more now from bill barker portraying thomas jefferson, discussing the third presidents love of gardening from the west lot of monticello, his virginia home. >> good afternoon my friends and my fellow citizens. what a pleasure to greet you once more here on our mountain here at monticello. what a pleasure to be out of doors here amongst the wonders of nature. particularly that we can stand together underneath this live oak, one of my favorite places next to the fishpond, to welcome the bloom of the snowball that is the vibrant behind me. they're the beautiful purple

iris and of course the pansies. b fox club as well about to bloom. what a pleasant occasion. and particularly to welcome our friend mr. steve light to be with us again to welcome your questions. without any further comment, as i have a few moments before i continue my walk through the garden, and i think gardens is a most pleasant subject to attend to today. i asked for the first question if you will. >> yes, thank you president jefferson. we do have a number of questions for you today relating to gardening. the first question is, have you always loved gardening? >> you asked me if i have always loved gardening? i can assure you that you cannot be borne out here in the wilderness, in the forest primeval, without an early love of all of nature's wonders. the great abundance that our creator has provided us.

and to realize that we merely have to cut out what pleases us and to plan accordingly. do you know i served 40 years in public service and yet i've often thought that if heaven had given me a position to migrate to light, it would have been upon a small spot of ground well watered and near a good market for the produce. gardening is one of my greatest delights and the cultivation of the soil, i think the most noble vocation of man. your next question? >> we've been told there to keep some pretty detailed records about your gardening adventures. >> so you know about some of my jottings. yes, i do have a number of journals and diaries. i have a garden book. a farm book. whether accounts and the account of rainfall. i was looking at some of them

the other day and i realized that i commenced these jottings when i was only 23 years of age. i was not yet living here on our little mountain. i was living at shed well, about two and a half miles to the northeast. they're on 1776, i first recorded at the end of march the bloom, if you will, of the purple hyacinth. then but a short time later, the first few weeks of april and near to my birthday, the bloom of the narcissist. i remember that is what we used to call the blood route. so beautiful. yes, i continue to do so and i continue to take the observations of weathers to provide for the temperature at least three times a day. i take the temperature first at the coolest time of day, that is just before sunrise. i then take the temperature at the meridian, at the sun's height during the day.

and then usually at the warmest time of the day. of late, that has become arguable. some considerate 3:00, others consider for. i asked them why and they tell me it's because of a daylight savings. i have no idea what they are referring to. but either three or four is the warmest time of day. a few moments ago i recorded the temperature at 54 degrees on the fahrenheit scale. early this morning before sunrise, it was 41. so i shall wait until later in the afternoon to see where the day will lead us. your next question? >> we had a question from benjamin asking what your favorite plant was? >> my favorite plant. well you asked me benjamin something that i don't think i can give you an immediate already answer. so much of nature's wonders are my favorite.

i continue to enjoy the hollyhock. i enjoy the snowball that you see behind me. the digitalis i think is properly named one of my favorite flowers. the fox glow. i say properly named because it may be used medicinal lee to slow down rapid heartbeats. you know benjamin, i wish i had known that during my younger years when i was first caught. your next question. >> we have a question asking if there is anything that you try to grow at monticello, but couldn't because of the climate? >> they're asking me of my many failures in the garden. i say yes many, but no this. i always try to plant and over abundance, a great variety, a flowers and plants. the reason is because i know there will be a failure, but then rest assured we will

always have successes. i'm afraid i have a failed with the pair. i have failed with the plum. i have failed with all-in -- comments and apricots. i've never been successful cultivating olive trees. and of course there is wine. i speak of the foreign binds. that has remained a great failure. but we need not pursue that any further. your next question. >> mister president, we've had some people wondering about your attempts to make ... >> mr. light, i said we need not pursue my attempts at cultivating wine. if you ask me about my efforts, i can assure you this. i continue to cultivate wine. it is the foreign vines that have been the failure. our native vines continue to flourish as they have from time

immemorial. they are the ones i referred to as the musket grapes. but i was first introduced to foreign wine at the table of governor francis, one of our former royal governors inflames bergh. and of course i spent five delightful years in the bill france. but my earliest effort to cultivate the foreign buying began in 1774. it was when i met an italian nobleman. i write it mtfs why. it is fanatical. his real name is i'm a is easy why. he had come to the common of virginia with letters of introduction from doctor benjamin franklin. he was accompanied by ten of his own countrymen. they referred to themselves as the one company to sell shares for the cultivation of cabernet

and the on the water and send you basically. colonel washington purchased several shares, but i went further. i invited him to come visit here in the realms of ... because my daughter says, we started out before sunrise that i might introduce him to the terrain. by the time we've returned to sunset, she said that the two of us had great smiles upon our face and a sense of jocularity. she was certain that a deal had been made and it was. i gifted him with about 150 acres nearby which he proceeded to refer to as far.

opportunity to venture into the italy's. i went down to the riviera, the south friends, and traveled across the -- have traveled across east would demands on and then took three days on a borough to travel across the alps. i traveled up to turn and then finally to milan and there are

discovered, yes, the upland rice that was of interest to south carolina was well, the great product of that duchy of milan. i also understood that contracts for purchase and for further negotiations but that does she would be necessary before we could ever four karat. well, i was not the minister plenipotentiary to milan. i was ambassador to france, and so i realized on a saturday to satisfy south carolina that i would have to resort to walking into the fields and grabbing handfuls of that uplift rice and then sewing it up into my coattails, and so i left milan, went down to the south near to noah, sailed back to france and finally sent that rise to south

carolina. do you know, if i had been found for smuggling that rice, the sentence would have been death by hanging? so i apologize to share that story with you, but i will go to any and to satisfy our countrymen with a new plan. i think it is the most important thing anyone could do for their nation is to introduce a new plant. your next question, mr. light? >> well, president jefferson, we've had a number of questions about things that you like to eat. in fact, we had a question about whether or not it was all vegetables on your plate, and other questions asking if you like tomatoes. would you care to comment on what you served for dinner? >> you asked me amongst all things in the garden what are my favorite vegetables? what do i delight to provide at the table? whether i am fond of tomatoes? i'd like to say that i'm very

much in favor of fruits and roots and leaves. of the fruits, i do consider the tomatoes, and beans, and yes i enjoy the tomatoes to be prepared in stuffs of the garden. that is actually a course that i now serve at the table here at monte carlo. i understand it is called a solid course. when i was growing up, we knew nothing of a solid course. it was in france that i became acquainted with it, and so i've enjoyed ever since. i have returned here to provide stuffs of the garden as a course, in a meal, and, yes tomatoes are used extensively. out of the routes, i enjoy karen's and beat, and of the, leaves i enjoy lettuce and cabbages. in fact, i purchased most of my cabbages from the enslaved families here upon my farms. they enjoyed a cultivated in their own gardens, and i enjoy the procurement from them for price. your next question?

>> one last question, president jefferson. this one comes from robin, to ask if you ever have contests in growing vegetables with your neighbor's home. >> robin, you ask if i have contests amongst my neighbors as to who might grow what -- what vegetable before the other order introduce one to another? well, i can assure you this is become well known in the vicinity of charlottesville, that mr. george died bus of farmington and i have contest as to who may cultivate the first batch of peas. do you know that they often may rise at the end of february, let alone during the first weeks of march? and whoever is the most successful lets it known throughout the community that they had the first batch of peas to provide at the table, and everyone is welcome to come

enjoy those appease, at that particular home. so, mister diverse and i, over several years have been one of more the more successful than the other and enjoy a meal. now that you know, this year i was happy to see the very first please rise up at the end of february. this has been a most magnificent spring. i was about to let it be known until my daughter informed me mr. at farmington had just witnessed the first patch of peace to sprout. i thought for a moment and decided, no, i will not make any statement publicly because we can rest assured of having a very delicious meal at farmington. i thank you mister light. i thank you all for this opportunity, lamentably short, that we could gather together again here upon our mountain. i think i will continue on my

walk and i look forward when all of you may accompany me and all of us may be together. i will tell you this as i wrote to mr. charles wilson peel in philadelphia. i continue to grow older. yes, an older man, but i know i will ever remain a young gardener. what a great pleasure and a great hope that is to become better acquainted with the beauty and rhythm's of nature. until next time we meet, perhaps next week at this very same time. i remain your humble and obedient servant, thomas jefferson. godspeed.

next on american history tv. thomas jefferson interpreter built barker and monticello historic interpretation manager discuss how depictions of both slavery and jefferson's life have changed in recent decades. >> good afternoon. my name is brandon dillard. i'm the manager of historic interpretation here at monticello. you might recognize my voice because in previous live streams i'm usually the guy behind the camera. i'm reading questions from our audience as they come in so that we can directly engage with you while we are talking to our first person interpreter actor, ll