Dining with the Washingtons
A Culinary History

"But the western country on the Mississippi, and the midlands of Georgia, having fresh and fertile lands in abundance, and a hotter sun, will be able to undersell these two states, and will oblige them to abandon the raising tobacco altogether. And a happy obligation for them it will be. It is a culture productive of infinite wretchedness." – Thomas Jefferson, from Notes on the State of Verginia








Of the many jobs on an estate farm in the latter half of the 18th century, I can't help but to dream of having William Roberts' job. As other farmers of his ilk and range, George Washington could see upon his reception of his family farm at Mt. Vernon into the future of farm commodities. As Jefferson points in his Querry XX of Notes on the State of Virginia, tobacco was on its way out already by midcentury – surrounding states had an easier time producing and cultivating the once indespensible crop and wheat was up and coming, a crop that, if milled well, could end up in the hands of the

French or the Portuguese, or in the hands of ship sailors in the form of hardtack. Washington was, if anything, a careful analyst and well informed farmer. Tobacco was a cash crop but nothing else. It didn't provide the same inherent benefits as wheat or corn, which obviously served to feed the growers themselves and a worthwhile crop to buyers. And unlike the highly intensive picking of tobacco, there was now technology that could be used to process wheat, the fabulous gristmill. William Roberts was, as Dining relates, one of the few talented men who were not just a millwright (builders of mills and its components) but also a miller (mill skill worker). Other than the fact that Roberts would later concede to taking too kindly to drink at the miller's position on the farm, he was of exceptional talent. Washington kept note that "for skill in grinding, and keeping a Mill in order,

Roberts is inferior to No Man...He is an excellent Cooper & Millwright, he has lived with me near fifteen years, during which period I have not paid a shilling for repairs."  Made up of massive gears made of white oak, and massive millstones, once remarked by Washington as "an Article of more consequence that all the rest to me," the mill became a nearly fully automated conveyor system of wheat separation, transportation, grinding and gathering, all set in motion by the power of water below and yielded profits, away from tobacco, for nearly thirty years.  One has a hard time imagining such an elaborately organic craft and trade, but one that seems particularly enticing as some small organic farms try to strike it out on their own against the entrenched power of large scale agribusiness. It is interesting to make a certain daydream out of picturing the craftsmanship of creating wooden gears and buckets, sanding down stones, contriving water scoops and latching levers...as a trade. To see such work by one's own hands seamlessly grinding down the fine crop of wheat to usable powder, all powered by nothing more than a small dam, is a course on sustainability all on its own. Now to consider that that very same farmer would pull aside a certain allotment of the wheat germ for private use in baking and cooking, we have the beginnings of a closed loop system of use and no waste, plus a cash crop which might eventually pay for the materials of the mill itself. You do wonder, as more William Roberts of the world re-learn the craft of millwrighting, if more local folks might not be willing to invest in the trade, buy the product in local sack, and you have that same old transactional connection that kept small farms alive for centuries. The most serious question that might arise from the success of the new mill might be whether some day to sell to roving food company watching the trend so to turn it into something unrecognizable again.