Living History

Of late, my blog has seemed to be a travelogue of sights to see in central Ohio and today is no different. On Saturday, David and I took Aimee's kids to Slate Run Living Historical Farm in Pickaway County, near the small quaint village of Canal Winchester. It was a gloriously beautiful day for three kids to run around a working farm and enjoy the sunshine. And it was quite pleasurable for us adults as well.

The farm house is a Gothic Revival built in 1856 and restored by the Columbus Metro Parks system for authenticity. All of the volunteers dress in period costume and do all the work on the farm. They raise the cattle, hogs, sheep, chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese for their meat, milk, eggs and wool. The vegetables and fruit that are grown there are preserved in the old-fashioned ways. They use no modern equipment. All the cooking is done on a wood-fired stove and all the farming is done with horse-drawn equipment.

Several times when David and I have visited on a Sunday, we've arrived when the volunteers are eating their Sunday dinner around the long wooden dining table. All the recipes they use are from the past. All of the vegetables and fruit grown are heirloom varieties and chicken breeds are all heritage breeds. It's a hard life, but a good one, and all the volunteers seem to really enjoy the time they spend working and communing with like-minded individuals. And, believe me, they answer lots  of dumb questions from folks who didn't have the opportunity to grow up on a farm.

And now, take a tour with me and the grandkids of a real historic working farm.

 

 The vegetable garden is, of course, close to the house to make it convenient for the farm wife to run out and pick a head of cabbage. Wow, look at the size of that one!

 

Pumping water at the well is fun for kids of all ages, though they encourage you not to waste the water, but to get a drink, wash your hands, or water some of the flowers and herbs growing near the back porch and summer kitchen.

These ladies were offering samples of herb butters, cookies, crackers and rosemary cake. They also had herbal teas to wash down the dryish delicious cookies and cake.

The summer kitchen was a lifesaver for women in the 19th century. It kept the main kitchen from heating up with all the baking and canning that had to be done on a daily basis. The herb garden was right outside the door.

 

Inside the summer kitchen, where Nate and Kait enjoyed learning to use the washboard.

This is the kitchen inside the main house.

Notice that there is no cookstove in the main kitchen. It has been moved to the summer kitchen, which had to be a mighty feat, since it probably weighs a couple thousand pounds.

 

The parlor, where there is some major competition going on with the patterns. This is a very hands-on room where the visitors can look through a stereoscope, play checkers, play the pianoforte, or read a book or two.

 

In every Victorian parlor, you will find a hair picture, the strange practice of making feathery figures out of a dearly departed loved one's hair. It's a little creepy, I must say.

I thought this was an ingenious use of an old, worn-out wagon wheel. It was outside the kitchen door. The perfect place for drying your dish towels and wash basins.

Some of summer's bounty lining the shelves of the cellar. On the opposite wall are wooden bins for storing potatoes and other root vegetables.

The smell of the smoked hams and bacon in the smokehouse was just amazing! I wanted to take a knife and hack off a hunk of that ham and eat it right there!  Notice the blackened walls.

What's a farmhouse without a board swing hanging from a shade tree?

These ladies were doing watercolor paintings of the farmhouse while sitting in the shade of the grape arbor. The sweet lady in the middle kept asking me if she broke my camera.

Look at the size of the grapevine trunk! Those vines have been there a long time.

Inside the main barn were lots of tools hanging from the rafters.

And every barn must have a lucky horseshoe.

And no matter how cute a three-week-old calf may be, you have to remember.....

...they are raised to provide food for hungry farmers and their families and to sell for food.

The sheep were let in to eat some fresh hay for their supper.

The windmill pumps water for the animals. It's standing in front of the main barn.

This blacksmith shop is a lot fancier than the one my dad had at our farm. Daddy used to let me pump the bellows to make the fire hotter in the forge.

This may be one of the first examples of a stationary bicycle! I'm not sure what it is used for, but may be some kind of lathe or something else used in woodworking.

The doors to the equipment shed.

And inside is what we think is a thresher. It was made in Lansdale, Pennsylvania.

Gaige grinding corn in a hand mill.

It seems like there is something missing from this sign....the animals, maybe?

Where old wagon wheels go to die.

 

This sign made me hungry for some pumpkin pie.

Shooing the reluctant chickens into the coop at the end of the ladies' day. I'm sure they weren't quite ready to be cooped up.

And three happy grandkids.