Pioneer Living

Wow, today was a busy day!!

And boy was it hot on the farm! Yesterday, our temps were higher than I had thought. We hit 101 degrees. Today, I think we hit 100 even. Big puffy white clouds lazily crawling across a deep blue sky.

So picture my day...

Spending the morning stuffing a woodstove with firewood so I could cook a pot of chicken stew. We had a school group arriving to spend the entire day with us. This was their field trip. A group of gifted & talented 8th graders that were going to get a taste of history. Fortunately they were split into two groups and sent to two homes to work the farm.

My group consisted of 13 boys and girls and 1 very young teacher. They arrived with smiles (and to my relief) lots of enthusiasm! Not wanting to deprive them the experience of farm living, we (Valerie and I) showed them how to garden, pull weeds, collect firewood, chop onions, peel potatoes, grate carrots, dice celery, bake biscuits, churn butter, pop popcorn, wash dishes, and feed the chickens and pigs!

The kids (and teacher) all agreed that today's experiences had really put into perspective the hard work involved in keeping a farm running.

Churning butter.

Everyone took their turn cooking, cleaning, churning the butter and lending a helping hand. They kids even had time to play some 1800 games and walk on the stilts. The chicken stew turned out being the best ever!

I would have to say that my faith in our generation of children was restored after today. This was an awesome group of kids and they were so helpful and earnest about everything. Although we worked our tails off today, it was very rewarding, and I know that these kids left the farm today with memories that will last them a lifetime. They also told us that this was the best field trip they ever had!

Time to fill the cast iron pots and boil the water. Dishes, and more dishes to do...