Charlottesville Food

by Casey Ireland

  Peter Hatch and some lima bean plants. Photo by Kevin Haney.

  Numerous modern add-ons such as roadways and the aforementioned parking lot had to be scraped away before Hatch could begin his painstaking restoration. With the help of then-director Dan Jordan, Hatch began the process of sifting through Jefferson’s letters, memos and journal entries to find clues as to the original layout, design and makeup of Jefferson’s gardens. Stains in the red clay soil demarcated where fence posts, fruit trees and garden pavilions once lay. With answers in the soil and in Jefferson’s textual artifacts, Hatch pieced together the plans for the current layout of the gardens. Meanwhile, an astonishing collection and categorization of heritage herb and vegetable seeds began to take root, created in the image of Jefferson’s original seed library by Hatch. The boundaries between garden spaces and natural landscape, Jefferson’s era and the present age and old vegetable varieties and new flavors began to blur in a comfortingly complex Jeffersonian fashion at Monticello under Peter Hatch’s thirty-four-year tenure.

  Ten years later, the restoration of Monticello’s gardens and grounds joined with the development of the Center for Historic Plants (henceforth CHP) in 1987. Housed at Tufton Farm, one of Monticello’s satellite farms, the CHP was developed as a way to “collect, preserve, and distribute” heirloom and heritage seed varieties such as those planted by Jefferson and catalogued by Hatch. The center takes its residence in an old, converted barn on a beautifully meandering landscape, studded with rose bushes and trellises—and the neighbor’s cows. The CHP works closely with Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, the same business that sponsors the Heritage Harvest Festival on Monticello grounds each year. Brown Dutch lettuce, Cherokee purple tomatoes and Marrowfat pea seeds are among the offerings available through the center’s shop. In June, visitors to the center can walk through the Léonie Bell Rose Garden with a glass of wine in hand, taking in the rich fragrance of Ruth’s pink musk roses with a sip of Gabriele Rausse’s Virginia dry rosé.

  Like Monticello, the Center for Historic Plants has a wide-reaching influence on issues of historical preservation and education. The CHP has worked with the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond and also the “Paradox of Liberty” exhibit in St. Louis. Lily Fox-Brugière, coordinator for the CHP, helped create a garden that went along with the exhibit for the Gillette Family Garden, a representation of a Monticello slave family’s working garden. Growing interest in the influence of African American culture and cuisine on Monticello led to the CHP’s involvement with background research and the donation of seeds. According to Fox-Brugière, the slaves at Monticello had the largest, most highly functional gardens instead of Jefferson’s more experimental efforts.38 The CHP’s involvement with accurately portraying what plants were grown by slaves and the plants with African American cultural associations that Jefferson grew represents the Thomas Jefferson Foundation’s current focus on promoting awareness of our third president’s multicultural influences.

  Similar to the CHP’s participation in national events, the current restoration and educational programs of Monticello have impacted more areas than Monticello’s immediate Charlottesville-Albemarle surroundings. Along with the CHP, Monticello has donated seeds to Charlottesville-Albemarle schoolyard gardens and participates in the Heritage Harvest Festival. Peter Hatch’s advising role in the creation of Michelle Obama’s White House kitchen garden has been documented by everyone from the HGTV Gardens network to the White House’s official blog. Thanks to the expertise and advice of Monticello’s former superintendent, tennis ball lettuce and Savoy cabbage of Jefferson’s preference were planted in the Obamas’ own rich spot of earth.

  On a more personal and localized note, Hatch admits to a friendly rivalry during his time at Monticello between himself and Dean Norton of Mount Vernon about who was the “better” Virginian: Thomas Jefferson at Monticello or George Washington at Mount Vernon. Excess produce from the vegetable garden goes toward Monticello’s café, often stymying workers who know less of purple calabash tomatoes than hothouse imported varieties. Gabriele Rausse, Hatch’s successor as director of garden and grounds and famed local, asserts, “The heirloom is wonderful by itself.” According to him, “The café is starting to accept the situation” as one outside the typical selections of Kroger and big-box stores “and do something with them.” The big thinkers behind Monticello’s revitalization can also enjoy the juicy bite of a homegrown summer tomato or the silliness of razzing old friends.

  Perhaps Alice Waters’s 2012 visit to Monticello best exemplifies the relevance, if not the necessity, of a restored Jeffersonian horticultural space to larger national concerns with sustainable agriculture and food heritage. Waters began her particular brand of no-nonsense, organic and sustainable cooking in Berkeley in 1971, a counterculturally back-to-basics move not unlike her free speech activism. Waters, as a revolutionary California chef, joins forces with Jefferson as a revolutionary gardener in the foreword to Peter Hatch’s esteemed book on Jefferson’s gardens, A Rich Spot of Earth. Waters urges readers to “reconnect ourselves to the pastoral and self-sufficient tradition that Jefferson built,” finding that “nothing is more vital than returning this tradition to the very heart of American culture.”39 Waters and her world-renowned local food pioneer of a restaurant, Chez Panisse, produced a meal for the inner sanctum of Thomas Jefferson Foundation philanthropists. Chesapeake Bay she-crab bisque, milk-fed lamb, vegetable ragout and Monticello honey-based nougat were among the dishes that nourished the guests both physically and ideologically.40 Ms. Waters told diners to “think of this meal as a slow-food meal [and] absorb some of Jefferson’s values—camaraderie, beauty, aliveness, sustainability, generosity.”41 To Waters, cooking at Monticello and eating like Jefferson would inspire even laymen to create cultural monuments of Constitution-size proportions.

  Yet visiting Slow Food chefs and heirloom tomatoes in café salads are not the only local, historical culinary ventures on Monticello Mountain. When riding up Route 53 on the way to Monticello, one passes by a hulking, three-story white building with sprawling additions and an old-fashioned charm. This whitewashed façade houses Michie Tavern, a holdover from 1784 that was moved from Earlysville, Virginia, to its current position one mile away from Monticello in 1927. The tavern remained within the Michie family and stayed operational until the 1880s before becoming a private home and then a borderline derelict building. Mrs. Mark Henderson’s decision to purchase the tavern as a museum and an antiques display constitutes an early effort in our area to preserve historically—and culinarily—valuable relics from Virginia history.42

  MICHIE TAVERN: MORE HISTORY ON THE MOUNTAIN

  Known around town for its classic fried chicken and all-you-can-eat buffet, Michie Tavern offers early American history in an immediately consumable setting. Events such as the Yuletide Feast, a yearly Christmastime celebration so popular that Michie Tavern doesn’t advertise it, showcase the restaurant’s joint capacity for making new traditions as well as guarding older ones. Cindy Conte, the marketing director at the restaurant, finds that “as with any historic site, there is a delicate balance to change with the times while staying true to your past.”43 Small menu changes, retail outlets and packages with “partners” Monticello and Ash Lawn–Highland keep Michie Tavern successful in the present. Similar to Monticello and the Center for Historic Plants, Michie Tavern remains interested in educating its visitors in addition to feeding them. It, too, is a Virginia Historic Landmark and remains a famous local example of early preservation efforts in our area. Visitors to Michie Tavern have the option of participating in a tour group or shopping at the General Store, as well as the ability to go get one more side of black-eyed peas and stewed tomatoes.

  What does the future look like for Monticello Mountain as a stomping ground for traditional agriculture, newfangled sustainability efforts and epicurean heritage? Gabriele Rausse has taken the reins of seed cataloguing and garden tending from Peter Hatch; his presence at Monticello represe
nts a continuance in the direction of historical rediscovery and educational efforts. A native of Valdagno, Italy, Rausse and his agricultural science degree bring a decidedly European sensibility to the gardens and grounds operation at Monticello, a sensibility with which Jefferson himself would have undoubtedly been enamored. “I’d never seen a can,” Rausse laughs, referring to his preservative-free childhood in Italy.44 A spry sixty-seven, Rausse rivals the records of an elderly Jefferson for best health and attitude at Monticello. “I believe that I am still very healthy because they say ‘you are what you eat.’ I have a can opener in case someone brings a can as a gift, I can show them I can open it.” His love of good vegetables, a life spent out of doors and a deep attachment to olive oil have made Rausse’s presence at Monticello positively Jeffersonian.

  Like Hatch, Rausse has a primary interest in furthering research and awareness of the different varieties of vegetables, fruits and flowers grown at Monticello. Using the Garden Book and the Farm Book, Rausse is eager to dig up the original names of plant varieties. In one of his documents, Thomas Jefferson referred to a tomato as a pomme d’amour, leading an observer to conceive of the name as a distinct variety. However, pomme d’amour was the French name for tomatoes during that period. Rausse uses this instance to distinguish a potential variety from a casual title. When faced with the tomato referred to in Jefferson’s log as “large red,” Rausse takes note. “To me, it doesn’t mean anything, it means that somehow, somebody brought to him a big tomato from the garden,” he attests. “I don’t think someone would call their son ‘big son,’ they would give him a name. To me, that tomato should have had a name.”45 Whether recovering lost seed names or planting new vineyards, Rausse and his work at Monticello reflect the same activity, inquisitiveness and forward thinking of his immediate predecessor, Hatch, as well as Jefferson himself.

  Monticello’s plans for the future are both expansive and charmingly localized. Rausse has expressed interest in making the “Mecca of America” more visible to European travelers. “I always give the example of Italians who come here—they come to New York, they come to Washington, they go to California. What would we have in Virginia?” Rausse asks. “There is so much that is not being told about this area and about Monticello because there is the pressure of other business who prefers to bring them in other places.”46 Rausse’s European presence at Monticello will surely engage visitors from other countries as more discussion of Jefferson’s multicultural interests takes place. The continued connection between Monticello, Montpelier, Ash Lawn and Michie Tavern will only continue to strengthen the historical and social value of each landmark. The 53/20 Neighborhood Association shows the communal ties between these historic places, with neighboring landmarks along Routes 53 and 20 hosting lunch events together twice yearly. According to Cindy Conte, “It’s very informal…It’s just neighbors networking, helping one another out (if need be) and keeping one another abreast of any changes that may be taking place in our area.” Yearly luncheons, schoolyard garden donations and international flavor are the very things that make Monticello Mountain and its landmarks both local heroes and American Meccas.

  From floral arrangements and parking lots to vintage apple trees and heritage lettuce heads, the gardens of Monticello’s evolution over the past fifty years represent a victory for North American horticultural heritage as well as that of regional Virginia. Monticello’s continuing restoration signals a return to the Jeffersonian ideals of authenticity, self-sufficiency and hands-on food production—with the occasional indulgence. The impression of dedication, hard work and enjoyment of gardening and eating given by Thomas Jefferson’s notes and letters is a clear predecessor to the work of Peter Hatch and Gabriele Rausse, as well as the work of the CHP. The enthusiasm, if not mania, Jefferson possessed for seed discovery and seed sharing makes it easy to imagine him strolling the setup at the Heritage Harvest Festival, listening thoughtfully to Joel Salatin or relishing homegrown heirloom tomato samples. Based on his love both for European-style wines and the beauty of nature, Jefferson could have easily been a mainstay at the Center for Historic Plants Wine & Roses events, drinking Gabriele Rausse’s successful grapes under a soft June twilight. Visitors to Monticello can picture him working in the garden, planting strawberries and sampling figs as easily as they can watch their next-door neighbor garden, thanks to the reconstructive efforts of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and the Monticello staff.

  Perhaps it’s so easy to imagine Jefferson participating in a variety of modern organizations and events because the area has maintained his spirit of enjoyment in and curiosity about the natural world. The more advanced the restoration of Monticello’s horticultural beginnings becomes, the more obvious the connections between Jefferson’s personal culinary enjoyments and those of modern Charlottesville. Jefferson’s adages of manure compost, microclimes and seasonality have increasing relevance for individuals seeking an out from mass-produced, genetically modified food products purchased from cavernous warehouse stores. His insistence on quality and a do-it-yourself mentality can be seen in everyone from local restaurateurs turned homesteaders to young farmers popping up around the region. A Jeffersonian focus on the connections between good food with good beginnings and good health has not gone unnoticed by Charlottesville’s farmers, gardeners and food producers.

  Chapter 2

  Outstanding in Their Field

  Farming’s New Wave

  THE VIRGINIA FARM AND FARMER PROFILE

  The abundant fertility, long growing season and workable terrain of the Charlottesville area and its surrounding counties has not changed much since Jefferson’s wildflower days in Shadwell. The kale in local garden beds still sprouts up with thick-leafed aplomb every spring through fall, and olives remain a bad fit for the climate and soil. The rhythmic seasons of planting and harvesting are still relevant markers of time in central Virginia. Intrepid pick-your-own-fruit enthusiasts can go to Carter Mountain in June for fresh peach ice cream or nectarines by the pound; they return in November for still-warm apple pies and a mountaintop full of Albemarle Pippins and Winesap apples. Hot summers aid the growth of heirloom tomatoes and watermelons, whether grown in the backyard or by one of the area’s certified organic farmers. The seasons, landscape and soil of central Virginia provide the necessary foundation on which local farmers, growers and food producers can build businesses and feed residents.

  According to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), agriculture is the largest industry in Virginia by a considerable margin. Agriculture provides the commonwealth with over $52 billion annually and employs over 300,000 Virginians.47 The Virginia Farm Profile gives both a comprehensive and intimate representation of the kinds of farms—and farmers—in our state. On average, Virginia farmers are fifty-eight years old, with 30 percent of farmers clocking in at over sixty-five.48 These workers own and operate over forty-six thousand individual farms, 90 percent of which are owned by individuals or families rather than major corporations.49 Farms cover over one-third of our state’s land area, amassing a total of 7.9 million acres.50 By these numbers, every citizen in Charlottesville could own a farm of 100,000 acres, an area twenty times the size of Thomas Jefferson’s original holdings in the region.

  Both the farms and farmers of the Charlottesville MSA reflect statewide statistics and local color. As a geographic area, there are limitations to the types of sustenance that the state can produce. Virginia is not known as a grain state, nor have citrus or coffee ever been successfully mass-produced in our area. Sugar cane, rice, cocoa beans, spices and salt may be processed and repackaged in Virginia but are not produced in-state. South Street Brewery and Starr Hill may brew up delicious local beers, but the hops they use are mostly imported. Until recent years, producers of dairy, artisan meats and beef were hard to find in the commonwealth. The state’s varied terrain, mild-yet-not-mild-enough weather and humidity prevent Virginia growers from producing many of the food options available in the M
idwest or on the West Coast.

  However, the list of what the state and central Virginia can grow and produce far outnumbers the list of “can nots.” Discounting scores of mountain trout, seafood in Charlottesville comes from the eastern part of the state and provides a crucial element of Virginia’s agricultural production. Aquaculture sales in the state exceed $30 million, with Chesapeake Bay– and Atlantic Ocean–caught fresh seafood appearing on plates from Virginia Beach to Winchester.51 Succulent oysters jarred in brine are sold in gas stations along the Rockfish Valley Highway in Afton, culled from the Rappahannock River in the Northern Neck. Blue crabs, flounder and mahi-mahi pulled from the Atlantic and its tributaries nourish both the economy and Virginia diners. Though not exactly twenty-five-mile local, the Virginia aquaculture industry and its economic success serves all citizens of the state and the fine dining hotspots in Charlottesville as well.

  Charlottesville-Albemarle’s humid sub-tropical climate, with its frequent precipitation and long growing season, acts as a solid foundation for a variety of crops and agricultural products. From balmy April to brisk November, the multitude of options at the City Market on Saturday rivals that of San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza or New York City’s Union Square. Herb-coated goat cheese, smoked jowl bacon, fig jam, fresh blueberries, whole duck, green-purple field greens, elderflower cordial, corn tortillas and Ezekiel bread are just a fraction of the offerings available from various producers during the different seasons in the area. Farmers’ markets in Charlottesville stretch from April to November, though local produce in the form of root vegetables and hardy winter greens can still be unearthed throughout the coldest months. The colors, textures, smells and tastes of local bounty far exceed what one would expect from a region divided by mountains, harnessed by wet summers and marked by high land prices.