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NARRATED BY MICHAEL RUDERMAN
INTERVIEW WITH MIRANDA LACHMAN, LEXINGTON COMMUNITY FARM
Welcome to the farm and wheat banner, which shows a colonial farmer and two horses plowing a field. Larger-than-life ears of English wheat and oats rise up behind them.
The first farmers in Menotomy were indigenous Massachusett women, who owned fields planted with a variety of crops and passed down from mother to daughter. Their fields looked quite different from the straight rows used in English farming. They used a hoe rather than a plow and the complementary “three sisters” crops – corns, beans and squash – were planted in large mounds, growing together, cooperatively intertwined.
By 1775, Menotomy was home to 500 to 600 people, primarily of English descent. Land had been passed down, subdivided, and sold multiple times. Some of the farms had been owned by several generations of a single colonial family. Others were owned by newcomers, and a handful were rented out to tenants. Decimated by generations of disease and war, few indigenous people remained. However, one – David Lamson – is honored as one of the heroes of April 19. Lamson led a successful ambush of a British supply wagon that had fallen behind the troops. He went on to serve in the Continental Army and was last known to be living in Charlestown, listed in the 1790 census as “resident and free man.”
A typical colonial farm in Menotomy would consist of a house and fenced kitchen garden, crop fields, an orchard, barn yard, and pasture area. These were self-sufficient farms, producing enough to feed the families that tended them – securing the independence that was every settler’s dream. Some farmers would grow enough to load up a wagon and make the trip to Boston, selling produce in order to purchase luxury items. But it was more typical for farmers to barter with a neighbor for something they needed.
What did colonial farmers plant in 18th century Menotomy?
Native corn remained a primary staple from early times. Field vegetables could be a mix of old and new world varieties, including potatoes, squash and pumpkin, root vegetables, kidney and navy beans. These could be pickled or simply stored in a cellar to meet the household winter needs. English rye and wheat were cultivated for flour and barley was grown for beer. The Black Horse Tavern, where rebel leaders met on April 18, would surely have served up its own brew, possibly along with some rye whiskey.
Just as essential, farmers grew food for their animals – oats, alfalfa and clover. A colonial farm was not complete without cows for dairy as well as meat, pigs, sheep, and chickens. Horses helped with plowing, pulled wagon loads, and provided transportation. Manure from the farm’s animals helped fertilize soil depleted from crops.
Farming in Massachusetts has transformed since the days of the Revolution. For a glimpse into current practices, we spoke with Miranda Lachman, farm manager at Lexington Community Farm.