harvesting time for apples and potatoes

[J.H.Berger]

Comrades,
I couldn't find any historical information about when the, as we call them in Germany, " early potatoes " were invented. I mean the farnmers harvest potatoes here in Germany for 4 weeks now. This was pobably not the case 150 years ago.
My question is: when did the potatoe season start in the USA in the 1860s (thinking of the northern states) and when were the first aplpes available. Is there any info about what kind/sort /brand ( I don't know how to call it in English) were popular and if they are still available?

Thank you for any help!

[Mcouioui]

Look at that Jan, it is in French but it is very well made on the basis articles from Lazy jack http://rusala.club.fr/pages%20des%20adherents/nourriture/la%20nourriture.htm

[Charles Heath]

Hit the search engine for both of these, as several people have posted harvest times for various apple and potato varieties, as they vary around the US. Also, check out the excellent Texas article linked from Silas' links page. This is a good subject, and one that has been covered well over the years.

[kaelin]

Hello,
I would suggest a couple of really good books that are from the period. the first is "Ten Acres enough" by Edmond Morris written/published in 1864, Edmond writes about his journey through farming on 10 acres with his family, he tells everything you want to know!

Also another that is agriculture related is "Tarpleywick", a century of Iowa farming, by Henry C. Taylor. This another book about farming and family from the 1850s through present.

You can find both of these on Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.

As far as the south we plant potatos in early spring, around March and usually harvest mid to late summer, you can also plant later and harvest in the fall, it truly depends on weather and soil.

We are also harvesting apples now as well, but the apples that we harvest are for pies, cakes, etc. Apples that are harvested for juices and ciders are harvested in the fall. I live in Kenucky and farm and I am also surrounded by many amish and minnonite.

Feel free to contact me by email, I am no expert but have grown up on a working farm all my life, and if I can't answer your questions I am sure I can find someone.

Take care
Kaelin Vernon

[SusanOdom]

I worked for 7 years at an 1880’s living history farm. I don’t consider myself an expert on apples but I can share a bit of what I learned from the vintage variety apple orchard they had at the farm.

We had apples that were ready to eat in July, I remember the varieties were called Rambo and Early Harvest (a name quite to the point!). The Rambo was good for cooking but also a delicious fresh eating apple. We had more than a dozen varieties of apples that ripened from July all the way to the middle of November. So the season back in the day was longer than the season on most modern orchard. Some apples are good for cooking, fresh eating, cider, long storage etc. The early harvest apple was a bit soft and would not keep well. We had a russet apple (can’t remember which one) and it was a late apple that stored well. In fact using it right off the tree was not a good idea! It was quite hard to bite into, not juicy. But after a long storage it was nicer.

I think that in modern agriculture there is a homogenizeation (sp?) of plant varieties /hybrids suit the large farm needs. And today we have different, supposedly more effective, ways of storing fruit.

To echo earlier posts – potatoes can vary in harvest time too. Some people in the north east had a tradition of eating new potatoes and garden peas together. Well garden peas are ready in June so that is implying the new potatoes are ready in June too! Of course New potatoes don’t keep well over the winter. Eat those fresh. Potatoes that are harvested at the end of the growing season are usually the ones that are for long winter storage.

Just my thoughts! Food is my favorite topic!


Susan Odom

[Rhinevalleylad]

Hallo Jan,

well here we go:
(Sorry have nothing about apples)

Planting Times + Growing Seasons

The following information should provide you with a rough guideline on planting period crops. The following information was taken from a period farmers diary and gives you an idea of when one Farmer did his planting. However, I must give a disclaimer that the times for planting and preparing the soil vary from farmer to farmer and for different locations. Please keep that in mind, depending on where you are from.

Tobacco: March: started tobacco seed.
May: Planted tobacco seedlings.
October-November:Cut tobacco and put it up to dry

Corn: December-March: plowed for corn.
May: planted corn.
October-November: hauled corn in.

Potatoes: March: plowed for potatoes.
March/April: planted potatoes.
October: dug potatoes.

Sweet Potatoes: February/March: started sweet potatoes in hot bed.
March: plowed for sweet potatoes.
April/May: plant sweet potatoes.
September: dug sweet potatoes.

AND
Civil War Period Heirloom Vegetables:

The following is an abbreviated listing of period vegetable varieties that would or could be found in the garden in the 1860s. This is to just give you an idea of some of the common varieties found back then in a garden or field. There were a lot more than this. Besides the name and date, there is also a description of how the seed looks. This should help give you an idea of what modern beans, peas or vegetables to look for when you don’t have heirloom ones.

Beans:
Snap Beans: A common bean such as kidney,
French, garden, or filet beans.
Snap Bush Beans: Grown in a bush form.
-Black Valentine: Pre 1850s, - Dry black soup bean.
-Red Valentine: 1832, -red bean

Snap Pole Beans: Grown with poles providing guidance for growth.
-Blue Coco: 1775, -tan flat bean
-Cherokee Trail of Tears: Pre-1860s, -Black Bean
-Kentucky Wonder: 1850s, -White or beige in color.
Beets:
Chiogga: late 1840s, solid red beet with striped inside.
Early Blood Turnip Beet: 1825, dark red, somewhat smallish beet.

Cabbage:
Early Jersey Wakefield: 1840s
Late Flat Dutch: Pre-1840s, nice mid-sized heads, pale
greenishwhite

Carrots:
Early Scarlet Horn: 1610
Long Orange Improved: 1850: Long thin orange carrot.

Corn: (sweet)
Black Mexican (black Aztec): pre 1860s
Stowell’s Evergreen: 1848


Lettuce:
Black seeded Simpson: 1850, a loose leaf lettuce that is a medium green.
Oak Leaf: 1686, loose leaf lettuce with leaves resembling
oak leaves.
Tom Thumb: 1830, small compact lettuce with heads the size
of tennis balls.

Onions:
Red+Purple Skinned:
Red Wethersfield: 1800, dark purple small onion.
Yellow:
Yellow Globe Danvers: 1850s, copper to golden brown small onion
White:
White Portugal: pre 1800, silver white skin

Potatoes:
Garnet Chile: pre-1860s. Heirloom that is the parent of many
potato varieties.
Rosy red skin, large, round and irregular in shape.
Early Rose: 1861, long potato with pink skin and white flesh.
Neshannock: pre-1850s in Ohio, reddish skin.
Peach Blow: pre-1850s, very common during 1860s,
small, light brown skin with irregular shape.

Hope this is a little additional light in the dark.

Ingo Rolletter

[J.H.Berger]

Thank you comrades. I know more now and enough to be sure that there were potatoes havested earlier than october;)

[Justin Runyon]

Jan,

I have a spreadsheet I did listing period US apple varieites and their months of harvest. If you want it, drop me a line and Ill see if I can track it down.

Will be in GA for the next three days, can look when I return.

JER

[hiplainsyank]

Jan-

Gardeners now also tend to have early and late varieties of garden vegetables; hence they plant two varieties of corn, one early and one late, to allow for a longer period of corn harvest. Tomatoes and potatoes also are commonly planted this way. They might also have two different plantings of some of the quicker vegetables, such as peas and beans and lettuce, to allow for a longer harvest, or spring and fall plantings of some vegetables. Also, potatoes, for example, when planted in early and late varieties, may also be harvested early, before they are full size. A common dish in many gardening households is new peas and new potatoes, in which you harvest a few of your early variety before they are full size and cook them with full size peas, served in a cream sauce.

While this is only an assumption and not proven by any particular citation, these are old gardening techniques that come from a time when people had to raise their own food, I asume that many, if not all, of what I mentioned above was practiced in the 1860s. Therefore, your question about harvesting time would vary greatly. Also, since there are grat climatic differences between north, middle south and deep south, this would also affect harvest times. You really would need to pinpoint where[I] a harvest was being conducted, and [I]what variety was being harvested (there are early and late varieties of apples, too).

[Charles Heath]

Folks,

One of the resources rarely mentioned anymore, but often used is the 50 CES sites. Obviously, the ones for Alaska and Hawaii won't be all that useful for the CW, but check out the collections of planting and harvesting data, as well as the individual states' notions of heirloom fruits and vegetables. The usual disclaimers as to "heirloom" apply, and the irony is the root source of this info was funded in 1862. Yes, that would be the Morrill Act, and in states with climate changes based on geography (Tidewater to Highlands, as in Virginia) the dates are often very generalized.

Since no one else bothered to post the link, this is the text of the Dave Rodgers' article from the Ground Hornets' website, as linked from Silas' collection of links. Since this is hosted on Geo-Cities and more than three hits in a 24 hour period generally kills their bandwidth, here is the entire text as a quote:


When Food is in Season
By: Dave Rodgers

(Knowing the time of year and it's relationship to what foodstuffs are in season is vital in the living historian's portrayal. Whether the impression is that of an American farmer, grocer or consumer, it is always good to know what would be on the table for the time of year portrayed. This article is from my families recipe book pg. 433-436 this book has been with my family circa mid 1860's to the early 1870)
Apples are in season all year and are cheapest from August until spring
Artichokes (Jerusalem) are ready for use in September
Asparagus from the first of May until the middle of June

Bass, of which there are a dozen varieties at all times of year
Beans, string, June to November, Lima from July throughout the year
Beef is good at all seasons of the year
Beets from June through the year
Blackberries from July to September
Blue Fish, a popular sea coast fish from June to September
Brant, a choice wild fowl, April and May, September and October
Bream a fish sometimes known as Dace, in winter months
Broccoli, a kind of cabbage, from September to November
Buckwheat cakes in cold weather
Butternuts ripen in September

Cabbage, May and June. Lasts throughout the winter
Carrots from the South, in May and last until November
Cauliflower, from June until Spring
Celery from August until April, but is better after being touched by frost
Checkerberry in winter and spring
Cheese all the year round
Cherries from the South in May and continue till August
Chestnuts after the first severe frost
Chocolate is best in cold weather on account of it's richness
Chub a fresh water fish, in fall and winter
Clams from May until September
Conger eels from November to April
Corn green, from June to September
Crabs from June to January, but are more wholesome in cold months
Cranberries from September until April
Cucumbers in the South, April (in the middle states) June to November
Currants, green, June to July ripe July to August

Damsons a small black plumb, July to December
Doves the turtle one of the best games birds in August and September
Ducks domestic are best in June and July. Wild in Spring and fall
Eels April to November
Eggs are always in season but are cheap in spring and high in winter
Elderberries August and September

Fish as a rule are in the best condition just before spawning

Geese wild, from October to December; tame at four months old
Gooseberries from June to September
Grapes from September till winter
Guinea fowl, best in winter when they take the place of Partridges

Haddock from November till December and June and July
Halibut in season all the year
Herring in season all year
Herring from February to May
Herbs for seasoning should be gathered just as they begin to flower
Horseradish is always in season

Lamb in March but from June to August is best as well as the cheapest
Lemons arrive fresh from the West Indies in winter
Lobsters are plentiful in market except winter months

Mackerel from May through the summer
Mushrooms are most plentiful in August and September
Muskmelons from July to the middle of September
Mutton is in season all the year but is not so good in the fall, the meat being drier and strong flavored

Onions, new , large from the Bermuda's about May 1st and from the South in June and those of home raising in the middle states the middle of July
Oranges from Florida and the West Indies are in market from October until April; those from the Mediterranean from January until May. The Florida oranges are the best and the largest
Oysters are in season from September until May; May, June, and July being the spawning months

Partridges, pheasants or ruffed grouse are in season in most markets from September to January, but are best in October and November
Pawpaws are ripe about the middle of September
Peas, green, reach markets from the Bermuda's about May 1st from the South May 15 home grown in the middle states about June 15
Peaches come from the Bermuda's in May; from the South July 1st; and are plenty in market from August to November
Pears which are best for eating are in season from August to October
Pickerel is best from September to March
Pigeons wild are plentiful in September and October
Pork should never be eaten in warm weather
Potatoes new arrive from the Bermuda's about April; From the South June to July and rea plentiful in July and August
Potatoes sweet are in season from August to December after which they lose their flavor
Prairie chickens are in season from August to October
Prunes arrive fresh from December to May
Pumpkins are in season from September to January

Quail (Partridge in the South) from November and December
Quinces are in season from October to December

Rabbits are in the best condition in November, but are in season from September till January and in the North till later until the breeding season begins
Radishes are in season from April till cold weather
Rail an excellent little game bird is best in September and October
Raspberries are in market from the middle of June till September
Reed birds are best in September and October
Rhubarb from April to September.

Salmon from March till September
Shad appear in the market from February 20 to June
Smelts are abundant from October to April
Snipe are in market from March 20 to April 20, and again in October
Spinach is the earliest vegetable used for greens and is continued through the season by providing a succession of crops
Squash, summer, from June to August: winter from August through winter
Strawberries from the South appear as early as April 1, but are not plentiful until June and the season is over in July
Sturgeon from April to September
Suckers from October to April

Tomatoes are not plentiful in northern markets until June
Trout, brook, are in season from March till August; lake trout from October till March
Mackinaw Trout in the winter months
Turkeys are best in fall and winter, though in market at all seasons
Turnips, new, are in market about June 1, and last through the year
Turtles are in market from May to Winter

Veal is in season except in hot weather, when it keeps badly
Venison from the buck is best from August to November, from the doe, from November to January

Watermelons are in season from July to October
Woodcock is in season from July to November, but is best in October.

** NOTE: The book clarifies what meats absolutely must not be eaten during certain months. On the other hand when an animal is in season, it simply means that the meat is best at that time and possibly can be eaten at other times of the year.



Source: http://www.geocities.com/Texasgroundhornets/FoodinSeason.htm

Silas' handy list of links: http://www.zipcon.net/~silas/links.htm

For an upcoming event, the corn may still be green and milky or entering into the dough stage. This is going to be interesting, as we'll see who converts their canteen half into a grater by way of a sharp bayonet.

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

"Apples are in season all year and are cheapest from August until spring"

I just came in from picking up about 500 pounds of apples from my one apple tree still left, lamenting that there appears to be 4-5 times that thick and full on the branches.

Someone help me out here as I am not seeing the picture.. "Apples are in season all year..?"
Here in Northern Ohio apples run their course for July and August, although the last are harvested for cider come September and October.
I could see root cellars and dried apples, but am struggling with "in season all year."

??

Curt
Non Granny Smith Apple Mess

[Hank Trent]

Someone help me out here as I am not seeing the picture.. "Apples are in season all year..?"
Here in Northern Ohio apples run their course for July and August, although the last are harvested for cider come September and October.
I could see root cellars and dried apples, but am struggling with "in season all year."

In Hooper's Western Fruit Book (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa;cc=moa;g=moagrp;xc=1;xg=1;q1=apple%2A;q2 =april;op2=and;op3=and;rgn=pages;cite1=western%20f ruit;cite1restrict=title;idno=AGK9178.0001.001;did no=AGK9178.0001.001;view=image;seq=00000029), 1857, you can find apples listed in season all months of the year, though I expect they define the season as when the apples are expected to keep, not just when they're ripe on the tree. For example:

Bentley's Sweet. Color, red and yellow striped, or blotched; form, oblong irregular, flattened at ends; season, January to September.
Remarks.--"Good as a long keeper."-- Trans. Ohio Pom Society.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[DannyJoe]

I have a place near Green Bay. The land was first farmed around 1880. I don't know when the apple trees were planted, but they appear to be very old. The apples will not be ripe for another week or so.

[hiplainsyank]

Hallo!

"Apples are in season all year and are cheapest from August until spring"

I just came in from picking up about 500 pounds of apples from my one apple tree still left, lamenting that there appears to be 4-5 times that thick and full on the branches.

Someone help me out here as I am not seeing the picture.. "Apples are in season all year..?"
Here in Northern Ohio apples run their course for July and August, although the last are harvested for cider come September and October.
I could see root cellars and dried apples, but am struggling with "in season all year."

??

Curt
Non Granny Smith Apple Mess

Jonathans? McIntosh's? My parents live in north-central Ohio and I still remember coming home from school early in the year and munching on a few apples still tree-warm. And picking up apples to go to the cider press, too!

[cmadler]

I think Hank is correct that they are referring to when the apples could be kept. Some varieties of apples can keep a full year.

"Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated. For optimal storage, apples should be kept at 35-40 degrees with relative humidity of 80-90%." http://www.allaboutapples.com

[WestTN_reb]

All the advice I can give on this subject is that the little green crabapple tree in the front yard should be starting to ripen right about now.

[J.H.Berger]

Thank you all, especially you Charles! Apples all year must definitely be the stored apples as well. The old sorts of apples you siometimes still find were meant to bring fruits that could be stored for many months.

[Becky Morgan]

Our Molly Delicious is a modern variety, and it's just starting to ripen (close to 40 north in Ohio.)
Crabapples are indeed getting ripe. I've already made three batches of jelly from the windfalls and expect a fourth and fifth if nothing bad happens.
Our wild prune plums ripened in early July, which seems a tad early.
Our neighbor has just dug his first batch of red potatoes. The Irish white potatoes are likely to come in during the last half of this month or early September. Great-grandpa (b. 1864) recalled his family making sure to plant their potatoes on St. Patrick's Day for late August-early September digging. If I planted that early, odds are we';d have a killing frost, so either they protected the young vines or the climate has shifted. In defense of the latter idea, I have seen several period accounts of cold Halloweens and snowy Thanksgivings here, which is not at all the modern pattern.
Pumpkins around here are full-sized, and the vines dying naturally, about October 1. The Barnesville pumpkin festival is a week or so too early for the biggest ones to have gained their full weight. I'm reasonably sure that period varieties ripened about the same time, because the "pumpkin floods" in 1816 and several subsequent years were in mid-October and were called that because they washed numerous ripe pumpkins into the river.

[Charles Heath]

Apples all year must definitely be the stored apples as well. The old sorts of apples you sometimes still find were meant to bring fruits that could be stored for many months.

Jan,

Part of the problem with the blanket plant when/harvest when questions is the breadth of the answers. Narrowing the time and geography down to a specific time and location really helps, and, even then, a little change in elevation, seasonal temperature and rainfall variations, can be an issue. Usually these questions are associated with an event scenario where foraging is anticipated, such as "what the heck is growing and reaching harvest stage in Culpeper Co. and Orange Co. in early August 1862?" The answer goes into live play in a few weeks, and, as will all events, giving the participants an opportunity to develop a set of 19th century tastebuds, if only for the weekend, can be amusing.

Nick Medwid, 23rd Virginia, asked a similar question about mid-19th century Richmond area apple varieties during a prep day for Glendale-Malvern Hill, and, although the specific orchard info has been posted here several times (the forum crashes ate it), I need to dig it out and send it to him. I'll repost it here again, and probably link it to the apple variety information Virginia Mescher posted in the "Great Big Food Thread," which is a handy read. Some of the Winesap apples (old cultivar) in my own micro-orchard are ripening, and the crab apples have been ripe for a while. Many of the older varieties are not worth planting anymore, due to their susceptibility to the sames diseases and other problems that made them fall out of the marketplace a century or more ago. Others were raised for specific purposes, and knowing the latter is the key. The late Paul Smith of Hanover Co. (VA) was one of the most knowledgeable pomological hobbyists I ever met in terms of regional apple varieties and their uses, and few could hold a candle to the Burford Brothers of Amherst, VA, when it came to collecting, propagating, and selling old varieties of apples. The Gloucester White was one they searched the world over, and finally found in New Zealand thanks to the remnants of Japanese research stations active in the 1930s. A good number of our modern apples in supermarkets are products of this research.

As to potatoes, the Mercer potato trail grows cold in 2003, but that gives at least some hope we can find a specific US Army variety. The funny thing about potatoes is the harvest in this part of the world (think Antietam) begins in mid-June after a late March planting, and contiues to frost, depending on the variety, season, and they can be left in the ground after the first frost, but tend to rot quickly once the cold weather hits. Untreated potatoes, kept in a warm and dark place can sprout quickly, or last well into May depending on a variety of factors. Lots of what ifs, and the potatoes just 10-12 miles north of here in the Smithsburg MD and Wolfsville MD area are superior, since they grow in a slightly cooler microclimate.

In this quiet little valley, you can bet the Schmidts, Poffenbergers, Hershpergers, Remsburgs, et al, know what to do with cabbage, too. :D