Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, & Time

A tiny tale of winter resilience, sung in (parsley, sage, rosemary, &) thyme.

Written by: Laura DeFeo

The title of this newsletter may have some of you automatically humming Simon & Garfunkel’s 1966 rendition of the timeless folk ballad Scarborough Fair. The titular fair was an enormous annual trade market that ran from the 1200s through the 1700s and took place in the town of Scarborough on the North Sea coast of Yorkshire, England. For 6 weeks each year, merchants, travelers, & entertainers poured in from across Europe to barter, haggle, and swap stories.

Although the Simon & Garfunkel version is the one most familiar today, Scarborough Fair is an English folk ballad with roots stretching back centuries. Earlier Scottish variants told similar tales with different places and characters, but similar themes. In the traditional lyrics - often sung as a duet - two former lovers speak through a passing traveler on his way to Scarborough Fair. Each insists that reconciliation is possible only if the other completes a series of impossible tests of devotion. For example, the man asks for a cambric shirt with no seams, to be washed in a well with no water. In turn, the woman requests an acre of land between the sand and the sea, sown entirely with a single grain.

The haunting refrain of “parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme” has sparked its own set of theories. Some say the herbs reference medieval medicinal uses during the Black Death; others argue they’re symbolic, nodding to qualities like courage, remembrance, or fidelity. No matter the original intent, the refrain adds a touch of enchantment in its continuity.

This brings me to why these four herbs caught my attention this week. Here on the farm, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, in addition to other winter crops, seem to be undertaking impossible feats of their own. While many plants retreat during the darkest and coldest time of the year, these intrepid botanicals continue to demonstrate their own kind of devotion, rising to the occasion of the coming winter with steadiness and resilience (along with our farmer & our staff member!).  And in turn, their steadfastness and adaptability continue to sustain us - in spirit and in seasonal fare - during the cold months ahead.