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farmed land extending back to Spring Creek, it being used to supply most of their food
needs: fniiX trees (which Pietro grafted), chestnut, almond and walnut trees and a large
vegetable garden providing cabbages, cauliflower, carrots, parsnips, turnips and
potatoes. So plentiful must the produce from their farm have been that one daughter
later proudly claimed 'we grew everything but oranges'.^^ In fact, potatoes made up
the family's staple diet, presented as gnocchi (dumplings) and other peasant fare.
Unlike families at Eganstovm with their herb gardens, most settlers at Hepburn grew
only parsley, garlic and onions as food seasonings, the latter being especially good for
flavouring their soups and stews.^ Meat, apart from sausages, was rarely served,
meals of bread and bacon dripping being one of the fingal ways in which the Gaggionis
enjoyed its flavours. La minesta (vegetable soup) accompanied by bread was a
common meal, recalling the typical diet of the Lombard peasantry.'^"* The family kept a
cow for milk and hens for eggs and poultry. Sometimes a rabbit would be caught in the
local forest and cooked as a stew with polenta, a then typical and popular northem
Italian dish. The family's vineyard (which extended over half a hectare) provided
plentiful supplies of home-made wdne, the children being given small amounts to drink
as their cultural tradition allowed.^*
Like most Italian-speaking immigrant families, the Gaggionis made their own
butter, cheeses and bacon, the latter being hung from the ceiling of the cellar to dry.
The children were encouraged to participate from an early age in the food preparation
process, some of the youngest daughters taking turns to work the butter-chum. On a
large plain wooden table in a section of the living-room the family made its bullboars,
the recipe comprising equal quantities of pork and beef seasoned with allspice, garlic
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