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Historic Crops of Northampton: A Hands-On Exploration of Sugar Beets and Flax
Join Grow Food Northampton and the David Ruggles Center for History and Education:
In the 1840s, an abolitionist community called the Northampton Association for Education and
Industry (NAEI) farmed the land that is now the Grow Food Northampton Community Farm.
Sugar beets – grown as an alternative to the enslavement-fueled sugar cane industry – were
first introduced to the United States in Florence in 1838, brought here by ardent abolitionists
Lydia Maria Child and her husband David. This cash crop now accounts for almost half of all
refined sugar consumed in this country! Flax was also grown here, and was a very common crop
throughout the entire Connecticut River valley at the time. Flax fibers were used to make linen,
cloth, and strong twine. Flax seeds were pressed at a mill to obtain linseed oil used to make
paints and wood varnish.
Hear stories of the NAEI while we harvest sugar beets and turn them into tasty molasses. Learn
about, and try some of the tools (flax break, scutching board and hatchels) used in the process
of turning flax into linen!