Long -ago Greek citizens not only ate bean, but also used them as voting tokens for political candidates.

There were several early superstitions about beans.  If a person wanted to get rid of a ghost, on way was to spit beans at it.

Native American Indians didn’t have ovens.  They dug a hole in the earth, put hot stones on the bottom, and placed the bean container inside.  Have you ever had baked beans?  The first baked beans came from and Indian “beanhole” in the ground.

The earliest method of popping corn was to toss kernels into the embers of a fire.  Soon popped corn was a popular settler breakfast food, eaten with milk and maple sugar.

Early pioneers often used corn as money.  They paid the blacksmith with corn ears or cornmeal, and also paid their rent or taxes with it.

The United States grows the most corn of anyplace in the world, with the leading producers being Iowa and Illinois.   In the United States, most corn is used at home.  About half goes to feed cattle, sheep, chickens, and hogs.  But we do get lots of it in cornmeal for tortillas, cornflakes, corn bread, corn syrup, and corn oil.  Little is wasted.  Corn, or its cob, in some form or another is found in chewing gum, ketchup, paste, cough syrup, soap, crayons, marshmallows, plastic, and pancake mix.

Lettuce is 95% water.

The first big yellow round onions came over on the Mayflower in 1620.  Few colonial gardens were without them.  Our first president, George Washington, said they were his favorite food.  American cowboys in the wild west liked them too.  Onions went into their campfire stew.  The cowboy nickname for the smelly onion was skunk eggs.

In ancient Greek and Roman times, fried peas were sold at circuses, much like we sell popcorn today.

The peanut is a kind of pea.  It is not a nut.  But unlike other peas, its pods grow underground.  Peanuts have many names, depending on where they grow.  They may be called: ground nuts, pinda, pender, goobers, goober peas, and ground peas.

More than 100 potato varieties are available to the public, some only in farmers’ markets.  Over 300 million tons of potatoes are grown each year.  In the United States, Idaho grows the most potatoes.  Next time you go to the grocery store, see how many different types you can find.

Potato Chips were invented in the late 1800’s in America by a Native American Indian, George Crum.  He was a chef at a famous New York hotel.  A customer told him that they fried potatoes being served weren’t any good.  They were too thick.  Tired of the complaints, Crum decided to slice the potatoes almost paper thin.  He then fried them.  They turned out crispy.  Surprisingly, the fussy customer liked them, and so did the rest of the world.

It is known that American Indian tribes grew pumpkins for food long before any European explorers arrived.  The early New England settlers weren’t great pumpkin fans.  But during their first cold, long winter, when food was very scarce, they changed their minds.  A common cooking method was to let a fire die down, then place a whole pumpkin in the ashes.  When baked soft the pumpkin was cut open.  Honey or maple syrup was poured on top.

Watermelons are 93 % water.  In desert lands where water is scarce, people in ancient times drank watermelon juice instead.

Watermelon seeds are still eaten in many parts of the world today.  In Asia, the seeds are roasted and enjoyed like pumpkin seeds.

Peppermint and spearmint are used to flavor chewing gum.  Peppermint and other flavors are added to mouthwash, prescription medicines, toothpaste, perfumes, and soap.

Long ago, people planted crops when the moon was a certain phase.  They thought the plants would grow better, and some did.  Scientists are still studying the moon’s effect on plants.   The earliest garden plan is a map of an Egyptian garden drawn about 3,400 years ago.  It had walkways and four ponds for ducks.

Topsoil is the rich upper layer of soil where plants find the most nutrients.  In the last hundred years, America’s farmlands have lost half their topsoil.  It washed into streams, rivers, and finally the ocean. 

The ancient Romans built the first greenhouses.  They grew flowers in them.

Have you ever opened a bean pod or pea pod and found it empty?  That’s what happens when a pea blossom isn’t fertilized with pollen by a bee or butterfly.

Some plants can make you very sick:  poison ivy and poison oak are harmful to touch.  Plants like poinsettias, mistletoe, and oleander are poisonous.  Never eat any part of a plant without  checking it with an  adult first.

People used to make cheese its yellow color by mixing in marigold blossoms.

Did you know that spices come from plants too?  Cinnamon is bark from a tree.  Cloves are flower buds.  Allspice is a berry.  Nutmeg is a fruit pit.  Vanilla is a flower seed pod.  All of them grow only in warm, tropical climates.

Scientists have discovered that certain sounds cause pores in plant leaves to open- causing stronger growth.  

Butterflies love naturally sweet fruit.  Put a slice of watermelon or banana out in an open area ans watch the butterflies come to it!

You can tell how old an earthworm is by counting the segments in its body.  An adult worm has about 100.