On this day in 2024, the York Press reported that a volunteer group trustee was channelling the medieval period through a gardening project.
Emily Hansen, a trustee of Edible York, was among those in the group who maintained the Barbican beds.
The group also cared for a particular corner of the Barbican beds which was set up in Autumn 2022 to honour St Andrew’s Priory, a church once located nearby on Fishergate.
That church had served its medieval community by growing a variety of edible plants.
Emily Hansen, a trustee of Edible York, said at the original time of reporting in 2024: “We thought it was just so cool that we had historic gardens so close to this area, so we thought we’d recreate it as a little homage.”
Ms Hansen had attempted to create a garden as faithful as possible to the items eaten in a medieval diet – such as sage, lavender, gooseberries, parsley, leeks, and onions.
Such foods would have been grown by monks and clergymen in the time of St Andrew’s Priory.
Ms Hansen had also attempted to grow purple and yellow carrots – the original colour, before carrots were selectively bred to become orange.
She said: “It’s hard to know for sure what was eaten, as it was primarily the poor who ate from it, and they aren’t as well covered in the history books.
“A lot of the herbs, however, would have come over with the Romans.
“I love the idea, especially in a place like York, and taking the streets back to their roots is really nice.
“York used to have orchards and nurseries – there’s such a history of food production here that I’d like to just know more about.”
More information about Edible York is available at http://www.edibleyork.org.uk/
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