Tasha Tudor

I mentioned in an earlier post that there would be more later on Tasha Tudor.  For those that have not heard of her, Tasha was an illustrator and author of children’s books by trade and gardener extraordinaire by avocation.  She was born in 1915 and died in 2008 at the age of 92.   

I first learned of her while reading English Cottage Gardening: For American Gardeners, by Margaret Hensel, a book that featured Tasha’s gardens at Corgi Cottage, her home in Vermont.  The brief bits in this book about Tasha and her gardening intrigued me, and after reading more about her online, I became even more interested.  Put simply, she is unlike anyone else I’ve ever read about or met.  Maybe I travel in sheltered circles, but I don’t think so.   

Although raised in the 20^th century, as well as being a very successful artist and author in her lifetime, she chose – quite deliberately – to live her life as though she were in the early 1800s.  She raised 4 children in a rambling, old farmhouse in New Hampshire without power and running water until her youngest was 5 years old.  She spent the last quarter of her life living in a hand-hewn house, an exact replica of an 18^th century farmhouse she loved in New Hampshire, on a mountaintop in Vermont.  She owned 250 acres, at least 10-acres of which were flower and vegetable gardens.  She grew her own food, raised her own milk goats and chickens, made her own dairy products and was reputedly an excellent cook (all of the recipes that I have tried from her cookbook have, indeed, been wonderful).  She loved afternoon teas and dressed in homespun linen dresses.  She walked and gardened barefoot when weather permitted.  She was passionate about flowers and corgis, of which she usually had 3 or 4.  She was not only an illustrator, but she also spun her own yarn, wove her own cloth, made her own quilts and clothing, designed and constructed fabulous doll houses, and made marionettes.  Her friends say her hands were never idle.   

As you may imagine, she was quite stubborn, intelligent and opinionated, as many eccentrics tend to be.  I admire her because she chose to live the life she wanted, and didn’t give a damn what anyone thought about her or her lifestyle, including her children and two ex-husbands.  She was her own person through and through ‘til the day she died.

For anyone interested in learning more, or at least seeing photos of Tasha, click here.  For in-depth information, I recommend reading The Private World of Tasha Tudor, The Art of Tasha Tudor, and gardening folks will love Tasha Tudor’s Garden.