More to come......

I thought that as we were waiting for the weather to warm up and get sunny, hot and humid so the indigo can grow, I would share more about the historical aspects of indigo culture in the Lowcountry.  I thought I would share more of the interesting story of Eliza and her family and also the stories of some of the other people involved in growing indigo here.  Yes, there is the story of the curious young girl, but, there is so much more.......

Eliza Lucas Pinckney and Indigo

In the first blog post I mentioned Eliza Lucas a lot of y'all might know who she is and some of you probably don't.  So here's her story.

Eliza Lucas was born in the West Indies and educated in England.  In 1738, Eliza's father Major George Lucas, feeling that the climate of South Carolina would be better for his invalid wife's health, moved his wife along with their two daughters to Wappoo Plantation in the Charleston, SC area.  Wappoo was one of 3 plantations he had inherited from his father John Lucas of Antigua.   In 1739, Captain Lucas was called back to Antigua leaving Eliza, at the age of 16, to manage his plantations in South Carolina.  Almost 50 years later, Eliza wrote, "I was very early fond of the vegetable world" and "My father was pleased with it and encouraged it".  In the encouragement of his daughter's curious mind and also in the effort to find a commercial crop to replace rice, Major Lucas continually sent Eliza various plants and seeds to try, indigo being one.  By 1740, Eliza was experimenting with indigo which she said had "greater hopes" than anything else he had sent her.  It took Eliza several years to get a viable crop.  Her first crop was cut down by frost and, from the seeds she saved from that crop, she only got enough for 100 plants the next year.  In the meantime, her father sent  Nicholas Cromwell, from Montserrat, an experienced dye maker, to make the vats and assist her in the process of extracting the dye.   Despite Cromwell's attempt to spoil the dye, the small 1741 crop produced "20 weight" of indigo.  The 1742 and 1743 plantings were not successful, but in 1744, she had a good enough crop and, with the help of a new dye maker, Patrick Cromwell, Eliza was able to produce 17 pounds of "very good indigo".  Six pounds of indigo was sent to England to be tested and, in a letter sent from London on December 3, 1744,  it was stated "I have shown your indigo to one of our noted Brokers in that Way, who tried it against some of the French, and in his opinion it is as good", and in another unidentified letter it was stated "the sample of Indigo sent here....has been tried and found better that the French indigo".  Most of the 1744 crop was saved for seed and was given away in small quantities to a great number of people.  In 1745, there were at least 5 other planters experimenting with indigo and by 1747, 135,000 pounds was produced for export.   On the eve of the Revolutionary War, over 1,000,000 pounds of indigo was being exported from the Charleston harbor.  All this started by a curious young girl.

Indigo babies!

I just got back from the farm where I planted 150 more seeds,  finished putting the compost between the rows and weeded.   I believe we have little indigo babies already coming up!  I can't believe they're growing this fast!  Later in the week I'll take pictures of them for ya'll.  Woo-hoo!!!

In The Beginning

This past Wednesday, April 24th, the indigo seed were planted.  We planted approximately 600 seed of Indigofera suffruticosa.  As you can see from the picture, the seeds are a beautiful purple color.

From all the historical research I've done over the past year, I think both Indigofera suffruticosa  and Indigofera tinctoria were grown in the Lowcountry.  The early planters called I. suffruticosa "Guatemalan" or "Bahama" indigo and I. tinctoria "French" or "Hispaniola" indigo.  It is speculated that Eliza Lucas received both varieties from Antigua.  The French Huguenot planters who had experience with growing and processing woad, Isatis tinctoria, in Europe grew both varieties of indigo in South Carolina.  The French Huguenots were very influential in the indigo industry here in the 1700's.

Back to the planting.  This seems to be the perfect place to plant indigo.  The field had been plowed earlier this year so all we had to do was break up the hard pan and pull the weeds and grass that had started growing.   The colonial planters used what they called the "pine barrens" to plant indigo and also cotton.  The pine barrens are generally higher, dryer ground where pines and oak trees grow.  Historically the low swampy, marshy areas where cypress and tupelo trees grow were drained and used to plant rice.

I had wonderful help from Thomas and Robin who are interns at Jeremiah Farm and Goat Dairy through the Lowcountry Local program.  Casey, who is the farm's owner also helped.  Casey is in the turquoise shirt in this picture.

 After planting the seeds 1/2 inch deep, we used a stick to mark each hole so we would know where we had planted them.  The seeds were watered in and then we added compost (hay and goat poo) between the rows.  This will help keep the weeds down and also fertilize the soil.  John's Island, where the farm is, has received a little rain, I'm keeping my fingers crossed we'll be getting more tonight.

Tomorrow I'm going to plant another 150 seeds.  The germination period for indigo is a little long, around 10-15 days.  So, hopefully in another week or two we'll start seeing little indigo sprouts.  I can't wait, it's almost like Christmas for me!  I'll keep you posted!