Root vegetables and stodgy heads of cabbage were a great winter food source then, as were the summer fruits and vegetables that my grandmother canned for later use, but it occurred to me that lacking the ready supplies of fresh goods from warmer climes that we now have available to us year-round, families in the early 20th century might have started to really crave leafy greens over the winter. When I asked my father about this, he reminded me that in his neck of the woods, they did have access to a mid-winter leafy green vegetable...they had celery.
The dark rich soil in the drained bogs outside of Thedford, Ontario, the small town near the farm where my father was raised, was perfect for growing celery since its growth requires wet mucklands. After harvesting, the celery was kept in earth in cold storage buildings that were built in town specifically to house and blanch the vegetable. The trains that at that time passed through the small town took the produce to large markets in Toronto and Montreal. Ultimately, the Holland Marsh farmers north of Toronto took over the demand for production of celery for that city and Thedford's production faltered, but in 1931, when my father was a 13 year old boy, celery was still going strong. An exciting headline in the Montreal Gazette dated October 22 alluded to 300 carloads being shipped by train in special refrigerated cars.........."Thedford, Ont has its Best Celery Crop in Years." Eight decades later, fragile testaments to the status of this vegetable linger in many Canadian sideboards and buffet cabinets. For as anyone who has an interest in perusing antique shop shelves has no doubt noticed, there remain many forms of the shallow, pressed- glass baskets and unusually stout vases steadfastly reminding us of their specific purpose as celery dishes. As a youth, it greatly amused me to imagine anyone so particular as to have a dish that they used only for celery. In retrospect, it is now clear that a special food deserved a special vessel.
Christmas on the farm in the '20s and '30s was cause for a large family gathering. My father remembers a year that it was his family's turn to host the large meal for thirty-five. It was perhaps 1931. Being a highly capable boy, he was in charge of preparing the fowl for the meal. His family did not eat turkey, preferring other birds. Dad remembers plucking and gutting at least five big roosters and five ducks for the meal. They had heaping bowls of coleslaw, boiled carrots and mashed potatoes with gravy. All sorts of pickles were also placed on the table; briny beets, nine-day pickles, dills, and of course, the horseradish relish.
In addition to his other chores that Christmas, my father was charged with turning the rich vanilla custard that his mother made earlier in the day, into ice cream. He remembers chopping ice from the cattle water trough and mixing it with salt to freeze the creamy treat in their ice cream churn. But it wasn’t the roasts and the gravy, or even the ice cream that Dad found most memorable; no, what he remembers most fondly about Christmas in those days was the half crate of crispy fresh celery that his Uncle Orley would bring to the meal. There was enough for every family member to eat their fill of the refreshing, sweet hearts of this delectable treat, the very same highly regarded vegetable that so elegantly graced the linen-covered tables of fine restaurants and homes in the big cities to the east.
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