I receive many emails of local events, both in New Hampshire and Vermont. On October 10 I received a note from happyvermont.com about an upcoming festival in Wardsboro, Vermont (population 869 in 2020). I pass through there on VT 100 often, stopping on the Main Street. I really enjoyed their 4th of July parade in 2018 — southern Vermont’s oldest continuously running parade for Independence Day. Click this highlighted sentence linked for my story of that day. But the October 10 email provided some history (copied below) and a link to the festival website – which I encourage you to visit and study – there will be a test.

The turnip, cultivated by farmer John Gilfeather, became the official Vermont State Vegetable in 2016. It’s celebrated every fall at the Gilfeather Turnip Festival in October. Wardsboro resident Anita Rafael, a writer—and Gilfeather turnip enthusiast—describes the vegetable as part rutabaga and part turnip.

“It’s sweet, and it’s creamy, and it’s not like that turnip that gives you that little choke in the back of your throat,” she says. “What made the turnip famous in John Gilfeather’s day was that he hybridized it. We don’t know if it was a happy accident of nature or if he was truly some little hybridizing genius and figured out how to come up with a turnip that wasn’t a turnip.”As the story goes, John Gilfeather wasn’t quite the sharing kind with his turnip technique.

“One of the things we know about John Gilfeather is that he really was possessive of not just the seeds, but the plant itself,” Rafael says. “If you have a turnip, you can actually grow another turnip because of the hairy roots and all that,” she adds. “To protect his turnip, John Gilfeather used to cut the tops off and shave off all the root hairs.”

Fortunately, the turnip didn’t disappear after his death in the 1940s. A few local farmers continued to grow the turnips, and in the 1970s, Bill and Mary Lou Schmidt, of Dummerston, trademarked the Gilfeather name and had the turnip government-certified as an “heirloom botanical.” All these years later, Rafael says the turnip continues to serve Wardsboro well. “We are the official town of the official Vermont state vegetable. There’s a tremendous amount of community pride, and it puts Wardsboro on the map,” Rafael says. “It makes us famous for something.” – In case you did not click the link above, click on this banner below for the website.

here is the sign of the events. I did tour the contest area on the second floor here, and looked at the vendor tents.

the Gilfeather Turnip is noted for its green top (as seen in image above) and its long feathery roots. Below are some of the turnips awaiting judging in the various contest categories.

timing is everything, and I was there at the right time for the 11:30 lecture in one of the community churches. Twenty plus minutes and so much fun learning about the farming techniques, and then the work a fifth grade class (and again as sixth graders) did to make their turnip the state vegetable. They first presented to the Vermont House, then the Senate, and finally once a vote complete joined the Governor at the signing ceremony. What as “civics lesson.”

The speaker was fascinating. Did you know that a “hard freeze” is defined as 28 degrees or below for four hours of more? And do you know what a Gilfeather Turnip does at that temperature? Well, it begins to produce sugar which diluted in the water in the turnip enables it to not freeze at temperatures below 32 degrees – freezing. Thus adding some sweetness.

I may have to again make the trip. Monies taken in at the festival benefit the library. Parking fees in the field ($5) go to the local scouts, and booth fees to school groups. And, yes, below is my Turnip Soup – $5 for the library fund, and good.

I am so behind in documenting my travels and adventures. I have “in the works” posts going back almost two years. Most recently I started working on my recent trips to Mystic Seaport and Fort Ticonderoga. I will get to finishing soon I hope – bear with me.

Stay safe and well, luv, RAY