Maple is Vermont’s official state flavor and apple its official pie. Now Vermont will have the Gilfeather turnip as its official vegetable.
Gov. Peter Shumlin signed the state vegetable into law Tuesday in the company of the sixth-grade class that lobbied for its recognition and the couple who trademarked the Gilfeather turnip name.
The bill was first read before the House a full 15 months before it passed the House and Senate April 29. Rep. Laura Sibilia, I-Dover, one of the sponsors of the bill, said that was because the legislators knew the students from Wardsboro Elementary School wanted to testify in both the House and the Senate, and wanted to give them that opportunity.
“Obviously, this is an important historic bill, but there were also other important things going on in the state over the past two years at the same time,” Sibilia said.
More than a century ago, Wardsboro farmer John Gilfeather started growing the turnips, which are a rutabaga and turnip hybrid. Legend has it that he was so afraid of someone stealing his idea, he would snip the roots off his turnips after harvest. When he died in 1944, his turnips almost died with him, according to Wardsboro’s Gilfeather turnip website.
A friend gave Bill and Mary Lou Schmidt a few of the seeds in the 1970s, and once they tasted the product of the seeds, they trademarked the name and had the government classify the vegetable as “heirloom botanical.”
“John (Gilfeather) is smiling down on us today,” Mary Lou Schmidt said Tuesday.
The law goes into effect July 1. Vermont is the 15th state to add an official vegetable, according to Net State, a website listing all of the states’ symbols.
