Harpers Ferry National Historical Park invites the public to attend its heirloom gardening program "City Farming: Food in the Backyard" on Saturday and Sunday, May 20-21, from 11 a.m to 4 p.m.
During the Industrial Revolution and before the mass production of processed foods ordinary citizens often depended on small kitchen gardens for sustenance right in the heart of a factory town, according to a park press release.
Visitors are invited to experience kitchen gardening, an important facet of everyday life in antebellum Harpers Ferry, and discover the connections between historic gardening methods and solutions for increasing health benefits from locally and organically grown foods, today called the "slow-food movement."
Participants are encouraged to join living-history staff and volunteers on the green opposite the Bookshop in "Lower Town" to purchase historic heirloom vegetable seeds and live plants to start their own kitchen gardens.
Sponsored by the Harpers Ferry Park Association, all proceeds directly benefit the park.
