Happy Earth Day!

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At MOSI we celebrated Earth Day by planting a vegetable garden in the Richard T. Bowers Historic Tree Grove with the staff from the Elements and Science to Go stores. After moving over what seemed like endless loads of compost to improve the soil, we planted sweet potatoes, corn, zucchini, cucumber, bush beans, basil, eggplant, watermelon and 7 species of tomatoes. This new garden sits under the George Washington Carver Persimmon tree. This bed is alternately known as the Carver Edible Garden or lovingly as the Garden of Eatin’.

George Washington Carver: George Washington Carver pioneered a concept of  crop rotation to return needed nutrient to the soil depleted by decades of cotton and tobacco. In the agrarian South following the Civil War, this method of crop rotation drastically increased farm production. Carver also developed industrial  applications for the new crops being grown, including over 300 uses for the peanut and extracting pigment from soybeans to replace European textile dyes. Carver was one of the leading African American scientists of his day and served as Agriculture Director at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute for Negroes which was founded by Booker T. Washington.

The Persimmon Tree: The persimmon (Diospyros) has many species and is cultivated around the world. The persimmon fruit is anywhere from pale yellow-orange to a deep red in color and fruits may be tomato, acorn, or even pumpkin-like in shape. Persimmon fruits are actually a true berry and depending upon the species can be eaten when freshly ripe or may need additional drying time before they are ready to consume. Pies, cookies, puddings and other desserts made from persimmon fruit have a sweet and unique taste. The George Washington Carver Persimmon at MOSI is a seedling from a persimmon tree originally grown by George Washington Carver.

Thanks again to the staff from the stores for he;ping with this great project!