Hi again, On a "town" List I belong to, there are quite often discussions on the town's history. This week the subject of "immigrants" stealing "celery" from a large, important farm in the town.* This even happened in November in New England. (Think COLD) :o) A town-historian reminded us that celery had much more importance in the 1800's than it does now. (And, some remembered their grandmother's having a special "celery dish." I looked on-line and found this. You will read that celery in Greece was sometimes a "holy food." And, I also heard that sometimes there were "celery vases" where the celery stalks would be displayed. http://www.foodreference.com/html/celery-history.html http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/publications/vegetabletravelers/celery.html This site mentions that in Europe it was the root of the celery plant which was put in soups, etc. http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/313/ And we might as well find out the history of cabbage. :o) It was French navigator Jacques Cartier who brought cabbage to the Americas in 1536. http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/cabbagehistory.htm http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/FOOD_IS_ART_II/food_history_and_facts/cabbage.html http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch33.html Just an FYI for you. Betty (near Lowell, MA, USA) List Administrator * Going back to the "town" List I belong to, both me and my ancestors grew up in the bordering towns of Winchester and Arlington, MA / US. And, my ancestors had the HUTCHINSON Farm and the CROSBY Farm - up and down the street from each other during the 1800's. The Arlington Historical Society is much more active than the Winchester Historical Society. So, I've read about all the important veggies grown on the CROSBY Farm. Unfortunately, I know almost nothing about what was grown on the HUTCHINSON Farm. I know they had lots of farm animals, especially cows. But, I'm pretty sure it was not a dairy farm.