine.
"Jerusalem Artichokes", Heritage Seed Program.
Toronto: Heritage Seed Program, Vol.2 #2, Aug. 1989. |
| More than two hundred plants of the Pacific Northwest were used by aboriginal peoples for food, medicine, and other purposes. The women did the gathering of the berries, bulbs and vegetables, sometimes from favourite patches or areas considered to be their own particular territory. The bulb of the Blue Camas (Camassia quamash) provided a staple part of the diet for many. |
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Turner, Nancy J.
Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples.
Vancouver: UBC Press, 1995. |
| The Huron women and children were responsible for growing food. Here they can be seen shooing away birds from the corn field. |
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| Huron women grinding corn. |
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Du Creux, François.
Histoirae canadensis. sev. Novae-Franciae....
Paris: 1664. [Reproduction of engraving opposite p. 22.] |
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