This year’s annual Heritage Harvest Festival is going virtual! There are five virtual classes available this year on food, farming, and gardening.

Tickets can be purchased as a bundle or for individual classes. Each event includes a behind-the-scenes virtual peek at a special Monticello spot available only to ticket holders, unique retail offerings, and an exclusive discount coupon for use at the Shop at Monticello online or onsite.

The festival is kicking off next Tuesday night with Earth in Her Hands, an event we’re proud to say that SESE’s Ira Wallace is helping to present.

The Earth in Her Hands: Women in the World of Plants Growing a Better Tomorrow – Tuesday, October 6th, 7 pm EST

In this inaugural HHF Virtual Series Event, Monticello welcomes top-selling author and Cultivating Place podcast host, Jennifer Jewell and her guests: Monticello’s Curator of Plants, Peggy Cornett, and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange lead team member, Ira Wallace.

Join Jewell and these two nationally recognized plantswomen in a conversation that explores their respective careers— the plants, seeds, and gardens they have cultivated, efforts to raise awareness about food security, and growing truly good food.

Farmhouse Cooking Class: Finding Joy in Virginia Kitchen – Friday, October 23rd, 6 pm EST 

A can’t-miss opportunity to virtually cook with innovative chefs and former Top Chef contestants Joy Crump and Stacy Cogswell

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to virtually cook with two exceptional chefs in Cogswell’s farmhouse kitchen, where the supper menu will feature seasonal Virginian cuisine and Monticello grown produce—with an added dash of New England flavor.

History in a Glass: A Cocktail Tutorial that Serves Up the Perfect Mix of Culture and Good Taste – Friday, November 6th, 7 pm EST

A cocktail hour and mixology lesson you won’t want to miss, taught by the authors of the award-winning: “Spirits Sugar Water Bitters: How the Cocktail Conquered the World”.

With its deceptively simple ingredients, the cocktail is an experiment in drinking that’s as old as the American experiment itself.

Join us for a spirited look at the story of the American cocktail – a libation innovation that made its first appearance in the historic record during Thomas Jefferson’s presidency. In this virtual, hands-on class, participants will try their skills at creating both traditional and lesser-known cocktails – including low-proof and no-proof variations that can be enjoyed any time of day.

Raise a glass to a lively class guaranteed to change the way you think about what we drink!

From the Napa Valley to Virginia Vines: Jefferson’s Legacy in Wines – Thursday, November 19th, 7 pm EST

A coast-to-coast virtual conversation and tasting event between two exceptional vintners, united by an appreciation for Jefferson’s influence on American viticulture. 

Good wine was a critical ingredient in Thomas Jefferson’s ongoing experiment in American hospitality. It was also, he wrote to a friend, a “necessary of life.”

We invite you to pour a glass and join Stephen Corley of the acclaimed Napa Valley Monticello Vineyards, with Gabriele Rausse, the “father of Virginia wine,” for a guided tasting featuring varietals from two of the country’s leading wine regions. Moderated by Monticello Senior Historian and Development Officer Ann Lucas, participants will contrast and compare popular selections and taste the impact climate and soil can have on wine characteristics produced from the same grape.

Handmade for the Holidays: Décor for Your Door – Sunday, December 5th, 1 pm EST

Now in its 34th year, Monticello’s annual Wreath Workshop is an absolute fan favorite!

The now virtual workshop will again be led by veteran Monticello Guide and Floral Designer, Lou Hatch. Hatch, who is responsible for the design and installation of Monticello’s holiday decorations, is a beloved wreath workshop instructor whose in-person classes quickly fill to capacity.

We’re sad we won’t be able to see you all in person but excited to bring HHF to you wherever you may be. For more information on these events or to purchase tickets visit: https://www.heritageharvestfestival.com/

With the official start of fall just a day away, planting in the garden is really winding down here in the mid-Atlantic. Both the cool weather and dwindling hours of daylight mean that plants require more time to get established and grow to harvest. One quick crop you can still sneak in is radishes.

Great Fall Varieties

Here are a few varieties you can sow this time of year in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States.

Miyashige White Fall Daikon Radish

Juicy and flavorful, this variety is usually harvested when 12 in. long and 2-3 in. in diameter, though it will grow much larger!

Deep-Till Radish

Great for no-till systems and breaking up compacted soil!

Misato Rose Fall Radish

This is our favorite fall radish and is very forgiving. It will still bulb up even if it’s crowded or thinned late.

Red Head (Roodkopje) Radish

Sneak this quick-growing variety in this fall. It’s ready to harvest in just 25 days.

How to Grow Fall Radishes

Most fall type radishes do best in cold weather but you don’t want to wait too long to sow them. We recommend sowing them 5-10 weeks before your first fall frost date. Sow seeds, 3/4” apart, 1/2” deep in rows 8-12” apart. Fall radishes should be thinned to wider spacing than spring radishes about 4-6” apart.

When to Harvest  

You can begin harvesting radishes as soon as you’re happy with their size and incorporate them into salads and other dishes. You should harvest all of your radishes before temperatures dip below 20°F. If you live in a place with a mild winter you can leave radishes in the ground and harvest them as needed. 

The exact size your radishes reach will depend upon how early you plant and the variety of radish you select.

Storing Radishes

Radishes can be stored in a root cellar or the crisper drawer of your fridge. They can be stored for 2-3 months.

Gently brush off excess dirt and trim the tops off. If you’re storing them in the fridge, wrapping them in a damp cloth can help keep them good for longer. If you’re storing them in a root cellar, bury them in totes of damp sand. It’s easiest to do one layer at a time and make sure the radishes aren’t touching each other.

Ways to Use Radishes

Radishes are incredibly versatile root crops that are an excellent choice for the fall garden. They can be added to a variety of dishes through the early winter.

• Use them as a cover crop to break up hard-packed soil.
• Grate them and add them to kimchi.
• Pickle them. 
• Make radish leave pesto. 
• Roast them with a bit of olive oil, seasoning, and other root veggies.
• Add them to fresh salads.
• Grate them up for spring rolls and wraps.
• Sauté the tops as you would other greens.

If you grow sunflowers the garden looks a little extra magical this time of year! There’s just something special about these big flowers that follow the sun. Today, they are a popular crop for home gardeners and rank among the world’s most important oil crops but they’ve got a really long and interesting past too.

Domestication

Sunflowers were first cultivated by Native Americans. Some archeologists believe that they may have been grown in what’s now Arizona and New Mexico as early as 3000 BC. The seeds were an important food source and were used in a variety of ways including for grinding into flour, mixing with other vegetables, and squeezing for oil.

Sometimes sunflowers like the Hopi Dye Sunflower were also used to create dye for textiles, baskets, and body painting. They were also used medicinally and the stalks were sometimes utilized as building materials. 

To Europe and Back

When Europeans came to America they quickly brought the sunflower back to Europe (probably around 1500). It was primarily grown as an ornamental until it became popular in Russia as an oil crop. During the early 1800s, it was commercially cultivated in Russia with more than 2 million acres planted each year and new varieties being bred.  

Some of these new varieties like Mammoth made their way back to the United States to be featured in seed catalogs by 1880 and are still around today. They were most likely brought to the U.S. by Russian immigrants. In the early 1900s, sunflowers quickly gained popularity as oil and silage (animal feed) crops in the United States and Canada along with their ornamental use in the home garden.

Eating Sunflowers

As the title of this post suggests, sunflowers are a wonderful edible flower. It’s not just their seeds that are edible either. Very young plants as well as sunflower sprouts are excellent in salads and wraps. The flower petals, though they can be a bit bitter can also be used sparingly in salads to brighten things up or as natural decorations for cakes. 

The leaves and stalk can also be eaten. When harvested young and peeled the stalk is a bit like celery. The leaves should be steamed or cooked like other greens before eating to destroy irritating hairs. Unopened flower buds can be cooked and used like artichokes.

Harvesting Sunflower Seeds

When to Harvest

Sunflowers are best harvested when they’ve fully matured. The plant’s foliage should be yellow and the back of the flower should be yellow or brown. The petals should have fallen off and the seeds should be plump and developed their dark or striped coloring. Harvesting too early when the plant is still alive and the seeds are light-colored will probably result in immature seed.

In order to get your sunflowers to mature this long, you may need to provide them with a bit of protection. They’re a favorite of birds, squirrels, and other small animals so you may need to wrap the flower heads in mesh or cover them with mesh bags to deter wildlife. Don’t use solid plastic bags. The material should be perforated or breathable or the flower head may rot.

Harvest

Cut the flower heads, leaving about 4-6 inches of stalk. Cover the flower heads with paper bags and hang them somewhere cool and dry for 1-2 weeks or until the seeds are fully dry and mature. They can also be laid out on screens if you have the space to set something up.

At this point, you can either separate the seeds or leave them on the head. Sunflowers can be hung outdoors for birds to enjoy through the winter or hung in your chicken coop for them to enjoy. 

Rub the seeds off the flower head and lay flat to dry for an additional day. Then they can be stored in airtight containers out of direct sunlight. They’re ready to plant next year or roast for a tasty snack!