Edison Library To Host Talk On Colonial-Era Kitchen Gardens

EDISON, NJ — The Edison Public Library will host a talk on the role of kitchen gardens in colonial America on Saturday, Aug. 15, at 2 p.m.

The event, featuring educator and garden historian Lesley Parness, will explore how kitchen gardens in the 1700s fed, healed and clothed early American families. According to the library, the 18th-century "huswife" skill set included "physicke, cookery, distillation, perfumery, the making of wool, hemp, flax, dayries, brewing, baking," and gardening.

The talk will examine how women of the era grew both Native American plants and those from their homelands, turning their soup pots into what the library described as the "melting pot" that is America, while embodying qualities of both plantswomen and patriots.

Parness has worked in public gardens in the United States and abroad for five decades. She is a feature columnist for Gardener News Magazine and a member of the Herb Society of America, the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries, and Garden State Gardens.

The event will take place at the library's Main Branch, located at 340 Plainfield Ave. in Edison. More information and registration details are available at edisonpubliclibrary.libnet.info/event/16231556, and additional information about Parness can be found at lesleyparness.com.

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