November 2005,
Jamestown Settlement

I attended “Foods and Feasts in Colonial Virginia,” a festival Jamestown Settlement has been featuring each November.

These foods don’t look too bad—the more traditional fare before the winter of 1609 to 1610 turned bleak and starvation set in.

At home in October, I had collected nuts—acorns, hickory nuts and walnuts—and stored them in my fridge as long as possible. Until the day my kids said, “Mom, what are these white hairy things? Can we throw them out?”

What did I learn? Black walnuts grow white beards. So much for research!

In January, 2003, I went to Historic Jamestowne (the fort site) to do more hands-on research. I studied the barren landscape. If I were Joan, starving, what would I eat? The only thing I could find that was at all promising was a cedar tree.

In a move my writing group has never let me forget, I plucked a sprig of cedar and ate it. At home, I boiled up more sprigs into a green, spiny soup. So when Joan says cedar tastes minty, she knows what she’s talking about!