Okay, Blair, can you come up here, please? So, it is my pleasure uh to present this long overdue local history award to Blair Walker in recognition of her
decadesl long involvement with the historical society and for her tireless enthusiasm and care for our collection of clothing. Uh the historical society has a very significant uh clothing collection. Uh,
this is not the refined dresses that you might expect to see in a larger museum, but rather a collection of well-worn, sometimes frayed, often mended clothes that reflect the rural community of Westport, the everyday pieces worn by
country folk. And it takes a unique eye, a unique person to see the value in these pieces and to tell their stories. It doesn't matter if it's a dress, an apron, the petticoat, a pair of bloomers. Blair Blair can decipher its
story uh by the way the dress has been altered or the shape of a sleeve um or the silhouette of a dress. Not only has she cataloged much of our collection of clothing, she has cured many wonderful
exhibitions. uh head to toe treasures from Elvara's attic, the wedding dress retrospective, bonnets, puzzles and bloomers. And by showcasing our collection, she has brought meaning and value to our
collection and we have been able to expand our understanding of the everyday life of women in Westport. So, it is time to recognize her contributions and to say thank you for many hours of her
time and for offering us her expertise. Uh, and I'm happy to present Blair with a uh momento um a momento of her many projects and we hope that she will continue to interpret and enthuse over our clothing collection
for many years to come. Thank you, Blair. >> Thank you. [Applause] I must say that I am very grateful for
this. I was very surprised when Jenny told me about it. Um, but I've really loved doing what I've been doing. So, it hasn't been a hardship in any way. And there are more goodies that are hiding
downstairs in the Bell School. We have new expanded storage. So, here we go. On to the next. >> Great. Thank you. [Applause]
>> Congratulations, Blair. And thank you. Thank you, Jenny. I'm going to toss in a piece in between the presentation and any other business which is probably one and the same. Does anybody have anything to say specifically about the u uh the
historical society? Questions, comments, uh things we you would like us to do differently, things you would like us to do better, not worse, but better. And uh uh I won't say now is your time because you can get
in touch with us you know at will anytime you would like but um if you want to speak in front of 75 people and ask the question please please feel free well I guess that >> all good >> all good yeah the silence is deafening
right and now I'm going to turn the microphone back over to uh Jenny where we have the reason that you're here today. So, we've got to keep coming up with really compelling speakers because otherwise it'll be an echo
chamber in here. So, I'm going to turn it over to Jenny at this point and uh enjoy the presentation. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sam. So, uh, I did want to start by thanking the Grange for co-sponsoring this
program. And do take a look at their t-shirts that have a special turnup slogan. I believe they're on sale at the back of the room. Yes. And I also wanted to take the opportunity to uh thank Sarah Levali uh and Barbara Smith. I
know Barbara is no longer here. um for their assistance uh with our farming families of Westport project. So, thank you Sarah. Uh I have spent the last few months immersed in local farming history. Uh and the turnup is of course
a significant part of this story. And by the way, in 2026, the turnip uh will be 150 years old. So, it's coming out next year. And the more I read about the turnip and
the more I spoke to locals about the turnip, uh, the less I seemed to know about the turnup, the makumba turnup and everything about it seems to be shrouded in confusion. >> Okay, so for example, the sign on Main
Road that you may know that tells the story of the turnup, it's on the wrong side of the road. How do we even pronounce? Is it makumber? Is it maka? Is it mumba? How do we pronounce it?
>> Okay, thank you. How do we cook the turnup? >> Do makama turnipss grow in Little Compton? Is there something about the local soil that imparts a special flavor? Is it true that you have to wait until the turnipss have been hit by three
frosts to get the best flavor? Did a farmer pull a gun on a trespasser in his field who had been intent on smuggling the seed? So, uh it is time to get to the bottom of uh the the many
beliefs and myths, the rural legends that seem to collect around the turnup. And in the audience tonight, I know that we have some farmers. Um I I'm hoping that I know we've got Bob Pierce. Uh um I'm not sure if we have Steve Madurus.
Uh um John Smith I know is here. Uh not sure if there are members of the Bone family here tonight. Um and the Smiths of Nokurk Orchards. I think I I very much hope Nok orchards are here. Uh
and we also have a local historian Richard Gford. Uh so we're encouraging um participation from the audience. Uh but we are going to start with Bill Braw. Uh he is I guess the the new generation of farmers in in town. He is
the farmer at Ivory Silo Farm. He is co-founder of the Freed Seed Federation, a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of culturally and geographically relevant seeds.
Over to you. [Applause] [Music] >> Hi everybody. It's an honor to be here and I do hope that Mr. Pierce and others will be joining me up here at some point. Uh I
feel illqualified to be the speaker of this uh but honored to be an adoptee into the covenant of the tournament. My great-grandparents once upon a time farmed in Westport for a bit but family lure has it they couldn't make a go of it. So it was back to the mills in Fall
River and I know that they are looking down now smiling that their grandson is here talking to you about the famous Turner. So, uh, I'm going to give some of the history as I know it. Um, chime in at any point. Um, come sit with me, debate,
get excited, get angry. That's what it's all about. Um, for what is probably the most wonderful vegetable in the universe. I think we're all pretty consistent on that. So, um, so to start with the botany piece because that seems
to be at the root of a lot of confusion. Um the maca turnup is a brassica napis which means botanically it's more related to a rudabagga or even Russian kale than it is a true turnup which is brassica rampa and so the question
always ses seems to start with did it cross here is it a radish and a rudabagga is it a radish and a turnup did something else get in there um after speaking with some seed historians because yes there are siege historians too.
Um, the most likely origin, just like the plaque says here with the Russian and Swedish rudgas, is that Brasa Napis is a genus and a species that is more recent in the Brasica family. And that was created uh,
depending on who you ask about seven or 800 years ago, I think. And that was a cross between a true turn of Brasa Rapa and the wild coal wart Brasa Olarasier from which a whole suite of wonderful vegetables has come. So think kale,
collards, kabi, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, um what am I missing? They're all brass olarasia. They all came from the wild coart plant. That was just just to take a moment of human ingenuity that in different areas people were selecting
for the buds or the crown or the roots and that gave us all these wonderful vegetables that came from the wild cold war. Well, somewhere about 7 or 800 years ago, wild coart and true turnup bras rock and created the entire genus. And it's been brought to my attention
that the macro turnup is wonderful in the sense that it is an throwback. So it's not actually something new in an otherwise new species. Meaning it's more representative of what rudabaggas might have looked like before they became rudagas. Rudagas are usually yellow.
They have that kind of you know special sulfuric farty taste to them that the turnipss do not. Um turnipss have a often a bitter taste that our beloved turnup does not. So it's sort of the best of all worlds that we have with with the mber turnup. So, um, the story
as I understand it, and I know there are historians here, too. Mr. Gford, I'm looking at you. Um, 1876, Aiden and Eli Mack went to the World's Fair, the Philadelphia Expo. There was a seed company there that, uh, the farmers in
the room may well know, um, Landreth Seed Company. Uh, Landreth is a seed company that is, among other things, famous for introducing America to Zenia to tomatoes to white potato. This was a seed company that was created in the
late 1700s, somewhere around 1784 or so. Um, don't know where it is now. Um, somewhere out there in the world. And Landre asserts that it was in fact them because they were at the vanguard of all uh many new vegetables coming to America. Um, it was them who actually
slipped the packet of seeds into the brothers mumber hands. If there are any direct descendants of the mappers here that want to dispute it, let the games begin that that's that's as far as I know talking to the sea historians of the world. So um they came back, they did
some wonderful work with selection and cultivating the turnup to give us what we have now. Um it's been a beloved in the community for almost 150 years ever since. Um what else shall we say about the turnup? Anybody want to chime in?
Does it does it grow in Little Compton? >> Yes, >> it does. >> Not as good. I mean, Westport is one of it's a magical place, so nothing is as good as it is in Westport. Um, that being said, the the frost can we go through some of the myths that you mentioned? Okay. Maybe it'll prime the
gears for people to speak up and get compassion and start throwing tomatoes at me or something. Um, >> so, uh, frost is real. Yes, three frost is wonderful. Um, Jenny was asking me earlier today, uh, has the frost date changed. Um, I'm sure it has. Um, has it
gotten earlier or later? Not necessarily. It's just different every year. I There's less and less consistency to that. So, trying to time it with the Thanksgiving harvest, which is our ideal time for turnipss to get out into the world, though they're wonderful into March or April if you store them well. Um, three frost is a
big deal. Why? Because when a lot of vegetables including a lot of brassacas including the turnip get frost kissed, the starches in the vegetable convert to sugars. It's the only natural antifreeze of the vegetable and they do get sweeter. So free frosts, you're basically eating
um sugar. It's delightful. Eat it raw. We we just graded on stuff. So um that was one of them. Um >> how to cook it. >> How to cook it. Oh god, this is where we're going to get ugly. Everybody's got a recipe. Well, turnup and carrots, right? That's that's the most famous way. Um, since I'm I'm here speaking on
behalf of the New Guard of Westport Farmers, we love to ferment it. So, think sauerkraut, but with turnips. You'll never go back to cabbage again. Everything you love about turnipss is there, but it's probiotic and alive and you can put it on anything as a relish.
Hot dogs will never be the same. Um, it's wonderful. So, that's one of our favorites. steamed and mashed with potatoes or without. Um, another simple recipe. Uh, we've also done turn fries. Anybody Anybody tried those? Yeah, just cut them up like French fries, roast
them in the oven. They're fantastic. >> Any other recipes? Can we get some audience participation now? >> So, how do you ferment it? >> How do you ferment it? Um, basic recipe is 3 tablespoons of salt to 5 lbs of vegetable matter. Um, you can grate the macumber, you can cut it in the rounds,
however you like. We like to shred it almost like a relish. Mix all that up. Squish it down in the bottom of a croc till it gets real funky and um leave it for one to three weeks depending on. >> No vinegar, just salt. >> No vinegar, just salt. The vegetable has its own moisture and it the salt draws
out. So you want to keep that moisture line above it. I didn't think I'd be giving culinary advice. This is wonderful. Yeah, it it fermenting is really easy. It's not intimidating at all. Um basically salt has preserved humans for how many thousands of years. And really what the trick is is that
salt kills all the bad things and keeps all the good things. And so you have this wonderful active probiotic nutrient-dense snack just by put turns and salt together and letting them do their thing. Other recipes. >> Yeah.
>> You have to add nutmeg. >> You have to add nutmeg. >> Yes. >> For turnipss and carrots. >> If you're mashing No, if you're mashing the turnups. >> If you're mashing them. >> Yeah. >> Nice. Yeah. You can do turnup cake the way that people do beef cake. I mean, the possibilities are really endless with this thing.
>> Somebody else had it. Yeah. >> My mother turn it and then she'll tell you it. >> That's amazing. I see how it works. >> We should share that recipe if she's willing. If it's
>> my computer, I was going to bring But >> yeah, I mean it makes total sense. Turnips are sweet. They're a little bit sharp. I mean really it it we have a treasured heirloom vegetable here. And I just want to take a moment like all good heirlooms that have survived in the community. It's the community that made
this possible until only a few years ago. >> Does size matter? >> Does size matter? >> Um no. >> Well, it depends. If you ask a farmer, >> Mr. Pierce, you can chime in on this. Um,
>> besides the taste, even if it's as round as a basketball, the taste still stays the same. >> Taste is the same throughout. Absolutely right. It's really about your market. I mean, some people can get sticker shock if they have an 8 pound trailer in front of them, which, you know, I don't blame them. But yeah,
>> the only thing is with the big ones, people don't want the big ones. They prefer >> like this. So, you got to get if you sell them at a market your big turn up like this. You're going
to bring it home. >> He's the last one there. That's right. >> Yeah, that's right. Yeah. >> The little ones. >> Um, I went to a German festival >> in East. >> Oh, let's get into it.
>> Yeah. Does this one work too? Can we >> pass this around now? >> Okay. >> I'm Sam potato. I go with potatoes down. They for years they fell over and said come on up see how we do it. So one year
I said to my wife I says all right fine we'll go. And he said you kicking the potatoes. I said oh what was this? You don't kick the potatoes. You got to bruise them. But that's how
it brought it. Well, he said, "You better go to the tournament festival, the East Ham tournament." I'm like, "All right." I says, "It's kind of 5 10 bucks." I figured it was going to cost me to get
in. Uh, no. Free. Well, I walk in. I look at all the tables. They all have a journal. a macro and my daughter on the table.
So my first question to him is I says, "What's the difference between a Westport turnup and an East Ham turn up?" >> And uh I don't know.
>> Well, there was one girl, she said, "I'm from Adamsville. Originally, she says your turnups are sweeter. >> Well, with your frost, East Sam never gets
>> the frost that we get because they're surrounded by water. >> But they claim they get the best tramps in the world. >> We're here to tell them they're wrong. I asked everybody, "What's the
difference?" Well, they said, "Ask this girl that's selling." >> Well, I'm wait for a customer. The girl bought a 7B >> like this. That would be $28.
>> I'm like, $28? And she says, "Well, I've only got 26. That's fine." I'm thinking to myself, I says, "Damn," I says, "I should have brought my truck loaded with I would have thought that they're $2
and made a killing." >> Yeah. But anyway, they have tastings and you got you got three. >> That's an important thing that you've brought up, which is that some of us have threatened to do a sidebyside tasting. So, you got the Macumber or the
Bristol, you have the East Ham or the Cape Cod turnup. Anybody heard of the gil feather turnup? >> If you drive up to Wardsboro, Vermont, I think the population is like uh 600 people or so, but thousands come on one day for another turnup festival, the
Gilfeather turnup festival. >> Yeah. Oh, go ahead. They gave you they had like 20 different ways of it was done in a location. >> Uh oh. I turn up ice cream
and pizza and I forget what the other one was. The other one was the pizza one. The pizza one was >> But the turnup ice cream. I think there's a recipe for that, too.
Um, good. >> Well, I got the recipe. Oh, you did? Great. >> Well, I asked, "Where do you get the recipe?" East Library. >> Well, you go to the East Library. It's a little book. >> Mhm.
>> Like this with about 12 stickers on it. And I'm like, you don't want this book to leave this leave this room. >> It's proprietary information >> because it's the only one they got. and they did it as a fundraiser um I'm going to say 15 years ago and
never made it again. >> There's also >> you could get copies. >> Mhm. >> 10 cents a page. So, I just went through and I got my the ones I liked and
I got them and I found I asked the girl, "What's the difference between the East Tuna and the Westport tuna?" Well, we grow our own seed. Well, we
grow our own seed. Sure do. Uh, what else was that? while you're thinking about it. >> And she everything she said I said we do the same thing. >> I says, "What's the difference?"
>> And it bugged me cuz she didn't really give me an answer. When I got home, I opened my computer up. East turn, scrolled down five lines.
East Ham turner aka Westport turner turnup. Russian white turnup. >> I'm like I never heard it called Russian white turnup. >> But wake up mention it. You just mentioned it. >> Y
>> that is that was one of the and I'm like damn. I says it's not. But the girl from when she said it's Oz Sweder, I said, "Yeah." I said, "We're more inland >> because we get a better breeze than they do."
>> That's a great point. Yeah. There's >> that may be the most truthful thing that she said in the entire conversation. >> Yeah. Well, I'm just listening up and I'm like, >> that's right. >> It's nice to >> Yes. If you don't ask questions, you're
never going to learn. >> That's it. Yeah, that's why we're here. I hope more are going to ask questions, too. >> I wanted to say that the >> there's a a book that many of you u might have heard of called Out of the Earth, which uh was put out in the 90s. I'm forgetting Carrie uh Romelo, I think
is her name. Uh yes. Uh who wrote a great book which has a lot of I think similar recipes. the turnup ice creams in there when the Russells were doing turnup tastings um with South Coast uh Growers Cooperative. Yep. >> That's my question. >> Yeah. >> Who owns the seeds?
>> Who owns the rice and the seeds? >> I be a millionaire. >> Well, I can answer that in my way. >> Did you say you thank the Russells for it? >> Yes. I thank them, too. Bob uh and Carol did a wonderful job promoting the and
bring >> That's right. Yeah. But we own the seats. >> I'm a little biased with my background that I won't get into, but uh the people here own the seeds. I think that's the joy of this is that the community kept this vegetable alive. There are a lot of
heirloom vegetables we will never know the names of. >> You know, just in the last century, if you've heard me talk before, about 93% of the vegetable diversity we had in our food is gone. That's a lot of heirlooms. So the fact that the community kept this together, farmers, gardeners, and kept
it for the most part here is really a testament to how much people love this vegetable. And I think it's it's the community of Westports. And I would love to see this taste test happen because there's good reason to believe, I don't have facts to back this up, that the
Mackur and the East Ham and even the Gilfeather probably all came from the Landre Seed Company because they were really sort of the ones importing a lot of new things to this area. It could be that somebody of Russian or Swedish descent brought it too because as we're coming to find out, it's a really old
old variety there. It's not something that was crossed recently or it's not something that was necessarily unique to Westport. It was popularized in Westport and we made it our own which I think >> across the country. >> He does. And I've heard people out in um
I think Washington State as well. Yeah. There. And then >> and they grow fine. Right. That's the thing with seeds. They adapt. So they you know they grow okay. One year you save your seeds. you know what you're doing. In a couple years, it'll grow equally well in Washington. To say
nothing of Lil Compton. So, yes, sir. >> How many acres of plant >> Bob was three or three. Eddie
was going for Bob >> that's why we got money back >> too. I think that was I figured that was going to be a journey. our el
thinking all right from the United the amal said he says let's go see Bob so get in the truck he was struggling even
outside who's that in the truck says that's the father says How old is he? I think at the time my father was like 80. He says, "Oh, he's just a baby." 90. >> So, we're talking a while. He says,
"Well, you know, how much do you need?" probably he lo and behold he says back tomorrow just doing his seat and uh he said so I asked him I said well how
do how do you how do you clean your seed you know we know how we grow the second year around you know the turn that you picked up it's the perfect He says, "Well, you get it up and it out
or whatever, you know, put it on a big top. Take the bigger stuff out of there and you'll sip that through." He said, you know, all
have to remember all I got there and then by the time I got through the next year and more and more took over. I think we I was selling 300 bushel to him for the whole year. We'd have, you know, pre
Thanksgiving and then Thanksgiving and pre Christmas, you know, we had stuff all the way into March. Then it becomes [Laughter] this person. That person wanted some
another person. They need So I ended up uh getting piece of property that ended up being the least property down there. >> Yeah. I was
decided to get stuff. I got it. We did all the work with everything. Still had plenty to take care of everybody. But no, that's the whole thing. It's
it's projecting it all. >> Right. >> There's a lot there's a lot to it. >> There's a lot to it. Yeah. Oh >> yeah, just a note on that before out. >> One of those
probably don't even know what seed looks like. was going to really fit it out. I think I had an I took every every other blade and plugged it up so it come just right.
>> So then you know you want three or four inch if you got them too tight they're going to grow the loops are going to go straight down. >> That's right. Right. And that's that's one of the big parts about growing it too is thinning them.
So you have to have a good plan. >> Yeah. There there was a fellow I talked to in um extor just this year who was looking for turnup seed. I think he grows seed for people elsewhere around the country. And he said he tried one year taking some of his old seed and microwaving it to kill the seed and then
mixing it in his hopper so that you know hopefully the idea was that every once in a while that would spread and do the thing for him. Well, the seed was so light that as the hopper was agitating around all that light seed lifted to the top. So he had an entire section of the field that was completely dead and he still let it. So lesson learned.
>> Oh yeah. Yeah. The deer level too. >> Yeah, that's true. Thanks for sharing that. Um, one of the things too that Bob Ma did so well and Dick Pekkham as well who farmed with him for years and years is he was very selective about the turns. We planted a big population out
because turnips and Nebraska family, they need a big population to stay viable. So, you've probably heard u farmers sometimes talk about turnipss wearing out, seeds wearing out, potatoes wearing out. If they're well-maintained, they shouldn't wear out. And so, uh my mentor shared with me that you really
need about 200 turnips at least of your best of the best to make seed of if you're going to continue this maintenance over a long period of time. You can get away with 100 turnipss. You can even uh some turnips can produce viable seed from just one turnip, but if you do that for a couple years, your your seed stock is really going to
diminish. So, yeah. Yeah. Questions. Here we go. >> This is a whole different topic, but it's the sign, the plaque, and you wondered why it was on the wrong side of the road. >> Well, this project was a project of Norma Johnson. You must have known Norma
Johnson. And she had a mind of her own, as you probably know, and She put all these plaques and she did the research and someone said to her the plaques on the wrong side of the road. She says I know but I like it better there
and I think that's the answer to the question. Somebody else have my hand up. [Music] about this long in [Music] >> what I did from there is I put it in the
pan upside And when you picking when you're growing it, make sure you pick it when it's green because the bird will just nip the very end of it and you'll have 10 seeds.
I mean, you can put a white piece of aprons underneath it. You will not see seed >> that I don't care if there's dirt there. And if seed falls on the ground, you can watch where it falls. You lost it. So, I do like each day.
When they start to get the leaves start to brown, full of plants, hang them up in the shed, then let them dry out. for the next year. And
>> it doesn't it doesn't take much to that part open right up. >> Oh yeah. >> Yeah. They're they're known as a dehissent seed pod. So that seed pod when it's perfectly ripe wants to
explode open and shatter seeds everywhere. And just like you said, Mr. Samson, when you're pulling the turnipss, the whole turnups and hanging them like that, when the turnup seed pods are swollen like a big bean, they're botanically ripe. And if you pull the whole plant up, then all the
energy that that root has, which is a lot because it's a big turnup, it's still sending energy up to the seeds to ripen out of the bird's moss. So, that's really the move. Now, I heard a seed grower once share with me that he was convinced the finch has changed their whole migratory pattern to find his his farm. And they've done the same with us
on horse neck as well. So getting them out green is really key unless you can bird net, you know, you know, half an acre or however much turn seed you're going. >> How much we use? They still get >> they find good way.
>> Yeah. Laur Store the the crops themselves, not the >> seed. Um, well, we we have the benefit of having a walk-in cooler that we've made sure is rubber free, but um they'll store in a crisper drawer. I know. Um, they'll store in a garage as well. I mean, really, they're
>> right. [Music] >> Pressure's on. Does that mic work too? >> Right. >> Okay. Where where where are we now? >> Storing them. >> Uh I used to Everything was in
Everything was in my garage. My garage is 24 by 40 and I had great big fish totes that you know stood stood this high and I put them in there. when I can move them around my tractor with the forks and my like I said my my garage is
insulated so the temperature uh was even when it was cold and freezing outside and the temperature I'd still be around 35 36 degrees so it you know it really stayed well and uh you know had my way
oh that's the other thing uh when when Bob Marthur had died he he had two washing machines And uh so I went I went I went down because it was happening. Well, I'm going to buy one of those washing machine a lot
better than doing it by hand. So any go down one good one that was there. I says, "Oh, I'd like to buy that one right there." No, that one's already gone. So I got the old one, but I had to I had to turn around and I had to rebuild it. Had to put all the new gears
in it, the pulley on it. Anyway, took me a while. got it running and boy did that save some time. But uh anyway, did I did I ask answer that question? >> Yeah. >> Storage. Yeah. And the washing machine
is a turnup washing machine just so everybody's clear. >> Yeah. >> I saw a few confused looks just to make sure. I've never tried putting them in a home washing machine before. Probably >> I could really put bushels out with that. That was that that was great. It
was worth all the money that I Nice. Yeah. Sean, >> what's the best time of year to plant it? What's the best month? >> July. >> Yeah. Uh, you know, they always said July 4th, but I found that that was too early
>> because uh they'd already by the time Thanksgiving come or whatever, they'd already be getting too big, >> you know, like I sold a lot of my most of my stuff to to Le and they didn't they didn't like the big ones. That was another I was again I was very lucky
because Eva over in Ga she she come over and she said what do you do with those big turnipss? >> He says well sometimes I cut them up and you know that way and whatever. She said I'd like to take those to Boston. When she come back she says I'll take all those big ones you have. I says boy what
a marriage that was. >> The chefs love the big ones because it's less peeling. >> That's right. >> It's the same weight for them. same flavor like you said too. I thought I saw another hand up. >> Yeah,
>> there were two recipes that we used to always have roasted and the other green >> the greens. Thank you. >> When the greens are are, you know, very young, they're really good.
And even after they've been sweetened, if um you know the bugs haven't eaten them too much, the greens are delicious. You know, just as good as any kale or collard green, too. I know in the south it's much more about the greens. They kind of laugh that the Yankees eat the eat the roots, but uh they're lost. I mean, else they don't have the units.
>> Yeah. Sean, >> what pest do you have to look out for? >> Oh, there are a few. Uh the biggest ones are the imported European cabbage moth. the little green worms and the white things that look like butterflies that we all say, "Aren't those nice there?" Aren't >> those cute? >> Aren't they cute? Yeah. And then the
crossstripe caterpillar is another one, which is um black and yellow kind of. So, they'll do a number on the greens. But the thing about the turnip is that the roots usually I mean there are some some root neatodes and maggots that will eat into the turnips, but those caterpillars are really the biggest
concern for leafy greens and they can devastate those turnip greens and that the turnipss are unfased by it. Yeah. It's almost like they have a stress response where they just get bigger. I haven't tested that though. Yeah. Do you want to come up?
>> Come on up. >> Russell Davis. >> Yes. Who used to grow turnups. >> Russell Davis. >> So my father asked him, "How do you take care of the bugs? Well,
Westport turnup isn't a turnup. So, you go to the chemical book. There's nothing there for the Westport turnup. But his answer was chemicals which
we used what you'd use on turnup on the rudabagas because actually that's what they are is rudabagga. So, it's you're treating it one way with illegally, but
you get away with I mean, you have to do something. You do. There's there's also the long game that you can breed for resistance, but as a farmer with a livelihood on the line, you often aren't afforded that luxury. So, you're not going to take 10, 15 years to just select the ones that did get devastated
and watch your whole crop go down. So >> yeah, we watched yourself go down. >> You watch yourself go down with it. That's right. >> You'd lose 90%. >> You'd lose 90% if that were it alone in that. Um Russell Davis also was uh we haven't seen it for sale except fits and
starts the seed itself. He bequeafd his seed strain to seed savers exchange because he was concerned that the you know not as many people were growing it and that maybe he had to get it out in the world so that it didn't disappear. Fortunately, people are still growing it. And this is another thing with
things adapting, right? So if you look at seeds website, um this is recorded, right? Sorry. Um they have a picture of something that looks like a deflated football as the Mackam return, which is an insult to many of us in this room because it's been adapted to Iowa and
Dora, Iowa, where the seed savers exchange headquarters is. And nobody sent him a picture. I guess Russell maybe didn't send a picture. They didn't look around enough because they just started selecting whatever was there. And I think that the pride of keeping in the community is that if you ask anybody here or anybody who's growing the turnup
what it looks like, they can tell you. Maybe some will say a little more purple, maybe a little more green, maybe half white, maybe longer than that, but we all have an idea of what the turnup looks like to to us. Um, that's kind of the joy of the community keeping it is that the turnup itself, if you grow, you know, a thousand turnipss, you may have
uh, I don't know, what do you think, 800 different looking turnipss out of those thousands, you know, a lot of them are still marketable if you're keeping a good strain, but they're not something that's been so inbred that they're identical to one another. So, that's nice from an adaptation standpoint because they can keep living on. There's enough genetics there that we can keep
kind of co-evolving with them. But, they go to Iowa and people don't know what they look like and they turn into a football. So something to Google when you get home. >> No. Russell Davis, he used to give he'd bring a bushel of seed bushel of plants >> of plants
>> to the farm and he said, "Can you store these for stars for me?" And we said, "Sure." So we shoved them down in the cell the big barn and mice never bothered him. And he says,
"This is the best seed storage I've ever had. Well, it was just one hand wash the other. He gave us turnipss in the fall. >> And it was just one hand washing the other. >> No, that's a good point. I never had any
mice eat my turnups either. >> The only thing was the deer or the mice even in the garage. >> Well, as I said with the >> as I was telling my friend in the garage, >> they like lead. >> Yeah. They got other things to eat. Maybe
they're intimidated by the size. >> How long do the seed last in storage? >> Uh, good question. Brass cuisines generally if they're stored somewhere cool about 10 years really. Although, you know, every seed saving literature out there will tell you one set and then
you'll find somewhere to disprove it. Anybody heard of the cave beam before? This is something that just got popularized back out into the world. There was a bean that was found in a vessel at a ancestral site that was carbonated to be like 700 years old and it germinated and now it's back in the
world after a 700 year absence. So something about clay a lot of work on it though. >> Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of uh gibberillic acid and other things too. But nonetheless, it stored that long that there was still some life left to it. So depends on how you store it. We we like to use this um long-term storage
temperature plus relative humidity should be less than 100. So if you're it's somewhere 60 degrees, it should be less than 40% humidity. The real thing is just keep it out of the sun. Keep it out of temperature fluctuations in humidity because when a seed hits light or or moisture, it wants to wake up and that will cut the viability down. So
well stored seed can be at least a decade. I think in my experience, >> uh we might never use the old stuff that far, >> right? We making new stuff by that point, right? So, it's more just thanking it for >> like I said, I had a ton of seed. I had
and to see for a cedar uh I had my father had five children. You grab a baby jar,
get a seed, drill a hole in the cover that the seed just drops through, and fill the jar up. And you just walk down, put tape it to a pole, and you just go down the row shaking it like
this. You can space it whatever you want. It's a lot of work. >> If you plant a lot, that's going to take a while. >> I had some one year they Well, three years ago when it was real dry. Uh fellow asked me, he says, "You got
any turnup seed?" I said, "Yeah." So, I gave him enough uh I was going to say uh half an acre. He's doing his garden. But my brother told him, "Well, just put
it on a wet piece of paper towel. Put another wet piece of paper towel on it. In a week, it should germinate. If it doesn't, throw it out." Well, it sounds good. Well, he did that. Well, his didn't germinate.
I took my seed. He's saying he's planting his. I says I just went out in the dust. Took my hoe, made a line, covered it up with my foot, watered it.
Next week, uh Freddy says, "That seed you gave me was crap." I says, "Well, mine's this high. that it's not always being in the scientific
room isn't always the best. That when I planted them in the in the dirt, they grew. I mean, was it ideal conditions? Hell no. I mean, it was when I when I say watered it, I went with a
water and just over each seed and that was it. I didn't bother. But I got enough turnups for the year for the neighborhood that it was just that it's
but the seed was frozen. >> Yeah. Freezing keeps it longer, too. If you keep it frozen, it's it's not going to you can't pull it out, leave it on the counter, right? Go have a cup of coffee
because it's thoring out. >> That you take what you want, you put it in this in the cedar, you go out, you seed it, you put the rest in the freezer, >> keep it frozen. And the biggest mistake people make when they take seed out of the freezer is to open that bag right up or that jar right up. What happens when
you pull something out of the freezer? >> Condensation. >> So, let it come to temperature first. >> Yeah. And I was very disappointed. >> There it is. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. Right. >> Yeah. How many How many seeds is in a package? >> How many seeds is in a package? I believe I did 15. >> 150iny tiny. >> Yeah.
>> It's a lot. >> Absolutely. >> Right. Not 20 seeds per packet or 10 seeds per packet. >> But yeah, so this is a good representation >> that there it is. Thank you for sharing the picture. The first year that we
farmed at Ivory Silo, which was 2013, um Bob Smith had been farming that property previously. In fact, that's where I discovered the story that story that Jenny shared about the shotgun was shared with me by Mr. Smith. Uh because I was with Eva of all people, and she
said, "Bob said he harvested everything he needs so we can just go pick the greens." And there was stareyed me circa 2005 or so. Oh yeah, let's go pick the greens. And Bob's wife saw us as she was driving by in the field and she whipped into the winery driveway and came out like she was ready to pull something. And she said, "Who are you? What are you
doing here?" And then she realized it was Eva and it was okay. But she said, "You know, fellas get shotguns pulled on them for coming in fields and trying to steal turnipss there." Because I think there's a sense of protectivism. You know, you don't want the turnipss to get into the wrong hands and people to either do something else with them or popularize them or try to take credit
for them. So, the beauty of turning the soil over the first year was that the turnups came up in our weed profile because the damn things are so sorry, the the darn things are so resilient that that they grow like a weed um until the weeds catch up. I mean, it just it
said something to us like, why aren't all vegetables doing that? Maybe you get a tomato that volunteers itself in July when it's warm enough, but these turnipss would come up and we would just leave some at the ends of beds, you know, by themselves to see what they do uh with with uh no help. and we'd get eight, nine pound turnipss just leaving
these volunteers on the end of the bed and that was in the the soil profile. So that was a real eye opening moment for me saying not only is this an amazing heirloom vegetable, but it's like it wants to grow here. It's been so well adapted. So really something to cherish. >> No, also there was a fellow that he was
a cook and he made some kale soup and he says, "How's the soup?" I says, "It's delicious." He says it was made with turnup tops. Uhhuh. >> So I was delivering potatoes to a place
in Fall River and I stopped, had coffee. I'm talking to the girls while I look on the thing. Kale soup. I said to her, I said, "I'm going to bring you some turnup tops and you can try them to see how they
are." Well, the next week I brought her some. The following week she said the first day they were fantastic. The second day they were wilted. >> Well, they dry up. It's >> doesn't take much.
>> It doesn't take much. But she said the first day they were fantastic. Well, I said I just figured to give it a whirl. I says it's I thought they were good. And she says yeah. She said they were the first day fantastic. It was just like kale. But the second day it was a
rubbery mess. >> What was the shotgun story? >> Well, just I I don't know what the exact story was, but she was just warning us that um people don't mess around when they're protective about the turnipss because the idea is that if you don't have seed and you want seed and someone's not going to give it to you, you're going to go in and steal a few
roots and try to plant them out at home. So, uh, it didn't get too far with that, but it was enough to wake me up to say, "I should be careful while I'm in this field for the rest of the time we're harvesting." And fortunately, uh, one of the neighbors of Bob Ma after he passed said, "I hear you're a seed guy." He said, "I got about 40 or 50 turnipss I
don't want anymore. Uh, I've dug all I need to dig. I overplanted this year." And so, I was there with a digging fork about two hours later. And that's what started our seed stock. And then um Milton Terero who farmed at uh the old wayer property which was across from Bob Moth's farm. He had also been keeping
the strain and so it was important for me taking just a few roots and growing those out for a while to try to back cross meaning taking some other seed that I knew was good bringing that in and replenishing it. So we've worked with that ever since. >> Final comments.
Yes, sir. Do you happen to know if it's in the global seed plant in Spalard? >> Oh, I don't know if anyone's given it to them. That's a great question. Folks know
about the seed the global sea bankank smallbart also known as a doomsday vault. This is an I'm glad you brought this up because this is an important point. The idea behind this, this is a a seed vault that's etched into a old mineshaft um on the archipelago part of Norway, way up in the Arctic Circle. The
idea being if we blow ourselves up or an asteroid hits or some catastrophic event happens, we can reset the world's food supply. And because this is so deep in the mine shaft, the idea is that we lose power, something like that. It's embedded in the perafrost for good, right? Well, I think it was 2015. Um,
perafrost is melting and so about 300 feet of water just drizzled its way down into the global seat belt. Uh, didn't make it to the seeds at that point. But that's the lesson. We all have living gan banks in our gardens and farms. And so when we're taking care of the turnup or any other seeds, we're keeping them
alive. The idea behind the seed bulb is that you try to freeze things in time so you can reset the world's food supply. Well, if a seed's sitting on a shelf for 25, 30 years and it gets woken up, the world's different. And if it's not changing and evolving and adapting with the world, it might not grow so well.
>> Talking about the 700 year old 700 year old. >> Yeah. So I'm proving myself wrong, I guess, right? Yeah. Germinated. Yeah. Maybe it's just got a I mean a lot of the older varieties have more diversity within them anyway. So I mean this is probably one bean bad example. But uh the idea is that we have the living gan
banks in our garden. So, it just it behooves us to steward these vegetables and to have the backup plan in these gene banks around the world. If something really goes wrong, we need to reset. But if we're doing the work in our own gardens every single year, we're going to have something that's better than anything coming out of there anyway. And that hopefully with enough
people growing it, we'll ensure that it continues on. >> So, keep our seed banks seeds growing in avoid nuclear war. >> That's it. Simple simple recipe. >> Yes, sir. Yeah. >> 1876 was when it was brought back to
>> West. So the seed had to be produced somewhere. any idea where it >> um that's a good question. I I'm not entirely sure, but I know that Landri seed company had something like 600
acres where they were growing most of their own seed. So they were proudly saying this is American grown seed. We vetted all this for quality and so things that they were offering they were serious about. So, it's likely, though I can't back this up, that the East Ham and the Gilfeather and the Macker probably all came from Landreth and they
were taken in different directions. The story behind the the Gilfeather turnip is that uh John Gilfeather was kind of known by uh peers and family members to be uh sort of like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings. He guarded that thing with his life and he made sure when he sold
turnipss that he cut so deeply into those turnipss that they wouldn't sprout so that nobody could take one of those turnipss and actually grow it for seed afterwards. It was only because some of his neighbors upon his passing knew that he had seed in his house, I think is how the story goes, that they got some seed and started growing it out and became
popularized. Otherwise, it probably would have died with him because he was so fixated on it being the John Gilfeather turnup. Probably all from the same source. I mean, all white fleshed different variations of purple and green and white tops. But I'm not about to go
to East Ham and and tell anybody that. Or maybe we should, I guess, is the moral of the story. Yeah, you good. Thank you for doing that. You did this all. >> November 22nd is their next tour. >> November 22nd. >> Oh, great. Excellent. Maybe we can show up and the bus and all go down.
>> Yeah, let's crash the party numbers. >> We'll challenge them >> knowing when it is. Yes. >> It's the weekend before Thanksgiving. >> Makes sense. >> And the bird festival gives away potatoes.
>> Oh, >> you go down with a hat, you go down with your hat, you turn it over, they'll fill it up. >> Okay. You go down with a stocking cap, they'll fill it up. And they had some
pictures of some hats that were It was hysterical. >> Need a 10 gallon hat. >> If you have a 10gon hat, they'll fill it up. But the >> That's why I said I said we got to go. I said just I said he's asked me for three years. I
says I don't want to blow him off forever, >> but those are your >> It's a long ride. >> Your potatoes there that they're filling. >> Well, I mean Well, well, it's the potatoes. No big deal. I mean, I see them all the time, >> right? I mean, but it was just he's like, "You
should come down and see how they're how we handle them." >> And right away when I saw how they were handling, I says, "No, that's not how you handle them." But she had pictures of years before with
Dr. Zeus hats >> and I mean, it was just She says, "Yeah, you come with a hat." And as soon as I walk in, I was wearing a hat. I flip my hat over and he says, "Not till next week." >> Howie, did you want to share anything that fill in the blanks for us that
something we might have been missing? >> No, I think you guys have been great. One thing I remember, uh, Cuki Macker told me years ago that his secret for raising turnipss, he used to keep a big pile of sand by his garden, mix in a lot of sand in the soil. Is there any you
guys there would be any merit to that? Knowing about the East Ham turnups, I'm going to say yes because they have a lot of sand. >> Uh us, no, >> not as much.
>> We're more lom and gravel. >> Now with growing a little compass where I live, the house was built 1968. And about 10 years later, Charlie Carrera was a farmer on Wab Road. He
came by and he says, God, you know, I cried the day you built this house. This was the best turnup growing land that I saw anywhere, and I've tried five or six different places since then, and it just won't grow the same. >> Probably about a mile from West Portland. >> That's the thing about where we live,
too, is that I'm not I'm no geologist, but glacial till means that even in the same farm, you can have four different soil profiles. So, it's hard to say that, oh, it grows better in Little Compton and Westport. It's like which property which piece of land you know we can have sandy lom here and then the
other side of the property is silt lom or lomy sand or >> clay even with my blueberries you can tell you can tell the difference >> right you can see it with the with the way they grow. Yeah. So >> well it's like with the the water table.
>> Uh what do you average what's your average gallons per minute? varies, right? >> 10, >> 20, 50, >> 90,
you know, you don't know, >> right? >> Uh, where we're at, it's very high. And there were two houses, well, three houses. There was one up the road. They had an excellent well.
The church had an excellent well and the one in the yard had an excellent well. Well, my uncle went out with his transit, shot a line,
got him. So, it was two dead exact. Now, the one near the church is 10 ft from the line. Just on he's just legal. But the other one in the middle, he I'm like, "What the hell you doing that
for?" He says, "Where they're so they're so good." He says, "I don't want to make a mistake." >> You go down the street, 40 ft off the road, the other side of the road, they went down 400 ft. Two gallons a minute.
which you look and say feel like going from here to across the street, >> right? >> And there's going to be that much of a difference. >> It's all in that vein. >> Yeah. >> That's what it is. >> That's like my brother went down 90 ft. I took
my well maybe 40t away. I went down 150. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I think we've cleared everything up about the chat >> remaining questions. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you guys for coming up.
Good to see you. Nice to meet you, Mr. Nice to meet you. Yeah. Thanks for coming and talking.