Download (14Mb) - VUIR - Victoria University

Valle Maggia had generally included potatoes, rye, turnips, com and, in the milder
areas, grapes. Emit and nut trees were also an important food source, chestnuts
sometimes being used to provide flour. The horse and the ox were virtually unknown
with goats and cattle providing the main form of Uvestock.^* Few families produced
enough for commercial purposes but provided most of the needs of their families.
Once settled at Eastem HiU, the Morgantis drew upon these skills and set about
buUding for themselves a similar life-style.
The couple planted many crops traditional to Ticino and kept a minimum of
livestock for meat, milk, diary products and eggs. They planted an orchard of apple,
pear, plum and quince trees and had areas for raspberries, black currants, strawberries
and melons. The vegetable garden was equally large with onions, lettuces, shallots,
carrots, parsnips (these were not common in Ticino and indicate a new influence),
peas, beans and potatoes, the land being worked intensively to provide a year-round
food supply. Unfamiliar foods such as tomatoes, marrows and pumpkins were
excluded while the herb garden provided thyme and sage. Inside the house, onions
hung in bunches ready for use, along with a variety of drying herbs. The aromas which
resuhed from this particularly European practice recalled the cooking areas of Ticino.
Cereal crops retained an important position but, as Eastem Hill was too cold for
wheat, the family grew large amounts of oats which were used to feed the stock. They
also grew com and possibly barley. Before 1900, a vineyard which provided sufficient
grapes for wine was planted on the hillside. The family was never successful in
growing olives and only managed to keep one tree alive for a time under a glass shade.
78