Pioneer Quest, 7 -- Our Laura Ingalls Wilder Forum

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Date Posted: 22:30:06 05/18/03 Sun
Author: Ann
Subject: Pioneer Quest, 7

With Christmas over, the homesteaders look to fill their time during the winter, since chores no longer take almost every minute of their waking hours. The women start making quilts, and the younger one also made a pin cushion. She said at home she would have kept the pins in a box, but as a homesteader using oil lamps, which do not give off a lot of light, she realized it was easier to find a needle in a pin cushion.
The men cut willow branches (I think it was) and made boxes and even a chair. The older couple played the guitar and sang often, the younger man read books from the 1800's while his wife quilted.
The horses started losing weight, so they took them to a vet, who filed their teeth (somehome this helps them eat) and he said they needed better hay as they weren't getting enough nutrients. So some neighbors brought some higher quality hay in by horse-drawn sled, with kids riding on saucers tied to the back of the sled. The kids were just squealing with delight. :)
The older man had a terrible toothache, so they brought in a dentist and his equipment by wagon. He actually had an old drill from that era that he operated by pumping with his foot! Fortunately for the homesteader, when it came time to drill the dentist was allowed to use a modern drill.
A woman came and taught the women homesteaders to bake bread. They had made rolls and biscuits, but not bread. They discovered it was easier than they thought.
It turned out that after planting I forget how many potatoes their crop yielded exactly ONE potato! They did have carrots and other vegetables that made it through the extremely wet growing season, and of course milk from the cow, eggs from the chickens, meet from hunting, and flour, sugar, etc. that they were allowed to buy once a month or so from people who would bring it to a place not too far from the homestead.
The damp was getting through the walls of the younger couple's cabin and they had mold on the material holding the straw for their bedding, so they had to deal with that.
The older couple had to restuff their ticking, and they overdid it at first, so their mattress was so high and round when they brought it that they couldn't lay on it. It looked pretty funny! So they had to remove some of the hay.
They were trying not to, but they were beginning to speculate on what they'd do when they got back to the "real" world, because of course they would not be planting crops again and planning for another winter as real homesteaders would have been doing. I'd think the second year would be easier, because you'd already have your cabin built, and you would have so much experience. But I guess no one would really want to stay for two years!

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[> Re: Pioneer Quest, 7 -- Anne, 10:03:28 05/19/03 Mon

Hi Ann,

thanks for your latest update!

That makes me shiver about the dentist drill... modern or old fashioned - I hate the drill! Did he get any pain killers??

What happened to the potato crop so that there was only one potato yielded! Now that is a real crop failure. At least they had other food to see them through - although imagine a winter without the humble potato!

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[> [> Re: Pioneer Quest, 7 -- Ann, 10:58:24 05/19/03 Mon

I think he must have had painkillers, or we would have heard him complaining if he didn't, lol!
There was record rainfall when they were planting their crops, and even had to plant some things twice because the rain just drowned some of the first plantings, so I guess that's what did in the potatoes.
In Frontier House last year the Clune family (from California) was really criticized for "cheating" when they walked to some modern-day homes and traded Mrs. Clunes baked goods for meat. After seeing all the contact the PQ people have been having, I'm now really suprised at the criticism leveled at the Clunes. Okay, they got meat wrapped in nice brown paper, probably from a supermarket, but is it really so different than getting hay from a modern farm, or a dentist coming in, or (I forgot to mention this) a whole bunch of people coming in to help the older couple on PQ saw wood because the older man still couldn't really do it because of his heart problem? Okay, the "outsiders" used the old tools to cut the wood, but still the PQ seemed to have a lot of outside people coming in.
Also, the PQ were allowed to hunt. When the FH people got to Montana (too late to back out!) it was then Mr. Clune found out they wouldn't be allowed to hunt. He was really ticked off, as he was a good hunter and had even brought his own old gun from the proper era. Assuming the FH people had seen PQ (since it was originally on a couple years ago from what I can tell), I can see why the Clunes were kind of annoyed with them being criticized for some of the stuff they did.

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