The founding of the United States was a field holler, a jazz rhapsody, an orchestrated de- and re-construction, a Gospel moan, a torn down blues song ("ain't nobody's business if..."), a really sad, long and funny country song with many an operatic high note. One thing is clear: the backbone of early American life was the small family farm. My first memories are of my granddaddy's "place" in Humboldt, Tennessee. He had two barns, one with stalls for the pigs and cows and another for the hay, a tractor and equipment. Then there were his gardens. My brother and I called one "the big garden" (rows and rows of corn, sweet corn and white corn) and the other "the small garden" (the vegetable garden where most of our food came from.)
These farms grew vegetables, chickens, dairy cows, maybe goats or sheep, a mule (or, if they were wealthy, a horse). The small family farm is an original American classic. Eastern Market was built in part to give small family farmers from rural Maryland, and from northern Virginia and West Virginia, access to an urban market (Washington, D.C.) in which to sell produce and products.
Eastern Market was thought into existence by Pierre Charles L'Enfant in 1791. In 1805 President Thomas Jefferson issued a proclamation designating that an Eastern Market be built in Washington, D.C.; the Eastern Market that we see today was built in 1873, and the "Farmer's Shed" was built around 1906. At its inception, an Eastern Market open to all, with some families being merchants there for 90 or 100 years, was inconceivable.
The death knell of the small family farmer began to chime during the Industrial Revolution. As the twentieth century progressed, the concept of a small family farmer producing produce for sale directly to consumers was deemed outmoded, old-fashioned and inefficient. Of course, today we realize that "oldschool is new school"--we in the vanguard of the Green Revolution know that mega-farms and agribusiness are dangerous to our physical health and our environment.
Fortunately, today at Eastern Market we still have one family that has endured, thriven and prospered, the Bowie family of Camp Springs Maryland (now called Temple Hills). Ironically, neither L'Enfant nor President Jefferson had in mind the possibility of this "free" small farming family--
the Bowie family selling its homegrown produce at Eastern Market.
Teresa Bowie carries on this proud family tradition. Ms. Bowie, when asked, told me that she had been at the Market since she was five years old. She didn't give her age, but she said that meant about fifty years. The business was established by her great-grandfather, then kept by her grandfather and father; today, Ms. Bowie is still there every Saturday. When asked what her family farm's specialty was, she said "vegetables."
To locate Ms Bowie's stall under the farmer's shed, just look for another American classic, her Ford truck.
Okay, let's talk dirty:
there's eggplant Parmesan,
or baba ghanouj,
mais, le meilleur est
Ratatouille.
2 aubergines ( eggplants)
1 oigion (onion)
3 grosses tomates
2 courgettes (zucchini)
1 poivron rouge ( red pepper)
huile d'olive (3 cuilleres) ( olive oil)
herbes de provence, sel, poivre (salt, pepper)
________
Faire revenir tous les legumes
(sauf la tomate, apres les avoir coupes)
dans l'huile d'olive puis ajauter la tomate
coupee en morceaux-
saler- poivre et mettre les herbes de
provence. Se deguste chaud au froid.
__________
To wash it down?
Rose de Provence!
(Merci ,Madame Coudret,
pour la recette!)
( Ms. Teresa Bowie)
( On a cold winter day
there is nothing like
stewed tomatoes with
hot buttermilk biscuits.)
( I know what you're thinking: soup!
and, on the side, a piece of sourdough bread
for sapping. But do you know
that butternut and acorn squashes can make a fine
pie as well?)
( These babies would taste good steamed,
with a little salt, or stir-fried in sesame
oil, with hot peppers.)
(Did someone say stuffed peppers, with ground chicken or turkey, and
bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, olive oil
and maybe some feta or ricotta cheese? Or maybe you're seeing roasted red peppers, preserved for the winter in olive oil, a little vinegar, salt and pepper? There's nothing better in a sandwich, especially a pressed and grilled one.)
The Bowie family's long history as small family farmers says something wondrous about them, Eastern Market and the community that supports and cherishes us all. Happy Thanksgiving!
Witnessing,
Sonda T. Allen
Turtle's Webb
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