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The Labrador Garden Project: Annotated Bibliography and Research Notes (PANL VA 118154.3) The Agricultural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador Document prepared by Lisa Wilson, January 15th, 2015 Funding support from the Cultural Economic Development Program, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador Table of Contents Project Introduction ………….………………………………………….. 2 Annotated Bibliography A: Moravian and Grenfell Missions in Labrador’s Agricultural History ……….. 3 B: General Information Related to Agriculture and/or Moravians ……….……. 16 Reference Material: Transcriptions and Quotes A: Moravian Mission References …………………………………………………. 20 B: Grenfell Mission References ………………………………………………….... 34 C: Cartwright, Donald Smith and the Hudson’s Bay Company References …... 45 D: Settler and Contemporary References ……………………………………….. 49 Correspondence Notes (personal communications) .....……………... 53 List of Archival Sources …….…………………………………………… 55 1 Introduction: The Labrador Garden Project Throughout the fall and winter of 2014, the Agricultural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador embarked on a project relating to early agricultural practices on the east coast of Labrador. In particular, this project aimed to explore the nature of the agricultural endeavors practiced by Moravian missionaries starting in the 1770s, and how they impacted not only the immediate local diet (and people), but coastal agriculture in general, over time. Areas of interest have included mission site plans, designs of gardens and irrigation systems, seed lists, crop successes and failures, soil building techniques, tools made and used, garden labour, food distribution and storage, and importantly, how these factors and related knowledge may have influenced or been transmitted to the Inuit population. The research from this project has been divided into two primary categories or eras. The first involves the Moravian mission settlements starting in the 1770s, the second being the Grenfell voyages and missions from the 1890s to the mid1900s. It should be noted that the Moravians missionaries continued on in Labrador until the mid1900s, but this research focusses on their early practices. While emphasis has indeed been placed on the Moravians, the Grenfell era is of utmost importance in understanding the topic. Not only was the agricultural component of the Grenfell mission likely informed by observing the Moravian gardens, but the overall impact of this incentive has been a significant and lasting one in Labrador. A smaller set of outcomes in the project are related to the agricultural efforts of Captain George Cartwright (1760s70s), the Hudson’s Bay Company (Donald Smith, 1830s60s), and finally, the settler population of Labrador and their personal gardening practices starting around the mid19th century, and moving towards a contemporary setting. The results of this work, some of which is included in this document, has mostly come from archival texts and images, historical accounts found in publications, record and journal transcriptions (representing the Moravian perspective), as well as periodicals from the later Grenfell missions. The document included here consists of an annotated bibliography of sources accessed, as well as a comprehensive list of material in the form of transcribed quotations. This reference material is broken up into subtopics and aims to operate as a research guide, and to summarize the history of agriculture in Labrador, particularly on the coast, from the time of the first Moravian settlement in Nain. 2 Annotated Bibliography Section A: Reference material specific to agricultural history in Labrador, with emphasis on Moravian and Grenfell influences. Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Agriculture. Vol. 48, Issue 3 (Oct., 1950): 71. (MUN DAI) Description of the St. Anthony gardening project. “At St. Anthony the greenhouse supplies early cabbage plants to people all along the northeast coast. In summer our gardens furnish vegetables to the institutions.” No author provided. Page numbers for this issue begin at 66. Baikie, Margaret. Labrador Memories: Reflections at Mulligan. Them Days, 1984. (CNS HN 110 N4 B35) An entire issue of Them Days dedicated to the memories and reflections of a Labrador woman during the midlate 1800s. She remembers visiting with Lord Strathcona (Donald Smith) and seeing his gardens. Beckles, Willson. The Life of Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal. Vol. 1. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1915. (CNS F 1033 S93 1915 v.1) A dense volume on the life of Lord Strathcona and his relationship with the Hudson's Bay Company. Includes letters, diaries, maps and illustrations. This book could be viewed again to see if his “wonder farm” is mentioned. Recommended by Susan Felsberg. Bisbee, John B. Fonds: 19131914. NonGovernment Records. The Rooms Provincial Archives: St. John’s. (MG 735) Handwritten journal kept by Bisbee, a volunteer with Grenfell, during a voyage along the Labrador Coast during the years 1913 and 1914. Some observations centre on interactions with Moravian Missionaries. He also kept photographic records of his journeys in two separate photo albums. These are also in the archival holdings (see VA 72 and VA 73). Blake, Edward. “Before Upper Churchill Came on Stream.” Them Days, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2012: 1112. (CNS) Short account of their family gardens from when he was growing up. Abundance and types of vegetables and reference to lack of space in terms of vegetable storage, unless they could have a “cellar or a root cellar in the bank.” 3 Blake, Sylvia. “We Grew Everything We Needed, Sheshatshiu.” Them Days, Vol. 32, No. 2, 2010: 2327. (CNS) Article about how gardening was passed down the family line, and the success of these household gardens. Information about what was grown, and how it was fertilized. Borthwick, Jane. The Story of Moravian Missions in Greenland and Labrador by H.L.L. London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1873. (CNS BV 2560 B6 c.2) This book was written as a brief history of both missions in the 1870s, including detailed information about the people involved in the missions, and information about the 'heathens' in both regions. Included is useful information about how the first mission settlement was established, and how the subsequent missions came to be. Very brief reference to the ability to grow in Labrador compared to Greenland. “H. L. L.” on the publication is a psyeudonym for author Jane Borthwick. (Also see: The Moravians in Labrador. Edinburgh, printed by J. Ritchie, 1833. An older version of the text The Story of the Moravian Missions in Greenland and Labrador CNS BX8567N4M6.) BriceBennett, Carol. Hopedale: Three Ages of a Community in Northern Labrador. St. John’s: Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2003. (Shawyer Collection) Text begins with history of Moravians in Labrador with Jens Haven leading early missionary work in the 1770s (after his time doing similar work in Greenland). Detailed overview of Moravian influence on the Hopedale population through the ages, as well as information about agricultural practices, such as seed experiments, and transmission of skills. Budgell, Leonard. “Old Stone and Sod Houses,” Them Days, Vol. 16, No. 3, 1991: 5963. (CNS Periodicals) Information about the houses in coastal Labrador. Includes an idea that the sod houses, once fallen, helped nourish the soil that the Moravians used to grow their plants. (Sod houses were once located where the mission gardens were later introduced). Cartwright, George. “George Cartwright’s Garden – 1786.” Them Days, Vol. 32, No. 2, 2010: 2831. (CNS) Reprinted from Cartwright’s journals that chronicle his attempts at gardening in the 18th century. Successes and failures included. Them Days further cites Vol. 8, No. 1 for a complete summary of his Labrador gardening experience. Curtis, Harriot. “The Home Front.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 38, Issue 3 4 (Oct. 1940): 73. (MUN DAI) A piece on gardening in Labrador intending to generate excitement by detailing accomplishments. Begins with some popular slogans from the Grenfell campaign: “Fight the War in the Cabbage Garden!” Discusses need to make garden practices more widespread. Curwen, Eliot. Fonds. Consists of personal journals detailing voyage to Labrador. NonGovernment Records, The Rooms Provincial Museum and Archives. (PANL File MG152) Personal handwritten journal of Curwen during the second voyage of Dr. Grenfell along the coast of Labrador (dated: May 27th – Nov.18th 1893). Difficult to read, but fascinating for its descriptions of people, landscapes, communities, and various encounters. Curwen was a medical missionary who kept a notebook on various aspects of this trip and put together two photograph albums, also held in the fonds (Series VA 152). Community Information of Coastal Labrador, 1994. (CNS FF 1042 L225) Unpublished community inventory of the coast with descriptions of each place and the people who live there, notable historic incidents, and socioeconomic details. Communities were also assessed for their infrastructure and whether or not the residents participate in subsistence agriculture. Decks Awash. The Garden of Labrador. Vol. 03, No. 02 (April 1974): 38. (DAI via PAB) Short writeup credits Lord Strathcona for bringing gardening to the North West River area, now known as the “Garden of Labrador.” No author provided. . A Labrador Family Farm. Vol. 10, No. 02 (April 1981):1315. (DAI via PAB) A feature article on the farming operation run by Susan and Hans Felsberg in Happy Valley (Mud Lake). They discuss the careful planning required to farm in the region. Includes information about Susan’s background in nursing. Electric Scotland. Lord Strathcona. Web Resource. http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/lord_strathcona.htm Historic profile on Lord Strathcona (Donald Smith) including information about his time in Labrador and how he would import seeds from Scotland for his garden. Felsberg, Susan. Labrador Agriculture: The Early Roots. Circumpolar Conference paper, 2007. 5 Conference paper, provided by Felsberg, which provides an overview of the different missions, phases, and agricultural movements in Labrador. Touches on the Moravians, Cartwright, Donald Smith, the Grenfell Mission, and contemporary examples. Fereira, Oswald A. Agriculture in Labrador: Background Paper to an Agricultural Plan. Department of Rural, Agricultural and Northern Development, May 1980. (Shawyer Collection) Maps and writing on the topic of agricultural policy and planning in Labrador. It includes a breakdown of natural resources in the region, and indepth descriptions of various agricultural practices from commercial farming to hydroponics and greenhouses. Gale, I.C. (Ed.) “North Wind: Spring Fever.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 34, Issue 1 (April, 1936): 22a22d. (MUN DAI) Short piece advertising Grenfell’s garden campaign based on stories told by Grenfell himself. Offers anecdotes for why gardening practices were introduced (disease prevention), and advice for how to start your own garden. Ends with the plea: “Please Join the Garden Campaign!” This piece is within an insert provided by the “Crew of Grenfell Juniors,” Vol. 1, Issue 11. Goudie, Elizabeth. Woman of Labrador. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, 1973. (Shawyer Collection) Detailed diaries on the life of a trapper’s wife in Northern Labrador. Excellent source however primarily focusses on the 1920s onwards. See pages 61 & 89. Goudie, Joseph (foreword). Alluring Labrador: A Journey Through Labrador. Happy ValleyGoose Bay: Them Days Magazine, 1980. (Shawyer Collection) Travel guide very specific to the era, beginning with the history of Labrador in general, and then going into historical accounts about how specific communities were settled. There are brief references to gardening practices. Grenfell, Wilfred T. A Labrador Doctor: The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919. (Shawyer Collection) Grenfell’s personal reflections on life as a doctor servicing northern Newfoundland and Labrador. Includes personal family history, young life, and extensive experiences as a doctor. Specific references to observations around agriculture exist throughout the text. Grenfell, Wilfred T. “Labrador.” The Geographical Journal, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Apr., 1911), pp. 407418. (Online via MUN) 6 Speech written by Grenfell for the Royal Geographical Society on some of his observations over the 20 years he had been working in Labrador. Some of the information he covers includes the geography, climate, wild food sources, and conditions for growing vegetables (with a comparison between the coastal area and inland Labrador). Grenfell, Wilfred T. “Dr. Grenfell’s Log.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 13, Issue 4 (Jan. 1917): 13944. (MUN DAI) Included in this highly detailed summary of all activities undertaken by Dr. Grenfell during this period, are some of his personal observations of gardening practices. In particular he mentions Mrs. Bailey and her work at the outpost in Forteau. Note: There are photographs of Bailey in the Rooms Grenfell collection. Grenfell, Wilfred T. Promotional Pamphlets for the Grenfell Mission. NonGovernment Records, The Rooms Provincial Museum and Archives. (PANL File MG 63.2140) File folder of ephemera published by the Grenfell Mission to promote their activities in Northern Newfoundland and along the Labrador coast for fundraising purposes. Hanrahan, Maura. “Tracing Social Change Among the Labrador Inuit: What Does the Nutrition Literature Tell Us?” The Nunatsiavummiut Experience: Settlement, Subsistence, and Change Among the Labrador Inuit. Eds. David C. Natcher, Lawrence Felt, and Andrea Procter. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2012: 12138. Article in anthology on how the introduction of European food has impacted the traditional food systems of Labrador Inuit communities over time. Haven, Jens. Letter to Governor John Byron from Jens Haven, 1770. NonGovernment Records. The Rooms Provincial Archives: St. John’s. (MG 251) An eightpage letter written by Jens Haven addressed to "The Rt. Hon. John Byron, Governor and Commander in Chief in and over the Island of Newfoundland and the Coast of Labrador, 13 September 1770." The letter detailed Haven's arrival in Henley Harbour, Labrador and details his interactions with the Inuit. In the letter, he claims land at Esquimaux Bay in the name the Moravian Church. Hudson's Bay Company. HBC Heritage. Our History: People: Governors. Web Resource. http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/donaldsmith 7 Website hosted by the Hudson's Bay Company featuring important historical accounts and profiles, including a section on former Governors. A write up on the life and accomplishments of Donald Smith can be found here, with information about his “wonder farm” in Rigolet, Labrador. There is also a photograph of the house he once lived in. Hussey, Greta. Our Life on Lear’s Room, Labrador. Flanker Press: St. John’s, 1981. Personal reflections of Hussey’s time spent going up to “the Labrador” with her seasonal fisherman father. Excellent descriptions of the lifestyle she lived/witnessed, and includes some information about gardening practices. Hutton, Samuel King. A Shepherd in the Snow: The Life Story of Walter Perrett of Labrador. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1936. (MUN DAI) Written by a doctor who was brought to the coast by the Moravian Mission, this book contains a good description of gardens, as well as having attitudes around the success of these gardens. For instance, Okak is referred to as a paradise due to the sight of the thriving gardens. Hutton, Samuel King. An Eskimo Village. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1929. (MUN DAI) Observations made by Hutton of Inuit villages and lifestyles from a distinctly Moravian perspective. Provides a historic background of growing in Labrador by early missionaries, compared to how it operated during his time. Jarvis, Dale G. Converting the Landscape: Changes to the Land in Moravian Labrador. Corner Brook: Sir WIlfred Grenfell College, Interdisciplinary Conference: Order and Chaos, 1996. (MUN internet resources) Conference paper detailing the arrival of missionaries in Nain, and the changes that were made to the land in terms of the settlement that they encouraged (enforced) where they built the mission. Some specific references to pleasure versus vegetable gardens, and their importance to the Moravians. King, Joan. “My Years in Labrador,” Them Days, Vol. 36, No. 4, 2012: 8. (CNS) 1960s account of trying to grow a garden in Postville. Anecdote about Gaze Seed Co. and “hot caps.” The result was a good crop of cabbages. Ryerson, Knowles A. “Health and Happiness in Labrador.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 27, Issue 1 (April, 1929): 1416. (MUN DAI) 8 Ryerson, who was in charge of foreign plant introduction for the US Department of Agriculture, describes conditions for growing in Labrador. In his article he writes about the Grenfell garden campaign and its positive impact on residents, despite seeming like an inhospitable location to grow vegetables. Includes information about types of crops, climate, land/soil, and who maintains the gardens. La Trobe, Benjamin. With the Harmony to Labrador: Notes of a Visit to the Moravian Mission Stations on the NorthEast Coast of Labrador, 17521786. 1888. (MUN internet resources) Details a visit to each mission station along the coast, including prejudiced observations of the Inuit population. Not overly helpful in terms of descriptions of grounds and gardens, but some interesting interactions are detailed, illuminating attitudes of prejudice (which is presumed to exist but is less explicit in other texts). There is a statement of interest about Inuit gardening practices, as detailed in the attached notes. Learning, Forward. “Gardening and Boat Building, Reminiscences of Paradise, Labrador.” Them Days, Vol. 27., No. 3., Spring, 2002: 5767. (CNS) This useful personal account has been photocopied for reference purposes. Luther, Eva. “Gardening at St. Lewis and Spotted Island,” Them Days, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2012: 589. (CNS) Description of gardening in the area beginning in 1978. Types of vegetables grown, building of the soil, and some background in IGA/hospital influence on gardens. Includes a photograph and a handwritten seed list. Also refers to the Mission magazine Among the Deep Sea Fishers, for their reports on the work done by the P. and S. students and doctors with gardening. Merrick, Elliott. Northern Nurse. Halifax: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1994. (Shawyer Collection) Contains references to Hudson's Bay Company and Grenfell’s operations with specific mention to agricultural practices. The text revolves around the life of an Australian Nurse named Kate Austen who lived in Labrador in the 1920s30s. Montague, John. “Interview with Isaac (Ike) Rich, 1973, North West River,” Them Days, Vol. 23, No. 4, Summer 1998: 5164. (CNS) Interview with fur trapper starting from his early experience of catching his first fox in 1914. Makes mention of how there was no gardening in his family in that area, and the few families that did garden, started in the 1930s. Credits Dr. Paddon (with the IGA) for introducing the practice. 9 Muir, Ethel Gordon. Black Duck Cove, Straits of Belle Isle, Nfld. Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 20, Issue 34 (Jan. 1923): 13738. Reflections of a teacher who operated her own schoolhouse in Labrador starting in 1909. Opens with her belief in the importance of gardens and how she would encourage others to garden. She includes a list and description of the tools they used, and how she would enlist the children for help in the garden. Natcher, David C., Felt, Lawrence, and Procter, Andrea (Eds.) The Nunatsiavummiut Experience: Settlement, Subsistence, and Change Among the Labrador Inuit. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2012. (JSTOR via MUN) Anthology that discusses the history of subsistence living for the Labrador Inuit, particularly as the diet has undergone significant change postcontact. At times archeological, and other times statistical, it provides a researchbased overview of this topic. One particularly useful essay by Maura Hanrahan, offers a history of the Moravian missions and the direct implication of the food that they introduced See pages 121138. O’Brien, Patricia (Ed). The Grenfell Obsession: An Anthology. St. John’s: Creative Publishers, 1992. (Shawyer Collection) A collection of essays and photographs detailing many different facets of the Grenfell Mission. Touches on diseases and challenges faced by Labradorians, and some of the people connected to the Grenfell Mission including Dr. Paddon. The infamous “cabbages” photograph featuring Dr. Grenfell is featured along with information on the gardening campaigns of the 1920s30s, and how it came into being. See pages 12427. Omohundro, John. Rough Food: The Seasons of Subsistence in Northern Newfoundland. St. John’s: Social and Economic Studies No. 54, ISER, Memorial University, 1994. (Shawyer Collection—photocopy) Overview of foodways practices on the GNP. Includes a section in the chapter Decline and Persistence, on how the missionaries provided guidance and support around agricultural skills in Labrador, with specific reference to the Moravians. It then moves onto a history of Grenfell’s efforts in the region. Excellent summary of Grenfell’s agricultural initiatives, including the greenhouses. Paddon, Anthony. “Ellis Michelin: Labrador's First FullTime Gardener and Farmer, 19141984.” Them Days, Vol. 10, No. 1, Sept., 1984: 2227. Dr. Paddon of the IGA writes about a gardener employed by the mission. There is a good description of his farming practices along with references to Jim Tucker. 10 Paddon, Harry MD. The Mission Stations: Emily Beaver Chamberlain Memorial Hospital, North West River, Labrador. Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 15, Issue 3 (Oct. 1917): 10405. (MUN DAI) A letter to the editor written by Dr. Paddon (of the Grenfell Mission) detailing activities at the mission stations on the Labrador coast. Includes struggles met by the community and donations he and his family have made. Also mentions their garden which is “dogproof” and their hopes for increased land cultivation. Pardy, Elsie. “There’s Always Something to Do.” Them Days, Vol. 36, No. 4, 2012: 6162. (CNS Periodicals) 1940s account of attending the Lockwood Mission school in Cartwright. School food and farm described. Peacock, Dr. F.W. The Moravian Mission in Labrador 1752—1979. Doctoral thesis. St. John’s: Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1981. (CNS BX 8567 N4 P4 1981) Thesis focusses on the more religious history of the Moravians and their settlement and missionary work. It has one section on the social and cultural change for the Inuit, through this contact, but doesn't discuss agriculture. There are a few references to early attitudes around agriculture here, as well as a brief description of one Moravian farm site. Peacock, F.W. Rev. “The Moravian Church in Labrador: 17271970s. Includes A. Perrault's reminiscences.” Them Days, Vol. 1., No. 3, 1976: 312. (CNS Periodicals) Article by Reverence Peacock mostly focussing on the role of the church and community governance. Perrett, Rev. W. W. “A Year’s Life and Work at One of Our Labrador Mission Stations.” Moravian Missions, Nov. 1918: 8284. (MUN DAI) Short article by a Moravian reverend that summarizes the activities of the Hopedale mission over the course of a year. There is a section that goes over the garden bounty of that summer, and how much food was distributed to the “Eskimos.” Plant, Dorothy A. “Lasting Lure.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers, VOL. 58, Issue 4 (Jan. 1961): 102104. (DAI via PAB) Secretary for the Grenfell Labrador Medical Mission writes on some of the work that has been done on the coast. Mentions on page 102 that the Grenfell Mission and the 11 Moravian Mission “work closely together in the northern Labrador stations.” She then discusses her own trips and observations. Roberts, Sheila. Rain Drizzle Fog: The Joys and Sorrows of Newfoundland Weather, Portugal Cove—St. Phillips: Boulder Publications, 2014. A title focussing on the weather of Newfoundland and Labrador, including some historical accounts on the connection between weather and the ability to grow food in this climate. Rollmann, Hans. “Nunak: A Labrador Inuk in 18thCentury London, 17691788.” Them Days, Vol. 28, No. 2, 2014: 1014. Focusses on the fate of young Inuit who were taken to Europe and the vulnerability of the community to smallpox and other communicable diseases. Not relevant to agriculture necessarily, but offers information about the relationship between the Moravians and the Inuit, and explores the impact of this connection. Rollmann, Hans Ed. “Moravian Beginnings in Labrador: Papers from a Symposium held in Makkovik and Hopedale.” An Occasional Publication of Newfoundland and Labrador Studies, No. 2: 2009. (CNS BX 8567 N4 M56 2009 c.2.) Introduction of this collection of papers includes an excellent concise summary of Moravians in Labrador. It has a description of the settlements and the situation around trade that evolved. Rollmann, Hans. Labrador Through Moravian Eyes: 250 Years of Art, Photographs and Records. St. John’s: Special Celebrations Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador Inc., 2002. (Shawyer Collection) Predominantly consisting of the photographs taken by Moravian Missionaries, the book begins with a detailed account of the history of such missionaries on the Labrador coast. It is very detailed with specific dates and missionary names. Direct references to Moravian gardens are included. Rollmann, Hans. Religion, Society & Culture in Newfoundland and Labrador: Moravians. Website: http://www.mun.ca/rels/morav/index.html Accessible online, this site includes a collection of observations regarding several of the missions in the early 1860s, mostly from one particular voyage (re: Reichel). There is information about the stations and the land around each station, including vegetation, descriptions of religious services, information on specific residents of the community, 12 their personal hardships etc. Also a good source for information for population numbers, number of houses, number of families. Rompkey, Ronald (Ed). Jessie Luther: At the Grenfell Mission. Montreal and Kingston: McGillQueen’s University Press, 2001. (Shawyer Collection) Diaries written by Luther between 19061910. She had been enlisted by Grenfell to come to St. Anthony to teach handicraft textile skills to the women in the community. She helped create the hooked mat movement. Much of the information is centered on the GNP and Grenfell’s activities there, rather than Labrador, but there are still important references to gardening, including a complete chapter on the Moravian missions from her personal observations in 1910. Rompkey, Ronald (Ed.). Labrador Odyssey: The Journal and Photographs of Eliot Curwen on the Second Voyage of Wilfred Grenfell, 1893. Montreal and Kingston: McGillQueen’s University Press, 1996. (Shawyer Collection) Great source of information based on the observations of Dr. Curwen, colleague of Dr. Grenfell. The photographs are mostly portraits of families and their abodes (i.e. exterior and interiors of tilts). Also includes reports written by Dr. Grenfell on the social conditions they witnessed, and the overall lack of fresh food access. Journals detail a visit to the Moravian Mission in Hopedale including information about the extensive gardens. Rudkowski, Clarice Blake. “We Lived on the South Side.” Them Days, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2008: 3945. (CNS Periodicals) Family reminiscences on life spent in North West River and Sheshatshiu. Includes valuable references to gardening. Rudkowski, Edward. “Grandma and Grandpa, 50 Years Together.” Them Days, Vol. 13 No. 4, June 1988: 5461. (CNS Periodicals) Life reflections that include family gardening practices in the Happy Valley area. Information goes back to the early 1900s. Saunders, Doris. “Plants and Gardening.” Them Days, Vol. 8, No. 1, Sept.,1982: 416. (CNS Periodicals) Saunders begins this article with entries from Cartwright’s journals and writings from the 1780s about his gardening practices in Labrador. The article then goes on to offer personal anecdotes and reflections from gardeners from many different communities. These compiled writings are excellent but haven’t been transcribed because they are too plentiful. 13 Saunders, Doris. “Hopedale Moravian Mission—17821982.” Them Days, Vol. 8, No. 1, Sept., 1982: 1721. (CNS Periodicals) Here Saunders provides a summary of activities related to the Hopedale mission station. Sears, Fred C. “The 1933 Labrador Garden Campaign.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers 32, no. 1 (1934): 812. (MUN DAI) This article, written by Sears, a horticulturalist who began the gardening program in 1928, details the developments of this campaign. Some of the information includes successes of current gardens, challenges faced by some citizens, and garden competitions. Best overview of Grenfell campaign available. His essay has been reprinted in O’Brien’s work: The Grenfell Obsession: An Anthology. Smith, Archibald Alex George. Grenfell’s Work in Northern Newfoundland and Labrador, With Special Reference to Grenfell. Doctoral Thesis. Curling, Newfoundland: (1970) The Department of Church History of Pine Hill Divinity Hall, 1970. (PANL File MG63.2098) A thesis on many aspects of Grenfell’s work including brief mentions of how he encouraged coastal people to grow gardens and pick berries. Emphasis is on religious and spiritual life of Grenfell. The author is from the St. Anthony area, b.1916. Sniffen, Stewart B. MD. “The Traveling Labrador Healthy Unit.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 20, Issue 34 (Jan. 1923): 109114. (MUN DAI) Comprehensive overview of the health conditions and all related factors as seen on the Labrador coast at the time of publication. There is a section on agriculture and not only its historic connection to Moravian practices, but it’s enduring need. Sweeney, Lucy. “William’s Harbor Labrador.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 20, Issue 24 (Jan. 1923): 13536. (DAI via PAB) Personal reflections on keeping seeds and how the children of William’s Harbor made their own small gardens. Stedman, Joan. “Nursing at Cartwright.” Them Days, Vol. 18, No. 1, 1992: 317. (CNS Periodicals) From the diary of a nurse working in Labrador for the IGA. Descriptive writing includes information about the grounds, gardens, and who maintained the various mission components. 14 Stopp, Marianne P. Ed. The New Papers of Captain George Cartwright. Montreal and Kingston: McGillQueen’s University Press, 2008. (Viewed source online) Transcribed and annotated by Stopp, this book is comprised of Cartwright’s journals from 16 years spent on the coast between 1760 and 1776. Information includes “...how to build a house in a subarctic climate, the best methods of sealing, trapping, and salmon fishing, as well as merchant rivalries and trade with Aboriginal groups.” Taber, Ralph Graham. “In Rugged Labrador.” Outing Vol. 27, No. 1 (Oct. 1895): 1623. (MUN DAI) See pages 1819 for details about Moravian gardening practices in Hebron. It’s a good observational record that includes information about fertilizers as well as how to protect plants from frost. Close to a stepbystep guide for the growing process. Townsend, Charles Wendell (Ed). Captain Cartwright and His Labrador Journal. Boston: Dana Estes & Company Publishers, 1911. (Shawyer Collection) Highly relevant source detailing all aspects of early voyages to Labrador made by Captain George Cartwright. His accounts include many references to his gardening experiences. This book contains perhaps the earliest written references to agriculture, aside from what the Moravians were documenting during a similar time period. See pages 55, 56, 94, 176, 196, 227, 295, 339, 340, 358361. Also see Them Days Vol. 32, No. 2, 2010, as they have published excerpts from Cartwright’s diaries with direct reference to his vegetable gardens, successes and challenges. Whiteley, William H. “The Moravian Missionaries and the Labrador Eskimos in the Eighteenth Century.” Church History, Vol. 35, No. 1, Cambridge University Press. (Mar., 1966): 7692. (Online via MUN) Historic survey or early mission attempts of the Moravians, and then details around Haven’s successful settlement. Offers concise history with one reference to mission gardens. Whiteley, William H. Records of the Moravian Mission in Labrador. St. John’s: Memorial University: 1971. (CNS BX 8565 M611 c.2) Document serves as an inventory of all archival records help on microfilm in the MUN collections. Brief description of each record or collection of records. Could be helpful in finding specific information about mission settlement services and how work/food was distributed. Some diaries are in this inventory, as well as annual reports that included details on weather, living conditions, and successes/failures of gardens. Six packets are included that have this information (see pg. 19 of inventory).The associated microfilm 15 can be found in the CNS: microfilm 690 v.1—v.92. Also see microfilm 512 for Moravian paper records. The Moravians in Labrador. Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Son, 1835. (CNS Microfilm CIHM NO.38364) Descriptive writing around the details of settlement, including endeavors and challenges. There is also specific reference to attempts at transmitting skills to the native population, including housebuilding and gardening. Greater emphasis though, is on the spiritual impact of the Moravians. Section B: Reference material with general information about agriculture in Newfoundland and Labrador, and/or general history. Arendt, Beatrix. “Caribou to Cod: Moravian Missionary Influence on Inuit Subsistence Strategies.” Historical Archeology: Environmental and Economic Archeologies of Missions, Colonies, and Plantations, Vol. 44, No. 3 (2010): 81101. (JSTOR via MUN) Impact of Moravian missionary presence on hunting, fishing and settlement for the coastal population in Labrador. Includes intentions of Moravians plus overall effect in regards to spiritual/social/cultural factors. See list of references at the end of the article. Budgel, Richard and Stavely, Michael. The Labrador Boundary. Happy ValleyGoose Bay: Labrador Institute of Northern Studies, Memorial University, 1987. (Shawyer Collection) An essay on the joining of Newfoundland and Labrador, with a concise overview of Labrador’s history including information about Cartwright and the Moravian Mission. Cadigan, Sean. “The Role of Agriculture in Outport SelfSufficiency,” The Resilient Outport, St. John’s: Memorial University, 2002. (CNS HC 117 N4 R469 2002) Article in anthology about government policy around agriculture in Newfoundland and its impact on farming practices. It’s ties to the fishery are also laid out, as well as information on the Great Depression and how it influenced practices and policies around such practices. Chaulk Murray, Hilda. More Than Fifty Percent: Woman’s Life in Newfoundland 16 Outport 19001950. St. John’s: Memorial University of Newfoundland, Folklore and Language Publication, 1979. (Shawyer Collection) An overview of the life and work of women living in Newfoundland outports during the early to mid twentieth century. Topics include home, child care, livelihood, and larger roles in the community setting. References to gardening practices include how to fertilize with fish remains, types of vegetables grown, variety of seed, and specific gardening duties. See pages 1821. Chaulk Murray, Hilda. Of Boats on the Collar: How It Was in One Newfoundland Fishing Community. St. John’s: Flanker Press, 2007. (Shawyer Collection) This book details the outport life in Elliston and surrounding area. It includes information, photographs, and diagrams arounds the fishery, boats and boat building, and fisheries architecture. Gardening is also referred to, as it was important in daytoday life in this community. Felt, Lawrence F. and Peter R. Sinclair (Eds). Living on the Edge: The Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. Social and Economic Paper, No. 21, ISER, Memorial University, 1995. (CNS HC 117 N4 L58 1995) Overview of contemporary gardening practices in communities on the GNP. Mostly focuses on postconfederation conditions and access to food of all kinds, including selfsufficient acts such as hunting, fishing, and animal husbandry. Gordon, Henry. The Labrador Parson: Journal of the Reverend Henry Gordon 19151925. Edited by F. Burnham Gill. St. John’s: Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador, 1972. (Shawyer Collection) Personal diaries of a parson who tended to the ministry in Sandwich Bay, located in Cartwright. Part of his work involved extensive travels in Labrador, mostly by dog team. These journals detail the kinds of hardships and challenges he witnessed and experienced. It does not cover what he learned in terms of subsistence. Gosling, William Gilbert. Labrador: It's Discovery, Exploration and Development. London: A. Rivers, 1910. (Online via MUN) Available on “Our Roots: Canada's Local Histories Online” website. Historic overview of Labrador's different moments of “discovery” by voyagers including early Norse visits, Cabot in 1497, and ending with the Moravian settlements. Houghton, Frank L. “The Strathcona Line.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers, Vol. 64, Issue 2 (July 1966): 3536. (MUN DAI) 17 This article is on the history of the steamers that were being used by the Grenfell Mission. The piece came out upon the launch of the Strathcona III. It is most interesting for the story of how this line is named after Donald Smith for his early contributions to the Grenfell Mission, showing the interconnection between these different groups (HBC and Grenfell). Hutton, Samuel King. By Patience and the Word: The Story of Moravian Missions. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1935. (MUN DAI) Book chronicles early mission work with a few brief references to gardening. This account is largely from an ecclesiastical perspective. Kelleo, Josephina. Taipsumane: A Collection of Labrador Stories. Nain: Torngasok Cultural Centre, 1984. (Shawyer Collection) Folk drawings accompanied by brief descriptions of the traditional way of life among Inuit in Labrador. Includes information on traditional dress, knowledge, and customs, as well as how things have changed since the author’s childhood. Traditional language is represented, as well as syllabics. Loder, Millicent Blake. Daughter of Labrador. Harry Cuff Publications, St. John’s: Harry Cuff Publications, 1989. (Shawyer Collection) Detailing the life of a health pioneer in Labrador, who was from Rigolet. She chronicles many experiences in terms of helping the people who needed medical attention. While there are no references to farming she does describe Moravian buildings/settlements. Moravian Mission. The Moravian Mission in Labrador: The Story of Over 200 Years Service Among the Inuit and Settlers of Northern Labrador, 1971. (CNS BX 8567 N4 M57 1982) Booklet offering a concise history of Moravian settlement and mission activities in Labrador (organized according to specific communities). It does not have any information about agricultural attempts, but does briefly touch on dealings with the Hudson's Bay Company. It is written in English and Inuktitut. Booklet somewhat works to justify presence saying that the Moravians protected Inuit form contact/trade that could have decimated the population (like on the Southern Coast). Paddon, W. A. Labrador Doctor: My Life with the Grenfell Mission. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, Publishers, 1989. (Shawyer Collection) Details the working life of Dr. Harry Paddon of the Grenfell Mission, who began his work in Labrador in 1912 and saw much need for his medical support and expertise. Not a major source of information on agriculture but includes details about diet, malnutrition, 18 mission work, family history, and descriptions of communities. Page 12 offers his role as an advocate of gardening in Labrador, while page 74 has information about the mission farm in St. Anthony. From other sources, it is clear that Dr. Paddon was an active and respected doctor in the region. Pope, Peter E. Fish Into Wine: The Newfoundland Plantation in the Seventeenth Century. Chapel Hill and Williamsburg: University of North Carolina, Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, 2004. (Shawyer Collection—photocopy) Article on the early fishery settlements in Newfoundland with direct references to agricultural practices of the time. This work is a good companion to Labrador specific publications as it offers a point of comparison for what would be introduced north. See page 344 for gardens near St. John’s in 1677. Richards, J.T. Snapshots of Grenfell. St. John’s: Creative Publishers,1989. (Shawyer Collection) Details the early relationship between canon Richards and Dr. Grenfell, as they encountered each other on the Northern Peninsula in 1892. Richards was in charge of the parsonage at Flower’s Cove. This publication covers information about the work he accomplished, as well as Grenfell’s mission. No references to Grenfell’s agricultural initiatives. Rollmann, Hans. The Moravians in Labrador: Christoph Brasen (17381774), Paper document, St. John’s: Memorial University, 1997. (CNS BV 2560 R65 1997 c.1). Short paper about the life of a missionary, Brasen, who arrived with Haven in 1771, helping set up Nain as first superintendent, but died in a boating accident soon later. Rompkey, Ronald. Grenfell of Labrador: A Biography. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991. (Shawyer Collection) This book is a cohesive history of Grenfell’s early voyages and later missions. It discusses the complex relationship between Moravian missionaries and Grenfell Mission, as well as all hurdles the mission faced. No direct mention of agriculture. See page 51 for details around health issues/poverty in Labrador at the time of the early Grenfell Mission. Stopp, Marianne P. “Eighteenth Century Labrador Inuit in England.” Arctic. Vol. 62, No. 1, (March 2009): 45 – 64. (Available online: http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic62145. pdf) 19 An article on the Inuit individuals who were brought to England and offers summaries of/from the documentation that went along with these voyages. It also details some of the tragic circumstances that occurred from such cultural exchange experiences. Them Days: Stories of Early Labrador, various issues. (CNS Periodicals) Searched these issues but no direct gardening anecdotes: Vol. 33, No. 3, 2009; Vol. 23, No. 1, Fall, 1997; Vol. 13, No. 2, March 1998; Vol. 14, No. 3, April, 1989; Vol. 14, No. 2, Jan., 1989; Vol. 12, No. 2, Dec. 1986; Vol. 10, No. 4, June, 1985; Vol. 11, No. 1, Sept., 1985; Vol. 11, No. 2, Dec., 1985; Vol. 9, No. 2, Dec., 1983; Vol. 7, No. 2, 1981; Vol. 6, No. 3, 1981. Tizzard, Aubrey M. On Sloping Ground. St. John’s: Memorial University, Folklore and Language Publication, 1984. (Shawyer Collection) Excellent source of information on all facets of traditional gardening/farming practices in fishing settlements in Notre Dame Bay. It is as much of a family history, as it is a review of traditional activities that would have been shared with the wider community. It is localized to Newfoundland with no reference to gardening in Labrador. Williamson, H. Anthony. “The Moravian Mission and Its Impact on the Labrador Eskimo.” Arctic Anthropology, Vol. 2, No. 2 (1964): 3236. (JSTOR via MUN) General overview of the Moravian mission work in Labrador including the amount of land acquired, specific dates for when missions began and when they closed, when and why the Moravians handed over trade management to the Hudson's Bay Company. Also includes information on the nature of the mission stations, how they operated, and how they aided the Inuit. Reference Material: Transcriptions and Quotes A: Moravian Mission Haven, Jens. Letter to Governor John Byron from Jens Haven, 1770. NonGovernment Records. The Rooms Provincial Archives: St. John’s. (MG 251) “We have made some little sketches of the coast of Labrador, especially where we are to fix our habitation but as they are very imperfect and poor we are ashamed to send them to you before we can be able to explain them by word of mouth to you. We have had many agreeable conversations with the Esquimaux and they willingly agreed to let us take their 12 miles square of their land on their coast wherever we pleased and every tribe of them wished that we would come and live with them. 20 They made us a present of that land for a small present which we gave to them (or as they said sold it to us) and we could never do the Esquimaux greater displeasure than telling them if they did not behave well we would not come and live with them and that kept them in order. They never did us the least harm but only one of them cut of a small rope of little or no value and that he was obliged to bring back again.” Hanrahan, Maura. “Tracing Social Change Among the Labrador Inuit: What Does the Nutrition Literature Tell Us?” The Nunatsiavummiut Experience: Settlement, Subsistence, and Change Among the Labrador Inuit. Eds. David C. Natcher, Lawrence Felt, and Andrea Procter. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press (2012): 12138. "The Inuit household economy remained relatively intact in the early Moravian era. The missionaries effect on Inuit food consumption would have been somewhat limited, given that the majority of Inuit continued their version of seasonal transhumance. It is likely that the diets of the missionaries and their families changed the most, since they had left an agrarian society ... in Europe. Their attempts to engage in farming—building small kitchen gardens at the mission stationsmet with limited success in this geophysical environment. Indeed, in September 1876 a missionary's child died "of a complaint which is new in Labrador as far as we know; it appears to be a form of scurvy." But change was occurring, albeit slowly, through the adaptation phase, partly as a result of periods of food shortage, such as the 1845 famine. Some Inuit went inland for trout and died there of starvation. Inuit began consuming foodstuffs imported by the Moravian missionaries and eating the vegetables cultivated by the missionaries, although the Europeans did not necessarily encourage the practice.... Samuel King Hutton, one of the only two physicians ever hired by the Moravian missions, worked at the Okak hospital from 1903 to 1908. Hutton's description of the Inuit in a 1909 monograph shows that pre contact foods remained important, especially the seal, followed by caribou. Inuit also ate walrus, bears, foxes, and sea birds, as well as tiny snow bunting. Trout and cod were not preserved in salt, which was the European practice at the time. Sculpin tails, mussels, and sea urchins were also consumedall of this in marked contrast to the preferred Moravian diet of grains, domesticated meats, and vegetables from their kitchen gardens (12728).” Whiteley, William H. “The Moravian Missionaries and the Labrador Eskimos in the Eighteenth Century.” Church History, Vol. 35, No. 1, Cambridge University Press. (Mar., 1966): 7692. (Re: 1771) “The Conference of Moravian Elders wisely advised the missionaries to trade with the Eskimos at fair rates, and not to borrow from them or accustom them to 21 gifts. No liquor or firearms were to be supplied the natives and the missionaries were to try to keep them away from the around around the Strait of Belle Isle. The missionaries were to live off the country as much as possible (80).” (Re: 1773) “In February 1773 Jens Haven and two other missionaries travelled with an Eskimo party fortytwo miles to secure the blubber and fins of a stranded whale. After a hard sledge journey of ten days, they returned to Nain tired, hungry, lousy, and frostbitten. They had not been able to get any blubber but had made use of the opportunity to make close contact with the natives and preach to them in the igloos where all were confined by bad weather. In the spring and summer the Moravians built boats for sale to the Eskimos and made valiant attempts to cultivate a mission garden (82).” “At the close of the eighteenth century, there were at Nain, Okak, and Hopedale 26 missionaries and a total of 228 resident Eskimos under pastoral care, of whom 110 were baptized. The Moravians made the Eskimos implements for fishing and gardening, constructed boats for their use, and aided them in building substantial houses. In addition the Brethren utilized every expedient to lessen their dependence on European supplies. Since most of the missionaries came from the artisan and working classes, they were accustomed to a simple style of living and did not look down on manual labour (88).” “The missionaries were accustomed to a simple standard of living, and possessed manual skills which helped the mission households reduce their dependence on imported European goods. In addition, the Moravian tradition of communal living enabled the missionaries to pool effectively their resources and training them the isolation of Labrador and labour together with remarkably little friction (90).” Bisbee, John B. Fonds, 19131914. NonGovernment Records. The Rooms Provincial Archives: St. John’s. (MG 735) (Re: Visits to the Moravian stations along the coast) “August 1914, Hopedale. Hopedale is the most southerly Moravian Post on the Labrador coast and it is here that one gets their first real glimpse of the Eskimo. The wonderful Moravian gardens.” Budgell, Leonard. “Old Stone and Sod Houses.” Them Days, Vol. 16, No.3, April 1991: 5963. “...I had seen old pictures of the Mission which showed sod houses where the Mission gardens were in my time. Doubtless the sod contributed much of the soil that I found 22 there and which still nourished dozens of big Iceland poppies planted long ago by the Moravian Missionaries. I transplanted many of these pretty flowers into two cold frames and had a nice display of colour from seed that was originally planted nearly a hundred years before (62).” Rompkey, Ronald (Ed). Jessie Luther: At the Grenfell Mission. Montreal and Kingston: McGillQueen’s University Press, 2001. (Re: Chapter 5: Moravian Missions and Eskimos) “16th31st August, 1910—Hopedale. Mrs. Lenz brought out some Eskimo motto cards, postcards and a few deerskin articles which the passengers snapped up at once. She then led us along a walk bordered by trees, through a kitchen garden where lettuce, potatoes, rhubarb, turnips and even cauliflower were flourishing, then through a gate in the picket fence to another lovely spot with trees, shrubs and walks leading to seats beside them. There was even a little teahouse, and in one place, a seat and table were raised by rock and sand to a height overlooking the sea and hills (266).” Borthwick, Jane. The Story of Moravian Missions in Greenland and Labrador by H.L.L. London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1873. “The warm season, though very short is warm—the thermometer at times rising to eightysix degrees. Thus plants and vegetables can be raised beyond what is possible in Greenland; and some trees of the hardy pine species, in sheltered situations, stand the winter frosts, and grow high enough to be of use for building purposes. Hares, foxes, and other animals are numerous, whose skins are valuable as articles or trade. Large herds of reindeer roam over the land; there also roams the polar bear, whose immense strength and ferocity make him when pressed by hunger an object of real terror to the Esquimaux, or indeed to anyone who comes in his way (103).” “The Bishop and Count Zinzendorf readily entered into Erhardt's views and wishes, consulting with Matthew Stach. Application was made to the Hudson Bay Company “for permission to preach the gospel to the savages in the neighbourhood of their factories.” This was refused. Three English merchants, however, unconnected with the Company, fitted out a vessel for trade with Labrador, engaged Erhardt as supercargo, and willingly agreed to take out a party of missionaries. Four Moravian Brethren volunteered to go and be left on the coast. They took with them a wooden house, ready to set up, furniture, a boat, etc. The Hope and her passengers reached the southeast coast of Labrador in the end of July 1752 (107).” (This continues as an account of how Erhardt and five sailors had gone ashore and never returned...) Rollmann, Hans Ed. “Moravian Beginnings in Labrador: Papers from a 23 Symposium held in Makkovik and Hopedale.” An Occasional Publication of Newfoundland and Labrador Studies, No. 2: 2009. (Re: Publication introduction) “At its height, during the nineteenth century, each major settlement had a large, sometimes twostorey communal mission house and church in German architectural style with a nearby graveyard. The mission stations also included workshops, provision houses, store buildings, including a blubber yard, boat houses, and a saw mill, as well as extensive vegetable and flower gardens. Until 1908, Moravian familiars and single brothers lived and shared their chores under one roof in the large communal dwelling houses, while Inuit families and individuals settled on mission property in sod and eventually wooden houses during the winter. Some people found employment in the extensive gardens of the missions and in other capacities, such as logging operations and building projects. From the beginning, trade, not always profitable and the most troubled link between European missionaries and the Inuit, was part of the Moravian experience in Labrador but was relinquished in 1926 to the Hudson's Bay Company (15).” The Moravians in Labrador. Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Son, 1835. “When the century closed, after three years labour, the missionaries at the three different stations and the pleasure of numbering two hundred and twentyeight resident Esquimaux under their care, of whom one hundred and ten were baptized. This involved them in various other avocations. They had not only to instruct them in matters of religion, but to teach them habits of industry and of economy; and to show them the example, they induced them to build, and assisted them in building, substantial houses; they made them tools for working and implements for fishing and gardening, which last process they had to superintend and to direct. Besides, they erected and kept in repair their own dwellings, cultivated their own gardens, fabricated tools for themselves, and used every exertion to lessen the demand for, or supply the deficiency of their European food (185).” Peacock, Dr. F.W. The Moravian Mission in Labrador 1752—1979. Doctoral thesis. St. John’s: Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1981. Terra de Labrador according to early Moravian authority signified the "land capable of cultivation." However the Reverend L.T. Reichel, a Moravian leader, who visited the coast of Labrador in the year 1877, in his report described the coast saying "…it is a land of rocks and swamps, agriculture is impossible." Jens Haven, pioneer of the permanent Moravian settlement in Labrador says of the site at Nain as being "…even and capable of cultivation." 24 "Professor Hind, in his "Explorations in Labrador" volume 2, page 140 (1863), says "The head of Hamilton Inlet may be termed the garden of the Atlantic Coast of Labrador… At Rigolette there are about seven acres under crop, and the farm boasts of twelve cows, a bull, some sheep, pigs and hens (31)." La Trobe, Benjamin. With the Harmony to Labrador: Notes of a Visit to the Moravian Mission Stations on the NorthEast Coast of Labrador, 17521786. 1888. (Re: visiting the Inuit in their own dwellings in Ramah, 1888.) “Do my readers want to know about the gardens? There are none. Gardening is no employment for the Eskimos; the severity of the climate and their migratory habits forbid it. Nor do they seem to have much taste for flowers, though they see them in the missionaries gardens. They appreciate the vegetables grown there, but they do not care for the trouble of raising them for themselves (41).” Rompkey, Ronald (Ed.). Labrador Odyssey: The Journal and Photographs of Eliot Curwen on the Second Voyage of Wilfred Grenfell, 1893. Montreal and Kingston: McGillQueen’s University Press, 1996. (Re: Hopedale Moravian Mission) “After dinner I was shown the gardens and was as surprised as delighted with what I saw. Each missry. had his garden and grows vegetables chiefly but at one end has one or two beds of flowers in full bloom; the gardens so rich & in such order made me think I was in England again, for who expects to see Polemonium Richardsoni, poppy, nemophila, iris, mignonette, stock, agrostemma & pansy flourish in north Labrador? The large vegetable gardens were full of rhubarb just passing off, celery, cucumber, cauliflower, beet & carrot coming on, and lettuce, kohlrabi, cabbage, curly cabbage, spinach & parsley in good condition. We had great present of rhubarb & lettuce, there being far more than the families cd. consume; at one time the N.F. fishermen used to rob the gardens but of late years “ since Salvation Army men came down” the gardens have not been touched. After examining all the premises I was taken to see “the greatest work of all “; this was the view of the houses in which the people now live as seen from the grasscovered ruins of the old heathen Esquimaux huts of 150 yrs. ago 100101).” Eliot Curwen, Tuesday, August 24, 1893 Rollmann, Hans. Labrador Through Moravian Eyes: 250 Years of Art, Photographs and Records. St. John’s: Special Celebrations Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador Inc., 2002. (Re: Mission in 1771) “Large vegetable and smaller flower gardens with garden houses for each missionary or family, a stable for goats, a recreational forest, landscaped grounds, and wooden walkways were part of most settlements, as were nearby graveyards (10).” 25 (Re: Hopedale in 1861) “...Behind these buildings is a piece of rising ground, planted with firs and larch, and bounded by steep rocks. The ground, which has been cleared by the felling of trees suited for building, is cultivated as a garden, in which potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers, lettuces, and radishes are grown, and succeed very well. Quoting Levin Theodore Reichel’s “Report of the Visitation of the Mission in Labrador,” Periodical Accounts, Vol. 24, 25666. (24). BriceBennett, Carol. Hopedale: Three Ages of a Community in Northern Labrador. St. John’s: Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2003. “Southern traders also introduced card games to Inuit in 1846. This new form of entertainment was readily adopted, despite opposition from missionaries who disapproved of gambling and considered playing cards a vice. The adoption of another pastime, however, gained the Moravians’ approval. As early as 1839, Hoffenthal Inuit began following their example by cultivating small gardens near their homes that contained a few hardy vegetables and flowers. Experiments in growing root crops, which usually matured during the relatively short summer, prospered and provided food which became favoured additions to the Inuit and Moravian diet. Inuit learned gardening skills by being hired to work in the extensive mission gardens, where a wide variety of edible plants were grown (72). (Re: Two page spread called “Gardening in Northern Labrador”) “Every mission station included an extensive area devoted to gardens for growing vegetables that were highly valued on the dining table of Moravian families. Individual missionaries tended their own garden plots containing hardy root crops such as cabbage, turnip, carrot, onion, and potato, as well as various other edible plants, and beds of flowers. At Hoffenthal, a park with walking paths decorated by flowers was created in addition to the vegetable plots, and was an area enjoyed for relaxation by resident missionary and visitors to the community (80).” Omohundro, John. Rough Food: The Seasons of Subsistence in Northern Newfoundland. St. John’s: Social and Economic Studies No. 54, ISER, Memorial University, 1994. (Pg. 11516) “Missionaries were persistent promoters of food production. Their residence in the outports taught them that a diversified approach to subsistence was essential to the inhabitants’ wellbeing. During the nineteenth century the Moravians in Labrador attempted to spread the techniques of agriculture among their trade partners and parishioners, the Inuit and Naskapi. The Moravians were hoping to “civilize” the natives 26 by agriculture as much as to improve their diet. Their efforts failed because the natives ordinarily ate few vegetables and neither the climate nor the technological expertise were adequate. The Grenfell medical mission in northern Newfoundland and Labrador, operating out of St. Anthony beginning in the 1890s, was somewhat more successful in spreading cultivation, because it more realistically concentrated on kitchen gardens. Sir Wilfred Grenfell was an enthusiastic proponent of selfsufficiency so that both the natives and white settlers might achieve a more balanced diet and become less dependent upon merchants (11516).” Hutton, Samuel King. A Shepherd in the Snow: The Life Story of Walter Perrett of Labrador. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1936. (Re: A Moravian account of being in Labrador) “The potatoes, turnips, and cabbages, though doing their best in the cold soil, would not be of eatable size until well on in September, and the only fresh vegetable food, eked out with sparing hand, was the lettuce so carefully grown in window boxes or under glass in frames, and carried to the shelter of the house or covered with coarse sacking against the night frosts. No night is safe from frosts in Labrador; snow might fall in August; and the growing of fresh vegetable food was a tribute to the faith and skill of missionaries who had been good gardeners in warmer lands, and who had carried their faith and skill to the unlikely land of Labrador. “Unlikely” would seem to be a proper word to describe the bare and frozen surroundings of the Labrador gardens; and yet by that skill and care, and by a boundless belief in God that he would let them see the fruit of their toil, the end of the summer always brought potatoes and turnips and cabbages of eatable sizea welcome if shortlived change from the dried and tinned vegetables that are the housewife's material for her cookery during nine or ten months of the Labrador year. One of the missionaries said to me, “We always speak of Okak as a paradise.” “And why?” “'Because the gardens are so good!” I have seen those gardens and lived beside them; I have even had the tilling of one, poor gardener. Settling down as I was; and I wonder still at the patience and faith that have gone to the making of those gardens. Under the steep hillside they lie, with the swamp below them. The earth is but shallow; but such as it is, much of it has been gathered in baskets and wheelbarrows years and years ago, and fed each autumn with seaweed from the beach. Those gardens speak of times that are past; but every year they yield crops that are an astonishment to the stranger. True enough, the potatoes are small, and the cabbages do not often come up to the catalogue picture, but the poor things have had less than three months of doubtful weather and sunshine in which to take root and grow to maturity. It was a cold soil into which they were planted from the window boxes, and the night frosts are ever ready to nip the young shoots. So evening by evening the widows of the village earned a trifle by covering the potato plants with 27 sheets of coarse sacking, and evening by evening the missionary looked at the thermometer that hung outside his window; for if the reading of it made him think that a night frost was likely, down he would go, good man, to cover each tiny struggling cabbage with an empty tin. Such was gardening in Labrador; and if the thought is almost comical, remember that it is by the care for such small things that the missionaries have kept their health, and by the care of health it has been possible for a man to look back on fourandforty years of life in the hard climate of the northernmost part of the coast. Perrett was the son of a gardener; perhaps he had inherited his father's magic touch; and the gardens flourished under his care (358).” Rollmann, Hans. Religion, Society & Culture in Newfoundland and Labrador: Moravians. Website: http://www.mun.ca/rels/morav/index.html Re: Lives and Narratives of Labrador Missionaries: http://www.mun.ca/rels/morav/lives.html Levin Theodor Reichel: Report of the Visitation of the Mission in Labrador, 1861: Hopedale “At the time of our arrival at this Missionstation the weather was very warm, the thermometer being then, and remaining for a long time afterwards, at 77 degrees in the shade. We found the mosquitoes exceedingly troublesome. The first appearance of the settlement, together with the features of the surrounding country, reminded me in many respects of the highest regions of the Giants Mountains of Germany. The Missionhouse is a large structure of two stories, built in 1853 by Br. Kruth. The upper story is occupied by the families of the Brn. Kruth, Elsner and Beyer; the lower, besides the rooms inhabited by Br. Schott and his family, contains several apartments for common use. Adjoining is the former dwellinghouse, built in 1782, now used for various domestic purposes, and containing a carpenter's and smith's shop; from this you enter the old church built in 1784, now in a very dilapidated condition. A new one is in course of erection, of which, however, only the lower part of stone is as yet completed. Two Esquimaux, superintended by Br. Kruth, are at present engaged on the wooden portion of the edifice. It will, when finished, be a great improvement on the old structure. Behind these buildings is a piece of rising ground, planted with firs and larch, and bounded by steep rocks. The ground, which has been cleared by the felling of trees suited for building, is cultivated as a garden, in which potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers, lettuces, and radishes are grown, and succeed very well. In the few warm weeks of summer vegetation proceeds most rapidly. At the time of my visit provisions of various kinds were more plentiful than usual, especially various kinds of fish, seabirds, and game. Sometimes there is great scarcity, and consequent distress in winter.” Nain 28 “The Missionhouse, 76 feet by 32, is very commodious and well built. It is constructed of deal, from the native fir of Labrador, cut into planks and put together by the Missionaries, assisted by the Esquimaux. I saw here, not infrequently, firs and larches of 40 feet in height, and farther inland some 60 feet high. Br. Freitag showed me a block of deal two feet in diameter, which, according to his calculation, must have been 317 years in growing. In this climate the growth of timber is of course very slow. In the neighbourhood of the station timber for building can no longer be procured, but wood for fuel is still abundant. Near the house, on rising ground, is a large wellcultivated garden, which at this time of the year furnishes vegetables of all kinds in abundance, except peas and beans, which do not succeed here. From the garden a gravel walk leads for a considerable distance into the wood. The air is /269/ generally clear and bracing, and it would be very pleasant to wander over hill and dale were it not for the mosquitoes. They are even worse here than at Hopedale.” Hebron “September 19th, the Brn. Erdmann, Ribbach, Tappe, and Sperling came to take us on shore, where we were received by the whole congregation with the singing of hymns and thanksgiving. Br. Sperling's room had been prepared for my reception, and I was in every way made comfortable. In the afternoon we held a solemn lovefeast. The snow storms and fogs which accompanied the north and northeast winds for several days after our arrival, showed plainly that it was high time for us to be here. Later in the year it would scarcely have been possible for us to reach Hebron. I saw this station only in its winter dress, for on the 20th the ground was covered with snow a foot deep, which remained unmelted. Cabbages and turnips and other vegetables had to be dug from under the snow. The summer here is very short. At the beginning of July large masses of snow had still lain round the house and garden, and floating ice encumbered the bay; and now, the whole landscape was again white, and ice was forming on the sea. We had but one fine day.” http://www.mun.ca/rels/morav/texts/reichel2.html Re: Report of the Visitation 1867 Hopedale “The gardens took us by surprise, as vegetation in them was more advanced than we had anticipated: during our stay they improved very perceptibly with the warm weather and occasional heavy rain. Salad and cucumbers in the forcing frames require great care and trouble, which are, however, well repaid. In the little larch plantation stretching away in the direction of Shiphill I found the trees considerably grown, and the ground copiously sprinkled with pretty flowers, among which the Linnaea was particularly striking. 29 Native houses, built without any regularity amongst the rocks, line the road to the burialground; they are forty in number, and there are besides three houses of settlers, and one guesthouse for the use of visiting members and officials of the Hudson's Bay Company on their occasional trips past this place. The dwellings are much better than I found them fifteen years ago. You see no more genuine Eskimo huts, with windows of sealbladder. European blockhouses are now substituted for the former hovels, some of them having a bed of carrots and cabbages on the roof of the porch out of reach of the dogs. Most have glass windows, an iron stove in the centre, curtains to the beds, on which blankets now take the place of reindeerskins. The walls are papered with bright colours and adorned with pictures, and each house has its clock, mirror, and petroleumlamp.” Zoar “Zoar was entirely new to me, having been commenced as one of the consequences of my visit in 1861. The station lies on a small, narrow inlet of the peninsula formed by the Takpangayok Bay, which bears the name Kikkertaujalukkangerdlunga, or the bay of the great peninsula. The beauty of the situation is very striking. On landing, you follow a footpath up a slight ascent to the Eskimo village, in which the houses are all built in a line, and numbered. At the last house, which was Br. Elsner's first home here, a gravelwalk begins, leading past a pretty wood of fir and alder trees, in which you see the high willowweed, with its red flowers, and small white Alpine plants in abundance. The whole is a parklike picture. To the left there is the bay with many boats of the Eskimos. About 150 yards along this path you pass in front of the church, and stand before the missionpremises, at the corner of which the English flag is hoisted. Just outside the missionhouse are two flowerbeds, in which with the thermometer at 80 degrees Fahrenheit hardy flowers, as chinaasters, stocks, mignonette, were thriving beautifully. The house was too small to accommodate so large an influx of guests, and the gardenhouse proved a welcome resort for some meals and for conferences. A passage from the second storey of the missionaries' dwelling leads into the neat little church, for which we had brought a small organ. Both buildings are mainly the work of Br. Elsner. Nearer the landingplace are the storebuildings. The garden was in a flourishing condition, providing very good potatoes and salad for our table.” Nain “The swamp behind the houses has been drained and leveled, and now forms a field, which is sown with oats and barley. When we saw it the crop looked promising, but it is not likely that it will ripen. Here a sledgetrip was improvised for my wife, which quite sufficed to illustrate some of the drawbacks connected with this mode of travelling, especially when the dogs follow the bent of their semiwolfish nature, and attack one another, instead of doing their duty as draughtanimals. The Eskimo is ready and skillful 30 in hitting the chief transgressor with his long whip and restoring order to his team. The gardens looked well, but late potatoes were already on the 30th injured by frost.” Ramah “The present missionhouse, which was put up in a single day, and has since 1871 been the residence of Br. and Sr. Weitz, resembles at first sight a large booth at a fair: it is twenty feet long by thirteen broad, nine feet high in front, and only five at the back. This room served as church, also, until another house was transferred hither from Nachvak and located to the left of the missionhouse, the intervening space forming accommodation, when needful, for an unmarried missionary. The little church, which is also used as a school room by Nicoline, Gottlob's daughter, is exceedingly plain and primitive. Planks resting on blocks of wood, serve as benches, and opening out from the porch is the carpenter's shop. In front of the house is a small garden, which naturally produces much less than those further south, and close to the entrance the bell is hung, now unfortunately of little use, as it is cracked, and requires replacing by a new one. About 200 yards to the rear of the buildings is the burialground, fifteen yards square, marked by four posts: at each corner is a grave; three of those whose remains there await Judgmentday were members of Philip's family, who was for some years a useful helper here, and now lives at Hebron. To the left of the missionpremises is the Eskimo village, consisting of five tents in the summer: adjoining are the four winterhuts of sods, now standing empty, and likely to require considerable repairs before they again become uninhabitable. Upon the side of the Shiphill are storehouses of the Eskimos, built of slate, and the powder magazine, to reach which you have to cross by steppingstones a little stream, which, in the spring, forms a torrent with a fine waterfall. The missionary's pantry or meatsafe, invaluable for preserving their supplies of reindeerflesh in the summer, is a cave, which retains some of the wintersnow, but has the drawback that it becomes inaccessible, when there is a swell landwards.” http://www.mun.ca/rels/morav/texts/Lundberg.html Memoirs of John Lundberg, Missionary in Labrador 185658 "The winter set in so early, that we were obliged to get in a part of our crop of vegetables, when the ground was already covered with snow. It was particularly trying to fell a quantity of wood under such circumstances, as we were obliged to do. However, our Saviour made all toil easy to me, insufficient for His service as I felt myself to be. He also enabled me to devote my only leisure time in the mornings and evenings to the learning of the Esquimaux language, means for the acquisition of which were at that time very slender. I was also enabled to love the Esquimaux heartily, and to pray for their eternal welfare.” 31 Perrett, Rev. W. W. “A Year’s Life and Work at One of Our Labrador Mission Stations.” Moravian Missions, Nov. 1918: 8284. “The weather having been propitious during the summer we were able to gather an exceptionally heavy crop of swedes, turnips, carrots, and various varieties of cabbage from our small garden. Not only had we ample supply for the coming winter, but we were also able to dispose of about 6 pounds worth to the Eskimos. Although they have no leaning towards agriculture, the natives are very partial to turnips, either raw or boiled. The summer had been favourable to them too, as they been able to gather a bounteous harvest from the sea. High prices being paid for dried salt cod the majority of our people were well able to close their accounts—some even had a good surplus to expend for necessities of the coming winter (824).” Hutton, Samuel King. An Eskimo Village. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1929. “And another thing those four young men had brought—a parcel of garden seeds. “Surely,” said they, “this land of Labrador is not all rocks and ice; there must be soil there, and maybe the good God will cause His sunshine to shine even there, and maybe He will cause our garden seeds to grow. We will take seeds—lettuce and turnips and cabbages!” Strange act of faith and common sense! Sure enough, they found soil upon the sloping hillside, and there they planted seeds. I almost think they planted them on the very first day, so as to make the most of the bleak, short summer; for very soon, we read, the seeds began to grow. But, alas, the night frost came and nipped the tender shoots; and so the first planting of a garden on the barren Labrador was a failure. But this act of faith, this planting of a garden in so unpromising a land was a good example for later comers. Nowadays every mission station has its garden, and you may see, if you have the good fortune to be there, potatoes and cabbages and lettuce and turnips all flourishing with amazing hardihood. True, you might also see the aged Eskimo widows earning an honest wage by covering the potato plants with sacks in the cool of the evening, and uncovering them again when the morning sun begins to shine, you might see the grave and bearded missionary putting empty tins over his cabbage shoots, for the plants must be nursed if they are to escape the frosts (289).” Taber, Ralph Graham. “In Rugged Labrador,” Outing Vol. 27, No. 1 (Oct. 1895): 1623. The method of caring for the plants pursued at Hebron, 59 degrees north latitude is as unique as it is laborious, and is a eulogy on German perseverance. The post is located in an exposed and very barren spot, and the soil used is gathered a little in a place and brought, sometimes from considerable distances, to the mission gardens. Fertilizers are a scarce commodity, and all possible substances, from 32 kelp to capelin, are pressed into service to enrich the ground. The plants are sprouted within doors, and when the weather moderates sufficiently to admit of safely transplanting to the outer air, they are carefully placed into tiers of boxes, covered with glass frames, and having a southern exposure. When the sun shines these cases are covered with canvas. When the wind blows, the canvas is supplemented with wooden frames and these held firmly in place by piling heavy rocks upon them. As the season advances, the hardier plants are transplanted to mother earth (18).” Jarvis, Dale G. Converting the Landscape: Changes to the Land in Moravian Labrador. Corner Brook: Sir WIlfred Grenfell College, Interdisciplinary Conference: Order and Chaos, 1996. “Existing separate from the pleasure gardens were the vegetable gardens. In 1864 entomologist and zoologist Alpheus Pakard, travelling along the Labrador coast, was impressed by “Hopedale’s protected gardens” which featured rhubarb, potatoes, cabbages and turnips, as well as a large greenhouse for tomatoes, lettuce and flowers (Pringle 191). Some missionaries, like Walter Perrett, had special talents for raising plants in unlikely habitats (Pringle 212). Sidney Dicker was born in Okak after the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 19181919, remembers the mission garden in Nain. Quoting: “There was quite a little garden there. it had a little blue house in the middle where they used to keep their rakes and shovels and wheelbarrows for looking after their vegetables, like they growed chives they used to call it. Like grass but it was onion tasting, you know. And rhubarbs. This what we’ve got outside the house came from the minister...these blue flowers came from the mission house, …” Considerable work went into the creation of these gardens. Sidney Dickens remembers: Okak missionaries had their rhubarb, lots of it. But rhubarb and other introduced species did not initially grow well in Labrador. The missionaries circumvented this problem in some locations by importing soil from England for use in the gardens. Mission ships bringing supplies from Europe would bring topsoil as ballast, and unload their cargo of earth once they reached Labrador communities such as Nain. …Where the landscape didn’t suit the needs of the Moravians, it was altered, reordered until it did so (467).” 33 B: Grenfell Mission Rompkey, Ronald (Ed.). Labrador Odyssey: The Journal and Photographs of Eliot Curwen on the Second Voyage of Wilfred Grenfell, 1893. Montreal and Kingston: McGillQueen’s University Press, 1996. “We find everywhere the terrible lack of fresh food severely telling on the resident population. The fish, and occasional fowl, stave off partially the worst dangers, but an almost entire lack of any vegetables whatever is severely felt. Very short summers, and all hands then busy at the fishing, is against gardening, yet in places already I have seen a Labradorgrown potato (quote from Dr. Grenfell’s Report to the MDSF, 1519 July, 1893 (66).” Paddon, W.A. Labrador Doctor: My Life with the Grenfell Mission. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, Publishers, 1989. “Perhaps the biggest single loss was of children, through malnutrition. Accordingly, wherever Father travelled, he spread the word about the use of codliver oil to prevent or cure rickets; berries and vegetables to prevent deaths from scurvy; and brown flour, dried peas and beans to prevent perhaps the most common disease of all, beriberi. Father also preached the benefits of gardening, and reintroduced cattle and poultry to North West River (12).” Grenfell, Wilfred T. A Labrador Doctor: The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919. “I happened to be in the gardens at Nain, when a northerly air made it feel chilly and the thermometer stood only a little above freezing. A troop of Eskimo women came out to cover up the potatoes. Every row of potatoes is covered with arched sticks and long strips of canvas along them. A huge roll of sacking is kept near each row and the whole is drawn over and the potatoes are tucked in bed for the night (91).” O’Brien, Patricia (Ed). The Grenfell Obsession: An Anthology. St. John’s: Creative Publishers, 1992. “In a small motor boat we were visiting the villages along that shore, journeying inside the icefloes which were just loosening their grip on the land. An old fisherman welcomed us warmly. He was in sore distress. The fishing season was just opening; there was endless work to be done; and his two big sons of twenty and twentytwo years old were lying on the floor paralyzed and only able to move their heads! “What can you do, Doctor? Can they be saved?” cried the old man. “Cabbages!” was my 34 answer. He looked at me almost in anger. “Cabbages,” I repeated. The two young men were suffering from beriberi, due to lack of vitamins. Already on the coast I had seen deaths from blackleg scurvy—three grown men in one family. What could have saved them? “Cabbages,” or “potatoes, eaten in their skins.” They had no cabbages, and the few potatoes which the merchant had allowed them they had chipped raw, fed the peels to the chickens, and ruined the remainder by long boiling.” (Quoting Dr. Grenfell) (1245).” Grenfell, Wilfred T. Labrador. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Apr., 1911), pp. 407418. “At the mill at the mouth of the Hamilton river we have seen growing fields of last and barley that have made us, coming in from weeks on the outer coast, almost believe we were at home in England, where with roads marked by the tracks of horses and carts, with hedges around fields, and frogs croaking in the ditches, it is almost impossible for one only acquainted with the conditions of the outside coast to believe one's senses. Potatoes cannot be grown remuneratively on the outside coast. Only because it is impossible otherwise to get them has it been thought world while to expend even the cheap labour of the Eskimo women raising them. They have then to be planted in raised beds with a fencing of latticework overhead which can be covered at a moment's notice with layers of sacking to ward off the occasional frosts of July and August. We have secured this year from the Agricultural Department at Washington some polar alfalfa, which, as it grows well in both northern Siberia and Tibet, should succeed in Labrador, if only it can once friend sufficient holding ground for its roots (411).” Goudie, Elizabeth. Woman of Labrador. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, 1973. (Re: Chapter: Settled life in Mud Lake) “We had gardens in the summer. We grew potatoes, cabbage, carrots, beets and turnips. We bought our plants from the Grenfell Mission where they were grown in a greenhouse. One year I had good cabbage; a few weighed eight pounds. As the years moved on, we did a lot better for ourselves. Our garden in the summer helped a lot (89).” Stedman, Joan. “Nursing at Cartwright.” Them Days: Vol. 18, No. 1, Oct. 1992: 317. (Re: Grenfell Mission Hospital, Cartwright Bay, 195253) “Miss Seaman must have green fingers for there are lovely flowers flourishing all over the place, truly Danish fashion, and she’s organized a large kitchen garden with 10 pound cabbages in it, lettuce, beets, carrots and turnips that would make you envious. 35 There are six pigs fattening nicely, fifteen hens and thirty pullets. These last live indoors in a huge shed and I believe the doctor looks after them (11).” Blake, Marion Crane. “Family Reflections: Our Ways Are Fading.” Them Days: Vol. 18, No. 1, Oct. 1992. (Re: Speaking of life in Sheshatshiu, 1915) “Pa strolled about the garden puffing on his pipe. He noticed Ma’s flower garden fence needed a fresh coat of paint. Ma was a good hand at growing things. He wandered over to the rhubarb patch and noted that she had watered it with her wash water (61).” Pardy, Elsie. “There’s Always Something to Do.” Them Days: Vol. 36, No. 4, 2012: 5364. (Re: Grenfell Mission boarding schools) “We went to Lockwood school in Cartwright in September. The Mission boat would come around and pick up the children. Sometimes we’d get home in December depending on the weather and the ice. Everybody had their own bed at the boarding school. There was a section for the girls, a different section for the boys. There was a big girls’ room and a little girls’ room. Oh, it was really organized. The meals were good, we were wellfed with healthy food. The mission had its own farm. They used to have pigs, chickens, lots of homegrown vegetables. Mickey Bird was the farmer; he lived there too, right on the Mission (623).” Sniffen, Stewart B. MD. “The Traveling Labrador Healthy Unit.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 20, Issue 34 (Jan. 1923): 109114. (Re: Grenfell Mission) “Agriculture: You can't make farmers out of fishermen overnight, yet an attempt was made to stimulate their interest in producing vegetables to add variety to their diet. That it is possible to raise substantial crops on the Labrador has been well demonstrated by the Moravian missionaries. Our best card in convincing the men that a garden was worth the trouble was to tell of other families who had benefited by one. The Campbells, a Scotch family at Square Islands, had several large, flourishing gardens in the bay where their winter homes were located. These gardens were well started before it was time for them to come out to the coast for the summer's fishing and the women went back often enough during the season to take care of them. They told us that it was a short season, but that the long hours of daylight made the vegetables grow fast. They had lettuce during the summer and had raised enough vegetables (three barrels of potatoes and one barrel of turnip greens, which were salted down) the summer before to last until spring. Aside from these vegetables, they had picked partridge berries and blackberries to supply them until June, had made "spruce boil" through the winter, eaten the livers of the duck, porcupine, bear, partridge, rabbit and seal they had killed in the winter, had cod livers quite often during the summer, and had taken cod liver oil "every second day" all winter. 36 They also ate the skins and eyes of their potatoes and had oatmeal and cornmeal instead of all white flour. Therefore we were not surprised to find that the Campbells had five very healthy children. On the other hand, five children belonging to another family in the same settlement were in wretched condition. One was crippled with "bad legs," one fainted frequently and another had rickets. They had only had oleomargarine, white flour, molasses and a little beef and pork for their winter supplies. Their social history reads: "No garden, therefore no potatoes or cultivated leafy vegetables. "No wild greens or berries picked. "No cod livers or cod liver oil. "No bird or animal livers. "No 'Spruce Boil.' "All white flour." It was a great surprise to the second family when we told them that all their suffering came from not using food that it was possible for them to obtain. We also made use of concrete examples in demonstrating the value of whole wheat flour and fruit. One man at West St. Modeste had followed Dr. Grenfell's advice as to brown flour, cornmeal and rolled oats, and could chop wood nearly all day on a breakfast of these, whereas before, when he had breakfasted on white bread, he had had to "mug up" again in the middle of the morning. He also gained weight on whole wheat, cornmeal and rolled oats, where he had been thin and sickly before. Another example was two little girls in White Bay who alone were healthy in a family with beriberi. These girls had eaten the raw potato skins the mother had thrown out (11112).” Sweeney, Lucy. “William’s Harbor Labrador.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 20, Issue 24 (Jan. 1923): 13536. “Some of the supplies were rather slow in reaching William's Harbor, but among the things that I had taken with me were the garden seeds. The children took great pleasure in making their little garden. They loosened the soil with their fingers, made the little trenches with a stick, and planted lettuce, beets and mustard. They dragged some posts around and made a fence to keep the dogs out. The lettuce came up nicely, but the beets had so many setbacks that they amounted to nothing. Toothbrushes and toothpaste were splendid and were used carefully. I had several dozen samples so had a supply for the summer, and some to leave behind. Dry milk for the midmorning lunches was a great help. If there was any left, and I planned there should be, it was taken down to little Harold, who was too young to come 37 to school. He liked the milk warmed, and used to come out to see me on my way to the schoolhouse. He would look at the can I mixed it in, and shyly say, "Ha'ld can 'ave a cup of tay, p'haps? (1356).” Muir, Ethel Gordon. Black Duck Cove, Straits of Belle Isle, Nfld. Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 20, Issue 34 (Jan. 1923): 13738. “This year I have had the pleasure of teaching in my own schoolhouse. The bedrooms and kitchen are not completed so I am boarding with the same family with whom I made my home last summer. Since coming to the Labrador in the summer of 1909, I have continually preached, not only the importance, but the imperative duty of each and every person on the coast to grow potatoes, cabbage, or any other vegetable which can be coaxed or forced to grow In this decidedly unagricultural country. Never, however, until the present year have I, myself, had an opportunity to follow my, undoubtedly, good advice. Now, with my own house nearing completion, I have begun to work for my garden. By bribing my school children with biscuits and candy, I was able to form a really efficient corps for the clearing of land. As I knew nothing of the methods that should be employed in the process, I willingly took in any suggestions offered, and although "crude" and "primitive" are probably the mildest adjectives that an expert would apply to our methods, they certainly accomplished what we desired, and I think that no one today could find a single remaining root or stump in our garden, which is about forty feet in length and twenty in breadth. The implements for our work were mattock, ax and rope. The strongest boys would hack and pick at the roots of the trees and then, when we had our rope securely fastened around the stump, all the children who could secure a hold would pull on the rope until the stump finally yielded to their united strength. The teacher was supposed to be rendering valuable assistance, but this supposition was a false one as her aid was far more of the moral than of the physical variety. Once only did we have to call upon the men for help, and that was for the removal of two ancient firs which were entirely too weighty for the strength of the children. The work of the men in the cause Is, however, yet to come, as fencing In our school garden, of which we are all immensely proud, although it contains as yet not a single seed of anything which we desire to grow therein. This brings me to that which Is the end and aim of my letter, namely: an urgent request for seed, and for seed not in any small quantity, but for a large amount of this longed for commodity. First: I want grass seed— the very best that can be obtained—and I want about a barrelful of this. My people at Black Duck Cove are now keeping, or strenuously endeavoring to keep, cattle. They go ten miles or more and cross a large lake In order to bring back a little wild hay. They have put in a little grass seed near the settlement, but this should be increased twenty fold and this the people 38 cannot afford. Then, as I mean to have a hayfield in connection with my school, I want good grass seed myself. For my garden, I want just what experience has proved it to be possible to grow at Black Duck Cove namely: potatoes, cabbage, rhubarb, lettuce and radishes. The people tell me that the best cabbage known on the coast is the drumhead; but as I have never previously heard of this variety I shall be thankful for any really good cabbage seed. Hoping that some philanthropically disposed readers of our magazine may be moved to respond to my appeal, I earnestly beseech such to send contributions of the seed mentioned to the New York office, 156 Fifth Avenue, stating that such contributions are to be sent this fall to Black Duck Cove, Strait of Belle Isle, addressed to me. September, 1922 (13738).” Curtis, Harriot. “The Home Front.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 38, Issue 3 (Oct. 1940): 73. "Fight the War in the Cabbage Garden!" "Why spend your money on dogfood, when there is plenty to be caught in the sea.?" Slogans like these announced a public meeting in St. Anthony on the first of June, called to promote a campaign for bigger and better gardens. Gardening is no joke on our coast, where the land is covered with a low scrub growth, and is either full of rocks or very marshy. But the Government had sent out a call for more land clearing, and it was essential that there should be more production, to cut down the importation of food, and to ensure a more adequate diet for the people, many of whom will have little money for food this winter, as their only cash "crop", the fishery, has been a failure, especially in our district. There have always been gardens, but never enough, so this very practical effort could well be a real contribution toward Newfoundland's share in the war effort on the Home Front. The whole population set to work on their old gardens, and cleared, fenced and planted new land, the Mission offered good vegetable seeds to all who asked for them, fertilizer from our compost heaps, and land to anyone who had none on which to work. Two hundred and fifty families from all along the shore came in for the seeds, and many a new garden was cultivated this summer on Mission land. The Public Welfare Committee had procured several hundred barrels of seed potatoes, which the people could acquire by promising to return an equal quantity and a little more from their fall crop, and the Mission sold many thousand seedling cabbages which had been sown in the greenhouse several weeks before outdoor planting was possible. A hot sunny July brought every thing along well, and our annual agricultural and food show at the end of September will be the best ever. For many years some of our women have been putting up salmon, garden 39 produce and berries, but it seemed important to make this practice much more widespread, so we organized through our Community Club a series of demonstrations in which the members worked in teams of eight, putting up in Mason jars, by the waterbath method, which they could use at home, first salmon, and then garden greens. We met in the kitchen of the Grenfell School, and every woman went through every step of the process. The Club bought wholesale and sold to the members at cost many gross of preserving jars, and many who had never before done any canning became greatly interested and set to work to stock their larders for the winter. We distributed many recipes and pamphlets about canning, and are using a gift of money to buy utensils which may be borrowed by the women for use in their own homes, if they have not the proper equipment themselves. In the summer we put up seafoods, garden produce and wild berries, and in winter rabbits, birds and seal meat. We know that this winter our community will be better provided than ever before with the kind of food that is available to all able to work for it. This is a very conscious patriotic gesture, as well as a valuable community effort, and our group is only one of many all over the country who are trying to do their bit for the Empire (73).” Paddon, Harry MD. The Mission Stations: Emily Beaver Chamberlain Memorial Hospital, North West River, Labrador. Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 15, Issue 3 (Oct. 1917): 10405. (Re: Letter update from Dr. Paddon, Forteau) “We have a dogproof chickenpen and a small garden established at North West River and hope to steadily bring more and more land under cultivation. The people seem disposed to follow our example both as regards poultry and more energetic agriculture. A few of them grow a small quantity of vegetables, but when a man takes it as a personal insult if his garden requires weeding, it cannot be wondered at if the population is not in a position to become vegetarian at a moment's notice. We have "tumbled right into it" at Indian Harbor and, as my two prospective assistants are very properly "otherwise engaged," this will be the last time I shall trouble you till the fall. Yours very sincerely, Harry L. Paddon. Indian Harbor Hospital, Labrador, July 13, 1917 (105).” Grenfell, Wilfred T. Dr. Grenfell’s Log. Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 13, Issue 4 (Jan. 1917): 13944. “We brought her, and so on our return trip we again took the useful Pennsylvania home with 2,700 good sticks of wood. Beautiful weather had again favored us, and that same night we sat down to tea with Sister Bailey in her lonely little outpost at Forteau. Among the hundred and one things she had to tell us of her winter's work, she spoke with infinite gratitude of some help she had been able to give in good food to some of her poorest visitors and neighbors, through a fund generously provided by a lady in Proctor, 40 Vermont. That gift to improve the diet of deserving families unable to obtain it otherwise had been wisely administered, and had been a no mean message of love to the recipients, while all had given, where possible, some labor, or other return. Then the garden of this little station was a great surprise; everything was far in advance of St. Anthony. Potatoes were in flower and cabbages heading up. As a matter of fact, with the great Labrador Hinterland, instead of an Arctic ocean in front and a frigid gulf behind, as we have at St. Anthony, it is a much warmer place. But, besides her garden, Sister Bailey had for us a most beautiful show of artificial flowers grown under her own hands with the help of some of the women of the place, some of whom she had been instructing in yet another way to earn in idle hours what means so much to the children and to themselves. Mrs. Wakefield, wife of our colleague, who has now gone to the front with the First Newfoundland Regiment, had gone through here before us, and taken half of Miss Bailey's products away to try to start a market for them in Canada. They are made of the best materials, and I sincerely wish to commend these flowers to our friends. The material itself is the least part of the cost in producing these lifelike ornaments and decorations. If this industry could be made selfsupporting it would be of great use along our coast, where capital is small and labor plentiful. Harrington hospital was our next objective, but on the way down we picked up a few sick cases—one man so ill that we took him with us. He was most uncomplaining and grateful, a real pleasure to have on board, where he recovered enough for us to be able to return him to his crew on our return journey (139).” Dr. Grenfell Ryerson, Knowles A. Health and Happiness in Labrador. Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 27, Issue 1 (April, 1929): 1416. (Re: Reprint from the Bulletin of the Garden Club of America, January, 1929. “Gardens in Labrador? Rock gardens perhaps, you say, with emphasis on the rocks! Yet on this long and rugged coastline, playground of the winter winds and icy sea spray, the garden—vegetable and flower—is finding its place. Labrador recalls a summer fishing paradise to some, a wintry desolation to others. To the greatest number, however, not only in the United States and Canada, but also in the British Isles, it is the theatre in which has been enacted one of the most thrilling episodes in the march of western civilization. The record written the past thirtyfive years in achievement by Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell and his associates in terms of healthier and stronger bodies, brighter and more enlightened minds, happier and more hopeful spirits. Is one of the brightest in humanitarian endeavor of our time. So vivid has been the appeal to the imagination of redblooded and adventurous youth that each summer sees groups from many college halls sailing northward for an opportunity to vie with each other digging, sailing or building, as the need may be. The 41 designation as one of Dr. Grenfell's "Wops" Is a coveted honor which many now cherish. The lure is equally felt by older “boys" and each summer finds prominent surgeons, dentists and oculists packing equipment and hying northward to add their services to the resident staff. … While the passing years have seen obstacles to healthful living overcome one by one, problems still remain. Modern hospitals and trained specialists provide treatment and care for the sick throughout the hundreds of miles of rocky coast, but the basic causes of much of the ill health are yet to be abolished. Undernourishment and a limited, unbalanced diet together, are back of much of the distress in Labrador. For the lack of simple green vegetables and their healthgiving vitamins families are scourged with beriberi, rickets and other nutritional diseases. How to grow our common lowly garden vegetables under the extremes of Labrador soil and climate has long been a problem that has claimed serious attention. Around some of the medical stations such crops as potatoes and cabbages have been grown in favorable seasons; further north the Moravian missionaries have also been successful in a limited way. Although soil is not abundant along the entire coast, many of the inlets where settlements nestle have small but adequate patches of ground. So far the fisher folk have not had the information, the proper seed or equipment to make the most of their meagre plots. Shortness of growing season — frozen ground almost to the first of July and early frosts in September, sometimes earlier, is a condition to blast the enthusiasm of most any stouthearted gardener anywhere. The elimination of nutritional troubles and their attendant train of complicated problems, medical, economic and social, however, is one of the principal studies centering attention now. The magnitude of the problem is proving to be the measure of its challenge and of the ringing response which it strikes In the hearts of those who enjoy a hard task for the fun of its doing. This is evidenced In the following record of achievement. Variety selection of vegetables has long been carried on at stations in northern countries in order to secure types which mature in the shortest possible time, but even with these types the Labrador season has proved too uncertain and short for general outdoor planting. It has remained for the cold frame and the greenhouse to point the way which promises success in the long battle for a lifegiving diet. Experiments by Dr. Grenfell and his assistants have demonstrated that four weeks and even longer can be saved when seedlings are started under glass in the early spring. The plants are of good size with well developed root systems when planted in the open. This gain in time Is sufficient to permit maturing of such crops as cabbage, carrots, lettuce and radishes before early fall frosts. The long hours of summer sunlight and warmth make phenomenal growth possible. At St. Anthony, the main station in the Labrador chain, cold frames have long 42 been used to supply vegetables for the hospital. Here various experiments have been tried that have Indicated in which direction progress lay. A small greenhouse gave splendid results. It remained, however, until this year, when a large and regularly equipped greenhouse was erected and used, for the full benefits to be demonstrated. Through the generosity of Garden Club women of Greenwich, Connecticut, this greenhouse was made possible. For the first time patients at the hospital and the children at the orphanage had all the greens in the way of lettuces and cabbage that they required; tomatoes, spinach and radishes added variety to the daily fare. Hundreds of young plants were grown for transplanting in the open. Nor was the demonstration limited to the essential vegetables. Flower seedlings were also raised, so that window boxes in hospital ward, orphanage, school and home have blossomed with clarkias, stocks and other bright annuals—spots of brightness in the lives of little folk and grownup alike. Other hardier flowering plants such as fuchsias and geraniums were wintered over in the glasshouse. The results of the year with this greenhouse have more than fulfilled the hopes held. In order to prepare for the work of the new house one of the boys of St. Anthony was sent to the Truro Agricultural College for special training. Miss Fellowes, a graduate from Swanley Agricultural College, England, has come out to Labrador as a volunteer In the garden work and is, in addition, educating one of the boys as a gardener. With such trained personnel and with adequate facilities real progress can be made. Of course, the ultimate effort of all the many activities in Labrador is to teach the people to help themselves. In the gardening work this means the teaching of the elementary principles in the more important centers and demonstrating what can be done even under rigorous local conditions. At these centers seedlings would be grown under glass and distributed for planting at cost when the planting season arrived. Such a program of training and distribution promises farreaching results. After all, the prevention of disease and human misery is always more desirable than measures taken in alleviation after the damage is done. What are the prospects for the immediate future? The success of the past year has already fired the imagination of women interested in gardening on both sides of the Atlantic. This nutritional problem is one which women especially appreciate, and to those women appreciating gardens this enterprise has evidently presented a double appeal. Through the Interest and activity of Mrs. J. Rich Steers of the Rye Garden Club, several other Garden Clubs have made possible small greenhouses at Battle Harbor and Northwest River, and, in addition, tuition for two boys at the Truro Agricultural College to prepare them to operate the greenhouse activities. To round out the desired plan and put it in operation, the stations at Cartwright and Harrington await the time when greenhouses and accompanying equipment can be provided for them and annual upkeep and operation assured. With five such centers of instruction and distribution of 43 seedlings, the inhabitants of a large part of the Northland would have the means at hand to provide themselves with the proper diet to ward off causes of the misery marking past years. As a further aid in solving the gardening problems of the Labrador, Professor F. C. Sears of the Horticultural Department of the Massachusetts Agricultural College spent the past summer making a firsthand study of soil and climatic conditions and outlined experiments with a view to determining ways and means for adding still further to the gardening possibilities. To us in the United States, in our comfortable homes, surrounded by our bright and ever cheerful gardens, life stripped of such color for almost the entire year is hard to visualize. Modern transportation brings to our tables a wide choice of vegetables to tempt our alltoofrequently jaded appetites, and we are apt to turn scornfully from such plebeian and humble vegetables as cabbage, turnips and carrots. Humble though they may be, their availability on the Labrador coast is of vital concern, since it means healthier, happier folk. It Is not luxuries that are to be striven for in Labrador, but the mere necessities for building up healthy bodies essential to effectively meet the demands of the strenuous life of the country (1516).” (Knowles A. Ryerson: In charge Office of Foreign Plant Introduction, United States Department of Agriculture.) Grenfell, Wilfred T. Promotional Pamphlets for the Grenfell Mission. NonGovernment Records, The Rooms Provincial Museum and Archives. (PANL File MG 63.2140) “In the years which have followed, our staff and volunteer helpers have had everincreasing opportunities for service on the Labrador. Today, through the cooperation of friends throughout the world, we maintain over a thousand miles of coastline, icebound for many months each year—five hospitals, four nursing stations, two boarding schools, one day school, one children’s home, two hospital ships, one supply schooner, clothing distribution, industrial and agricultural efforts at all centres.” Smith, Archibald Alex George. Grenfell’s Work in Northern Newfoundland and Labrador, With Special Reference to Grenfell. Doctoral Thesis. Curling, Newfoundland: (1970) The Department of Church History of Pine Hill Divinity Hall, 1970. “The people’s diet consisted mostly of fish, bread and molasses. There were few vegetables grown due to the nature of the soil and the short summer season. Fruit, such as oranges, apples and grapes were almost unknown. When the writer was a boy the only time he saw an apple was on Christmas morning, and we considered ourselves very fortunate indeed if this rare delicacy was in our stocking. When Grenfell arrived on the coast, he encouraged people to grow vegetables where the soil was fertile, and to 44 pick and preserve partridge berries, blueberries, and bakeapples which have always grown in abundance in many parts of the province (1415).” Paddon, Anthony. “Ellis Michelin: Labrador's First FullTime Gardener and Farmer.” Them Days, Vol. 10, No. 1, Sept., 1984: 2227. “Ellis was born in Sabaskachu in 1914. Upon leaving school he went to work for the International Grenfell Association, hereafter IGA, in 1929 but was sent to St. John's, Newfoundland thereafter because he showed marked ability in gardening and a good understanding of cattle. He was to spend that summer learning more about farming, and the following summer he went to St. Anthony to work with Jim Tucker, chief gardener with IGA for many years. Here Ellis got a good knowledge of greenhouse practice, for IGA was trying to spread homegardening among people who were generally short of fresh produce in Newfoundland and Labrador, and he learnt to grow thousands upon thousands of healthy little cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli and other vegetables, which we sold or gave away to people who could set them in their own gardens. This meant earlier and larger vegetables in our short summer and better nutrition all year. Ellis learnt a good deal about greenhouse and garden pests, their life cycles and how to discourage them (22).” C: Cartwright and HBC/Donald Smith Merrick, Elliott. Northern Nurse. Halifax: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1994. “It had always been custom to do things by hand here. Back in the 1880s when the Hudson's Bay Company used to raise oats on a level piece of ground that the Indians had cleared for a campsite, the plow was drawn by a long line of men heaving on a rope (102).” Townsend, Charles Wendell (Ed). Captain Cartwright and His Labrador Journal. Boston: Dana Estes & Company Publishers, 1911. “Sunday, December 16, 1770 A fortnight ago, I placed a box of earth near the top of the stove and sowed some seeds in it; there are now cucumbers, mustard, cresses, and onion coming up. A fine day and at noon the mercury stood at 5 degrees (556).” “Sunday, September 15, 1771 In the morning I read prayers to my family; in the afternoon I went to the lower garden, and gathered some green peas and ripe currants (94).” 45 “Sunday, July 30, 1775 ...We set up the frame of the fishermen’s house, packed five tierces of fish, (a puncheon contains two tierces and a half; a hogshead, on and a quarter) and caught two hundred and three fish; also, had a spot of ground dug, sowed some radish and turnip seeds, and set some cabbageplants which I had brought from Charles Harbour (176).” “Thursday, April 18, 1776 I sowed some mustard, cresses, and onions in a tub, and hung it up in the kitchen. It rained all day, but cleared in the evening (196).” “Tuesday, June 2, 1778 Some more of the garden was dug, and we sowed some radishes, onions, turnips, mustard and cresses. I then went to a large pond which lies under the south end of that ridge, and empties into Eagle River; on the north side of which, I found three large beaverhouses (227).” (Re: Paradise in Labrador, where he arrived at noon on Sept. 11th, 1783.) “...In the evening the Esquimaux which we had seen at Spotted Island, arrived here in a small shallop and a whalingboat, and pitched their tents among my houses: which now consist of a dwellinghouse and storehouse in one, sixty feet by twenty five, and two stories high; a house for the servants, thirty feet by seventeen; three salmonhouses, ninety feet by twenty each; and a smith’s shop, sixteen feet by twelve. On the south side of the dwellinghouse, we found a tolerable large garden; with plenty of cabbages, turnips, lettuces, pease, and other things in full perfection (295).” “Labrador is a large peninsula, joined at the isthmus to Canada, which, together with Hudson's Bay, bounds it on the east; on the north are Hudson's Straits; the Atlantic Ocean on the east; and the Straits of Belle Isle, and the Gulph of St. Laurence on the south. The face of the whole country, at least all those parts we are at present acquainted with, are very hilly; and in most parts mountainous. The south coast has great appearance of fertility from the sea, but a close inspection discovers the soil to be poor, and the verdure to consist only of coarse plants, which are well adapted to the support and nourishment of deer and goats, but do not appear proper for horses, kine, or sheep. There is no doubt but cultivation would produce good grass of different kinds, and that grazing farms might be established; they would however be attended with too much trouble and expense to have them on a large scale; as it would be difficult to fence against the whitebears and wolves, and all kinds of cattle must be housed for nine months in the year. Corn might possibly be raised about the heads of the deepest 46 bays, and in the interior parts of the country; but the few experiments which I made in my gardens failed of success; for the ears were singed by the frost before the grain ripened (33940).” “Notwithstanding the many disadvantages, which that country labours under, from poverty of oil, short summers, long winters, and severe frosts, yet I am clear, that art and good management are capable of making great improvements; and if the observations which I made on the effects of certain manures, in that country and Newfoundland, can be of any use in England, I shall think my time well bestowed in communicating them. In one garden which I made, where the ground was a collection of sheer, find gravel, without a particle of soil that I could perceive, the first crop was, what I thought, a very fair one; but at the end of summer, I had a quantity of rotten seaweed dug in. The following summer, to prevent the ground being so much dried up as it had been the preceding one, I transplanted cabbages, cauliflowers, and lettuces, when very young, and carefully covered the whole of the ground between them, with fresh seaweed, which had a most excellent effect; for, by that means, there was a constant moisture preserved, and the plants arrived at great perfection. In another garden, where the soil was hot, find sand, the first year’s crop was nothing to boast of; but, as I carried on a great salmon fishery at that place, I fallowed part of it the following summer, and covered it with the entrails of the salmon, which contain abundance of fat; in the course of three years, by manuring it in that manner, the sand was absolutely become too strong and adhesive (358).” “My garden at Isthmus Bay, which the reader would observe, produced excellent crops the first year, by being manured with seaweed and offals of fish; and also by mixing a greater portion of the barren sand that lay underneath, among the peat soil on the surface, it has since, I have been informed brought everything to a degree of perfection, which had never been seen in that part of the world, in any former year. Hence it appears to me, that nothing can effectively improve and alter the nature of hot, barren sand, as unctuous, animal manures; since, by binding it, the moisture is retained much longer; and more food is obtained for the plants which are grown upon it (36061).” Fereira, Oswald A. Agriculture in Labrador: Background Paper to an Agricultural Plan. Department of Rural, Agricultural and Northern Development, May 1980. “Early attempts at commercial farming were begun in the midnineteenth century at North West River by Lord Strathcona during his term as manager at the Hudson's Bay 47 Company Post. Later, the International Grenfell Association demonstrated that it was possible to raise cattle, hogs, poultry, grow hot house tomatoes and substantial quantities of potatoes, turnips , carrots and green peas. Even today, residents of North West River remember flourishing gardens now replaced by houses. This may explain the continued popularity of ‘backyard gardening’ in North West River, even today (16).” Hudson's Bay Company. HBC Heritage. Our History: People: Governors. Web Resource. http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/donaldsmith “His time in Labrador cemented Smith’s personality: cold, calculating, selfsufficient and ambitious. He established a farm at North West River that astonished visitors. He sowed grain, potatoes, pumpkins and peas, grew more tender fruits and vegetables in a greenhouse and raised cattle, poultry and sheep. Under his stewardship the area’s furtrade profits grew. But Smith also diversified HBC’s business, establishing a salmon fishery, exporting seal oil and sending out rock samples for testing. His conviction that the region would eventually prove rich in minerals was prophetic. In 1863 he was made Chief Factor and the following year decide to take his first furlough in 26 years.” Electric Scotland. Lord Strathcona (profile). Web Resource. http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/lord_strathcona.htm “He imported from the north of Scotland cows, sheep, horses, poultry, and garden and farm seeds, fertilized his land with fish, and, short as the summer was, grew crops and flowers which filled the Indians, fishermen, and his own colleagues and visitors with astonishment. Plants which would not mature in the open air he grew under glass. Labrador had an area nearly five times that of Great Britain, and not in all that vast country could there be found a farm like that of Donald Smith’s.” Bisbee, John B. Fonds: 19131914. NonGovernment Records. The Rooms Provincial Archives: St. John’s. (Re: A visit to the Donald Smith Grounds circa 1860, Cartwright) “Along the coast, the first time one really feels as though he were in the north is at Cartwright where he meets the first Hudson Bay Station. Also he can see the old house where George Cartwright lived, and the grave where he is buried. He was the first white man who came and lived among and traded with the natives of this shore. At Rigolet is another Hudson Bay Post and the old Strathcona house in which the founder of the Hudson Bay Company lived. He was a Scotchman named Donald Smith later created Lord Strathcona. He was there in 1860 and spent about 13 years on this coast. During this time he ran away with his colleague’s wife. Sometime after that his colleague got another wife…” 48 Baikie, Margaret. Labrador Memories: Reflections at Mulligan. Them Days, 1984. “The next spring Mother was very sick. We were afraid she would die and we had to get ready for going down the bay to our salmon fishing place. ...Mother had seen Mr. Smith and he had given her medicine and told her what to do. Little Maggie Smith asked Helen and I to have tea with her, down in her little Indian tent she called it. She gave us cocoa and milk and current cakes. She spread a cloth on the ground and we sat around. … After our tea we went back to the house. Mr. Smith asked us to go and see his garden. It was the first flower garden I ever saw, and such beautiful flowers of all sorts. He said he was busy all the spring, digging and planting carrots, cabbages, onions, cauliflowers and other things and he had lost his gold ring. It had a white stone in it and three letters. The letters were D.A.S., Donald Alexander Smith. I was sorry about his ring (1516).” D: Settler and Contemporary Labrador Goudie, Elizabeth. Woman of Labrador. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, 1973. (Re: Chapter: Life on Labrador’s North Coast) “I tried growing a garden when I was up there but it is only in July and August that you are clear of frost. I sowed on June 15 and went out to Davis Inlet for July and August. I had a few turnips and cabbage when we came back in September but they had grown only about six inches high. They were very strong little plants, not big enough to eat yet but very bushy and clustered together. They were really tasty and nice to eat later on. The turnips grew only to about the size of a small rubber ball. We did not have many that size. We left that summer because Jim got a job with the Hudson's Bay Company in Davis Inlet building a chapel for the Indians. The company wanted a place for the Indians to worship when their priest came around in the summer (61).” King, Joan. “Family Reflections, My Years in Labrador.” Them Days: Vol. 36, No. 4, 2012: 8. (Re: Gardening memories, 1957) “I can remember people coming in on the boat into Postville one year I was there. I’d been trying to make a little bit of a garden, and I sent to Gaze Seed for what they call hot caps. They were made from a sort of very dense wax paper, shaped like a crown, to protect your plants. I had grown cabbage plants from the kitchen table, and I had these hot caps in the garden. I saw these people out there, and I said to myself, “Cheeky 49 people, out in the garden, having a snoop around!” But it turned out that they were from the Gaze shop, either worked for the shop or were of the Gaze Seed family. “Oh,” he said. “We saw the hot caps and had to come have a look to have a see.” My dad was there at the time; that was the summer he was out visiting. ...But yes, that man recognized Gaze Seeds’ hot caps. I don’t suppose those things exist anymore, but they certainly kept those cabbages safe from those late frosts. I had some lovely cabbages growing in Postville. Really tasted good, nice and sweet (8).” Montague, John. “Interview with Isaac (Ike) Rich, 1973, North West River,” Them Days, Vol. 23, No. 4, Summer 1998: 5164. Re: John was a trapper, with memories of that life starting in 1914. North West River 1973). “J: You didn’t feel like you wanted meat in the hot summer, you only wanted the fish. Comin’ towards fall, again, you feel like you wanted meat then. I: The time of the year come for that. J: We never used to have no gardens them times, not in my day. My father never had no gardens. But there was some people, three or four families, they’d have a garden, old Mrs. Blake and different ones, but we never had any. I: Never went in for it big, not just then. ‘Twas only in the 1930s, I think, they start growin’ stuff a lot around here. J: I think old Dr. Paddon got people interested in stuff like that. I: Anyway you was almost too busy then, you was off in the wint
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Descriptive Title | The Labrador Garden Project: Annotated Bibliography and Research Notes |
Category |
Knowledge of the land/water and environment |
Topic |
Gardens Gardening tools |
Description | The Labrador Garden Project: Annotated Bibliography and Research Notes, from The Agricultural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador. Document prepared by Lisa Wilson, January 15th, 2015. |
Collector | Agricultural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador |
Format | application/pdf |
Type | Text |
Language | eng |
Collection | Intangible Cultural Heritage - Knowledge and Practices Concerning Nature and the Universe |
Rights | CC BY-NC 2.0 CA |
Transcript | The Labrador Garden Project: Annotated Bibliography and Research Notes (PANL VA 118154.3) The Agricultural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador Document prepared by Lisa Wilson, January 15th, 2015 Funding support from the Cultural Economic Development Program, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador Table of Contents Project Introduction ………….………………………………………….. 2 Annotated Bibliography A: Moravian and Grenfell Missions in Labrador’s Agricultural History ……….. 3 B: General Information Related to Agriculture and/or Moravians ……….……. 16 Reference Material: Transcriptions and Quotes A: Moravian Mission References …………………………………………………. 20 B: Grenfell Mission References ………………………………………………….... 34 C: Cartwright, Donald Smith and the Hudson’s Bay Company References …... 45 D: Settler and Contemporary References ……………………………………….. 49 Correspondence Notes (personal communications) .....……………... 53 List of Archival Sources …….…………………………………………… 55 1 Introduction: The Labrador Garden Project Throughout the fall and winter of 2014, the Agricultural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador embarked on a project relating to early agricultural practices on the east coast of Labrador. In particular, this project aimed to explore the nature of the agricultural endeavors practiced by Moravian missionaries starting in the 1770s, and how they impacted not only the immediate local diet (and people), but coastal agriculture in general, over time. Areas of interest have included mission site plans, designs of gardens and irrigation systems, seed lists, crop successes and failures, soil building techniques, tools made and used, garden labour, food distribution and storage, and importantly, how these factors and related knowledge may have influenced or been transmitted to the Inuit population. The research from this project has been divided into two primary categories or eras. The first involves the Moravian mission settlements starting in the 1770s, the second being the Grenfell voyages and missions from the 1890s to the mid1900s. It should be noted that the Moravians missionaries continued on in Labrador until the mid1900s, but this research focusses on their early practices. While emphasis has indeed been placed on the Moravians, the Grenfell era is of utmost importance in understanding the topic. Not only was the agricultural component of the Grenfell mission likely informed by observing the Moravian gardens, but the overall impact of this incentive has been a significant and lasting one in Labrador. A smaller set of outcomes in the project are related to the agricultural efforts of Captain George Cartwright (1760s70s), the Hudson’s Bay Company (Donald Smith, 1830s60s), and finally, the settler population of Labrador and their personal gardening practices starting around the mid19th century, and moving towards a contemporary setting. The results of this work, some of which is included in this document, has mostly come from archival texts and images, historical accounts found in publications, record and journal transcriptions (representing the Moravian perspective), as well as periodicals from the later Grenfell missions. The document included here consists of an annotated bibliography of sources accessed, as well as a comprehensive list of material in the form of transcribed quotations. This reference material is broken up into subtopics and aims to operate as a research guide, and to summarize the history of agriculture in Labrador, particularly on the coast, from the time of the first Moravian settlement in Nain. 2 Annotated Bibliography Section A: Reference material specific to agricultural history in Labrador, with emphasis on Moravian and Grenfell influences. Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Agriculture. Vol. 48, Issue 3 (Oct., 1950): 71. (MUN DAI) Description of the St. Anthony gardening project. “At St. Anthony the greenhouse supplies early cabbage plants to people all along the northeast coast. In summer our gardens furnish vegetables to the institutions.” No author provided. Page numbers for this issue begin at 66. Baikie, Margaret. Labrador Memories: Reflections at Mulligan. Them Days, 1984. (CNS HN 110 N4 B35) An entire issue of Them Days dedicated to the memories and reflections of a Labrador woman during the midlate 1800s. She remembers visiting with Lord Strathcona (Donald Smith) and seeing his gardens. Beckles, Willson. The Life of Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal. Vol. 1. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1915. (CNS F 1033 S93 1915 v.1) A dense volume on the life of Lord Strathcona and his relationship with the Hudson's Bay Company. Includes letters, diaries, maps and illustrations. This book could be viewed again to see if his “wonder farm” is mentioned. Recommended by Susan Felsberg. Bisbee, John B. Fonds: 19131914. NonGovernment Records. The Rooms Provincial Archives: St. John’s. (MG 735) Handwritten journal kept by Bisbee, a volunteer with Grenfell, during a voyage along the Labrador Coast during the years 1913 and 1914. Some observations centre on interactions with Moravian Missionaries. He also kept photographic records of his journeys in two separate photo albums. These are also in the archival holdings (see VA 72 and VA 73). Blake, Edward. “Before Upper Churchill Came on Stream.” Them Days, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2012: 1112. (CNS) Short account of their family gardens from when he was growing up. Abundance and types of vegetables and reference to lack of space in terms of vegetable storage, unless they could have a “cellar or a root cellar in the bank.” 3 Blake, Sylvia. “We Grew Everything We Needed, Sheshatshiu.” Them Days, Vol. 32, No. 2, 2010: 2327. (CNS) Article about how gardening was passed down the family line, and the success of these household gardens. Information about what was grown, and how it was fertilized. Borthwick, Jane. The Story of Moravian Missions in Greenland and Labrador by H.L.L. London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1873. (CNS BV 2560 B6 c.2) This book was written as a brief history of both missions in the 1870s, including detailed information about the people involved in the missions, and information about the 'heathens' in both regions. Included is useful information about how the first mission settlement was established, and how the subsequent missions came to be. Very brief reference to the ability to grow in Labrador compared to Greenland. “H. L. L.” on the publication is a psyeudonym for author Jane Borthwick. (Also see: The Moravians in Labrador. Edinburgh, printed by J. Ritchie, 1833. An older version of the text The Story of the Moravian Missions in Greenland and Labrador CNS BX8567N4M6.) BriceBennett, Carol. Hopedale: Three Ages of a Community in Northern Labrador. St. John’s: Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2003. (Shawyer Collection) Text begins with history of Moravians in Labrador with Jens Haven leading early missionary work in the 1770s (after his time doing similar work in Greenland). Detailed overview of Moravian influence on the Hopedale population through the ages, as well as information about agricultural practices, such as seed experiments, and transmission of skills. Budgell, Leonard. “Old Stone and Sod Houses,” Them Days, Vol. 16, No. 3, 1991: 5963. (CNS Periodicals) Information about the houses in coastal Labrador. Includes an idea that the sod houses, once fallen, helped nourish the soil that the Moravians used to grow their plants. (Sod houses were once located where the mission gardens were later introduced). Cartwright, George. “George Cartwright’s Garden – 1786.” Them Days, Vol. 32, No. 2, 2010: 2831. (CNS) Reprinted from Cartwright’s journals that chronicle his attempts at gardening in the 18th century. Successes and failures included. Them Days further cites Vol. 8, No. 1 for a complete summary of his Labrador gardening experience. Curtis, Harriot. “The Home Front.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 38, Issue 3 4 (Oct. 1940): 73. (MUN DAI) A piece on gardening in Labrador intending to generate excitement by detailing accomplishments. Begins with some popular slogans from the Grenfell campaign: “Fight the War in the Cabbage Garden!” Discusses need to make garden practices more widespread. Curwen, Eliot. Fonds. Consists of personal journals detailing voyage to Labrador. NonGovernment Records, The Rooms Provincial Museum and Archives. (PANL File MG152) Personal handwritten journal of Curwen during the second voyage of Dr. Grenfell along the coast of Labrador (dated: May 27th – Nov.18th 1893). Difficult to read, but fascinating for its descriptions of people, landscapes, communities, and various encounters. Curwen was a medical missionary who kept a notebook on various aspects of this trip and put together two photograph albums, also held in the fonds (Series VA 152). Community Information of Coastal Labrador, 1994. (CNS FF 1042 L225) Unpublished community inventory of the coast with descriptions of each place and the people who live there, notable historic incidents, and socioeconomic details. Communities were also assessed for their infrastructure and whether or not the residents participate in subsistence agriculture. Decks Awash. The Garden of Labrador. Vol. 03, No. 02 (April 1974): 38. (DAI via PAB) Short writeup credits Lord Strathcona for bringing gardening to the North West River area, now known as the “Garden of Labrador.” No author provided. . A Labrador Family Farm. Vol. 10, No. 02 (April 1981):1315. (DAI via PAB) A feature article on the farming operation run by Susan and Hans Felsberg in Happy Valley (Mud Lake). They discuss the careful planning required to farm in the region. Includes information about Susan’s background in nursing. Electric Scotland. Lord Strathcona. Web Resource. http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/lord_strathcona.htm Historic profile on Lord Strathcona (Donald Smith) including information about his time in Labrador and how he would import seeds from Scotland for his garden. Felsberg, Susan. Labrador Agriculture: The Early Roots. Circumpolar Conference paper, 2007. 5 Conference paper, provided by Felsberg, which provides an overview of the different missions, phases, and agricultural movements in Labrador. Touches on the Moravians, Cartwright, Donald Smith, the Grenfell Mission, and contemporary examples. Fereira, Oswald A. Agriculture in Labrador: Background Paper to an Agricultural Plan. Department of Rural, Agricultural and Northern Development, May 1980. (Shawyer Collection) Maps and writing on the topic of agricultural policy and planning in Labrador. It includes a breakdown of natural resources in the region, and indepth descriptions of various agricultural practices from commercial farming to hydroponics and greenhouses. Gale, I.C. (Ed.) “North Wind: Spring Fever.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 34, Issue 1 (April, 1936): 22a22d. (MUN DAI) Short piece advertising Grenfell’s garden campaign based on stories told by Grenfell himself. Offers anecdotes for why gardening practices were introduced (disease prevention), and advice for how to start your own garden. Ends with the plea: “Please Join the Garden Campaign!” This piece is within an insert provided by the “Crew of Grenfell Juniors,” Vol. 1, Issue 11. Goudie, Elizabeth. Woman of Labrador. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, 1973. (Shawyer Collection) Detailed diaries on the life of a trapper’s wife in Northern Labrador. Excellent source however primarily focusses on the 1920s onwards. See pages 61 & 89. Goudie, Joseph (foreword). Alluring Labrador: A Journey Through Labrador. Happy ValleyGoose Bay: Them Days Magazine, 1980. (Shawyer Collection) Travel guide very specific to the era, beginning with the history of Labrador in general, and then going into historical accounts about how specific communities were settled. There are brief references to gardening practices. Grenfell, Wilfred T. A Labrador Doctor: The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919. (Shawyer Collection) Grenfell’s personal reflections on life as a doctor servicing northern Newfoundland and Labrador. Includes personal family history, young life, and extensive experiences as a doctor. Specific references to observations around agriculture exist throughout the text. Grenfell, Wilfred T. “Labrador.” The Geographical Journal, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Apr., 1911), pp. 407418. (Online via MUN) 6 Speech written by Grenfell for the Royal Geographical Society on some of his observations over the 20 years he had been working in Labrador. Some of the information he covers includes the geography, climate, wild food sources, and conditions for growing vegetables (with a comparison between the coastal area and inland Labrador). Grenfell, Wilfred T. “Dr. Grenfell’s Log.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 13, Issue 4 (Jan. 1917): 13944. (MUN DAI) Included in this highly detailed summary of all activities undertaken by Dr. Grenfell during this period, are some of his personal observations of gardening practices. In particular he mentions Mrs. Bailey and her work at the outpost in Forteau. Note: There are photographs of Bailey in the Rooms Grenfell collection. Grenfell, Wilfred T. Promotional Pamphlets for the Grenfell Mission. NonGovernment Records, The Rooms Provincial Museum and Archives. (PANL File MG 63.2140) File folder of ephemera published by the Grenfell Mission to promote their activities in Northern Newfoundland and along the Labrador coast for fundraising purposes. Hanrahan, Maura. “Tracing Social Change Among the Labrador Inuit: What Does the Nutrition Literature Tell Us?” The Nunatsiavummiut Experience: Settlement, Subsistence, and Change Among the Labrador Inuit. Eds. David C. Natcher, Lawrence Felt, and Andrea Procter. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2012: 12138. Article in anthology on how the introduction of European food has impacted the traditional food systems of Labrador Inuit communities over time. Haven, Jens. Letter to Governor John Byron from Jens Haven, 1770. NonGovernment Records. The Rooms Provincial Archives: St. John’s. (MG 251) An eightpage letter written by Jens Haven addressed to "The Rt. Hon. John Byron, Governor and Commander in Chief in and over the Island of Newfoundland and the Coast of Labrador, 13 September 1770." The letter detailed Haven's arrival in Henley Harbour, Labrador and details his interactions with the Inuit. In the letter, he claims land at Esquimaux Bay in the name the Moravian Church. Hudson's Bay Company. HBC Heritage. Our History: People: Governors. Web Resource. http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/donaldsmith 7 Website hosted by the Hudson's Bay Company featuring important historical accounts and profiles, including a section on former Governors. A write up on the life and accomplishments of Donald Smith can be found here, with information about his “wonder farm” in Rigolet, Labrador. There is also a photograph of the house he once lived in. Hussey, Greta. Our Life on Lear’s Room, Labrador. Flanker Press: St. John’s, 1981. Personal reflections of Hussey’s time spent going up to “the Labrador” with her seasonal fisherman father. Excellent descriptions of the lifestyle she lived/witnessed, and includes some information about gardening practices. Hutton, Samuel King. A Shepherd in the Snow: The Life Story of Walter Perrett of Labrador. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1936. (MUN DAI) Written by a doctor who was brought to the coast by the Moravian Mission, this book contains a good description of gardens, as well as having attitudes around the success of these gardens. For instance, Okak is referred to as a paradise due to the sight of the thriving gardens. Hutton, Samuel King. An Eskimo Village. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1929. (MUN DAI) Observations made by Hutton of Inuit villages and lifestyles from a distinctly Moravian perspective. Provides a historic background of growing in Labrador by early missionaries, compared to how it operated during his time. Jarvis, Dale G. Converting the Landscape: Changes to the Land in Moravian Labrador. Corner Brook: Sir WIlfred Grenfell College, Interdisciplinary Conference: Order and Chaos, 1996. (MUN internet resources) Conference paper detailing the arrival of missionaries in Nain, and the changes that were made to the land in terms of the settlement that they encouraged (enforced) where they built the mission. Some specific references to pleasure versus vegetable gardens, and their importance to the Moravians. King, Joan. “My Years in Labrador,” Them Days, Vol. 36, No. 4, 2012: 8. (CNS) 1960s account of trying to grow a garden in Postville. Anecdote about Gaze Seed Co. and “hot caps.” The result was a good crop of cabbages. Ryerson, Knowles A. “Health and Happiness in Labrador.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 27, Issue 1 (April, 1929): 1416. (MUN DAI) 8 Ryerson, who was in charge of foreign plant introduction for the US Department of Agriculture, describes conditions for growing in Labrador. In his article he writes about the Grenfell garden campaign and its positive impact on residents, despite seeming like an inhospitable location to grow vegetables. Includes information about types of crops, climate, land/soil, and who maintains the gardens. La Trobe, Benjamin. With the Harmony to Labrador: Notes of a Visit to the Moravian Mission Stations on the NorthEast Coast of Labrador, 17521786. 1888. (MUN internet resources) Details a visit to each mission station along the coast, including prejudiced observations of the Inuit population. Not overly helpful in terms of descriptions of grounds and gardens, but some interesting interactions are detailed, illuminating attitudes of prejudice (which is presumed to exist but is less explicit in other texts). There is a statement of interest about Inuit gardening practices, as detailed in the attached notes. Learning, Forward. “Gardening and Boat Building, Reminiscences of Paradise, Labrador.” Them Days, Vol. 27., No. 3., Spring, 2002: 5767. (CNS) This useful personal account has been photocopied for reference purposes. Luther, Eva. “Gardening at St. Lewis and Spotted Island,” Them Days, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2012: 589. (CNS) Description of gardening in the area beginning in 1978. Types of vegetables grown, building of the soil, and some background in IGA/hospital influence on gardens. Includes a photograph and a handwritten seed list. Also refers to the Mission magazine Among the Deep Sea Fishers, for their reports on the work done by the P. and S. students and doctors with gardening. Merrick, Elliott. Northern Nurse. Halifax: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1994. (Shawyer Collection) Contains references to Hudson's Bay Company and Grenfell’s operations with specific mention to agricultural practices. The text revolves around the life of an Australian Nurse named Kate Austen who lived in Labrador in the 1920s30s. Montague, John. “Interview with Isaac (Ike) Rich, 1973, North West River,” Them Days, Vol. 23, No. 4, Summer 1998: 5164. (CNS) Interview with fur trapper starting from his early experience of catching his first fox in 1914. Makes mention of how there was no gardening in his family in that area, and the few families that did garden, started in the 1930s. Credits Dr. Paddon (with the IGA) for introducing the practice. 9 Muir, Ethel Gordon. Black Duck Cove, Straits of Belle Isle, Nfld. Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 20, Issue 34 (Jan. 1923): 13738. Reflections of a teacher who operated her own schoolhouse in Labrador starting in 1909. Opens with her belief in the importance of gardens and how she would encourage others to garden. She includes a list and description of the tools they used, and how she would enlist the children for help in the garden. Natcher, David C., Felt, Lawrence, and Procter, Andrea (Eds.) The Nunatsiavummiut Experience: Settlement, Subsistence, and Change Among the Labrador Inuit. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2012. (JSTOR via MUN) Anthology that discusses the history of subsistence living for the Labrador Inuit, particularly as the diet has undergone significant change postcontact. At times archeological, and other times statistical, it provides a researchbased overview of this topic. One particularly useful essay by Maura Hanrahan, offers a history of the Moravian missions and the direct implication of the food that they introduced See pages 121138. O’Brien, Patricia (Ed). The Grenfell Obsession: An Anthology. St. John’s: Creative Publishers, 1992. (Shawyer Collection) A collection of essays and photographs detailing many different facets of the Grenfell Mission. Touches on diseases and challenges faced by Labradorians, and some of the people connected to the Grenfell Mission including Dr. Paddon. The infamous “cabbages” photograph featuring Dr. Grenfell is featured along with information on the gardening campaigns of the 1920s30s, and how it came into being. See pages 12427. Omohundro, John. Rough Food: The Seasons of Subsistence in Northern Newfoundland. St. John’s: Social and Economic Studies No. 54, ISER, Memorial University, 1994. (Shawyer Collection—photocopy) Overview of foodways practices on the GNP. Includes a section in the chapter Decline and Persistence, on how the missionaries provided guidance and support around agricultural skills in Labrador, with specific reference to the Moravians. It then moves onto a history of Grenfell’s efforts in the region. Excellent summary of Grenfell’s agricultural initiatives, including the greenhouses. Paddon, Anthony. “Ellis Michelin: Labrador's First FullTime Gardener and Farmer, 19141984.” Them Days, Vol. 10, No. 1, Sept., 1984: 2227. Dr. Paddon of the IGA writes about a gardener employed by the mission. There is a good description of his farming practices along with references to Jim Tucker. 10 Paddon, Harry MD. The Mission Stations: Emily Beaver Chamberlain Memorial Hospital, North West River, Labrador. Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 15, Issue 3 (Oct. 1917): 10405. (MUN DAI) A letter to the editor written by Dr. Paddon (of the Grenfell Mission) detailing activities at the mission stations on the Labrador coast. Includes struggles met by the community and donations he and his family have made. Also mentions their garden which is “dogproof” and their hopes for increased land cultivation. Pardy, Elsie. “There’s Always Something to Do.” Them Days, Vol. 36, No. 4, 2012: 6162. (CNS Periodicals) 1940s account of attending the Lockwood Mission school in Cartwright. School food and farm described. Peacock, Dr. F.W. The Moravian Mission in Labrador 1752—1979. Doctoral thesis. St. John’s: Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1981. (CNS BX 8567 N4 P4 1981) Thesis focusses on the more religious history of the Moravians and their settlement and missionary work. It has one section on the social and cultural change for the Inuit, through this contact, but doesn't discuss agriculture. There are a few references to early attitudes around agriculture here, as well as a brief description of one Moravian farm site. Peacock, F.W. Rev. “The Moravian Church in Labrador: 17271970s. Includes A. Perrault's reminiscences.” Them Days, Vol. 1., No. 3, 1976: 312. (CNS Periodicals) Article by Reverence Peacock mostly focussing on the role of the church and community governance. Perrett, Rev. W. W. “A Year’s Life and Work at One of Our Labrador Mission Stations.” Moravian Missions, Nov. 1918: 8284. (MUN DAI) Short article by a Moravian reverend that summarizes the activities of the Hopedale mission over the course of a year. There is a section that goes over the garden bounty of that summer, and how much food was distributed to the “Eskimos.” Plant, Dorothy A. “Lasting Lure.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers, VOL. 58, Issue 4 (Jan. 1961): 102104. (DAI via PAB) Secretary for the Grenfell Labrador Medical Mission writes on some of the work that has been done on the coast. Mentions on page 102 that the Grenfell Mission and the 11 Moravian Mission “work closely together in the northern Labrador stations.” She then discusses her own trips and observations. Roberts, Sheila. Rain Drizzle Fog: The Joys and Sorrows of Newfoundland Weather, Portugal Cove—St. Phillips: Boulder Publications, 2014. A title focussing on the weather of Newfoundland and Labrador, including some historical accounts on the connection between weather and the ability to grow food in this climate. Rollmann, Hans. “Nunak: A Labrador Inuk in 18thCentury London, 17691788.” Them Days, Vol. 28, No. 2, 2014: 1014. Focusses on the fate of young Inuit who were taken to Europe and the vulnerability of the community to smallpox and other communicable diseases. Not relevant to agriculture necessarily, but offers information about the relationship between the Moravians and the Inuit, and explores the impact of this connection. Rollmann, Hans Ed. “Moravian Beginnings in Labrador: Papers from a Symposium held in Makkovik and Hopedale.” An Occasional Publication of Newfoundland and Labrador Studies, No. 2: 2009. (CNS BX 8567 N4 M56 2009 c.2.) Introduction of this collection of papers includes an excellent concise summary of Moravians in Labrador. It has a description of the settlements and the situation around trade that evolved. Rollmann, Hans. Labrador Through Moravian Eyes: 250 Years of Art, Photographs and Records. St. John’s: Special Celebrations Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador Inc., 2002. (Shawyer Collection) Predominantly consisting of the photographs taken by Moravian Missionaries, the book begins with a detailed account of the history of such missionaries on the Labrador coast. It is very detailed with specific dates and missionary names. Direct references to Moravian gardens are included. Rollmann, Hans. Religion, Society & Culture in Newfoundland and Labrador: Moravians. Website: http://www.mun.ca/rels/morav/index.html Accessible online, this site includes a collection of observations regarding several of the missions in the early 1860s, mostly from one particular voyage (re: Reichel). There is information about the stations and the land around each station, including vegetation, descriptions of religious services, information on specific residents of the community, 12 their personal hardships etc. Also a good source for information for population numbers, number of houses, number of families. Rompkey, Ronald (Ed). Jessie Luther: At the Grenfell Mission. Montreal and Kingston: McGillQueen’s University Press, 2001. (Shawyer Collection) Diaries written by Luther between 19061910. She had been enlisted by Grenfell to come to St. Anthony to teach handicraft textile skills to the women in the community. She helped create the hooked mat movement. Much of the information is centered on the GNP and Grenfell’s activities there, rather than Labrador, but there are still important references to gardening, including a complete chapter on the Moravian missions from her personal observations in 1910. Rompkey, Ronald (Ed.). Labrador Odyssey: The Journal and Photographs of Eliot Curwen on the Second Voyage of Wilfred Grenfell, 1893. Montreal and Kingston: McGillQueen’s University Press, 1996. (Shawyer Collection) Great source of information based on the observations of Dr. Curwen, colleague of Dr. Grenfell. The photographs are mostly portraits of families and their abodes (i.e. exterior and interiors of tilts). Also includes reports written by Dr. Grenfell on the social conditions they witnessed, and the overall lack of fresh food access. Journals detail a visit to the Moravian Mission in Hopedale including information about the extensive gardens. Rudkowski, Clarice Blake. “We Lived on the South Side.” Them Days, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2008: 3945. (CNS Periodicals) Family reminiscences on life spent in North West River and Sheshatshiu. Includes valuable references to gardening. Rudkowski, Edward. “Grandma and Grandpa, 50 Years Together.” Them Days, Vol. 13 No. 4, June 1988: 5461. (CNS Periodicals) Life reflections that include family gardening practices in the Happy Valley area. Information goes back to the early 1900s. Saunders, Doris. “Plants and Gardening.” Them Days, Vol. 8, No. 1, Sept.,1982: 416. (CNS Periodicals) Saunders begins this article with entries from Cartwright’s journals and writings from the 1780s about his gardening practices in Labrador. The article then goes on to offer personal anecdotes and reflections from gardeners from many different communities. These compiled writings are excellent but haven’t been transcribed because they are too plentiful. 13 Saunders, Doris. “Hopedale Moravian Mission—17821982.” Them Days, Vol. 8, No. 1, Sept., 1982: 1721. (CNS Periodicals) Here Saunders provides a summary of activities related to the Hopedale mission station. Sears, Fred C. “The 1933 Labrador Garden Campaign.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers 32, no. 1 (1934): 812. (MUN DAI) This article, written by Sears, a horticulturalist who began the gardening program in 1928, details the developments of this campaign. Some of the information includes successes of current gardens, challenges faced by some citizens, and garden competitions. Best overview of Grenfell campaign available. His essay has been reprinted in O’Brien’s work: The Grenfell Obsession: An Anthology. Smith, Archibald Alex George. Grenfell’s Work in Northern Newfoundland and Labrador, With Special Reference to Grenfell. Doctoral Thesis. Curling, Newfoundland: (1970) The Department of Church History of Pine Hill Divinity Hall, 1970. (PANL File MG63.2098) A thesis on many aspects of Grenfell’s work including brief mentions of how he encouraged coastal people to grow gardens and pick berries. Emphasis is on religious and spiritual life of Grenfell. The author is from the St. Anthony area, b.1916. Sniffen, Stewart B. MD. “The Traveling Labrador Healthy Unit.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 20, Issue 34 (Jan. 1923): 109114. (MUN DAI) Comprehensive overview of the health conditions and all related factors as seen on the Labrador coast at the time of publication. There is a section on agriculture and not only its historic connection to Moravian practices, but it’s enduring need. Sweeney, Lucy. “William’s Harbor Labrador.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 20, Issue 24 (Jan. 1923): 13536. (DAI via PAB) Personal reflections on keeping seeds and how the children of William’s Harbor made their own small gardens. Stedman, Joan. “Nursing at Cartwright.” Them Days, Vol. 18, No. 1, 1992: 317. (CNS Periodicals) From the diary of a nurse working in Labrador for the IGA. Descriptive writing includes information about the grounds, gardens, and who maintained the various mission components. 14 Stopp, Marianne P. Ed. The New Papers of Captain George Cartwright. Montreal and Kingston: McGillQueen’s University Press, 2008. (Viewed source online) Transcribed and annotated by Stopp, this book is comprised of Cartwright’s journals from 16 years spent on the coast between 1760 and 1776. Information includes “...how to build a house in a subarctic climate, the best methods of sealing, trapping, and salmon fishing, as well as merchant rivalries and trade with Aboriginal groups.” Taber, Ralph Graham. “In Rugged Labrador.” Outing Vol. 27, No. 1 (Oct. 1895): 1623. (MUN DAI) See pages 1819 for details about Moravian gardening practices in Hebron. It’s a good observational record that includes information about fertilizers as well as how to protect plants from frost. Close to a stepbystep guide for the growing process. Townsend, Charles Wendell (Ed). Captain Cartwright and His Labrador Journal. Boston: Dana Estes & Company Publishers, 1911. (Shawyer Collection) Highly relevant source detailing all aspects of early voyages to Labrador made by Captain George Cartwright. His accounts include many references to his gardening experiences. This book contains perhaps the earliest written references to agriculture, aside from what the Moravians were documenting during a similar time period. See pages 55, 56, 94, 176, 196, 227, 295, 339, 340, 358361. Also see Them Days Vol. 32, No. 2, 2010, as they have published excerpts from Cartwright’s diaries with direct reference to his vegetable gardens, successes and challenges. Whiteley, William H. “The Moravian Missionaries and the Labrador Eskimos in the Eighteenth Century.” Church History, Vol. 35, No. 1, Cambridge University Press. (Mar., 1966): 7692. (Online via MUN) Historic survey or early mission attempts of the Moravians, and then details around Haven’s successful settlement. Offers concise history with one reference to mission gardens. Whiteley, William H. Records of the Moravian Mission in Labrador. St. John’s: Memorial University: 1971. (CNS BX 8565 M611 c.2) Document serves as an inventory of all archival records help on microfilm in the MUN collections. Brief description of each record or collection of records. Could be helpful in finding specific information about mission settlement services and how work/food was distributed. Some diaries are in this inventory, as well as annual reports that included details on weather, living conditions, and successes/failures of gardens. Six packets are included that have this information (see pg. 19 of inventory).The associated microfilm 15 can be found in the CNS: microfilm 690 v.1—v.92. Also see microfilm 512 for Moravian paper records. The Moravians in Labrador. Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Son, 1835. (CNS Microfilm CIHM NO.38364) Descriptive writing around the details of settlement, including endeavors and challenges. There is also specific reference to attempts at transmitting skills to the native population, including housebuilding and gardening. Greater emphasis though, is on the spiritual impact of the Moravians. Section B: Reference material with general information about agriculture in Newfoundland and Labrador, and/or general history. Arendt, Beatrix. “Caribou to Cod: Moravian Missionary Influence on Inuit Subsistence Strategies.” Historical Archeology: Environmental and Economic Archeologies of Missions, Colonies, and Plantations, Vol. 44, No. 3 (2010): 81101. (JSTOR via MUN) Impact of Moravian missionary presence on hunting, fishing and settlement for the coastal population in Labrador. Includes intentions of Moravians plus overall effect in regards to spiritual/social/cultural factors. See list of references at the end of the article. Budgel, Richard and Stavely, Michael. The Labrador Boundary. Happy ValleyGoose Bay: Labrador Institute of Northern Studies, Memorial University, 1987. (Shawyer Collection) An essay on the joining of Newfoundland and Labrador, with a concise overview of Labrador’s history including information about Cartwright and the Moravian Mission. Cadigan, Sean. “The Role of Agriculture in Outport SelfSufficiency,” The Resilient Outport, St. John’s: Memorial University, 2002. (CNS HC 117 N4 R469 2002) Article in anthology about government policy around agriculture in Newfoundland and its impact on farming practices. It’s ties to the fishery are also laid out, as well as information on the Great Depression and how it influenced practices and policies around such practices. Chaulk Murray, Hilda. More Than Fifty Percent: Woman’s Life in Newfoundland 16 Outport 19001950. St. John’s: Memorial University of Newfoundland, Folklore and Language Publication, 1979. (Shawyer Collection) An overview of the life and work of women living in Newfoundland outports during the early to mid twentieth century. Topics include home, child care, livelihood, and larger roles in the community setting. References to gardening practices include how to fertilize with fish remains, types of vegetables grown, variety of seed, and specific gardening duties. See pages 1821. Chaulk Murray, Hilda. Of Boats on the Collar: How It Was in One Newfoundland Fishing Community. St. John’s: Flanker Press, 2007. (Shawyer Collection) This book details the outport life in Elliston and surrounding area. It includes information, photographs, and diagrams arounds the fishery, boats and boat building, and fisheries architecture. Gardening is also referred to, as it was important in daytoday life in this community. Felt, Lawrence F. and Peter R. Sinclair (Eds). Living on the Edge: The Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. Social and Economic Paper, No. 21, ISER, Memorial University, 1995. (CNS HC 117 N4 L58 1995) Overview of contemporary gardening practices in communities on the GNP. Mostly focuses on postconfederation conditions and access to food of all kinds, including selfsufficient acts such as hunting, fishing, and animal husbandry. Gordon, Henry. The Labrador Parson: Journal of the Reverend Henry Gordon 19151925. Edited by F. Burnham Gill. St. John’s: Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador, 1972. (Shawyer Collection) Personal diaries of a parson who tended to the ministry in Sandwich Bay, located in Cartwright. Part of his work involved extensive travels in Labrador, mostly by dog team. These journals detail the kinds of hardships and challenges he witnessed and experienced. It does not cover what he learned in terms of subsistence. Gosling, William Gilbert. Labrador: It's Discovery, Exploration and Development. London: A. Rivers, 1910. (Online via MUN) Available on “Our Roots: Canada's Local Histories Online” website. Historic overview of Labrador's different moments of “discovery” by voyagers including early Norse visits, Cabot in 1497, and ending with the Moravian settlements. Houghton, Frank L. “The Strathcona Line.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers, Vol. 64, Issue 2 (July 1966): 3536. (MUN DAI) 17 This article is on the history of the steamers that were being used by the Grenfell Mission. The piece came out upon the launch of the Strathcona III. It is most interesting for the story of how this line is named after Donald Smith for his early contributions to the Grenfell Mission, showing the interconnection between these different groups (HBC and Grenfell). Hutton, Samuel King. By Patience and the Word: The Story of Moravian Missions. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1935. (MUN DAI) Book chronicles early mission work with a few brief references to gardening. This account is largely from an ecclesiastical perspective. Kelleo, Josephina. Taipsumane: A Collection of Labrador Stories. Nain: Torngasok Cultural Centre, 1984. (Shawyer Collection) Folk drawings accompanied by brief descriptions of the traditional way of life among Inuit in Labrador. Includes information on traditional dress, knowledge, and customs, as well as how things have changed since the author’s childhood. Traditional language is represented, as well as syllabics. Loder, Millicent Blake. Daughter of Labrador. Harry Cuff Publications, St. John’s: Harry Cuff Publications, 1989. (Shawyer Collection) Detailing the life of a health pioneer in Labrador, who was from Rigolet. She chronicles many experiences in terms of helping the people who needed medical attention. While there are no references to farming she does describe Moravian buildings/settlements. Moravian Mission. The Moravian Mission in Labrador: The Story of Over 200 Years Service Among the Inuit and Settlers of Northern Labrador, 1971. (CNS BX 8567 N4 M57 1982) Booklet offering a concise history of Moravian settlement and mission activities in Labrador (organized according to specific communities). It does not have any information about agricultural attempts, but does briefly touch on dealings with the Hudson's Bay Company. It is written in English and Inuktitut. Booklet somewhat works to justify presence saying that the Moravians protected Inuit form contact/trade that could have decimated the population (like on the Southern Coast). Paddon, W. A. Labrador Doctor: My Life with the Grenfell Mission. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, Publishers, 1989. (Shawyer Collection) Details the working life of Dr. Harry Paddon of the Grenfell Mission, who began his work in Labrador in 1912 and saw much need for his medical support and expertise. Not a major source of information on agriculture but includes details about diet, malnutrition, 18 mission work, family history, and descriptions of communities. Page 12 offers his role as an advocate of gardening in Labrador, while page 74 has information about the mission farm in St. Anthony. From other sources, it is clear that Dr. Paddon was an active and respected doctor in the region. Pope, Peter E. Fish Into Wine: The Newfoundland Plantation in the Seventeenth Century. Chapel Hill and Williamsburg: University of North Carolina, Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, 2004. (Shawyer Collection—photocopy) Article on the early fishery settlements in Newfoundland with direct references to agricultural practices of the time. This work is a good companion to Labrador specific publications as it offers a point of comparison for what would be introduced north. See page 344 for gardens near St. John’s in 1677. Richards, J.T. Snapshots of Grenfell. St. John’s: Creative Publishers,1989. (Shawyer Collection) Details the early relationship between canon Richards and Dr. Grenfell, as they encountered each other on the Northern Peninsula in 1892. Richards was in charge of the parsonage at Flower’s Cove. This publication covers information about the work he accomplished, as well as Grenfell’s mission. No references to Grenfell’s agricultural initiatives. Rollmann, Hans. The Moravians in Labrador: Christoph Brasen (17381774), Paper document, St. John’s: Memorial University, 1997. (CNS BV 2560 R65 1997 c.1). Short paper about the life of a missionary, Brasen, who arrived with Haven in 1771, helping set up Nain as first superintendent, but died in a boating accident soon later. Rompkey, Ronald. Grenfell of Labrador: A Biography. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991. (Shawyer Collection) This book is a cohesive history of Grenfell’s early voyages and later missions. It discusses the complex relationship between Moravian missionaries and Grenfell Mission, as well as all hurdles the mission faced. No direct mention of agriculture. See page 51 for details around health issues/poverty in Labrador at the time of the early Grenfell Mission. Stopp, Marianne P. “Eighteenth Century Labrador Inuit in England.” Arctic. Vol. 62, No. 1, (March 2009): 45 – 64. (Available online: http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic62145. pdf) 19 An article on the Inuit individuals who were brought to England and offers summaries of/from the documentation that went along with these voyages. It also details some of the tragic circumstances that occurred from such cultural exchange experiences. Them Days: Stories of Early Labrador, various issues. (CNS Periodicals) Searched these issues but no direct gardening anecdotes: Vol. 33, No. 3, 2009; Vol. 23, No. 1, Fall, 1997; Vol. 13, No. 2, March 1998; Vol. 14, No. 3, April, 1989; Vol. 14, No. 2, Jan., 1989; Vol. 12, No. 2, Dec. 1986; Vol. 10, No. 4, June, 1985; Vol. 11, No. 1, Sept., 1985; Vol. 11, No. 2, Dec., 1985; Vol. 9, No. 2, Dec., 1983; Vol. 7, No. 2, 1981; Vol. 6, No. 3, 1981. Tizzard, Aubrey M. On Sloping Ground. St. John’s: Memorial University, Folklore and Language Publication, 1984. (Shawyer Collection) Excellent source of information on all facets of traditional gardening/farming practices in fishing settlements in Notre Dame Bay. It is as much of a family history, as it is a review of traditional activities that would have been shared with the wider community. It is localized to Newfoundland with no reference to gardening in Labrador. Williamson, H. Anthony. “The Moravian Mission and Its Impact on the Labrador Eskimo.” Arctic Anthropology, Vol. 2, No. 2 (1964): 3236. (JSTOR via MUN) General overview of the Moravian mission work in Labrador including the amount of land acquired, specific dates for when missions began and when they closed, when and why the Moravians handed over trade management to the Hudson's Bay Company. Also includes information on the nature of the mission stations, how they operated, and how they aided the Inuit. Reference Material: Transcriptions and Quotes A: Moravian Mission Haven, Jens. Letter to Governor John Byron from Jens Haven, 1770. NonGovernment Records. The Rooms Provincial Archives: St. John’s. (MG 251) “We have made some little sketches of the coast of Labrador, especially where we are to fix our habitation but as they are very imperfect and poor we are ashamed to send them to you before we can be able to explain them by word of mouth to you. We have had many agreeable conversations with the Esquimaux and they willingly agreed to let us take their 12 miles square of their land on their coast wherever we pleased and every tribe of them wished that we would come and live with them. 20 They made us a present of that land for a small present which we gave to them (or as they said sold it to us) and we could never do the Esquimaux greater displeasure than telling them if they did not behave well we would not come and live with them and that kept them in order. They never did us the least harm but only one of them cut of a small rope of little or no value and that he was obliged to bring back again.” Hanrahan, Maura. “Tracing Social Change Among the Labrador Inuit: What Does the Nutrition Literature Tell Us?” The Nunatsiavummiut Experience: Settlement, Subsistence, and Change Among the Labrador Inuit. Eds. David C. Natcher, Lawrence Felt, and Andrea Procter. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press (2012): 12138. "The Inuit household economy remained relatively intact in the early Moravian era. The missionaries effect on Inuit food consumption would have been somewhat limited, given that the majority of Inuit continued their version of seasonal transhumance. It is likely that the diets of the missionaries and their families changed the most, since they had left an agrarian society ... in Europe. Their attempts to engage in farming—building small kitchen gardens at the mission stationsmet with limited success in this geophysical environment. Indeed, in September 1876 a missionary's child died "of a complaint which is new in Labrador as far as we know; it appears to be a form of scurvy." But change was occurring, albeit slowly, through the adaptation phase, partly as a result of periods of food shortage, such as the 1845 famine. Some Inuit went inland for trout and died there of starvation. Inuit began consuming foodstuffs imported by the Moravian missionaries and eating the vegetables cultivated by the missionaries, although the Europeans did not necessarily encourage the practice.... Samuel King Hutton, one of the only two physicians ever hired by the Moravian missions, worked at the Okak hospital from 1903 to 1908. Hutton's description of the Inuit in a 1909 monograph shows that pre contact foods remained important, especially the seal, followed by caribou. Inuit also ate walrus, bears, foxes, and sea birds, as well as tiny snow bunting. Trout and cod were not preserved in salt, which was the European practice at the time. Sculpin tails, mussels, and sea urchins were also consumedall of this in marked contrast to the preferred Moravian diet of grains, domesticated meats, and vegetables from their kitchen gardens (12728).” Whiteley, William H. “The Moravian Missionaries and the Labrador Eskimos in the Eighteenth Century.” Church History, Vol. 35, No. 1, Cambridge University Press. (Mar., 1966): 7692. (Re: 1771) “The Conference of Moravian Elders wisely advised the missionaries to trade with the Eskimos at fair rates, and not to borrow from them or accustom them to 21 gifts. No liquor or firearms were to be supplied the natives and the missionaries were to try to keep them away from the around around the Strait of Belle Isle. The missionaries were to live off the country as much as possible (80).” (Re: 1773) “In February 1773 Jens Haven and two other missionaries travelled with an Eskimo party fortytwo miles to secure the blubber and fins of a stranded whale. After a hard sledge journey of ten days, they returned to Nain tired, hungry, lousy, and frostbitten. They had not been able to get any blubber but had made use of the opportunity to make close contact with the natives and preach to them in the igloos where all were confined by bad weather. In the spring and summer the Moravians built boats for sale to the Eskimos and made valiant attempts to cultivate a mission garden (82).” “At the close of the eighteenth century, there were at Nain, Okak, and Hopedale 26 missionaries and a total of 228 resident Eskimos under pastoral care, of whom 110 were baptized. The Moravians made the Eskimos implements for fishing and gardening, constructed boats for their use, and aided them in building substantial houses. In addition the Brethren utilized every expedient to lessen their dependence on European supplies. Since most of the missionaries came from the artisan and working classes, they were accustomed to a simple style of living and did not look down on manual labour (88).” “The missionaries were accustomed to a simple standard of living, and possessed manual skills which helped the mission households reduce their dependence on imported European goods. In addition, the Moravian tradition of communal living enabled the missionaries to pool effectively their resources and training them the isolation of Labrador and labour together with remarkably little friction (90).” Bisbee, John B. Fonds, 19131914. NonGovernment Records. The Rooms Provincial Archives: St. John’s. (MG 735) (Re: Visits to the Moravian stations along the coast) “August 1914, Hopedale. Hopedale is the most southerly Moravian Post on the Labrador coast and it is here that one gets their first real glimpse of the Eskimo. The wonderful Moravian gardens.” Budgell, Leonard. “Old Stone and Sod Houses.” Them Days, Vol. 16, No.3, April 1991: 5963. “...I had seen old pictures of the Mission which showed sod houses where the Mission gardens were in my time. Doubtless the sod contributed much of the soil that I found 22 there and which still nourished dozens of big Iceland poppies planted long ago by the Moravian Missionaries. I transplanted many of these pretty flowers into two cold frames and had a nice display of colour from seed that was originally planted nearly a hundred years before (62).” Rompkey, Ronald (Ed). Jessie Luther: At the Grenfell Mission. Montreal and Kingston: McGillQueen’s University Press, 2001. (Re: Chapter 5: Moravian Missions and Eskimos) “16th31st August, 1910—Hopedale. Mrs. Lenz brought out some Eskimo motto cards, postcards and a few deerskin articles which the passengers snapped up at once. She then led us along a walk bordered by trees, through a kitchen garden where lettuce, potatoes, rhubarb, turnips and even cauliflower were flourishing, then through a gate in the picket fence to another lovely spot with trees, shrubs and walks leading to seats beside them. There was even a little teahouse, and in one place, a seat and table were raised by rock and sand to a height overlooking the sea and hills (266).” Borthwick, Jane. The Story of Moravian Missions in Greenland and Labrador by H.L.L. London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1873. “The warm season, though very short is warm—the thermometer at times rising to eightysix degrees. Thus plants and vegetables can be raised beyond what is possible in Greenland; and some trees of the hardy pine species, in sheltered situations, stand the winter frosts, and grow high enough to be of use for building purposes. Hares, foxes, and other animals are numerous, whose skins are valuable as articles or trade. Large herds of reindeer roam over the land; there also roams the polar bear, whose immense strength and ferocity make him when pressed by hunger an object of real terror to the Esquimaux, or indeed to anyone who comes in his way (103).” “The Bishop and Count Zinzendorf readily entered into Erhardt's views and wishes, consulting with Matthew Stach. Application was made to the Hudson Bay Company “for permission to preach the gospel to the savages in the neighbourhood of their factories.” This was refused. Three English merchants, however, unconnected with the Company, fitted out a vessel for trade with Labrador, engaged Erhardt as supercargo, and willingly agreed to take out a party of missionaries. Four Moravian Brethren volunteered to go and be left on the coast. They took with them a wooden house, ready to set up, furniture, a boat, etc. The Hope and her passengers reached the southeast coast of Labrador in the end of July 1752 (107).” (This continues as an account of how Erhardt and five sailors had gone ashore and never returned...) Rollmann, Hans Ed. “Moravian Beginnings in Labrador: Papers from a 23 Symposium held in Makkovik and Hopedale.” An Occasional Publication of Newfoundland and Labrador Studies, No. 2: 2009. (Re: Publication introduction) “At its height, during the nineteenth century, each major settlement had a large, sometimes twostorey communal mission house and church in German architectural style with a nearby graveyard. The mission stations also included workshops, provision houses, store buildings, including a blubber yard, boat houses, and a saw mill, as well as extensive vegetable and flower gardens. Until 1908, Moravian familiars and single brothers lived and shared their chores under one roof in the large communal dwelling houses, while Inuit families and individuals settled on mission property in sod and eventually wooden houses during the winter. Some people found employment in the extensive gardens of the missions and in other capacities, such as logging operations and building projects. From the beginning, trade, not always profitable and the most troubled link between European missionaries and the Inuit, was part of the Moravian experience in Labrador but was relinquished in 1926 to the Hudson's Bay Company (15).” The Moravians in Labrador. Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Son, 1835. “When the century closed, after three years labour, the missionaries at the three different stations and the pleasure of numbering two hundred and twentyeight resident Esquimaux under their care, of whom one hundred and ten were baptized. This involved them in various other avocations. They had not only to instruct them in matters of religion, but to teach them habits of industry and of economy; and to show them the example, they induced them to build, and assisted them in building, substantial houses; they made them tools for working and implements for fishing and gardening, which last process they had to superintend and to direct. Besides, they erected and kept in repair their own dwellings, cultivated their own gardens, fabricated tools for themselves, and used every exertion to lessen the demand for, or supply the deficiency of their European food (185).” Peacock, Dr. F.W. The Moravian Mission in Labrador 1752—1979. Doctoral thesis. St. John’s: Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1981. Terra de Labrador according to early Moravian authority signified the "land capable of cultivation." However the Reverend L.T. Reichel, a Moravian leader, who visited the coast of Labrador in the year 1877, in his report described the coast saying "…it is a land of rocks and swamps, agriculture is impossible." Jens Haven, pioneer of the permanent Moravian settlement in Labrador says of the site at Nain as being "…even and capable of cultivation." 24 "Professor Hind, in his "Explorations in Labrador" volume 2, page 140 (1863), says "The head of Hamilton Inlet may be termed the garden of the Atlantic Coast of Labrador… At Rigolette there are about seven acres under crop, and the farm boasts of twelve cows, a bull, some sheep, pigs and hens (31)." La Trobe, Benjamin. With the Harmony to Labrador: Notes of a Visit to the Moravian Mission Stations on the NorthEast Coast of Labrador, 17521786. 1888. (Re: visiting the Inuit in their own dwellings in Ramah, 1888.) “Do my readers want to know about the gardens? There are none. Gardening is no employment for the Eskimos; the severity of the climate and their migratory habits forbid it. Nor do they seem to have much taste for flowers, though they see them in the missionaries gardens. They appreciate the vegetables grown there, but they do not care for the trouble of raising them for themselves (41).” Rompkey, Ronald (Ed.). Labrador Odyssey: The Journal and Photographs of Eliot Curwen on the Second Voyage of Wilfred Grenfell, 1893. Montreal and Kingston: McGillQueen’s University Press, 1996. (Re: Hopedale Moravian Mission) “After dinner I was shown the gardens and was as surprised as delighted with what I saw. Each missry. had his garden and grows vegetables chiefly but at one end has one or two beds of flowers in full bloom; the gardens so rich & in such order made me think I was in England again, for who expects to see Polemonium Richardsoni, poppy, nemophila, iris, mignonette, stock, agrostemma & pansy flourish in north Labrador? The large vegetable gardens were full of rhubarb just passing off, celery, cucumber, cauliflower, beet & carrot coming on, and lettuce, kohlrabi, cabbage, curly cabbage, spinach & parsley in good condition. We had great present of rhubarb & lettuce, there being far more than the families cd. consume; at one time the N.F. fishermen used to rob the gardens but of late years “ since Salvation Army men came down” the gardens have not been touched. After examining all the premises I was taken to see “the greatest work of all “; this was the view of the houses in which the people now live as seen from the grasscovered ruins of the old heathen Esquimaux huts of 150 yrs. ago 100101).” Eliot Curwen, Tuesday, August 24, 1893 Rollmann, Hans. Labrador Through Moravian Eyes: 250 Years of Art, Photographs and Records. St. John’s: Special Celebrations Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador Inc., 2002. (Re: Mission in 1771) “Large vegetable and smaller flower gardens with garden houses for each missionary or family, a stable for goats, a recreational forest, landscaped grounds, and wooden walkways were part of most settlements, as were nearby graveyards (10).” 25 (Re: Hopedale in 1861) “...Behind these buildings is a piece of rising ground, planted with firs and larch, and bounded by steep rocks. The ground, which has been cleared by the felling of trees suited for building, is cultivated as a garden, in which potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers, lettuces, and radishes are grown, and succeed very well. Quoting Levin Theodore Reichel’s “Report of the Visitation of the Mission in Labrador,” Periodical Accounts, Vol. 24, 25666. (24). BriceBennett, Carol. Hopedale: Three Ages of a Community in Northern Labrador. St. John’s: Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2003. “Southern traders also introduced card games to Inuit in 1846. This new form of entertainment was readily adopted, despite opposition from missionaries who disapproved of gambling and considered playing cards a vice. The adoption of another pastime, however, gained the Moravians’ approval. As early as 1839, Hoffenthal Inuit began following their example by cultivating small gardens near their homes that contained a few hardy vegetables and flowers. Experiments in growing root crops, which usually matured during the relatively short summer, prospered and provided food which became favoured additions to the Inuit and Moravian diet. Inuit learned gardening skills by being hired to work in the extensive mission gardens, where a wide variety of edible plants were grown (72). (Re: Two page spread called “Gardening in Northern Labrador”) “Every mission station included an extensive area devoted to gardens for growing vegetables that were highly valued on the dining table of Moravian families. Individual missionaries tended their own garden plots containing hardy root crops such as cabbage, turnip, carrot, onion, and potato, as well as various other edible plants, and beds of flowers. At Hoffenthal, a park with walking paths decorated by flowers was created in addition to the vegetable plots, and was an area enjoyed for relaxation by resident missionary and visitors to the community (80).” Omohundro, John. Rough Food: The Seasons of Subsistence in Northern Newfoundland. St. John’s: Social and Economic Studies No. 54, ISER, Memorial University, 1994. (Pg. 11516) “Missionaries were persistent promoters of food production. Their residence in the outports taught them that a diversified approach to subsistence was essential to the inhabitants’ wellbeing. During the nineteenth century the Moravians in Labrador attempted to spread the techniques of agriculture among their trade partners and parishioners, the Inuit and Naskapi. The Moravians were hoping to “civilize” the natives 26 by agriculture as much as to improve their diet. Their efforts failed because the natives ordinarily ate few vegetables and neither the climate nor the technological expertise were adequate. The Grenfell medical mission in northern Newfoundland and Labrador, operating out of St. Anthony beginning in the 1890s, was somewhat more successful in spreading cultivation, because it more realistically concentrated on kitchen gardens. Sir Wilfred Grenfell was an enthusiastic proponent of selfsufficiency so that both the natives and white settlers might achieve a more balanced diet and become less dependent upon merchants (11516).” Hutton, Samuel King. A Shepherd in the Snow: The Life Story of Walter Perrett of Labrador. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1936. (Re: A Moravian account of being in Labrador) “The potatoes, turnips, and cabbages, though doing their best in the cold soil, would not be of eatable size until well on in September, and the only fresh vegetable food, eked out with sparing hand, was the lettuce so carefully grown in window boxes or under glass in frames, and carried to the shelter of the house or covered with coarse sacking against the night frosts. No night is safe from frosts in Labrador; snow might fall in August; and the growing of fresh vegetable food was a tribute to the faith and skill of missionaries who had been good gardeners in warmer lands, and who had carried their faith and skill to the unlikely land of Labrador. “Unlikely” would seem to be a proper word to describe the bare and frozen surroundings of the Labrador gardens; and yet by that skill and care, and by a boundless belief in God that he would let them see the fruit of their toil, the end of the summer always brought potatoes and turnips and cabbages of eatable sizea welcome if shortlived change from the dried and tinned vegetables that are the housewife's material for her cookery during nine or ten months of the Labrador year. One of the missionaries said to me, “We always speak of Okak as a paradise.” “And why?” “'Because the gardens are so good!” I have seen those gardens and lived beside them; I have even had the tilling of one, poor gardener. Settling down as I was; and I wonder still at the patience and faith that have gone to the making of those gardens. Under the steep hillside they lie, with the swamp below them. The earth is but shallow; but such as it is, much of it has been gathered in baskets and wheelbarrows years and years ago, and fed each autumn with seaweed from the beach. Those gardens speak of times that are past; but every year they yield crops that are an astonishment to the stranger. True enough, the potatoes are small, and the cabbages do not often come up to the catalogue picture, but the poor things have had less than three months of doubtful weather and sunshine in which to take root and grow to maturity. It was a cold soil into which they were planted from the window boxes, and the night frosts are ever ready to nip the young shoots. So evening by evening the widows of the village earned a trifle by covering the potato plants with 27 sheets of coarse sacking, and evening by evening the missionary looked at the thermometer that hung outside his window; for if the reading of it made him think that a night frost was likely, down he would go, good man, to cover each tiny struggling cabbage with an empty tin. Such was gardening in Labrador; and if the thought is almost comical, remember that it is by the care for such small things that the missionaries have kept their health, and by the care of health it has been possible for a man to look back on fourandforty years of life in the hard climate of the northernmost part of the coast. Perrett was the son of a gardener; perhaps he had inherited his father's magic touch; and the gardens flourished under his care (358).” Rollmann, Hans. Religion, Society & Culture in Newfoundland and Labrador: Moravians. Website: http://www.mun.ca/rels/morav/index.html Re: Lives and Narratives of Labrador Missionaries: http://www.mun.ca/rels/morav/lives.html Levin Theodor Reichel: Report of the Visitation of the Mission in Labrador, 1861: Hopedale “At the time of our arrival at this Missionstation the weather was very warm, the thermometer being then, and remaining for a long time afterwards, at 77 degrees in the shade. We found the mosquitoes exceedingly troublesome. The first appearance of the settlement, together with the features of the surrounding country, reminded me in many respects of the highest regions of the Giants Mountains of Germany. The Missionhouse is a large structure of two stories, built in 1853 by Br. Kruth. The upper story is occupied by the families of the Brn. Kruth, Elsner and Beyer; the lower, besides the rooms inhabited by Br. Schott and his family, contains several apartments for common use. Adjoining is the former dwellinghouse, built in 1782, now used for various domestic purposes, and containing a carpenter's and smith's shop; from this you enter the old church built in 1784, now in a very dilapidated condition. A new one is in course of erection, of which, however, only the lower part of stone is as yet completed. Two Esquimaux, superintended by Br. Kruth, are at present engaged on the wooden portion of the edifice. It will, when finished, be a great improvement on the old structure. Behind these buildings is a piece of rising ground, planted with firs and larch, and bounded by steep rocks. The ground, which has been cleared by the felling of trees suited for building, is cultivated as a garden, in which potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers, lettuces, and radishes are grown, and succeed very well. In the few warm weeks of summer vegetation proceeds most rapidly. At the time of my visit provisions of various kinds were more plentiful than usual, especially various kinds of fish, seabirds, and game. Sometimes there is great scarcity, and consequent distress in winter.” Nain 28 “The Missionhouse, 76 feet by 32, is very commodious and well built. It is constructed of deal, from the native fir of Labrador, cut into planks and put together by the Missionaries, assisted by the Esquimaux. I saw here, not infrequently, firs and larches of 40 feet in height, and farther inland some 60 feet high. Br. Freitag showed me a block of deal two feet in diameter, which, according to his calculation, must have been 317 years in growing. In this climate the growth of timber is of course very slow. In the neighbourhood of the station timber for building can no longer be procured, but wood for fuel is still abundant. Near the house, on rising ground, is a large wellcultivated garden, which at this time of the year furnishes vegetables of all kinds in abundance, except peas and beans, which do not succeed here. From the garden a gravel walk leads for a considerable distance into the wood. The air is /269/ generally clear and bracing, and it would be very pleasant to wander over hill and dale were it not for the mosquitoes. They are even worse here than at Hopedale.” Hebron “September 19th, the Brn. Erdmann, Ribbach, Tappe, and Sperling came to take us on shore, where we were received by the whole congregation with the singing of hymns and thanksgiving. Br. Sperling's room had been prepared for my reception, and I was in every way made comfortable. In the afternoon we held a solemn lovefeast. The snow storms and fogs which accompanied the north and northeast winds for several days after our arrival, showed plainly that it was high time for us to be here. Later in the year it would scarcely have been possible for us to reach Hebron. I saw this station only in its winter dress, for on the 20th the ground was covered with snow a foot deep, which remained unmelted. Cabbages and turnips and other vegetables had to be dug from under the snow. The summer here is very short. At the beginning of July large masses of snow had still lain round the house and garden, and floating ice encumbered the bay; and now, the whole landscape was again white, and ice was forming on the sea. We had but one fine day.” http://www.mun.ca/rels/morav/texts/reichel2.html Re: Report of the Visitation 1867 Hopedale “The gardens took us by surprise, as vegetation in them was more advanced than we had anticipated: during our stay they improved very perceptibly with the warm weather and occasional heavy rain. Salad and cucumbers in the forcing frames require great care and trouble, which are, however, well repaid. In the little larch plantation stretching away in the direction of Shiphill I found the trees considerably grown, and the ground copiously sprinkled with pretty flowers, among which the Linnaea was particularly striking. 29 Native houses, built without any regularity amongst the rocks, line the road to the burialground; they are forty in number, and there are besides three houses of settlers, and one guesthouse for the use of visiting members and officials of the Hudson's Bay Company on their occasional trips past this place. The dwellings are much better than I found them fifteen years ago. You see no more genuine Eskimo huts, with windows of sealbladder. European blockhouses are now substituted for the former hovels, some of them having a bed of carrots and cabbages on the roof of the porch out of reach of the dogs. Most have glass windows, an iron stove in the centre, curtains to the beds, on which blankets now take the place of reindeerskins. The walls are papered with bright colours and adorned with pictures, and each house has its clock, mirror, and petroleumlamp.” Zoar “Zoar was entirely new to me, having been commenced as one of the consequences of my visit in 1861. The station lies on a small, narrow inlet of the peninsula formed by the Takpangayok Bay, which bears the name Kikkertaujalukkangerdlunga, or the bay of the great peninsula. The beauty of the situation is very striking. On landing, you follow a footpath up a slight ascent to the Eskimo village, in which the houses are all built in a line, and numbered. At the last house, which was Br. Elsner's first home here, a gravelwalk begins, leading past a pretty wood of fir and alder trees, in which you see the high willowweed, with its red flowers, and small white Alpine plants in abundance. The whole is a parklike picture. To the left there is the bay with many boats of the Eskimos. About 150 yards along this path you pass in front of the church, and stand before the missionpremises, at the corner of which the English flag is hoisted. Just outside the missionhouse are two flowerbeds, in which with the thermometer at 80 degrees Fahrenheit hardy flowers, as chinaasters, stocks, mignonette, were thriving beautifully. The house was too small to accommodate so large an influx of guests, and the gardenhouse proved a welcome resort for some meals and for conferences. A passage from the second storey of the missionaries' dwelling leads into the neat little church, for which we had brought a small organ. Both buildings are mainly the work of Br. Elsner. Nearer the landingplace are the storebuildings. The garden was in a flourishing condition, providing very good potatoes and salad for our table.” Nain “The swamp behind the houses has been drained and leveled, and now forms a field, which is sown with oats and barley. When we saw it the crop looked promising, but it is not likely that it will ripen. Here a sledgetrip was improvised for my wife, which quite sufficed to illustrate some of the drawbacks connected with this mode of travelling, especially when the dogs follow the bent of their semiwolfish nature, and attack one another, instead of doing their duty as draughtanimals. The Eskimo is ready and skillful 30 in hitting the chief transgressor with his long whip and restoring order to his team. The gardens looked well, but late potatoes were already on the 30th injured by frost.” Ramah “The present missionhouse, which was put up in a single day, and has since 1871 been the residence of Br. and Sr. Weitz, resembles at first sight a large booth at a fair: it is twenty feet long by thirteen broad, nine feet high in front, and only five at the back. This room served as church, also, until another house was transferred hither from Nachvak and located to the left of the missionhouse, the intervening space forming accommodation, when needful, for an unmarried missionary. The little church, which is also used as a school room by Nicoline, Gottlob's daughter, is exceedingly plain and primitive. Planks resting on blocks of wood, serve as benches, and opening out from the porch is the carpenter's shop. In front of the house is a small garden, which naturally produces much less than those further south, and close to the entrance the bell is hung, now unfortunately of little use, as it is cracked, and requires replacing by a new one. About 200 yards to the rear of the buildings is the burialground, fifteen yards square, marked by four posts: at each corner is a grave; three of those whose remains there await Judgmentday were members of Philip's family, who was for some years a useful helper here, and now lives at Hebron. To the left of the missionpremises is the Eskimo village, consisting of five tents in the summer: adjoining are the four winterhuts of sods, now standing empty, and likely to require considerable repairs before they again become uninhabitable. Upon the side of the Shiphill are storehouses of the Eskimos, built of slate, and the powder magazine, to reach which you have to cross by steppingstones a little stream, which, in the spring, forms a torrent with a fine waterfall. The missionary's pantry or meatsafe, invaluable for preserving their supplies of reindeerflesh in the summer, is a cave, which retains some of the wintersnow, but has the drawback that it becomes inaccessible, when there is a swell landwards.” http://www.mun.ca/rels/morav/texts/Lundberg.html Memoirs of John Lundberg, Missionary in Labrador 185658 "The winter set in so early, that we were obliged to get in a part of our crop of vegetables, when the ground was already covered with snow. It was particularly trying to fell a quantity of wood under such circumstances, as we were obliged to do. However, our Saviour made all toil easy to me, insufficient for His service as I felt myself to be. He also enabled me to devote my only leisure time in the mornings and evenings to the learning of the Esquimaux language, means for the acquisition of which were at that time very slender. I was also enabled to love the Esquimaux heartily, and to pray for their eternal welfare.” 31 Perrett, Rev. W. W. “A Year’s Life and Work at One of Our Labrador Mission Stations.” Moravian Missions, Nov. 1918: 8284. “The weather having been propitious during the summer we were able to gather an exceptionally heavy crop of swedes, turnips, carrots, and various varieties of cabbage from our small garden. Not only had we ample supply for the coming winter, but we were also able to dispose of about 6 pounds worth to the Eskimos. Although they have no leaning towards agriculture, the natives are very partial to turnips, either raw or boiled. The summer had been favourable to them too, as they been able to gather a bounteous harvest from the sea. High prices being paid for dried salt cod the majority of our people were well able to close their accounts—some even had a good surplus to expend for necessities of the coming winter (824).” Hutton, Samuel King. An Eskimo Village. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1929. “And another thing those four young men had brought—a parcel of garden seeds. “Surely,” said they, “this land of Labrador is not all rocks and ice; there must be soil there, and maybe the good God will cause His sunshine to shine even there, and maybe He will cause our garden seeds to grow. We will take seeds—lettuce and turnips and cabbages!” Strange act of faith and common sense! Sure enough, they found soil upon the sloping hillside, and there they planted seeds. I almost think they planted them on the very first day, so as to make the most of the bleak, short summer; for very soon, we read, the seeds began to grow. But, alas, the night frost came and nipped the tender shoots; and so the first planting of a garden on the barren Labrador was a failure. But this act of faith, this planting of a garden in so unpromising a land was a good example for later comers. Nowadays every mission station has its garden, and you may see, if you have the good fortune to be there, potatoes and cabbages and lettuce and turnips all flourishing with amazing hardihood. True, you might also see the aged Eskimo widows earning an honest wage by covering the potato plants with sacks in the cool of the evening, and uncovering them again when the morning sun begins to shine, you might see the grave and bearded missionary putting empty tins over his cabbage shoots, for the plants must be nursed if they are to escape the frosts (289).” Taber, Ralph Graham. “In Rugged Labrador,” Outing Vol. 27, No. 1 (Oct. 1895): 1623. The method of caring for the plants pursued at Hebron, 59 degrees north latitude is as unique as it is laborious, and is a eulogy on German perseverance. The post is located in an exposed and very barren spot, and the soil used is gathered a little in a place and brought, sometimes from considerable distances, to the mission gardens. Fertilizers are a scarce commodity, and all possible substances, from 32 kelp to capelin, are pressed into service to enrich the ground. The plants are sprouted within doors, and when the weather moderates sufficiently to admit of safely transplanting to the outer air, they are carefully placed into tiers of boxes, covered with glass frames, and having a southern exposure. When the sun shines these cases are covered with canvas. When the wind blows, the canvas is supplemented with wooden frames and these held firmly in place by piling heavy rocks upon them. As the season advances, the hardier plants are transplanted to mother earth (18).” Jarvis, Dale G. Converting the Landscape: Changes to the Land in Moravian Labrador. Corner Brook: Sir WIlfred Grenfell College, Interdisciplinary Conference: Order and Chaos, 1996. “Existing separate from the pleasure gardens were the vegetable gardens. In 1864 entomologist and zoologist Alpheus Pakard, travelling along the Labrador coast, was impressed by “Hopedale’s protected gardens” which featured rhubarb, potatoes, cabbages and turnips, as well as a large greenhouse for tomatoes, lettuce and flowers (Pringle 191). Some missionaries, like Walter Perrett, had special talents for raising plants in unlikely habitats (Pringle 212). Sidney Dicker was born in Okak after the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 19181919, remembers the mission garden in Nain. Quoting: “There was quite a little garden there. it had a little blue house in the middle where they used to keep their rakes and shovels and wheelbarrows for looking after their vegetables, like they growed chives they used to call it. Like grass but it was onion tasting, you know. And rhubarbs. This what we’ve got outside the house came from the minister...these blue flowers came from the mission house, …” Considerable work went into the creation of these gardens. Sidney Dickens remembers: Okak missionaries had their rhubarb, lots of it. But rhubarb and other introduced species did not initially grow well in Labrador. The missionaries circumvented this problem in some locations by importing soil from England for use in the gardens. Mission ships bringing supplies from Europe would bring topsoil as ballast, and unload their cargo of earth once they reached Labrador communities such as Nain. …Where the landscape didn’t suit the needs of the Moravians, it was altered, reordered until it did so (467).” 33 B: Grenfell Mission Rompkey, Ronald (Ed.). Labrador Odyssey: The Journal and Photographs of Eliot Curwen on the Second Voyage of Wilfred Grenfell, 1893. Montreal and Kingston: McGillQueen’s University Press, 1996. “We find everywhere the terrible lack of fresh food severely telling on the resident population. The fish, and occasional fowl, stave off partially the worst dangers, but an almost entire lack of any vegetables whatever is severely felt. Very short summers, and all hands then busy at the fishing, is against gardening, yet in places already I have seen a Labradorgrown potato (quote from Dr. Grenfell’s Report to the MDSF, 1519 July, 1893 (66).” Paddon, W.A. Labrador Doctor: My Life with the Grenfell Mission. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, Publishers, 1989. “Perhaps the biggest single loss was of children, through malnutrition. Accordingly, wherever Father travelled, he spread the word about the use of codliver oil to prevent or cure rickets; berries and vegetables to prevent deaths from scurvy; and brown flour, dried peas and beans to prevent perhaps the most common disease of all, beriberi. Father also preached the benefits of gardening, and reintroduced cattle and poultry to North West River (12).” Grenfell, Wilfred T. A Labrador Doctor: The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919. “I happened to be in the gardens at Nain, when a northerly air made it feel chilly and the thermometer stood only a little above freezing. A troop of Eskimo women came out to cover up the potatoes. Every row of potatoes is covered with arched sticks and long strips of canvas along them. A huge roll of sacking is kept near each row and the whole is drawn over and the potatoes are tucked in bed for the night (91).” O’Brien, Patricia (Ed). The Grenfell Obsession: An Anthology. St. John’s: Creative Publishers, 1992. “In a small motor boat we were visiting the villages along that shore, journeying inside the icefloes which were just loosening their grip on the land. An old fisherman welcomed us warmly. He was in sore distress. The fishing season was just opening; there was endless work to be done; and his two big sons of twenty and twentytwo years old were lying on the floor paralyzed and only able to move their heads! “What can you do, Doctor? Can they be saved?” cried the old man. “Cabbages!” was my 34 answer. He looked at me almost in anger. “Cabbages,” I repeated. The two young men were suffering from beriberi, due to lack of vitamins. Already on the coast I had seen deaths from blackleg scurvy—three grown men in one family. What could have saved them? “Cabbages,” or “potatoes, eaten in their skins.” They had no cabbages, and the few potatoes which the merchant had allowed them they had chipped raw, fed the peels to the chickens, and ruined the remainder by long boiling.” (Quoting Dr. Grenfell) (1245).” Grenfell, Wilfred T. Labrador. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Apr., 1911), pp. 407418. “At the mill at the mouth of the Hamilton river we have seen growing fields of last and barley that have made us, coming in from weeks on the outer coast, almost believe we were at home in England, where with roads marked by the tracks of horses and carts, with hedges around fields, and frogs croaking in the ditches, it is almost impossible for one only acquainted with the conditions of the outside coast to believe one's senses. Potatoes cannot be grown remuneratively on the outside coast. Only because it is impossible otherwise to get them has it been thought world while to expend even the cheap labour of the Eskimo women raising them. They have then to be planted in raised beds with a fencing of latticework overhead which can be covered at a moment's notice with layers of sacking to ward off the occasional frosts of July and August. We have secured this year from the Agricultural Department at Washington some polar alfalfa, which, as it grows well in both northern Siberia and Tibet, should succeed in Labrador, if only it can once friend sufficient holding ground for its roots (411).” Goudie, Elizabeth. Woman of Labrador. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, 1973. (Re: Chapter: Settled life in Mud Lake) “We had gardens in the summer. We grew potatoes, cabbage, carrots, beets and turnips. We bought our plants from the Grenfell Mission where they were grown in a greenhouse. One year I had good cabbage; a few weighed eight pounds. As the years moved on, we did a lot better for ourselves. Our garden in the summer helped a lot (89).” Stedman, Joan. “Nursing at Cartwright.” Them Days: Vol. 18, No. 1, Oct. 1992: 317. (Re: Grenfell Mission Hospital, Cartwright Bay, 195253) “Miss Seaman must have green fingers for there are lovely flowers flourishing all over the place, truly Danish fashion, and she’s organized a large kitchen garden with 10 pound cabbages in it, lettuce, beets, carrots and turnips that would make you envious. 35 There are six pigs fattening nicely, fifteen hens and thirty pullets. These last live indoors in a huge shed and I believe the doctor looks after them (11).” Blake, Marion Crane. “Family Reflections: Our Ways Are Fading.” Them Days: Vol. 18, No. 1, Oct. 1992. (Re: Speaking of life in Sheshatshiu, 1915) “Pa strolled about the garden puffing on his pipe. He noticed Ma’s flower garden fence needed a fresh coat of paint. Ma was a good hand at growing things. He wandered over to the rhubarb patch and noted that she had watered it with her wash water (61).” Pardy, Elsie. “There’s Always Something to Do.” Them Days: Vol. 36, No. 4, 2012: 5364. (Re: Grenfell Mission boarding schools) “We went to Lockwood school in Cartwright in September. The Mission boat would come around and pick up the children. Sometimes we’d get home in December depending on the weather and the ice. Everybody had their own bed at the boarding school. There was a section for the girls, a different section for the boys. There was a big girls’ room and a little girls’ room. Oh, it was really organized. The meals were good, we were wellfed with healthy food. The mission had its own farm. They used to have pigs, chickens, lots of homegrown vegetables. Mickey Bird was the farmer; he lived there too, right on the Mission (623).” Sniffen, Stewart B. MD. “The Traveling Labrador Healthy Unit.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 20, Issue 34 (Jan. 1923): 109114. (Re: Grenfell Mission) “Agriculture: You can't make farmers out of fishermen overnight, yet an attempt was made to stimulate their interest in producing vegetables to add variety to their diet. That it is possible to raise substantial crops on the Labrador has been well demonstrated by the Moravian missionaries. Our best card in convincing the men that a garden was worth the trouble was to tell of other families who had benefited by one. The Campbells, a Scotch family at Square Islands, had several large, flourishing gardens in the bay where their winter homes were located. These gardens were well started before it was time for them to come out to the coast for the summer's fishing and the women went back often enough during the season to take care of them. They told us that it was a short season, but that the long hours of daylight made the vegetables grow fast. They had lettuce during the summer and had raised enough vegetables (three barrels of potatoes and one barrel of turnip greens, which were salted down) the summer before to last until spring. Aside from these vegetables, they had picked partridge berries and blackberries to supply them until June, had made "spruce boil" through the winter, eaten the livers of the duck, porcupine, bear, partridge, rabbit and seal they had killed in the winter, had cod livers quite often during the summer, and had taken cod liver oil "every second day" all winter. 36 They also ate the skins and eyes of their potatoes and had oatmeal and cornmeal instead of all white flour. Therefore we were not surprised to find that the Campbells had five very healthy children. On the other hand, five children belonging to another family in the same settlement were in wretched condition. One was crippled with "bad legs," one fainted frequently and another had rickets. They had only had oleomargarine, white flour, molasses and a little beef and pork for their winter supplies. Their social history reads: "No garden, therefore no potatoes or cultivated leafy vegetables. "No wild greens or berries picked. "No cod livers or cod liver oil. "No bird or animal livers. "No 'Spruce Boil.' "All white flour." It was a great surprise to the second family when we told them that all their suffering came from not using food that it was possible for them to obtain. We also made use of concrete examples in demonstrating the value of whole wheat flour and fruit. One man at West St. Modeste had followed Dr. Grenfell's advice as to brown flour, cornmeal and rolled oats, and could chop wood nearly all day on a breakfast of these, whereas before, when he had breakfasted on white bread, he had had to "mug up" again in the middle of the morning. He also gained weight on whole wheat, cornmeal and rolled oats, where he had been thin and sickly before. Another example was two little girls in White Bay who alone were healthy in a family with beriberi. These girls had eaten the raw potato skins the mother had thrown out (11112).” Sweeney, Lucy. “William’s Harbor Labrador.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 20, Issue 24 (Jan. 1923): 13536. “Some of the supplies were rather slow in reaching William's Harbor, but among the things that I had taken with me were the garden seeds. The children took great pleasure in making their little garden. They loosened the soil with their fingers, made the little trenches with a stick, and planted lettuce, beets and mustard. They dragged some posts around and made a fence to keep the dogs out. The lettuce came up nicely, but the beets had so many setbacks that they amounted to nothing. Toothbrushes and toothpaste were splendid and were used carefully. I had several dozen samples so had a supply for the summer, and some to leave behind. Dry milk for the midmorning lunches was a great help. If there was any left, and I planned there should be, it was taken down to little Harold, who was too young to come 37 to school. He liked the milk warmed, and used to come out to see me on my way to the schoolhouse. He would look at the can I mixed it in, and shyly say, "Ha'ld can 'ave a cup of tay, p'haps? (1356).” Muir, Ethel Gordon. Black Duck Cove, Straits of Belle Isle, Nfld. Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 20, Issue 34 (Jan. 1923): 13738. “This year I have had the pleasure of teaching in my own schoolhouse. The bedrooms and kitchen are not completed so I am boarding with the same family with whom I made my home last summer. Since coming to the Labrador in the summer of 1909, I have continually preached, not only the importance, but the imperative duty of each and every person on the coast to grow potatoes, cabbage, or any other vegetable which can be coaxed or forced to grow In this decidedly unagricultural country. Never, however, until the present year have I, myself, had an opportunity to follow my, undoubtedly, good advice. Now, with my own house nearing completion, I have begun to work for my garden. By bribing my school children with biscuits and candy, I was able to form a really efficient corps for the clearing of land. As I knew nothing of the methods that should be employed in the process, I willingly took in any suggestions offered, and although "crude" and "primitive" are probably the mildest adjectives that an expert would apply to our methods, they certainly accomplished what we desired, and I think that no one today could find a single remaining root or stump in our garden, which is about forty feet in length and twenty in breadth. The implements for our work were mattock, ax and rope. The strongest boys would hack and pick at the roots of the trees and then, when we had our rope securely fastened around the stump, all the children who could secure a hold would pull on the rope until the stump finally yielded to their united strength. The teacher was supposed to be rendering valuable assistance, but this supposition was a false one as her aid was far more of the moral than of the physical variety. Once only did we have to call upon the men for help, and that was for the removal of two ancient firs which were entirely too weighty for the strength of the children. The work of the men in the cause Is, however, yet to come, as fencing In our school garden, of which we are all immensely proud, although it contains as yet not a single seed of anything which we desire to grow therein. This brings me to that which Is the end and aim of my letter, namely: an urgent request for seed, and for seed not in any small quantity, but for a large amount of this longed for commodity. First: I want grass seed— the very best that can be obtained—and I want about a barrelful of this. My people at Black Duck Cove are now keeping, or strenuously endeavoring to keep, cattle. They go ten miles or more and cross a large lake In order to bring back a little wild hay. They have put in a little grass seed near the settlement, but this should be increased twenty fold and this the people 38 cannot afford. Then, as I mean to have a hayfield in connection with my school, I want good grass seed myself. For my garden, I want just what experience has proved it to be possible to grow at Black Duck Cove namely: potatoes, cabbage, rhubarb, lettuce and radishes. The people tell me that the best cabbage known on the coast is the drumhead; but as I have never previously heard of this variety I shall be thankful for any really good cabbage seed. Hoping that some philanthropically disposed readers of our magazine may be moved to respond to my appeal, I earnestly beseech such to send contributions of the seed mentioned to the New York office, 156 Fifth Avenue, stating that such contributions are to be sent this fall to Black Duck Cove, Strait of Belle Isle, addressed to me. September, 1922 (13738).” Curtis, Harriot. “The Home Front.” Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 38, Issue 3 (Oct. 1940): 73. "Fight the War in the Cabbage Garden!" "Why spend your money on dogfood, when there is plenty to be caught in the sea.?" Slogans like these announced a public meeting in St. Anthony on the first of June, called to promote a campaign for bigger and better gardens. Gardening is no joke on our coast, where the land is covered with a low scrub growth, and is either full of rocks or very marshy. But the Government had sent out a call for more land clearing, and it was essential that there should be more production, to cut down the importation of food, and to ensure a more adequate diet for the people, many of whom will have little money for food this winter, as their only cash "crop", the fishery, has been a failure, especially in our district. There have always been gardens, but never enough, so this very practical effort could well be a real contribution toward Newfoundland's share in the war effort on the Home Front. The whole population set to work on their old gardens, and cleared, fenced and planted new land, the Mission offered good vegetable seeds to all who asked for them, fertilizer from our compost heaps, and land to anyone who had none on which to work. Two hundred and fifty families from all along the shore came in for the seeds, and many a new garden was cultivated this summer on Mission land. The Public Welfare Committee had procured several hundred barrels of seed potatoes, which the people could acquire by promising to return an equal quantity and a little more from their fall crop, and the Mission sold many thousand seedling cabbages which had been sown in the greenhouse several weeks before outdoor planting was possible. A hot sunny July brought every thing along well, and our annual agricultural and food show at the end of September will be the best ever. For many years some of our women have been putting up salmon, garden 39 produce and berries, but it seemed important to make this practice much more widespread, so we organized through our Community Club a series of demonstrations in which the members worked in teams of eight, putting up in Mason jars, by the waterbath method, which they could use at home, first salmon, and then garden greens. We met in the kitchen of the Grenfell School, and every woman went through every step of the process. The Club bought wholesale and sold to the members at cost many gross of preserving jars, and many who had never before done any canning became greatly interested and set to work to stock their larders for the winter. We distributed many recipes and pamphlets about canning, and are using a gift of money to buy utensils which may be borrowed by the women for use in their own homes, if they have not the proper equipment themselves. In the summer we put up seafoods, garden produce and wild berries, and in winter rabbits, birds and seal meat. We know that this winter our community will be better provided than ever before with the kind of food that is available to all able to work for it. This is a very conscious patriotic gesture, as well as a valuable community effort, and our group is only one of many all over the country who are trying to do their bit for the Empire (73).” Paddon, Harry MD. The Mission Stations: Emily Beaver Chamberlain Memorial Hospital, North West River, Labrador. Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 15, Issue 3 (Oct. 1917): 10405. (Re: Letter update from Dr. Paddon, Forteau) “We have a dogproof chickenpen and a small garden established at North West River and hope to steadily bring more and more land under cultivation. The people seem disposed to follow our example both as regards poultry and more energetic agriculture. A few of them grow a small quantity of vegetables, but when a man takes it as a personal insult if his garden requires weeding, it cannot be wondered at if the population is not in a position to become vegetarian at a moment's notice. We have "tumbled right into it" at Indian Harbor and, as my two prospective assistants are very properly "otherwise engaged," this will be the last time I shall trouble you till the fall. Yours very sincerely, Harry L. Paddon. Indian Harbor Hospital, Labrador, July 13, 1917 (105).” Grenfell, Wilfred T. Dr. Grenfell’s Log. Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 13, Issue 4 (Jan. 1917): 13944. “We brought her, and so on our return trip we again took the useful Pennsylvania home with 2,700 good sticks of wood. Beautiful weather had again favored us, and that same night we sat down to tea with Sister Bailey in her lonely little outpost at Forteau. Among the hundred and one things she had to tell us of her winter's work, she spoke with infinite gratitude of some help she had been able to give in good food to some of her poorest visitors and neighbors, through a fund generously provided by a lady in Proctor, 40 Vermont. That gift to improve the diet of deserving families unable to obtain it otherwise had been wisely administered, and had been a no mean message of love to the recipients, while all had given, where possible, some labor, or other return. Then the garden of this little station was a great surprise; everything was far in advance of St. Anthony. Potatoes were in flower and cabbages heading up. As a matter of fact, with the great Labrador Hinterland, instead of an Arctic ocean in front and a frigid gulf behind, as we have at St. Anthony, it is a much warmer place. But, besides her garden, Sister Bailey had for us a most beautiful show of artificial flowers grown under her own hands with the help of some of the women of the place, some of whom she had been instructing in yet another way to earn in idle hours what means so much to the children and to themselves. Mrs. Wakefield, wife of our colleague, who has now gone to the front with the First Newfoundland Regiment, had gone through here before us, and taken half of Miss Bailey's products away to try to start a market for them in Canada. They are made of the best materials, and I sincerely wish to commend these flowers to our friends. The material itself is the least part of the cost in producing these lifelike ornaments and decorations. If this industry could be made selfsupporting it would be of great use along our coast, where capital is small and labor plentiful. Harrington hospital was our next objective, but on the way down we picked up a few sick cases—one man so ill that we took him with us. He was most uncomplaining and grateful, a real pleasure to have on board, where he recovered enough for us to be able to return him to his crew on our return journey (139).” Dr. Grenfell Ryerson, Knowles A. Health and Happiness in Labrador. Among the Deep Sea Fishers. Vol. 27, Issue 1 (April, 1929): 1416. (Re: Reprint from the Bulletin of the Garden Club of America, January, 1929. “Gardens in Labrador? Rock gardens perhaps, you say, with emphasis on the rocks! Yet on this long and rugged coastline, playground of the winter winds and icy sea spray, the garden—vegetable and flower—is finding its place. Labrador recalls a summer fishing paradise to some, a wintry desolation to others. To the greatest number, however, not only in the United States and Canada, but also in the British Isles, it is the theatre in which has been enacted one of the most thrilling episodes in the march of western civilization. The record written the past thirtyfive years in achievement by Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell and his associates in terms of healthier and stronger bodies, brighter and more enlightened minds, happier and more hopeful spirits. Is one of the brightest in humanitarian endeavor of our time. So vivid has been the appeal to the imagination of redblooded and adventurous youth that each summer sees groups from many college halls sailing northward for an opportunity to vie with each other digging, sailing or building, as the need may be. The 41 designation as one of Dr. Grenfell's "Wops" Is a coveted honor which many now cherish. The lure is equally felt by older “boys" and each summer finds prominent surgeons, dentists and oculists packing equipment and hying northward to add their services to the resident staff. … While the passing years have seen obstacles to healthful living overcome one by one, problems still remain. Modern hospitals and trained specialists provide treatment and care for the sick throughout the hundreds of miles of rocky coast, but the basic causes of much of the ill health are yet to be abolished. Undernourishment and a limited, unbalanced diet together, are back of much of the distress in Labrador. For the lack of simple green vegetables and their healthgiving vitamins families are scourged with beriberi, rickets and other nutritional diseases. How to grow our common lowly garden vegetables under the extremes of Labrador soil and climate has long been a problem that has claimed serious attention. Around some of the medical stations such crops as potatoes and cabbages have been grown in favorable seasons; further north the Moravian missionaries have also been successful in a limited way. Although soil is not abundant along the entire coast, many of the inlets where settlements nestle have small but adequate patches of ground. So far the fisher folk have not had the information, the proper seed or equipment to make the most of their meagre plots. Shortness of growing season — frozen ground almost to the first of July and early frosts in September, sometimes earlier, is a condition to blast the enthusiasm of most any stouthearted gardener anywhere. The elimination of nutritional troubles and their attendant train of complicated problems, medical, economic and social, however, is one of the principal studies centering attention now. The magnitude of the problem is proving to be the measure of its challenge and of the ringing response which it strikes In the hearts of those who enjoy a hard task for the fun of its doing. This is evidenced In the following record of achievement. Variety selection of vegetables has long been carried on at stations in northern countries in order to secure types which mature in the shortest possible time, but even with these types the Labrador season has proved too uncertain and short for general outdoor planting. It has remained for the cold frame and the greenhouse to point the way which promises success in the long battle for a lifegiving diet. Experiments by Dr. Grenfell and his assistants have demonstrated that four weeks and even longer can be saved when seedlings are started under glass in the early spring. The plants are of good size with well developed root systems when planted in the open. This gain in time Is sufficient to permit maturing of such crops as cabbage, carrots, lettuce and radishes before early fall frosts. The long hours of summer sunlight and warmth make phenomenal growth possible. At St. Anthony, the main station in the Labrador chain, cold frames have long 42 been used to supply vegetables for the hospital. Here various experiments have been tried that have Indicated in which direction progress lay. A small greenhouse gave splendid results. It remained, however, until this year, when a large and regularly equipped greenhouse was erected and used, for the full benefits to be demonstrated. Through the generosity of Garden Club women of Greenwich, Connecticut, this greenhouse was made possible. For the first time patients at the hospital and the children at the orphanage had all the greens in the way of lettuces and cabbage that they required; tomatoes, spinach and radishes added variety to the daily fare. Hundreds of young plants were grown for transplanting in the open. Nor was the demonstration limited to the essential vegetables. Flower seedlings were also raised, so that window boxes in hospital ward, orphanage, school and home have blossomed with clarkias, stocks and other bright annuals—spots of brightness in the lives of little folk and grownup alike. Other hardier flowering plants such as fuchsias and geraniums were wintered over in the glasshouse. The results of the year with this greenhouse have more than fulfilled the hopes held. In order to prepare for the work of the new house one of the boys of St. Anthony was sent to the Truro Agricultural College for special training. Miss Fellowes, a graduate from Swanley Agricultural College, England, has come out to Labrador as a volunteer In the garden work and is, in addition, educating one of the boys as a gardener. With such trained personnel and with adequate facilities real progress can be made. Of course, the ultimate effort of all the many activities in Labrador is to teach the people to help themselves. In the gardening work this means the teaching of the elementary principles in the more important centers and demonstrating what can be done even under rigorous local conditions. At these centers seedlings would be grown under glass and distributed for planting at cost when the planting season arrived. Such a program of training and distribution promises farreaching results. After all, the prevention of disease and human misery is always more desirable than measures taken in alleviation after the damage is done. What are the prospects for the immediate future? The success of the past year has already fired the imagination of women interested in gardening on both sides of the Atlantic. This nutritional problem is one which women especially appreciate, and to those women appreciating gardens this enterprise has evidently presented a double appeal. Through the Interest and activity of Mrs. J. Rich Steers of the Rye Garden Club, several other Garden Clubs have made possible small greenhouses at Battle Harbor and Northwest River, and, in addition, tuition for two boys at the Truro Agricultural College to prepare them to operate the greenhouse activities. To round out the desired plan and put it in operation, the stations at Cartwright and Harrington await the time when greenhouses and accompanying equipment can be provided for them and annual upkeep and operation assured. With five such centers of instruction and distribution of 43 seedlings, the inhabitants of a large part of the Northland would have the means at hand to provide themselves with the proper diet to ward off causes of the misery marking past years. As a further aid in solving the gardening problems of the Labrador, Professor F. C. Sears of the Horticultural Department of the Massachusetts Agricultural College spent the past summer making a firsthand study of soil and climatic conditions and outlined experiments with a view to determining ways and means for adding still further to the gardening possibilities. To us in the United States, in our comfortable homes, surrounded by our bright and ever cheerful gardens, life stripped of such color for almost the entire year is hard to visualize. Modern transportation brings to our tables a wide choice of vegetables to tempt our alltoofrequently jaded appetites, and we are apt to turn scornfully from such plebeian and humble vegetables as cabbage, turnips and carrots. Humble though they may be, their availability on the Labrador coast is of vital concern, since it means healthier, happier folk. It Is not luxuries that are to be striven for in Labrador, but the mere necessities for building up healthy bodies essential to effectively meet the demands of the strenuous life of the country (1516).” (Knowles A. Ryerson: In charge Office of Foreign Plant Introduction, United States Department of Agriculture.) Grenfell, Wilfred T. Promotional Pamphlets for the Grenfell Mission. NonGovernment Records, The Rooms Provincial Museum and Archives. (PANL File MG 63.2140) “In the years which have followed, our staff and volunteer helpers have had everincreasing opportunities for service on the Labrador. Today, through the cooperation of friends throughout the world, we maintain over a thousand miles of coastline, icebound for many months each year—five hospitals, four nursing stations, two boarding schools, one day school, one children’s home, two hospital ships, one supply schooner, clothing distribution, industrial and agricultural efforts at all centres.” Smith, Archibald Alex George. Grenfell’s Work in Northern Newfoundland and Labrador, With Special Reference to Grenfell. Doctoral Thesis. Curling, Newfoundland: (1970) The Department of Church History of Pine Hill Divinity Hall, 1970. “The people’s diet consisted mostly of fish, bread and molasses. There were few vegetables grown due to the nature of the soil and the short summer season. Fruit, such as oranges, apples and grapes were almost unknown. When the writer was a boy the only time he saw an apple was on Christmas morning, and we considered ourselves very fortunate indeed if this rare delicacy was in our stocking. When Grenfell arrived on the coast, he encouraged people to grow vegetables where the soil was fertile, and to 44 pick and preserve partridge berries, blueberries, and bakeapples which have always grown in abundance in many parts of the province (1415).” Paddon, Anthony. “Ellis Michelin: Labrador's First FullTime Gardener and Farmer.” Them Days, Vol. 10, No. 1, Sept., 1984: 2227. “Ellis was born in Sabaskachu in 1914. Upon leaving school he went to work for the International Grenfell Association, hereafter IGA, in 1929 but was sent to St. John's, Newfoundland thereafter because he showed marked ability in gardening and a good understanding of cattle. He was to spend that summer learning more about farming, and the following summer he went to St. Anthony to work with Jim Tucker, chief gardener with IGA for many years. Here Ellis got a good knowledge of greenhouse practice, for IGA was trying to spread homegardening among people who were generally short of fresh produce in Newfoundland and Labrador, and he learnt to grow thousands upon thousands of healthy little cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli and other vegetables, which we sold or gave away to people who could set them in their own gardens. This meant earlier and larger vegetables in our short summer and better nutrition all year. Ellis learnt a good deal about greenhouse and garden pests, their life cycles and how to discourage them (22).” C: Cartwright and HBC/Donald Smith Merrick, Elliott. Northern Nurse. Halifax: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1994. “It had always been custom to do things by hand here. Back in the 1880s when the Hudson's Bay Company used to raise oats on a level piece of ground that the Indians had cleared for a campsite, the plow was drawn by a long line of men heaving on a rope (102).” Townsend, Charles Wendell (Ed). Captain Cartwright and His Labrador Journal. Boston: Dana Estes & Company Publishers, 1911. “Sunday, December 16, 1770 A fortnight ago, I placed a box of earth near the top of the stove and sowed some seeds in it; there are now cucumbers, mustard, cresses, and onion coming up. A fine day and at noon the mercury stood at 5 degrees (556).” “Sunday, September 15, 1771 In the morning I read prayers to my family; in the afternoon I went to the lower garden, and gathered some green peas and ripe currants (94).” 45 “Sunday, July 30, 1775 ...We set up the frame of the fishermen’s house, packed five tierces of fish, (a puncheon contains two tierces and a half; a hogshead, on and a quarter) and caught two hundred and three fish; also, had a spot of ground dug, sowed some radish and turnip seeds, and set some cabbageplants which I had brought from Charles Harbour (176).” “Thursday, April 18, 1776 I sowed some mustard, cresses, and onions in a tub, and hung it up in the kitchen. It rained all day, but cleared in the evening (196).” “Tuesday, June 2, 1778 Some more of the garden was dug, and we sowed some radishes, onions, turnips, mustard and cresses. I then went to a large pond which lies under the south end of that ridge, and empties into Eagle River; on the north side of which, I found three large beaverhouses (227).” (Re: Paradise in Labrador, where he arrived at noon on Sept. 11th, 1783.) “...In the evening the Esquimaux which we had seen at Spotted Island, arrived here in a small shallop and a whalingboat, and pitched their tents among my houses: which now consist of a dwellinghouse and storehouse in one, sixty feet by twenty five, and two stories high; a house for the servants, thirty feet by seventeen; three salmonhouses, ninety feet by twenty each; and a smith’s shop, sixteen feet by twelve. On the south side of the dwellinghouse, we found a tolerable large garden; with plenty of cabbages, turnips, lettuces, pease, and other things in full perfection (295).” “Labrador is a large peninsula, joined at the isthmus to Canada, which, together with Hudson's Bay, bounds it on the east; on the north are Hudson's Straits; the Atlantic Ocean on the east; and the Straits of Belle Isle, and the Gulph of St. Laurence on the south. The face of the whole country, at least all those parts we are at present acquainted with, are very hilly; and in most parts mountainous. The south coast has great appearance of fertility from the sea, but a close inspection discovers the soil to be poor, and the verdure to consist only of coarse plants, which are well adapted to the support and nourishment of deer and goats, but do not appear proper for horses, kine, or sheep. There is no doubt but cultivation would produce good grass of different kinds, and that grazing farms might be established; they would however be attended with too much trouble and expense to have them on a large scale; as it would be difficult to fence against the whitebears and wolves, and all kinds of cattle must be housed for nine months in the year. Corn might possibly be raised about the heads of the deepest 46 bays, and in the interior parts of the country; but the few experiments which I made in my gardens failed of success; for the ears were singed by the frost before the grain ripened (33940).” “Notwithstanding the many disadvantages, which that country labours under, from poverty of oil, short summers, long winters, and severe frosts, yet I am clear, that art and good management are capable of making great improvements; and if the observations which I made on the effects of certain manures, in that country and Newfoundland, can be of any use in England, I shall think my time well bestowed in communicating them. In one garden which I made, where the ground was a collection of sheer, find gravel, without a particle of soil that I could perceive, the first crop was, what I thought, a very fair one; but at the end of summer, I had a quantity of rotten seaweed dug in. The following summer, to prevent the ground being so much dried up as it had been the preceding one, I transplanted cabbages, cauliflowers, and lettuces, when very young, and carefully covered the whole of the ground between them, with fresh seaweed, which had a most excellent effect; for, by that means, there was a constant moisture preserved, and the plants arrived at great perfection. In another garden, where the soil was hot, find sand, the first year’s crop was nothing to boast of; but, as I carried on a great salmon fishery at that place, I fallowed part of it the following summer, and covered it with the entrails of the salmon, which contain abundance of fat; in the course of three years, by manuring it in that manner, the sand was absolutely become too strong and adhesive (358).” “My garden at Isthmus Bay, which the reader would observe, produced excellent crops the first year, by being manured with seaweed and offals of fish; and also by mixing a greater portion of the barren sand that lay underneath, among the peat soil on the surface, it has since, I have been informed brought everything to a degree of perfection, which had never been seen in that part of the world, in any former year. Hence it appears to me, that nothing can effectively improve and alter the nature of hot, barren sand, as unctuous, animal manures; since, by binding it, the moisture is retained much longer; and more food is obtained for the plants which are grown upon it (36061).” Fereira, Oswald A. Agriculture in Labrador: Background Paper to an Agricultural Plan. Department of Rural, Agricultural and Northern Development, May 1980. “Early attempts at commercial farming were begun in the midnineteenth century at North West River by Lord Strathcona during his term as manager at the Hudson's Bay 47 Company Post. Later, the International Grenfell Association demonstrated that it was possible to raise cattle, hogs, poultry, grow hot house tomatoes and substantial quantities of potatoes, turnips , carrots and green peas. Even today, residents of North West River remember flourishing gardens now replaced by houses. This may explain the continued popularity of ‘backyard gardening’ in North West River, even today (16).” Hudson's Bay Company. HBC Heritage. Our History: People: Governors. Web Resource. http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/governors/donaldsmith “His time in Labrador cemented Smith’s personality: cold, calculating, selfsufficient and ambitious. He established a farm at North West River that astonished visitors. He sowed grain, potatoes, pumpkins and peas, grew more tender fruits and vegetables in a greenhouse and raised cattle, poultry and sheep. Under his stewardship the area’s furtrade profits grew. But Smith also diversified HBC’s business, establishing a salmon fishery, exporting seal oil and sending out rock samples for testing. His conviction that the region would eventually prove rich in minerals was prophetic. In 1863 he was made Chief Factor and the following year decide to take his first furlough in 26 years.” Electric Scotland. Lord Strathcona (profile). Web Resource. http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/lord_strathcona.htm “He imported from the north of Scotland cows, sheep, horses, poultry, and garden and farm seeds, fertilized his land with fish, and, short as the summer was, grew crops and flowers which filled the Indians, fishermen, and his own colleagues and visitors with astonishment. Plants which would not mature in the open air he grew under glass. Labrador had an area nearly five times that of Great Britain, and not in all that vast country could there be found a farm like that of Donald Smith’s.” Bisbee, John B. Fonds: 19131914. NonGovernment Records. The Rooms Provincial Archives: St. John’s. (Re: A visit to the Donald Smith Grounds circa 1860, Cartwright) “Along the coast, the first time one really feels as though he were in the north is at Cartwright where he meets the first Hudson Bay Station. Also he can see the old house where George Cartwright lived, and the grave where he is buried. He was the first white man who came and lived among and traded with the natives of this shore. At Rigolet is another Hudson Bay Post and the old Strathcona house in which the founder of the Hudson Bay Company lived. He was a Scotchman named Donald Smith later created Lord Strathcona. He was there in 1860 and spent about 13 years on this coast. During this time he ran away with his colleague’s wife. Sometime after that his colleague got another wife…” 48 Baikie, Margaret. Labrador Memories: Reflections at Mulligan. Them Days, 1984. “The next spring Mother was very sick. We were afraid she would die and we had to get ready for going down the bay to our salmon fishing place. ...Mother had seen Mr. Smith and he had given her medicine and told her what to do. Little Maggie Smith asked Helen and I to have tea with her, down in her little Indian tent she called it. She gave us cocoa and milk and current cakes. She spread a cloth on the ground and we sat around. … After our tea we went back to the house. Mr. Smith asked us to go and see his garden. It was the first flower garden I ever saw, and such beautiful flowers of all sorts. He said he was busy all the spring, digging and planting carrots, cabbages, onions, cauliflowers and other things and he had lost his gold ring. It had a white stone in it and three letters. The letters were D.A.S., Donald Alexander Smith. I was sorry about his ring (1516).” D: Settler and Contemporary Labrador Goudie, Elizabeth. Woman of Labrador. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, 1973. (Re: Chapter: Life on Labrador’s North Coast) “I tried growing a garden when I was up there but it is only in July and August that you are clear of frost. I sowed on June 15 and went out to Davis Inlet for July and August. I had a few turnips and cabbage when we came back in September but they had grown only about six inches high. They were very strong little plants, not big enough to eat yet but very bushy and clustered together. They were really tasty and nice to eat later on. The turnips grew only to about the size of a small rubber ball. We did not have many that size. We left that summer because Jim got a job with the Hudson's Bay Company in Davis Inlet building a chapel for the Indians. The company wanted a place for the Indians to worship when their priest came around in the summer (61).” King, Joan. “Family Reflections, My Years in Labrador.” Them Days: Vol. 36, No. 4, 2012: 8. (Re: Gardening memories, 1957) “I can remember people coming in on the boat into Postville one year I was there. I’d been trying to make a little bit of a garden, and I sent to Gaze Seed for what they call hot caps. They were made from a sort of very dense wax paper, shaped like a crown, to protect your plants. I had grown cabbage plants from the kitchen table, and I had these hot caps in the garden. I saw these people out there, and I said to myself, “Cheeky 49 people, out in the garden, having a snoop around!” But it turned out that they were from the Gaze shop, either worked for the shop or were of the Gaze Seed family. “Oh,” he said. “We saw the hot caps and had to come have a look to have a see.” My dad was there at the time; that was the summer he was out visiting. ...But yes, that man recognized Gaze Seeds’ hot caps. I don’t suppose those things exist anymore, but they certainly kept those cabbages safe from those late frosts. I had some lovely cabbages growing in Postville. Really tasted good, nice and sweet (8).” Montague, John. “Interview with Isaac (Ike) Rich, 1973, North West River,” Them Days, Vol. 23, No. 4, Summer 1998: 5164. Re: John was a trapper, with memories of that life starting in 1914. North West River 1973). “J: You didn’t feel like you wanted meat in the hot summer, you only wanted the fish. Comin’ towards fall, again, you feel like you wanted meat then. I: The time of the year come for that. J: We never used to have no gardens them times, not in my day. My father never had no gardens. But there was some people, three or four families, they’d have a garden, old Mrs. Blake and different ones, but we never had any. I: Never went in for it big, not just then. ‘Twas only in the 1930s, I think, they start growin’ stuff a lot around here. J: I think old Dr. Paddon got people interested in stuff like that. I: Anyway you was almost too busy then, you was off in the wint |
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