Thomas Jefferson: a man of enlightenment; sitting and reading in the Pavilion at Jefferson’s garden

There are many ways to look at the greatness of Thomas Jefferson.  This post will focus on his being the man of enlightenment.  It is the people like him that brought America into enlightenment age.  JFK remarked in a dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has been gathered at the White House with the possible exception of when Jefferson dined alone.  JFK didn’t exaggerate.

Jefferson was as ardent a gardener as he was a reader.  When British troops burnt the Congress and its library in 1812, Jefferson offered to sell all his books to the Congress; thus the beginning of the Library of Congress.  No sooner did Jefferson sell the books, than he began to buy the books again (mainly from England, as the publishing industry was practically non-existent in the U.S. then).

Jefferson built a pavilion in his garden in 1812; it disappeared after his death.  The archaeological exploration uncovered the foundation and the pavilion has been restored.  Jefferson spent lots of time there reading and supervising the garden work.

Jefferson read his books there; I read my iBook (presently reading George Eliot’s Middlemarch) on my mini-iPad.  One of the joys of retiring from the Presidency was that he could go back to “my books”.  He also said "I cannot live without books".

The slaves did most of the manual labors in the garden, but reading his letters we will noticed that he was also physically working in the garden “I was become, for instance, a real farmer, measuring fields, following my ploughs, helping the hay makers . . .”(his letter to Maria Cosway in 1795).

Sitting in the pavilion, Katy was marveling at the spectacular view from high in the mountain (Monticello means little mountain in Italian), I was wondering all about these things and many more.

The live-in young hare in our garden

Thomas Jefferson gardens (kitchen garden, orchard and vineyard) were enclosed with a ten-foot-high fence (ours is six-foot-high) to keep out the deer, and with palings (a fence of pales or pickets—equivalent to our chicken wire fence) closed enough “as not to let even a young hare in” as Jefferson would write.

We ambitious gardeners think alike and did the same thing. Unfortunately there is a very small rabbit (young hare) lives in our garden; it refuses to leave with chase.  It calls the garden home; it is the only thing that spends more time in the garden than us.

8/22/13

 

8/22/13

Jefferson was enthusiastic about kale, so was Dr. Liang, and this is infectious; I am falling for it now

Kale 7/13/13

I wrote a post of “Kale and Taiwanese pumpkin: not an odd couple”,
http://doctorjytsai.blogspot.com/2013/08/kale-and-taiwanese-pumpkin-not-odd.html

I only vaguely mentioned Taiwanese pumpkin/squash toasted/baked in the oven, but there is more to it.   Janice and Joy stir-fried the kale leaves in extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar along with almond.  They skipped the mustard and shallots this time.

Janice said the kale we have is Tuscan or Lacinato kale.  Thomas Jefferson also had them in his garden.  Jefferson obviously had a variety of kales about which he had a magnificent obsession, especially about one called “sprout” kale.  He sang a high praise to numerous gardener friends, such as “the most valuable garden plant,” “the finest winter vegetable we have,” “a very delicate green,” “the most precious winter vegetable I know.”  He boasted to Barbour that “no body in the U.S. has [it] but those to whom I have given it.”

Jefferson sent kale seeds to every gardener friends that he could find.  We did the same thing exchanging seeds or seedlings among our gardener friends.  Jefferson was enthusiastic about kale, so was Dr. Liang, and this is infectious; I am falling for it now.

Kale and Da-To Tsai 7/3/13

Kale 6/30/13

Kale-Taiwanese pumpkin/squash 8/17/13

The joy of weeding: the work in- and outside the garden

8/20/13

Those who came to visit our garden often wonder how we kept up with the size and scale of the garden; little did they know that there is also work outside the garden.

We planted zinnia along the path to the outside water faucet expecting this would be the road most traveled; it turned out that this is “The Road Not Taken” (not “The Road Less Traveled” as is often mistakenly given for Robert Frost’s poem.) as we haven’t watered the garden for two months.

“The Road Not Taken” led to its being overtaken by the rampant weeds; the appearance after weeding is what I call the joy of weeding.

The last two photos on the other side of the fences showing the gate is flanked by the zinnias and four-o’clock flowers (not shown).  We want to make sure our nice neighbors, sitting in their back porch, would have a pleasing sight.

7/7/13 The Road Not Taken

hibiscus 8/20/13

8/20/13 Hydrangea

8/20/13 Taiwanese pumpkin growing under the watch of hydrangea

8/21/13 after dark

Kale and Taiwanese pumpkin: not an odd couple

This is the first year that kale showing up in our garden; we’ve been trying to figure out what will be the best way to eat it.  The problem was solved when Janice and Joy were home visiting and looting the garden.

They roast/bake the Taiwanese pumpkin and kale together in the oven; it is a heavenly taste!  Next year we’ll have to time the harvest time for both in the same time; not an easy task.

Dr. Liang showed us an article of “Kudos for Kale”, in which it mentions kale leads the list of helpful leafy greens for many reasons: low-calorie, nutrient-dense powerhouse of antioxidants, including vitamin A and C.  Kale contains more iron than beef and more calcium than milk per calorie.  It is also a rich source of omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids.

The kale came from an “old man”; I came across this photo with a title of “An old man and a dog” in the Facebook.  The old man (Dr. Liang) absorbing and his vigilant best friend guarding in Greenwich Park, I guess.  This is a life of one’s envy; a royal treatment in a Royal Park.

Dr. and Mrs. Liang came to visit our garden a few weeks ago; an important event in the life of our gardening.  Dr. Liang  is one of the seasoned gardener friends that inspired us.  Of course, we’re also taking up the work left behind by Dr. Greenlee and John Gapen.

 

 

An inviting garden: beauty and bounty

The best way to have your “kids” coming home to see you is to have a garden; an inviting one!

Thomas Jefferson (and John Adams) would be my ideal travel company

Thomas Jefferson (and John Adams) would be my ideal travel company, at least traveling in England, as we would go and enjoy seeing the same places.  While serving as the Minister (modern day Ambassador) to France, Thomas Jefferson was asked to go to England for some business by John Adams, who was then Minister to England.

Jefferson and Adams travel together to see England countryside in March-April 1786. They visited the battlefield at Worcester where Oliver Cromwell defeated Charles I, ending the British civil war.  Adams was astonished the local farmers were ignorant of the encounter; he gave them a lecture, “tell your neighbor and your children that this is holy ground; much holier than that on which your churches stand.”  This is tantamount to farmers in Gettysburg didn’t know there was a decisive battle fought there during the Civil War.

“You have sat too long any good you have been doing lately . . . Depart, I say; and let us have done with you.  In the name of God, go!”

The above is what Oliver Cromwell uttered in the House of Commons in Dissolution of Long Parliament in 1653.  In his The Blast of War, Harold Macmillan described a scene repeated in the House, when Leo Amery tried to force Chamberlain to step down as the Prime Minister in 1940.

In his Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain had one page saying the important history in 1542 when De Soto stood on the banks of the Mississippi and that includes “a hundred long years must still elapse before Englishmen would hear the name of Oliver Cromwell.”

They also visited Stratford on Avon—Shakespeare’s home.  Shakespeare’s plays were always on the list of books that Jefferson recommended to others; history would dominate the list, but literature, math and science were also included. And that is about the same kind of books I read (I do read medicine “on my spare time” :-)

Jefferson also went to see the original copy of Magna Carta in the British Museum.  Being the author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson, I can imagine, would have solemn emotion seeing the Magna Carta, which can be treated as  the document that leads to Constitution of the United Kingdom, the birth document of early democracy.  It was signed by King John in 1215.

King John was Shakespeare’s first history play, all the others (from Richard II to Henry VIII—9 of them) occurs from 1367 to 1547, nearly 200 years, practically a continuous history of England.  King John is the only exception, and I think his signing of Magna Carta got him the honor of being picked by the Bard.

There is also a chapter of Magna Carta in Churchill’s A History of the English Speaking Peoples, in which he also mentions one can see the document of Magna Carta in the British Museum.

I would visit these same places, and also the parking lot, where the skeletons of Richard III were recently dug out, had I planned a visit to England.  But, I am afraid the professional travel agency may have different idea.

Our lilies came from a distinguished family

Our good friend gave us the lily bulbs on Mother Day and we planted around Memorial Day.  They finally bloom this week; it takes time to make beauty.  Our friend bought them in a garden show; judging from their temperament (氣質), delicacy, and serenity, having an air of aloofness or even arrogance; one can tell that they came from a distinguished family.

We read a line of “my lady’s lily hand” in John Keats’ poem, signifying lily as fairness, purity and fragility.

William Blake is a complicated poet-painter.  I once read an article about him by T.S. Eliot and only half understood.  But William Blake’s poem of lily is easy to understand and appreciate.  In the age-old fight of ranking as queen of the flowers between rose and lily in the literary world, William Blake apparently was in the camp of lily.

The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,
The humble sheep a threatening horn:
While the Lily white shall in love delight,
Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.

Raise the Jolly Roger in our garden: Pittsburgh Pirates is on a tear

(For my FB friends in Taiwan: Jolly Roger is the flag of piracy; thus when Pittsburgh Pirates wins a game the commentator would say “raise the Jolly Roger”.)

Jolly Roger has been raised again and again in PNC Park or any ball park that the Pittsburgh Pirates happened to play.  Thanks to Janet’s kindness and enthusiasm (which can be infectious) that we also raise the Jolly Roger in our garden. 

raise the Jolly Roger

Pittsburgh Pirates swept Miami Marlins today; all three games are come from behind wins (the 28^th for the Pirates); same script, so to speak; different hero, though.  This afternoon Pirates catcher Russell Martin’s pinch-hit single with two outs in the 10^th inning raised Jolly Roger again—the 9^th walk off win this season.

Russell Martin has caught players of opposing team stealing twenty some times, the best record of the MLB this season.  Let it be known: When Martin is catching, thou shall not steal!

Pirates (70/44, .614) 26 games above 500, the best team of MLB.  It is 4 games above St. Louis Cardinals; running away from the runner-up.  Cincinnati Reds is now 7 ½ games behind Pirates; it is quickly becoming irrelevant.  Pirates is heading for Colorado; let's see How the West Was Will Be Won.