[HPforGrownups] Wizard gardens and food

[k12listmomma]

No: HPFGUIDX 161753

> Lana posted:
>I would assume that they do have farms and such.  Remember Hagrids 
>pumpkins??
> And don't forget the chickens at the Burrow.  If Molly has chickens, then 
> surely she must have a garden.


Shelley responds:
Not necessarily! For me, I guess this gets to the definition of a garden. In 
the States, a garden means rows of vegetables. In Europe, a garden is often 
a place of well cared for plants and shrubbery, a resting place or 
get-a-away outdoors, often with a walk and a bench, and maybe a fountain, 
depending on the wealth of the family involved and the size of the garden. 
While I believe that Hagrid did keep a garden in the first sense (we do see 
pumpkins, but not for eating- they were for display at the Halloween Feast, 
and cabbages), I don't think Molly did. I think for her yard, despite the 
chickens, that when the boys went "de-gnoming" the garden, that if it had 
vegetables in it, Rowling would have had Molly yelling "I don't want those 
gnomes eating my cabbages" or some such. Instead the process is described as 
pulling gnomes out from under the bushes. Not one vegetable is mentioned, 
perhaps an oversight on the part of Rowling? But I don't think so, for I 
don't think she had in mind a vegetable garden. She had in mind an English 
garden for that house.

The Harry Potter Lexicon says this about the Weasley garden: "The garden 
outside the Burrow had gnarled trees lining the walls, plenty of weeds and 
overgrown grass, a large pond, and lots of gnomes. (CS3). When the entire 
family is home during the summer holidays and Harry and Hermione are staying 
as well, there are simply too many people for the small kitchen so the they 
eat a delicious dinner in the garden. (GF5)"    Sounds like an English 
garden description to me. Nobody serves their guests in the middle of a 
vegetable garden. Since Rowling never describes a vegetable garden at the 
Weasleys, we can't assume she has one.

Chickens just run the yard, eating bugs. They don't need a confined place at 
all, except to roost at night for protection. None of our birds were ever 
penned up. It is possible to raise birds without planting a field. Even in 
the years that we let our corn field rest, we still raised our ducks, 
chickens, turkeys, geese, and guinea fowl. The corn field required a tractor 
and plow, and a conscience effort year to year to till the soil and to plant 
it; by contrast, the birds were practically self-perpetuating from year to 
year. LOL (Fond memories of spring in the air- you knew it was coming when 
the ducks were chasing one another around the yard. We would find duck or 
geese eggs in the snow!) Birds are really easy to raise, and require very 
little daily care, while a vegetable garden requires great care. Not only do 
you have to know what to plant, you have to know how to weed, what 
fertilizers to use, what pesticides or anti-pest products to use, and Molly 
just doesn't seem THAT sort. (She consults Lockhart's book for the gnomes, 
for instance.) Farming is really a different skill than raising a few 
chickens. Much more difficult.

Shelley