New beginnings

It feels like a dull day here at the farm. The chickens are happy to be running around in the yard picking away at who knows what...but they seem happy doing it. The are chattering away at everyone including the cats, it is a funny thing to watch  as a chicken runs up to a cat chatters away then runs away....it is no wonder that Miss Potter was inspired by her farm animals..they are most entertaining.
The end of the year 2011 is nearing and there is lot's to do before the day and year is over . I am tired today,  we have been sick all week. Started Christmas weekend , Aidan our Grandson was sick and I guess I caught it from him. Monday I could barely function but still managed to prepare meals for my seniors. Being self employed has many advantages with the exception of paid sick days...if you have them I hope you truly appreciate them...just saying.
I have been up since abound 6, got the fires going again . I made bread and the loaves are now sitting for their final proof while the wood cook stove is getting  hot and up to temperature. I brought in some more wood and did some outside wood sorting. We have literally a mountain of wood out there .Unfortunately alot of it is wet.
I have also been cleaning all day. Being the good Victorian that I am it is traditional to have a perfectly clean home to bring in the new year. So that is what I am busy doing today, hopefully I will get it all done. Including sweeping the only carpet in the house ,which is in the dining room,A lovely Asian rug. It has been swept clean and hopefully will stay that way until I can pull it out for spring cleaning and give it a good wash outside. I have polished all of the silver and it is happily in the cabinet awaiting our next dinner party. I think a good goal would be to have a dinner party before I need to re polish the silver...Don't you think?
Just  so you all know I am writing this throughout the day. So if it reads like I have just gotten a new thought , you are correct. I am trying to remember all of the things I wanted to tell you before the day and ultimately the year is out...
The bread was wonderful...
We have accomplished much this year. Especially with this project. While we do have some things we cannot unhook from the hydro grid ,they are few. Especially the blower for the furnace, we have no idea how that could be eliminated . We still have 1 electric light bulb in the basement . Which we use when we go down to fill the furnace. The stairs are original and steep,quite dangerous in fact so 2 hands are needed to go down. So it is one area I will not take a chance on. And it is only 1 small bulb. I figure if I fell down those stairs especially if Ken is away no one would find me for days. So I think it is better to be safe.
All of our rooms have excellent light with our candles and candle wall sconces. We are kept fed and warm with our wonderful kitchen wood stove and our wood furnace . We have jars and jars of preserves to help us through the winter. We have plenty of books and projects to keep us busy when we have time to relax with a book or sewing. We have scrabble to keep us challenged .We  have each other , walking in the same direction. Excitedly discussing our upcoming plans . We have our friends who are lovingly following us on this journey,giving us advise, asking us questions, and challenging us to try different idea. To this we feel blessed , and we Thank you ...
Happy New Years everyone !!!!!!

Stove Pipes

Greetings everyone. I have just spent the last 5 hours removing, cleaning and replacing the stove pipes for the cook stove and the furnace. A filthy dirty job if there ever was one. I look like a chimney sweep which, in essence I am. The furnace pipes came down first, I then took them outside to clean. Since we are living as close to 1865 as possible, cleaning the pipes means NO CHEMICALS!!!! This meant I had to come up with a period method of cleaning. I built a small fire and set the pipes on it one at a time. The creosote built up inside the pipes gradually heated up and then (as I secretly hoped) burst into flame! This melted the creosote and burnt it off as well, leaving an easily removed ash.

Took about an hour to do this and the pipes are remarkably clean. So much so that I noticed one of the elbows will need replacing beause it is full of small holes. The furnace pipes have been re-assembled and the furnace lit and it is drawing quite nicely thank you.

I must also mention I cleaned a good deal of ash from the furnace fire box. We want to make soap early in 1866 (2012) so this ash will become lye water, one of the ingredients of soap the other being animal fat.

The cook stove also got a good cleaning, pipes and all. I took the top off the stove, remove the pipes for cleaning and set about removing creosote and accumulated ash. The pipes were not as caked up with creosote as the furnace pipes so I simply wacked them on the outside with a stick, shook out the loose creosote and soot and re-assembled them to the stove. Inside the stove there was quite an accumulation of ash and soot, all of which had to be removed mechanically with a brush and scrapper. That being done, the top of the stove was cleaned up and re-assembled. I have yet to build a fire in the stove but it should draw much better now.

Margaret has a book which contains excerpts and quotations from letters written durintg the Victorian Age in Upper Canada. There is mention of cleaning stove pipes which apparently was a job which made folks testy to say the least and was dirty to boot! It would seem that my foray into pipe cleaning was a simple little re-enactment of a dirty Victorian task in Upper Canada.

It may seem an obvious thing but good dry wood is a must if you want to keep the build up of creosote and soot to a minimum. I have been guilty of leaving our wood out and partially uncovered. In a normal winter this would not be such a problem. However, this year has proven to be a wet one to say the least and it has continued to be so right up to the present time. So bad me, we have some wet wood to deal with and I'll be cleaning pipes again in a month or so most likely.  My penance I guess. (Insert dramatic sigh!) :-)

That's all for now, talk to you soon.

Ken

Just taking time out this morning to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas ...we are visiting Guelph and Grandchildren.
Thank you to all of you that have taken this journey with us by reading our blog and being so very supportive.
M

The house is warm and quiet.

The week is almost over , will be nice to have a couple of days off. The house is especially quiet tonight. My lovely boy is away at work and will not be home until tomorrow.Good thing the house is nice and warm. I spent the day baking and preparing Christmas cookie and sweet trays for my seniors. Putting the parlour back together and washing clothes. I have literally hundreds of cookies.
I made sugar candy also,which the kid's will love I am sure.
The chicken's are loving this weather , and are happy to be out roaming around . Fantastic for this date of the year.But the yard is a mud hole near the coop . I have never seen it so muddy. I believe we have a rat in the chicken coop. Seems to have chewed a hole conveniently right near the feeder.. I put something heavy over the hole until Ken gets home...hopefully the little bugger bangs his head . He seems to be just after the grain because the eggs are all still in tact. Our newest chickens are starting to lay and we have lovely peewee eggs arriving daily,in a beautiful green colour. We call these Zoe eggs as they are just small enough to grace a little girls breakfast table.
I was thinking today that we have been doing this project now for over 6 months, these have been the easier months , the harder ones might be coming, although I think we are coping well. Wish we could do this full time . I have had  many people refer to a TV show called Victorian Farm. We watched a  few episodes and it was a very cool project and a very successful TV program. Which I am sure was the whole idea.
My Grandson Aidan loves the program. But also points out they have lots of help and a good financial backer in order to do what they are doing...smart boy.
We will head back to Guelph Christmas eve,in order to watch little ones open their packages on Christmas morning . So I would like to take the time to wish all of you a Very Happy Christmas!!
I will let you know how our Christmas Crackers did ...Jude was very pleased to have made them with me .
M

Mrs Beeton's book of Household management

Ken has purchaced an origional copy of Mrs Beeton's book of household management...it is fantastic.
We also while in Guelph today scouted out bookstores and found some wonderfully helpful books on farming ,one on broom making .I found one on Victorian life in Upper Canada compiled from diaries and journals ...very excited to read these..found them at Macondo books here in Guelph
M

Christmas is coming ,the goose is getting fat.....

Well it is officially 1 week before Christmas. Lots and lots of baking done.
Today my Grandson Jude and I spent the evening making Christmas crackers. These are always part of our Christmas table . And to not have them would cause a stir with the children. Jude had fun making them for the first time. I think he ate as many pieces of candy as was put in the tubes. But considering he is turning 6 Christmas day he is allowed.
The parlour looks fantastic by the way.We had a lovely contractor and his wife put up the paper for us . Albert and Candace Boost from London did a wonderful job and in no time flat. Albert is a true expert and we were very grateful that he was able to help us with this with such short notice. He will be back to do other things for us in the new year. In the mean time if you or anyone you know needs work done ,at a very fair price and done extremely well give Albert a call @ 519-204-7576...fantastic work indeed.
I can hardly wait to show off the parlour ,it is beautiful.Well I had better go for now .I will talk to you later on this week...have fun preparing for the holidays.

Home

Good morning. It is wonderful to be home. We travelled to Guelph on Monday afternoon and arrived home last night.
Believe it or not we had banked the wood furnace enough that there were still hot coals and we just needed to add a bit of wood and paper and away the fire went . It is a very good furnace and keeps the home fires burning well.
While it is lovely visiting our family I miss the gentle quiet of home. Part of the reason we travelled to Guelph was to purchase wall paper for the front parlour. We found what we were looking for fairly quickly and it matches the original somewhat. Apparently wallpaper went out of fashion and is now just starting to come back..I did not know that
Today will be spent Christmas baking. With only 10 days until Christmas day I want to finish up as much as possible. I already have hundreds of cookies sitting in the parlour aging to perfection.And they will be the gifts this year for everyone except the children. The light is just coming up outside my window and it appears that today will be another windy wet day . We have wood to bring in today so it will be cold again. The house is lovely and warm though . I was planning on doing some sewing  but the light will not be high enough today to do it . I will have to wait for another day.Well the wood stove is gaining temperature and there is water to heat and breakfast to cook...Talk to you soon
M

The lights of the city

I am in Guelph until tomorrow morning then I will head back home. I thought I would share some thoughts with you on lights.
We have gotten so used to the gentle glow of candle lighting that anything else seems rather harsh. Took a trip into a store today in order to get wallpaper and the lights nearly blinded me . Wow no wonder the hydro bills are so high in these places..
Speaking of hydro bills, we got one the other day and it was $40 but the sad thing about the bill is they added $50 on top of that for delivery. If we could somehow eliminate our hydro entirely that would be wonderful indeed.
We cannot at least not for the time being. The furnace heats with wood but has an electric blower, I am not sure if it would wreck the furnace if that blower was unhooked . I am not about to take such a chance so I will have to keep paying for some hydro , but it irks me to no end to have to pay more for the delivery than what the actual product used costs. Oh well..
But back to lighting . We light our home exclusively with candles, and with the help of the occasional oil lamp. Our dining room has no fewer than 25 candles burning in the evening during suppers. It is gentle and warm and peaceful. People ask if we can see properly ..the answer is absolutely. Often after a meal we clear the table,pour tea and sit and read. Ken took the electric guts out of our chandelier in the dining room and turned it into a candle chandelier. There is plenty of light to do this.Our library is the same , we have 10-12 candles going at one time which gives us a fair amount of light , Certainly enough to see average print.
We dip our candles from a pot of wax that sits on our wood cook stove in the kitchen at all times. we add the stubs to this and any other wax we get our hands on . The pot is quite large and the colour changes according to what we add to the pot this week. But the colour mostly remains a reddish tinge.I think because most of the candles one finds at second hand shops were bought for the Christmas season. So when we buy candles they are generally red...most of them anyway.
Ken made some fantasting wooden squares in which we attach our lengths of wick. We then start dipping until we get the width of the candles measuring an inch to an inch and a half wide. We do at least a dozen at a time using this method. Then just hang the whole contraption to dry with the candles still attached
We have a couple of oil lamps and I use these for evening work that needs more light . When I am writing letters I need more light behind me so I light the oil lamp on the wall beside my desk. That and a few candles and I can actually see where I am dipping my pen and not dripping ink all over the paper.
 I am finding daylight is so very important,especially now when it is leaving so early in the evening ,It makes getting finer things done harder in the evenings or on cloudy days .So I don't waste it like I used to .
I have been asked by many people about how we are lighting our home and if we can see properly with just candle light...the answer is absolutely yes.
See you soon
M

Cleaning cleaning cleaning!!!

Seems to me that from the beginning of this journey my time cleaning has ever increased. The house seems increasingly dirty and dusty.I am blaming most of this on the increased use of the wood cook stove and now the wood furnace. But wow oh wow I never seem to get caught up. I would imagine that this was a constant problem during the time period we are emulating. It explains the need for help for sure. Now in all fairness I work full time and travel to Guelph most often 2 days a week where I stay over, because  I am launching my consulting business. I also have a Rotary  meeting on wednesday evenings so I am not home all of the time. But clearly there does not seem to be enough daylight hours in the day. Which is another interesting part of this . Most of the work needs to be done during daylight hours as candle light is not enough to really get at the fine work.With the winter coming and daylight decreasing I am finding my days are cut shorter. Which cuts my good working time down a bit. I am also finding that I am tired earlier and we head for bed alot earlier than we used to . I knew there would be differences between the summer and the winter but the differences are indeed quite noticable.
Am I complaining...not really. Just have noticed that my work seems to have increased or the dirt has. I guess I am getting a better understanding of what life was truely like in 1865. Without help ....
Would I trade the lovley heat of the wood furnace or the taste of our food cooked on the wood stove ...no way.
Nor would I trade the quietness of our home or the time we spend just enjoying each other
M

Ken here, stripped the parlour walls of wall paper. It was the easiest removal of wallpaper I've experienced. All down in 30 minutes, clean-up and patching took about 1 & 1/2 hours. A little sanding tomorrow and the walls will be ready to paper again. We're looking for a Victorian style paper if we can get it. Should spruce up the parlour quite nicely I should think.

Margaret mentioned there seems to be more cleaning and less light and time to do it all. The same can be said of the furnace and the wood stove. I seem to be spending a great deals of time moving wood about. Either it's going into the furnace or the stove, I'm pilin it up outside or I'm throwing it down the outside stairs and then piling it in the furnace room. It keeps me warm several times over and also makes my muscles sore as well. There's always something to be done, if'n you don't to it today, it'll cheerfully wait for you to do tomorrow. It keeps me off the streets and out of mischief I guess.

That's all from me, take care and have a good week.

K

Victorian Summer fair

Greetings everyone .
We have decided to do a Victorian Summer Fair this year here at our farm in Dutton. So if you know anyone who is a sutler and would perhaps like to attend please pass on our information...We thank you
Also our dinner event in January is fast approaching ...keep those authentic letters of inquiry coming..We have had inquiries but will be looking for those with wonderful imaginations..This will be a evening long 1st person authentic dinner.
Until later
M

It is officially the Christmas season!!

Well december has arrived and I suppose that means it is officially the christmas season.
We have lots to do around here and thankfully the snow hasn't arrived in full force yet. But it is definately colder and we are well into "packing the furnace" to last the night so we do not turn into popsicles in our sleep. This starts our time of staying close to home  in order to keep the house warm and the pipes from freezing. We are going to try something new with the chicken coop this winter.We are putting straw bales around the coop to hopefully keep the warmth in the coop. We will report back to you on how that is working. Other years we have used a heat lamp in order to keep the birds warm . We may have to do that as winter comes on stronger. Now you may ask how that fits into our no hydro usage . Well it kind of doesn't but we cannot lose our entire flock of chikens if the straw insulation does not keep the heat in the chicken coop.
If this was truely 1865 we would have our chickens in a coop most likely above where the larger animals are in the barn. So perhaps above the cattle . The larger animals would provide the heat. Or so I am told. We will see what happens and report back to you..Well I am going to head upstairs ,,,I am really tired and need my bed.Talk to you soon.
M

Thank goodness for laptops

The house is lovely and warm.I went down and checked the firebox and it is full of beautiful red hot coals . The kitchen wood stove is chugging away and soup is on cooking. But it is 3am and I am not sleeping. So I am blogging and writing out Christmas cards. How wonderful I can communicate via laptop. We visited the Arva flour mill today ,but they did not have large bags of flour so we will have to go back another time.Their flour grinder person is due sometime this week. We did pick up some beautiful oats though.The rain has dampened our moods here a bit and even the chickens did not want to venture out today. Ken said when he went to put them to bed they were all in trying to dry off and our beautiful white rooster looked like he fell into a mud pile. Speaking of chickens , if you remember we bought a whack of chickens from our friends David and Sue in Guelph , well they have grown to be absolutely beautiful. Most of these are Mollies, so their colours are stunning. These chickens have the feathers that grace their legs. We ended up with a few roosters in the mix , but so far they only spar occasionally and it is funny to hear the newer guys trying out their crowing voices. They each sound different and we can generally tell who is crowing without looking.The young roosters will crow and their crowing voices will crack , so they try again and again until they are satisfied they have gotten it right...it is funny to hear.  We are looking forward to decorating for Christmas this weekend coming.Wanted to cut pine and cedar today but the rain kept us indoors. There are lakes in the fields around here ...if that had have been snowfall we would have gotten quite a pile. We will do a table top Victorian tree again this year, and most of the decorations will be baked this week. Please do drop in for a drink of good cheer if you are able . Well  I had better go and finish my cards before the ink dries in the ink well...see you soon
M

Thanks everyone

We will make the treck to Arva Mill tomorrow because it is so close . See what we can find .Thanks for the advise. We have ton's of Christmas baking to do and a long winter ahead...M

We are looking for flour mills

We are on the search for flour mills here in Southern Ontario. We are looking to buy large amounts to last the winter..so perhaps 100 lb bags. Does anyone have information on this they can share with us? Thank you in advance.
I have a ton of baking to do for the upcoming holiday season.
M

Mountain of wood

The outside cat's think Christmas has arrived early . We have a mountain of wood in the back driveway. Ken had it delivered yesterday and the cat's have discovered a new play area. This wood is lovely and will keep us warm and our kitchen stove pumping out heat hopefully all winter. Made pizza last night for supper and wow I wish you could taste the difference the wood stove makes .I am not a pizza fan, but home made in a wood stove will convert even the most picky.
See you soon
M

A Victorian Dinner

Greetings, we are continuing the experiment in Victorian living by holding a true Victorian dinner in January of 2012. We have set out the criteria below and welcome your responses. We decided not to do the Christmas Dinner because it is a very busy time of year for folks, especially those with small children. So a dinner in January it is.   Read on good gentles... 

 

We are looking for like minded people to share a dinner with us.Sometime in january of 2012.The year is 1865 and there is much to talk about. Join us for a truely authentic dinner. You must love history enough that you will be able to stay in 1st person period for the entire visit. Wear authentic clothing true to  the period. And participate according to the manners and customs of the year 1865. You might want to hone up on parlour games as well.You will apply to attend in a true period manner. So use your imagination. The mailing address will be given to those interested. Please only serious responses. Also this is not a steam punk event.

 

This is part of an experiment we have embarked on and are continuing to live for the next year. have a look at our blog and see what we are doing.

http://victorianyear1865.blogspot.com/

Winter wood & christmas

We have been dealing with winter wood for the past couple of weeks. Ensuring we will have enough to last all winter for both the wood furnace and the kitchen cook stove. Ken thinks he may have stumbled onto wood for $40 something a cord ,which is a fantastic price. He will find out today for sure. We have noticed that there are a lot more ads for wood. I am assuming the price of oil and gas is making wood is look like a good option again. It is a wonderfully warm heat. But not as clean. Our house is dusty and I need to clean more often to keep up with the dust. But I would not trade the warmth of wood for any other heat. When I first moved here to this house  I spent almost $6000 for oil . In one winter .While it was a bad winter, I was still commuting back to Guelph because I had my restaurant so I wasn't even here 3 days out of the week.  As soon as I could I had a new wood oil combo furnace installed. To date we have never used oil just wood . Probably could not afford to have the tank filled ,the prices are crazy .And the oil companies will not partially fill your tank. At least not around here . So we are happy with our wood heat and will continue on . Ken has some really large blocks which work well if we are going away for any length of time . We just build a good fire and bank the wood and throw a large block on top. pack other smaller pieces  around and the fire  lasts for sometimes 2 days. We have gathered lots of starter/kindling wood but will need more. By all accounts this is supposed to be a harsh winter. So we need /want to be well prepared. I have still not mastered the trick of starting the fire without paper. Luckily my seniors give me all of their old newspaper so I have a ready supply. One day I will hone my fire starting without paper skills. But not today.
Now onto Christmas.....
We have decided again to forgo the silliness that Christmas has become and just enjoy a lovely meal . We will have small gifts for the Grandchildren , but mostly practical things. For example Zoe will have a new bird feeder and some seed to put outside of her bedroom window. She loves creating so I will get her some art supplies too. Aidan and Jude are the same and love art supplies. I will send some money for Thor because he is in California. And sometime around Christmas Freya will arrive . A gift for all of us.
We think of Victorian Christmas which would include the year we are portraying 1865, with visions of flaming plum puddings,stockings,Christmas trees and beautifully dressed tables. Everywhere you look in ads for the Christmas season this lovley Victorian vision of the holidays is portrayed. But what was the reality of Christmas not so long ago...all over Victoria's world.
 Dickens "A Christmas Carol" is more to the reality of the Victorian Christmas. Especially  Victorian England in the cities which were over crowded and filled with underpaid and over worked mostly factory workers .Who crowded into the cities from the country sides looking for work. People were taken advantage of because of the over abundance of ready cheap labour. The industrial revolution had started and there was extreme wealth and dire poverty.
But I want to think about Christmas here , Upper Canada 1865. When I think about what Christmas and the on coming winter meant I think that the thought/focus of the season must have been survival. Just with our own little project here, despite our ability to travel into town if we need anything our thoughts are still on how to keep us and our animals warm, fed ,watered and to prepare for things such as maple syrup production in the early spring. It must have been a heavy burden to prepare for winter, to know your family and all of your livestock depended on you preparing properly and forgetting nothing in order to survive the winter months. You had no idea how long or how harsh that winter would be . I would also imagine that if you got together with family or neighbors it was your last visit often until the spring. Depending on the severity of the winter weather. Here where we live we are about 1/2 an hour from the outskirts of London. I can be in Lambeth in 1/2 hour from here .On the 401 doing at least 100 k's
I would imagine in 1865 it would have taken a good days drive to make the same trip. And another to drive back home .Which might have been slower depending on what you were carrying. So winter trips would not be made.
Just a few of the things that this project has made me think about. I am thinking more about what we take for granted, more about what we waste on a regular basis. How much free time we have that we waste. I am thinking about food and how and why some foods are prepared and when. What foods winter over and what foods need to be used up before winter. It is telling that since we have started this project how little spare time we have. We are constantly working. And have little spare time at all. Every day things are time consuming . But they also come with a satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. When you pop open a jar of home made whatever it is so much different than something you just payed for. You appreciate what that jar holds. And the work it took to fill it .

Ken here, I've spent the last two days cleaning out the basement and preparing it for the winter's wood. I'm also cleaning up outside so things are neat and tidy before the snow flies. It's not just the physical labour involved in cleaning things up, it's the forethought involved as well. It isn't enough to pick things up from one place and pile 'em up in another, I did that last year and that pile is still awaiting my attention on top of the other stuff for this year. That old saying " a place for everything and everything in it's place" means something different for me now. It isn't just neat tidy storage sheds, cut lawns, clean tidy houses and such. It also means, at least to me, that you have only the things you need and no more.

Tomorrow I'll be hunting up the maple syrup equipment and setting aside in our garden shed in preparation for sap in the spring. Why now, simply because I can find everything now without having to guess where it is or moving six feet of snow to get it. The list includes the sap buckets, spiles, sap storage bins, fire boxes, the bricks, stones and iron frame to make the boiler, assorted buckets, fire pokers and other miscellaneous equipment. It should take me about two hours to secure this equipment and save me about two days worth of searching in the spring when we need to set up for sap. This reminds me of another old saying " a time for everything". It would seem the Victorians were wiser than we thought.

That's it for me, I now return you to your regularly scheduled blogger, the lovely and talented Margaret. :-)

So as we all prepare for another winter and another Christmas season we seem to be thinking more about where and when and how. I for one am appreciating the efforts that simple tasks take . I am looking forward to winter and all of its challanges. And some free time so I can beat the pants off of my beautiful husband when we have time to play scrabble .
See you soon.

What!!!! What do you do?

This is the response we heard when we told a fellow Rotarian that we do not have a television ...we then proceeded to explain our little year long experiment and he became almost appoplectic...was amusing to say the least.
We thought we should clarify what we do do without tv or radio or electric lights especially in the evening. Wait for it ..........we light candles. fairly simple folks. Candles placed properly will give you plenty of light. Not as strong as electric light (you won't see dirt in corners until the daytime) but good light to do whatever by. We play board games especially scrabble.We talk.(novel idea I know). I write handwritten letters with real ink and exchange letters with a lady in Arkansas who also enjoys Victorian letter writing. She is much better at beautiful letter writing than I am .And I look forward to hearing from her.In fact she puts my letter in a larger envelope , my letter is in actual Victorian wrapping and she even draws the post mark in according to what it would have looked like in 1865. She is very cool to do this. So that is what we do in our spare time
Actually the only appliance I miss is the radio.
But we really don't have time to watch tv. We keep ourselves busy puttering around. Our meals are enjoyed at a table with much conversation and generally(but not always) in the formal dining room. We are trying as best as we can, to while we are home here live as close to Victorian as we can. So regardless of the meal we do it as full service as we can. We linger over our meals when we have time to. And try to enjoy all the pleasures involved with good food and quiet conversation. People seem so rushed today and we are enjoying the calm. It is lovely when our Grandchildren come to visit how they also enjoy what we are doing and they insist that we eat in the formal dining room. They set the table and take great care to include knife rests and bread plates. It is very cool indeed. But I think they love the candle light the most in the dining room. It gives a peaceful glow and ambiance to the meal.Our Grandchildren have also learned they need a "traveller " to go into dark rooms with. A "traveller" being a candle holder with a handle. And it is funny to hear Zoe say" where is the traveller I need to go to ....." so she has learned to art of the "traveller" So in a nutshell that is some of the things we do without television, radio, lights...and it is lovely and quiet in our home ...see you soon.

Farmers Almanac says....

Farmers Almanac is predicting a long snowy winter this year. Given the amount of snow dumped on the Eastern United States over the past couple of days we should perhaps take heed. We are gathering starter wood today for the kitchen stove and will be bringing in the larger wood for the furnace in the basement. The furnace has been chugging out heat all week for us, as it has been quite cold. So the house is beautifully warm with the furnace and the kitchen stove. All summer I was lamenting the heat in the kitchen , now I am loving it. As are our inside kittens, they vie for the closest seat to the stove. Ken redid the chicken coop floor and has dig it out ,laid crushed stone, and patio stones followed by copious amounts of beautiful fresh straw in the laying boxes and beyond.. We are picking the last of the beautiful pears from the trees out back and I will need to figure out more recipes to preserve them.We will be back later on and talk some more about our winter plans...Dont want to waste the day , it is beautiful outside...M&K

It has been a while ....

We have had a small family crisis that has kept us busy . We apologise for being away so long and not posting our progress. But things are getting back to normal and so here we are again.

We have been very busy preparing for what we hear is going to be a harsh Canadian winter this year.
Our gardens have produced some beautiful gifts to last the winter ...hopefully.
We did not get as much squash this season as we thought we would. And our zucchini did not produce as well either. According to gardening expert Ed Lawrence  this years way too much rain in the spring and not enought rain in late summer hurt crops such as squash,turnips,zucchini and garlic. One organic farmer lost over 2/3 of their crop this summer ...wow
We have been very busy trying to fit canning of apples ,pears, tomatoes and whatever else we can get our hands on .I think we might have enough beautiful apple jelly to keep our grandchildren coming back for more for a while.
Ken has been fixing the shop/shed in order to set up his forge. he has added a second floor for storage , and it looks fantastic.He has worked hard.
We managed to buy another wood stove at an auction to put in the shop. Although I am sure the forge will warm the shop too.
We will need to get in more wood and build up our kindling supply. Between the wood cook stove and the wood furnace we use quite a bit of wood. Add to that the shop and well you get the picture.
I have been thinking about what this all would mean in the year 1865 and again I come back to how we would have survived given the loss of some of our crops. For instance our tomatoes. We today can say oh well, and then when we need tomatoes or tomato sauce pick some up at the local store. that would not have been the case here in 1865. Gardening would have been a pretty serious business. This is an area I can say we have failed in during this project and hopefully can improve on next year. We need to fence some of the gardens to keep the chickens from having access to the veggies. They really enjoyed the cucumbers this year, and the watermelon...they loved the watermelon.  Not sure what we can do about the racoons , they seem to be able to get into anything .
Speaking of chickens, our new breeds are doing well and are now producing eggs , wonderful green and blue eggs. Small but lovely.
We still have not purchased our quails , and I am thinking that will have to wait until the spring. We will be lining the outside of the chickens coop with straw bales this year for warmth and will let you know how that works. Until next time , I will say the wood stove in the kitchen is keeping us warm for now and the earth smells of fall. Thank you for being patient with us ...Margaret & Ken

"Well Dorthy it isn't hot anymore"

Well how is that for a weather change?
I have been happily adding wood to the cook stove all week, I havent said that in a while. just was complaining about the heat of the wood stove all summer. This morning when I was sitting here all I could think of was my kitchen smelling like a true Canadian fall. The smell of wood smoke , the damp musty air coming in through the still open window, and the smell of tomatoes cooking down on the stove to be made into stewed tomatoes. Which we use for many recipes our favorite being poached eggs in stewed tomatoes and served on toast. Very yummy indeed. We have gotten most of our soft vegetables from the garden and will await the harvest of the squashes and harder veggies. Time to fill the basement with the larger wood for the furnace and pick the yard and fence rows for small kindling for the kitchen fire. Ken built a wonderful haystraw crib out of free skids from London...works great and the straw he has put in is dry and clean. We need to buy some square bales of straw to put around the chicken coop for the winter.Will insulate the coop better . It is time to really think about what and how this project will develop with winter,it has been easy being summer and not using hydro, with the exception of the heat and no fan or ac (not that I ever use ac). To keep cooler especially at night we just put a damp cloth beside the bed and wiped our faces and arms . Seemed to do the trick although not always. Interestingly our Grandchildren have been here a few times during the summer and did not complain about the lack of a fan or ac at all..
I will be back later , may head to the library ...thank goodness for laptops huh?

Almost the end of August already...wow

I cannot believe this summer has gone so quickly. It has flown by indeed.
We had the grandchildren here again for another week and took them home on the weekend. So it seems very quiet here tonight Spent the weekend in Guelph,attending a Civil War reenactment event at the Milton Heritage Museum. Lots of fun and Aidan had a good time watching the battle.(they re enacted the battle of Bull Run) After that we stayed in Guelph and visited with our children and Grandchildren...reason I am pointing this out.
While staying at Vivians we noticed a couple of things .First the noise, of tv's and cars and just plain noise,noise,noise. Secondly we noticed the brightness of the lighting. I guess we have gotten so used to the softness of candle light that electric lighting seems so harsh and bright to our eyes. I ended up on sunday night with a headache. I am sure it was from the light.
Driving around the city especially at night one realises how many lights most homes have going at the same time . Most homes look like they have every light in the house on . I wonder how much electricity we would save in Ontario if we all, (and it would have to be everyone) would take one day and not turn on any lights. You wouldnt have to shut off your freezers or fridges ,just no tv,radio,computers or lights...wonder how much we would save. Oh well ,just a silly idea as one could never get everyone to participate. Well for sure we have lost all of our tomatoes with the exception of some herlooms that are just starting to get fruit now. I am going to bring some plants into the house and see what happens.But lesson learned , never assume !!
We have lots of squash and they are lovely. And Aidan has committed to return as soon as the cantelope is ripe to have his fill. Our grapes our turning and I cannot wait to taste them. We are thinking about our wood supply for the winter and that is our next project. We have a bunch now but between the kitchen stove and the furnace we use alot. Well I think that is it for now . Hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather.I certainly am, one thing about this project ,if one asked me to describe my summer it would start with the word "hot" and end with the word "hot"
Talk to you soon
Margaret

Our buggy

Brian and Danute took this picture of our buggy. Have no idea how to add this to our pic section but thought you might like to see it.
Margaret

Another week.

Well we ended our week this week with a film shoot here at our home in Dutton. A good friend of ours has a production company and used our grounds and home to do a short film for Sharpcuts. Was cool to have everyone here. Rained part of the day so the woodstove was welcome today as it kept people warm and the tea hot.
The chickens and cats certainly kept everyone amused especially when we ate outside under a canopy. I believe the outside beasts thought it had been all especially laid out for them.
Was funny watching the kids from the city interacting with the chickens. By kids I mean the 20 somethings...everyone learned something, our guests learned that roosters crow all day long and will eat your dinner if you hold your plate low enough and the chickens learned that not everyone will share their food ...just cause you are pecking at their shoes.
We had another usual week this week. I am busy trying to get canning done & we dug potatoes from the front garden and got a nice amount. Our tomato plants are I think beyond repair , we keep finding more huge tomato bugs, interesting cratures they are for sure. But wow can they do in a plant quickly.
Our peaches are turning beautifully. And we may not get alot if peaches this year but we are looking forward to tasting them. I am looking forward to the apples that are coming also . Lots to do before all this summer goodness is gone.We have the grandchildren here again this week . All three of them, so should be a very busy week ahead. Interestingly how easily they adjust to the candle only enviroment. And taking a traveller with them into rooms.
Well that is all for now ,think it is time for little people to go to bed....and the kids too
Night

Garden Scourges

Greetings, Ken here. We have been visited by garden scourges! Margaret found tomato caterpillers today. We were wondering what was eating our tomatoes and now we know. I picked them off, 6 in all of various sizes and fed them to the chickens. They had great fun with them and five minutes later ... no more tomato caterpillers. We also have something eating the potato plants and the brussel sprouts so tomorrow we are going to douse them witha 40 to 1 solution of water to dish soap and do the little scourges in as well.

We dug up a potato plant to check out our potatoes and found a good variety of sizes, I expect we'll get about 1/2 a bushel from one patch and maybe the other half from the side garden. The pumpkins are doing well, a couple of them are a chewed but otherwise good.

Our first rooster, Henry is feeling his age I think and one of the younger roosters is making a play to become Henry the Second! Ah, to be king and loose it all! Such is life.

Margaret is painting the foyer to freshen it up. The new paint makes the old paint look positively grotty! It should go well with the colour we have on the front door which is a soft yellow, a few shades lighter than butter I think.

I spent the day catching up on spring clean up chores, it takes no time at all to make a mess, but a long time to set things right again. I hope to have the shop and the outside cleaned up by the end of my time off. Then we can get on with doing the framing inside and get things set up inside. I want it all done before the snow flies.
Margaret here ..when we discovered the caterpillars on the tomato plants it made me realise what that might have meant in the time period we are trying to live/portray...1865, a loss of opportunity, a  winter without tomato sauces and preserves. And possibly hunger for my family.
In my defense..
Had this been 1865 I would not be working out of the home and my gardens would be a much more serious endeavour. Not that we are not serious but we also have the comfort of knowing that if we screw up we can drive into town and buy what we need. But regardless I should have paid better attention when I first noticed the tomatoes were being eaten. I origionally thought that the chickens were having a snack, then I thought perhaps the racoons. But I should have had a closer look.Next time I will.
I have given the grapes the 40 to 1 treatment and it worked wonders . Have done the brussel sprouts, the cauliflower,cabbage and the egg plants ...I am not sure what has happened to the potatoes, perhaps they are just ready to dig. This has been an odd summer for rain or lack of .
Looking forward to the film crew arriving this weekend to shoot a short film on our property. A period ghost story...
And our Grandchildren are coming this week, I am excited and looking forward to them coming..
That is all for now folks ...thanks for reading!

August has begun...time to think of fall

I am at the library for a while today. Just said Good - bye to my lovely husband as he goes away for "another" 2  days for work. I am missing him already .
Have been busy preserving for the winter months and soon our gardens will be giving us the gifts that we will use for the winter and spring. We are hoping to have a large harvest and from the looks of things we will. Especially squash. I think I may have goon a bit overboard witht he squash planting. But they do last well and will almost certainly get us through the winter. Our potatoes are doing well and I am going to perhaps dig a plant and see where we are as far as size. I have preserved a ton of raspberry jam and if my Grandson Aidan does not eat it all it might last through. The blueberry jam is down and I am making chutneys this week. I am being blessd with a copy of Mrs Beeton's book of household management, an origional copy rebound. Ken has seen it and held it in his hands, I have not and can hardly wait to see it. I have over the years referred to it only on line and it is fantastic. But to own a real copy wow...I can hardly wait.(oops did I say that already?)
I am sure I will be busy in the next few weeks as everything will be coming out of the garden at once as it is want to do. the tomatoes ae ripening and will be turned into stewed tomatoes. Good for soup and wonderful to poach eggs in for our breakfast.
 I have planted a ton of plum tomatoes for tomato paste and sauces for pasta too. So I am sure to be busy Ken will be busy expanding our chicken coop. Our growing family of chickens needs more room . And with the arrival of our quails we will need extra housing . We are a little concerned as we have 4 roosters and they are quite active, which I think is a bit stressful for our hens. So if anyone wants a beautiful bard rock rooster please let us know . Not for the stock pot though. I will close for now as the computer here is telling me my time is almost up..Oh I have forgotten to mention that our home will be used for a short film set in the Victorian era. So that will be exciting.
For now I will say good bye and I may add to this later .
Margaret

A Week of Chores

Greetings, Ken here, suffering through a miserably hot day in Upper Canada. I have the week off, and that means catching up on all the chores and jobs that were supposed to be done in the spring. That's right ... spring tasks in July! The spring monsoon we had this year co-incided with time off I had booked to get things done before the heat of summer. A good idea if the weather co-operates!

That being said, I have a list of tasks to complete before I head back to work and I am only slightly behind. Todays task was to make screens for the kitchen windows. Cat proof screens I might add and I was able to complete one of them. I find the first time I do a particular thing it always takes longer than subsequent efforts. I hope to finish the other screen tomorrow as well as tomorrows scheduled clean up job. Thursday's task is a new roof on the chicken run and Friday's task is picking berries and other odd jobs.
The lawn growth has slowed down considerably, but we did get a large amount of grass for bedding the birds and for the gardens. I suspect I'll have to cut the grass this week and then not again for two weeks unless we get some serious rain.

Rain, we need it desperately. There are cracks in the soil a foot and a half deep (45 cm for the younger crowd) There's a lot of clay in the soil around here and it really shows in the dry weather.

Despite the lack of rain, the gardens are doing well as are our fruit trees. The birds got all the cherries again this year but we should have a good crop of pears.

Margaret has been slaving away in the kitchen, making raspberry jam and mango chutney. The heat has been even worse in the kitchen, another reason I want to get the screens done so there's air movement in the kitchen.

That's all for now. Stay cool if you can.
Thanks, Margaret & Ken.

Has it really been 2 weeks

Margaret here to start...
I apologise for not posting for so long. Had a couple of very busy weeks. Had  3 of our Grandchildren here for a week. Was slightly apprehensive about the kids being here with us doing what we are doing, but soon realised that they are used to our lifestyle . So things went along as they normally do, with a few exceptions.They had to get used to absolutely no lights in the house. They flicked on switches only to discover no lights.Then learned to take a traveller in with them when going into a dark room. I do not have to worry about them touching hot wood stoves or playing with the candles, as they are Aidan 11, Zoe 6 and Jude 5, so lot's big enough to understand  about fire. Plus I have cooked with wood for so long it is same old, same old for them. They did have lot's of fun this trip dipping candles though. They learned about how the ice box workes in it's simplicity. Freaked them out a bit,but they soon learned it was just as cool there as it is in a fridge if you do things properly. The kid's know we do not watch tv so that was not an issue. They spent lots of time in the gardens and discovering all the wonderful wild berries nature has to offer...oh and Zoe discovered the pea patch and now there are none for dinner...she ate all of them. Good thing I have started another bunch.
As an aside ...these are our 3 grand children who live in Guelph. We have another who lives in Mass USA, Thor who just turned 3, July 3rd.  He is getting a new sister who will be named Freya ...exciting news for us to share with whomever will listen.
We have received wonderful imput here on our blog and got a new letter from the South Bay Ladies Tea guild...gave us valuable information on tea and how it was packaged during our time period..so if you have a minute read the comment in the Potables post.Very informative . I thank them again for the information and will be doing further research on this ..It is easy to assume ..

I guess I could summarize these past couple of weeks as "hot", I now  truly understand the need for a summer kitchen. It gets brutally hot in the kitchen with the stove going all day. I have been trying to do extra research on summer meals .But am surprised how little is available here in this part of the world for information.But I am still looking .I have some fantastic books but always looking for more information.

What I have experienced so far in our little project  is the satisfaction of what we are doing here together. The satisfaction of dipping candles and using them, of building a fire and making our meals. Realising how easy these things are in reality. The beauty and quiteness of a room lit by candles and simple conversation or a word game. Watching chicken tv.... watching the chickens be chickens..
We have been working in our gardens and enjoying our bounty. It is raspberry season so we have been collecting lots of raspberries and making this years jams. The house smells wonderful. I will be canning everything I can get my hands on this year so we will be busy.
Forgot to mention we have our buggy, picked it up when the kid's were here. So it has been well welcomed by all. In touch with someone for the horse to go with it ,but that will have to wait a while.
 We got some new chickens and their chicks from our friends Sue & Dave and they are happily mixing with the rest of our chicken crew. Haven't convinced them that inside is best at night but I am sure that will come. Dave and Sue leave them out day and night so they are not used to a chicken coop at night. I am just afraid that racoons will get them , but these chickens are pretty smart.Or seem to be. And it is lovely to see these moms with their little ones cruising around the yard munching on everything that moves.
I am going to leave room for Ken to write a few lines so for now I will say "keep cool"

Another beautiful week

Greetings to you all. What a wonderful week it has been. We have been so fortunate with the weather. The gardens are growing amazingly and our feathered friends have enjoyed good days running around the yard visiting with the cats and birds and whomever else they run across. I was watching one of the chickens yesterday and she seemed to be acting unusual.Jumping kind of straight up and down.Then it registered what whe was actually doing...she was jumping straight up in the air and stealing cherries off of our cherry tree. Who says chickens are dumb. Ok Ok!!! most of them are but this one was clearly thinking with her tummy.
Ken here, it was truly a sight to behold! A leaping chicken, feasting on cherries. Never seen anything like it before. I finally got the last of the hay (grass) off the lawn. We use it to cover the soil in the gardens, over top of newsprint to help keep the weeds down and keep the moisture in. It works quite well actually and we've been doing this for three years now. No new purchases or devices to tell about. Just catching up on all the work which was supposed to be done in the spring. The very wet spring really delayed the outside work and we'll likely get it caught up just before the snow flies again.

Not much else to say other than Happy Dominion Day! (Canada Day for the younger types). Enjoy your day and the weekend.

A lot to tell you

Greetings everyone .
We haven't been on here for a while and we have much to tell you. We would like to start by thanking Shelly & Dave for selling us their ice box, we are finally ready to make the transition to "unplugged" food preservation. We have a "block" of  ice in the ice box to test what temperatures we can get. There are two more buckets of water in our electric freezer getting ready for tomorrow (Sunday) and we now have to go through the fridge and empty/clean it out in preparation for moving it out and moving the ice box in. There cubic in the ice box is smaller that the fridge which means ... we must be careful about what we put into it.

We had a day off today, something which doesn't happen often. We stopped at a few antique shops on the way to get the ice box and finally picked up an authentic candle mould (yay, we can pour candles now as well as dip them), a masher tool, two creamers and put a down payment on a doctor's buggy. It needs work, but we have a year before we'll need to use it.

When we arrived home with our possessions, we realized we would need to map out a paddock for the horses and we have done so. All that's needed now are some posts, some rails, a shelter, water trough and a manger.

We also did a little more planting, and put cut grass around the plants to help retain water. We will need a lot of the grass cutting for this and fortunately, our lawns are very good producers. The weather we've had so far has made for quick growing grass and a lot of harvesting for me. I'm still gathering materials for a hay loft and will be storing grass (hay as I call it) for bedding the birds and perhaps a little bit of feed should we need it.
Margaret here...in our travels when we meet people and tell them what we are doing, the first thing they say to us is "I bet it is hard to get used to " and truthfully we tell them .."no it is not"
Now we understand that this is the summer and winter might bring us challenges we had not thought about, I am thinking laundry might be a challenge. And frozen fingers hanging laundry in the winter. But we will deal with that as it comes. most people think what we are doing is cool. Which is fun to hear. Although it is funny watching their faces change when they think about no tv ...they kind of get this panic look ...
Our gardens are growing wonderfully and today we lucked out by finding more squash plants for 50 cents a container...we are going to have lots and lots of every kind of squash imaginable ...I am sure we will have lots to share. Our brussel sprouts are getting huge, and we have cucumbers ...too small to eat yet but won't be long.
Our potato plants are just beautiful and flowering , my lovely husband is so excited about all of our potato plants and how well they have done this year. It is proving to be a good growing year indeed.
Ken mentioned our buggy ,,wow are we excited to have found it . We have lots of plans and will keep you informed .Hopefully we can figure out how to post photos on here to show everyone . Well that is all for now. I need to take my lovely husband upstairs and beat his butt in scrabble so I will say good night to you all for now.
Nope this life is not hard at all, it is quiet,peaceful,time spent talking and sharing, gardening and enjoying life ..

Some days chickens, some days eggs

Greetings. We are posting today because we'll be away this weekend ay an event in Guelph called Fairy Fest which is a fund raiser for the local hospital. There's a lot of activity here, what with packing for the festival, daily chores and whatnot.

Speaking of chores, Margaret was in London today and found a couple of metal chicken feeders by the side of the road. I don't know if these are period or not, but they are in very good shape, made of sheet steel and have all their bits. Together they hold a complete bag of feed so feeding the birds will be a simpler task (I hope) in the future. Just a check on the feeders every day and fill them as needed.

We didn't get many eggs this morning because the local chapter of four footed bandits supped on them last night. They made their entrance through a broken window in the coop, didn't bother the birds, just ate the eggs. Said window has now been replaced and should discourage a repeat of the nocturnal egg raid.

I've been trying to maqke hay here and not having much luck. Between the rain and my time away I can't get much headway and this bothers me because we'll need the hay for the winter. I'll just have to get on the job and get the hay raked, dried and loaded or I'll lose it.

I've noticed something which also bothers me. I've worked on farms a great deal, especially as a younger man and I find myself thinking of the farming methods I'm used to. I then try to reverse engineer them to something I think would've been used in Victorian times. To complete the task, I research the methods on the net and ... much to my dismay, I'm frequently wrong in my assumptions.

What this means is that I must obtain a copy of some Victorian farming books and read them to familiarize myself with the methods then in use. Everything was done by hand or used horse or steam power to ease the labour. On this farm in 1865, I doubt there was a steam engine around, so horse power and human power were the two energy sources available. I think I'm going to be much stronger before this experiment is completed.

Margaret here ...as you have read Ken and I are heading to Guelph for the weekend for Fairy fest. Wonderful event that raises money for the Guelph General hospital's pediatric department. I have a food booth, so by sunday evening I will be tired. But happy as I love this event and love watching the happy faces on the children dressed up in their beautiful dresses and fairy wings...Very Victorian in fact, as the Victorians has a fascination with fairies.
It has been a busy week around here. And the weather has been some days really warm and some cooler. So my kitchen has been way too hot or just right with the cook stove going . But summer or winter there is nothing so wonderful than the smell of wood smoke as you stand outside in the breeze.
I am researching laundry soap recipes and will post something on here when I come up with something I like . Someone has asked us to post photos and as soon as we can get a camera to work we will.
We will also be adding more details regarding our Christmas weekend. To be fair we would like to be able to choose who will be joining us at least 4-6 months in advance in order to give our guests a chance to make or purchase the appropriate clothing and such. We are striving for an absolutely authentic Christmas weekend. Any how we will be back on here as soon as we are able .Have a lovely weekend and thank you for your support .
Margaret & Ken

This week and laundry

I can certainly understand why the invention of modern washing equipment was so liberating to women of the 19th century. My week has been all about laundry and when and if the weather would cooperate and let me finally finish. But oh how lovely it is to be hanging clothes, listening to the birds,smelling the outside ...and hoping the rain holds off for a while. Not the first time I have hung laundry but for some reason this past couple of weeks it has meant something more to me ..I think we have lost this art of appreciating what we do for each other. Of understanding weather, of smelling our world. I can say our world inside smells like wood smoke and cooking and outside ...well it smells like it should , breezy, flowery, fresh, sometimes earthy but always real and good...I thoroughly enjoyed my week this week...regardless of the mountain of laundry and the threat of rain.

Ken here, I have been treated to a thoroughly Victorian meal, complete with a botanical theme. At least 15 different plants graced the table (if not more) and a fine array of sweet and savoury delights in a room lit by close to 30 candles. We went for a stroll after supper and the light from the dining room was warm and homey as any I've ever seen. My wife Margaret certainly makes the atmosphere as close to Victorian as can be. Well done I say.

We are toying with idea of having guests in our home over Christmas weekend for a true Victorian experience. We are looking for feedback and welcome your comments in this regard. Whom ever spends the Christmas weekend with us will need to be in full Victorian garb and need to want to experience the Victorian Age in total. This means park your car at the back of the driveway, lock your cell phones, laptops and all other modern electronic gizmos in the trunk and be ready to talk about the events of Upper Canada in 1865, ie: the debate about Confederation, the happenings in Toronto, London and England. The Queen and her mourning status after the death of Albert. In other words, no hockey, no TV, nothing from the 20th or 21st century shall be discussed. Our guests should read up and research Victorian parlour games of 1865 Upper Canada.

What does everyone think? We welcome your comments.

My husband mentioned our botanical supper ...The Victorians took great care in their meals and how they were presented.Food was real and beautifully presented.Meal time was formal by todays standards ...but it was relaxed, unhurried, and real. This is a wonderful time of the year for mealtimes as we have fresh everything coming up in the gardens. Fresh greens were eaten at every meal, I am sure savored especially because of the knowledge that they would not have access to these fresh delights all winter long. We have lost the joy of seasonal eating, of dandilion salads very early in the spring before the leaves turn bitter, of making the flowers into wine or jelly to last the rest of the year...of beer as we have so recently discovered. We have forgotten the smells and the bursts of flavor of our first strawberries,raspberries and gooseberries...with todays all year round tastless wooden fruits we have forgotten these joys and the need to savor them to their fullest before they are gone for another year..And I think many of us have forgotten the art of really planning and putting by for what we will need in the future and especially for the long winter...This year is really reminding us of these gifts !!
See you soon...

Well that was a hot one

Wow that was a super hot day today. I am imagining what summer would have been like here 150 years ago, with many layers of petticoats. It was hot from first thing this morning as the "summer kitchen" woodstove is not hooked up to a chimney yet, so the "inside kitchen" woodstove was pumping out heat like crazy.
Good day for gathering small wood pieces as the grounds have finally "mostly" dried up. And so has the fallen branches . So my mission this week is to gather as much small wood as possible. I need it to light the wood stove in the morning. Lights much faster and gets up to heat better if started with very small wood. I must admit I am still using newspaper to light the fire because I have not collected enough grass to use as a lighter source. We are using much of the cut grass to put around the vegetable plants that are up and growing. Will keep in the moisture and hopefully cut down on the weed growth. I have heard this will be a dry summer this year. So best be prepared. We had a look at the cherry trees and wow if we are lucky to get to them before the birds we will have a wonderful crop.Grape vines look to be full too...so I am excited about that. I will follow an age old irish tradition of canning the cherries in whiskey...for Christmas....Yeah!!! that's it ...for Christmas.
I will make pickled grapes and grape jelly and hopefully some cordial.
Gardens are doing wonderfully, we have growing to date, potatoes..lots and lots, spinich,corn,beets,cucumbers,watermelon,cantelope,radishes,an assortment of squash,including summer squash(zucchini) and pumpkins, brussel sprouts,spinich,peas,beans(green),a variety of onions,lettuce,egg plant,.

Ken here, I have been experimenting with hay making. Very small scale as yet but all raked and windrowed by hand. I shall have to get a sythe and stone in order to do a complete cycle of haymaking. We plan to use the hay we make to bed the chickens this winter. Hopefully we get enough to do the job. Like Margaret said, it was very hot today. I suspect that by August we'll look at this as being chilly, but for now it seems very hot and sticky.

Margaret here again..
I started this by commenting on what i imagine it would have been like 150 years ago in this heat. I have participated in many Civ war era re enactments ..dressed in the expected 7 layers , have strolled and shopped.Visited and sipped cool drinks. Worn lovely hats and carried parasols to keep me cool. And at the end of the day have driven home in an air conditioned car...
This may prove to be a very long hot summer for us ....I had better learn some period cool drink recipes ...fast
Talk to you soon...thanks for listening

Another day .

I want to Thank everyone for their support and comments first of all.It is cool that you are keeping up with our project.
Another day here at the farm(actually I am at the library waiting to go to Rotary) Good day for drying as it is windly like crazy today. Even the chickens did not want to venture out .But it is warm and wonderful out there, and, did I mention windy? I am sure by the time I hung all of the clothes the first ones ones on  the line were already dry. Lots more wood brought into the house...wood seems to be the catch word these days. When Ken gets home we will do more I am sure. He has been away for the past couple of days at work.
I discovered I "can" thread a needle by candle light almost as good as by regular light. So got some sewing done. Better to do these things in the day light ,but I do not seem to sleep well when the boy is away. What is lovely starting this project during these spring summer months is the long days afford me to get lots done and be really tired by the time the light leaves. Winter I am sure will be different.Seems to be it for now folks   Will be back in a couple of days...see you soon
Any questions so far??

Day number 2

Greetings everyone . I am at the library in London waiting to visit with one of my seniors.So I have until 1 ish. I certainly understand the need for a summer kitchen, with the weather being so lovely and warm  the heat from the cook stove is making my kitchen balmy for sure. We will have to hook up the summer kitchen wood stove soon. Other than that things are chugging along as normal....that is if you consider candle light and the smell of wood burning normal. The house is lovely and quiet. Amazing how much noise polution our homes produce. I am happy with this weather, I will be able to hang laundry without it blowing away or getting muddy. Thank you thank you !!
Our world is kind of revolving around wood for the time being.It is so important for every day living to have a good dry supply. And plenty of small stuff to not only start the stove but to also bring the oven up to temp. If banked at night well, plus a log or 2 thrown in during the night, I have good coals to start with in the morning . Without having to get up at the "crack of holy early". I am experimenting with summer teas steeped in the sun...I will let you know how that goes. I have had it with mint and it is generally lovely. When I lived in the South they used to have steeped tea with crushed mint and a shot of bourbon...hmmm ....The gardens are exploding and everything is up and growing well. Event the potatoes are showing themselves . So hopefully it will be a good year. I put in a couple of watermelon plants and I see someone has decided they are a good salad so I will have to re seed that part of the bed and perhaps cover them with a  jar to protect them from little munchers. I had better run and will talk to you soon. Probably tomorrow as I am in London to attend my Rotary meeting in the evening . see you soon.

Last Evening before V-Day

Hi. This is the last evening before V-Day. We were over in Petrolia, Ontario and picked up a very nice wash basin and pitcher for $20. We also bought an old iron for clothes. It needs a handle and we hope to pick some more irons of various sizes. We are also looking to get lots of enamal ware, tinware and cast iron ware since these were the "plastics" and "teflon" of the day. China dinner ware we have aplenty but we only have modern cookware, buckets, pails, containers and such.

On our drive through the country side we came across some old abandoned houses, on of them had an ice house. It was built with very thick walls and a low cieling, maybe 7 feet maximum (about 2.1 m for you metric types). This is a well insulated room built back into a hill with two doors in series. Open the first door to enter and promptly close it, then open the second door and enter the ice house proper. The two door system provides isolation from the outside air in summer and a very good deterent to assorted marauding hungry animals. The only hydro used is that which powers the electric tools used to build it. After that, line it with ice and fill it with food and Bob's your uncle.

One of the major projects we have ahead of us is creating food storage spaces similar to those used in 1865. We'll need a cold pantry, an ice house (the freezer of the day) and a root cellar. All of these things are low tech, low energy solutions to food preservation. They'll work even when the hydro is off which is something modern appliances won't do. Something to keep in mind, especially with the price of hydro rising like it is.

Tomorrow we begin our journey to living in 1865, we will also celebrate our first wedding anniversary. So we have two things to enjoy, our journey in 1865 living and the second year of marriage. I love you Maggie, with all my heart.

Thanks,
Ken

Dinner in the dining room

Sitting in our dining room having our supper, we are reminded of the gentleness of candles instead of harsh electric lighting.The sounds of conversation and the satisfaction of a well cooked meal prepared for a family at the end of the day. Flavours abound in our meal, crepes stuffed with chicken, white wine, asparagus and fresh baked apple pie.

Our day was spent cleaning up in the yard, chopping wood for the stove, clearing out a shed and draining the water from it. The weather was dismal,  misty and wet, and the ground is sopping wet with standing water in places.

This is another day in a series of wet, dark days. I'm getting tired of it to be frank but there is precious little to be done about it. I just hope our gardens don't drown and we lose the plants.

But enough of the dismal tone. We have ended our day, with a fine meal, good company in the form of my sister and excellent conversation. We look forward to many more.

That's all for now, thanks.

Margaret and Ken

Only a couple of days to go...

Well it is Friday and we have 2 days to go .Then we are into the full swing of things. We are pretty much prepared . I am having some concerns over this crappy weather,, while my gardens are growing like mad I am concerned about clothes drying. I hung out a pile of sheets couple of days ago and they ended up blowing onto the ground and getting dirty again. We generally hang our clothes out on the line but this spring has proven to be testing our patience.
The gardens are growing wonderfully , I am a bit worried that things will start to drown or get root rot with all of the sitting water. But so far we have been enjoying lovely spring spinich, and asparagus.Ken hung the last of the candle holders that we have been meaning to put up and we are pretty much set to go. As of Monday you will hear from us on a whenever basis. We will most likely post once a week,unless I am at the library and will post from there..Be back soon,need to get into the gardens while the light is good. Besides if I stay in the house I will surely fall asleep...one of those tired days.

Candlelight

Hi. I'm putting up chandeliers in the kitchen, stairwell and the foyer. Also going to clear out a space for a wood nook so the cook stove has dry wood all the time (that's the theory anyway :-) ). Going to finish removing light bulbs today as well. V-Day is getting closer now, I'm going to find out just how good a Victorian I'll be.

Thanks,
Ken

Potables

Hi. We've had some questions about potables and an offer of a recipe for dandelion beer. I didn't know there was such a thing. I'd like to try making our own potables, things like dandelion wine, beer, malt beer and the like. I made beer about 15 years ago and it turned out pretty well, so based on my vast experience and knowledge I'd like to try it again. Making your own potables is something we don't normally think about. While there are places where we can "make" our own beer and wine, we don't have the intimate involvement that was once so common that it wasn't recorded.

Beer, ale, lager, wine, small ale (good during haying season) were all available to the farm for a modest investment in time and effort. The materials would be ready to hand for the most part with the possible exception of yeast. Wild yeast would be used in place of store bought yeast, and yes, sometimes the results were less than successful.

Beer needs four ingredients, barley, malt, water and yeast. Wine needs water, yeast and some sort of fruit. Both use large pots, beer will need some wood for the fire. Both potables will need bottles, crocks, casks, barrels, tuns or a similar vessel to age and ferment in. Gassing off didn't involve very much technology. Then, with the yeast doing it's thing, the only other involvement would be a periodic checking on the process to ensure a successful outcome.

Other common potables would be water, tea and coffee. We drink all of these today although the form they come in is somewhat different than in 1865. Tea might come in a brick, you would break or cut a piece off the brick and pop it in the hot water to steep. The coffe beans came in a bag and you would grind them up with a grinder, crush them with a mallet or, in extremis, just pop the whole beans in the boiling water to create your morning beverage.

Water would be a thing to be careful off, we call it "beaver fever", a bacteria known as Giardia can cause stomach discomfort, diarhea an cramping. So folks would more likely drink water in the form of tea, coffee, beer (boiled water) or wine where the boiled water has killed off the bacteria or the alcohol has done the same thing. I believe an alcohol content of 17% or better is needed to kill the bacteria but I'm working from memory so don't bet the bank on that one.

That's all for now,
Thanks.
Ken

Dandilion Beer

Vandy, I didn't know there was such a thing. Should have guessed, if there's a way to make alcohol humans have figured it out. I'd like to have that recipe please.

Thanks,
Ken

Addresses

We would like peoples mailing addresses please.
M&K

Dishes by Hand

Hi, It's official, the automatic dishwasher is gone, jury rigged pipes patched up, cut-off or otherwise dealt with. Electrical dealt with as well. Who ever put the machine in sure didn't know the electrical code very well and that's all I'm going to say. We haven't used the machine since last May on our wedding so I don't think we'll miss it.

New shelves installed in the space left by the machine, and they look pretty good. A fairly decent match for the cabinetry that's already installed. Now Margaret  will have space to put all the very large pots and this will help keep the kitchen neater.

Speaking of neater, the closer we get to being ready for V-Day, the more I notice just how much stuff we have in the house that we won't be using. It is quite likely that we will never use some of it again and I don't think we'll miss it either.

Got another load of wood today, this will be a fairly regular task, since wood will be the fuel of choice for cooking, heating water and heating the house. I intend to keep a log of wood consumption throughout the year. I think the final tally will be something of an eyebrow raiser.

I suspect that I will be much better with an axe, hammer and wedges by next spring than I am now. I pretty good now, but will be at least at a journeyman level by next spring. The same will be true of many other tasks which I can do but not well or efficiently. I suspect efficiency will be a major consideration in everything we do, espacially when it comes to heavy manual labour.

Hopefully I'll be in much better shape next spring with all the manual labour. At the very least I'll be able to document all the common aches and pains which trouble me throughout the year and what we did to mitigate them.

That's all for now, thanks.
Ken

Goodbye Q in the morning

Well, the stereo is gone from our kitchen. Hub of the house. We do not watch television at all here so our radio entertains our ears while we are cooking and or doing regular household duties. It is safe in storage along with our CD's etc.
Amazing the space these things take up. Now I have more room for books.There is an upside to everything . Ken has officially pulled out the dishwasher. We will put a sign on it at the end of the road ...hopefully someone will take it . Regardless of what happens in the next year we have not used this machine and prefer hand washing . Neither of us can remember when we used it last and we might be correct in we used it last year the day of our wedding ..But now we have a lovely space for shelves,for large pots and such...which is wonderful.  We are getting excited for this to begin.

Last Day

Hello, Margaret here. Today is the last day for our kitchen radio. No more Q, no more "Fresh Air" on the weekends, no more "Ideas" at night during the week and especially no more Stewart McLean. :-(. Didn't realize how many compact discs we had until we packed them up in boxes. That's what you get for not owning a TV. The silence is golden, but it will take a couple of days to get used to not listening to these programmes in the house.

Our parlour has a beautiful piano that we'll perhaps now utilize. Gardens are growing beautifully and I'll have lots of canning to do this year. Not that that is different from any other year but we are really focusing on self sustaining throughout the year.

That's all for now, I'll be back later.

Margaret

Wheels and Meals

Hi, its strange how the mind works. Margaret and I were on our way to get a load of wood and it occured to me that if our cars had wooden or steel wheels and rims the ride would be a lot bumpier and a great deal more noisy. Also a consideration is maximum speeds attainable and, more importantly, sustainable with wooden/steel wheels and rims as opposed to pnuematic tyres.

I don't think the steel wheels and rims are good for speeds much over 20 -30 mph (25 - 50 kpm). I'm not sure how to go about testing my theory so I'm going to give it some thought.

Vandy asked us if we were going to document our meals and what they consisted of. We hadn't thought about that but it will be part of our blog/record. Just now, we're having lunch: bread, butter, lettuce, cheese and tea. Tonight, we're having crispy fried tofu with sprouts, tahini garlic mayo,  onions and tomato. We're going to miss the tofu, it's one of our favourite meals..... and yes, you heard ME say that! I love tofu, Margaret introduced me to it a couple of years ago and I'm hooked.

The lettuce, onions, spinach, zuccini, beans, radishes, peas, corn, leaks are all up and we've already had fresh garden grown spinach for supper one night. Yay for garden veggies!!!

It's too late in the season for us to have dandilion salad since the leaves are too big and bitter for eating. We were asked about what we would eating, and a dandilion salad would have been one of the first spring meals. Something I had as a kid was lambsquarters, cut up, boiled and served in vinegar. It had a slightly tart or astringent taste but I liked it and we harvested it when ever we weeded the garden (it was one of the weeds). Often if we couldn't find my mum, we'd look in the garden and see where the lambsquarters was thrashing about. That would be Mum, weeding and tossing.

It's another grand day, really windy, partly cloudy and warm. Love it.

Thanks,
Margaret and Ken

The Preparation

Hi. It's T-6 days to go before the experiment begins. Only six days to prepare for what could be the most radical changes in our lives or just another day at the inn. We began to remove all the light bulbs today, move the computer out of the main house into the offices, pack up and store the radio and all the other electrical and electronic appliances in order to set the ambience for this experience.

We listen to CBC Radio 1 quite a bit, especially Q and Ideas, and the radio is usually on when we're bugging about in the kitchen doing things. I wonder what it will be like without the background noise to fill the air. I suppose we'll have to suffer along with purring cats, birdsong, chicken TV (those with chickens will understand this) the sound of the wind in the trees and the lilt of laughter and conversation as Margaret and I go through our day. Tough life, doncha know!

As of the 29th of May, in the year of our Lord 2011, we will be posting regularly once or twice a week. You will see posts from both Margaret and I dealing with the various aspects of our days, both from the individual point of view and our combined efforts. I will tend to deal more with heavier work and building (although Margaret swings a mean hammer!) fencing, digging, cutting, splitting and stacking wood, repairing and expanding the greenhouse and that sort of thing.

Margaret will speak for herself but I suspect she'll also take part in some of these things but will be focused more on the cooking, gardening, preserving and storing side of things.

Together, we'll be focused on social aspects of Victorian life, clothing, manners, dining, conversation and letter writing.

I'm getting excited now, and will be more so as we get closer to May 29th. We'll be celebrating our first wedding anniversary and I am humbled by the love and caring I am shown by Margaret every day.

With love and affection for Margaret, I bid you Good Day.
Ken

Only a week to go

I am anticipating the end of next week. Many things to do this week to prepare.Will need to get in small wood  for the wood stove.Makes lighting easier and brings the heat up faster. Will have to remove all of the newspaper I have been using to light the stove and gather leaves and small grass instead.(funny how many small things that will have to be changed). I light the wood stove daily but do not think about lighting it accurately to the period we are studying .Matches are well within this period...thank heavens. Although we do have a friend that is an expert at lighting with a flint and steel.I am going to ask him to teach me this weekend exactly how that is done. I had learned as a child how to start a fire by rubbing 2 sticks together ...so if need be.
Although I have heard this method is much faster ,especially if one of the sticks is a wooden match.

Evening Sky

Hi. I'm sitting here looking out the window at a splendid evening sky. Reds fading to oranges accented by dark blue cloud and backgrounded by light blue sky. A lovely end to a lovely day.

Earlier today I listed all the fruits and vegetables we have or will have and forgot one ... corn! Not a long row but corn nonetheless. Spent the day outside mostly, loading and unloading our trailer.

We use our car as a horse and the trailer as our wagon for now. We have made an offer on an old buggy, mostly for its cast iron bits. Perhaps we can copy the shapes of the wood and build our own buggy/wagon. Yet another thing to watch, do and record. Once we get the wagon/buggy built, we'll need to get horses. I would like to get a couple of Canadians. These are descendants of horses sent over from the Royal Stables of France in the 1600's. A sturdy, breed, not a large breed nor especially fast, but they are a quick horse and they also form the original breed stock of the more famous Morgan horse.

We will have to look into this further and we'll keep you posted.

Thanks, Ken.

The Sun

Hi. There seems to be a large bright object in a strangely blue coloured sky. If I remember correctly, this blue colour means no rain and the large bright object is a celestial orb called the ... dare I say it ... the sun!

I jest of course, but it remains a pure joy to see the sun and feel the heat.  We have planted more stuff in the ground, to whit: garlic and onions. This means we have planted onions (3 varieties), garlic, potatoes, radishes, spinach, zuccinni, cauliflower, broccoli, peas, brussel sprouts, cucumbers, green beans, a variety of squash, lettuce, beets, pumpkins. We also have apple, plum, cherry and pear trees,  a variety of grapes, sage, thyme, rosemary, parsley, oregano, chives, garlic chives, dill, rasberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, currents.

Last night we had fresh spinach for supper. Yummmmmmm!!!

We hope for a bountiful harvest.

Almost 8 days to go

Almos 8 days to go until we start this journey. Better get ready..

The Weather

Hi. I've been watching the weather and I'm not impressed at all! Too much rain and we have the gardens about half planted. I hope the stuff that's in the ground doesn't rot. It needs to warm up as well in order for things to get growing.

Another area for experiment: The Lawn: currently we have a lawn tractor to keep the grass in check. In 1865 there were two ways to do this, grazing animals and a scythe. We don't have grazers yet (thinking about sheep and a goat) and I think Thanatos has borrowed my scythe :-) so for now, we'll use the lawn tractor to cut the grass. The up side of this is we can use the grass for bedding the chickens down. ^The down side is, I have to hand rake it, gather it up and pile it. This time last year I had raked and loaded seven trailer loads (2X4X8)  and it made for quite a large pile. I'm hoping to get a hay mau built so the grass will dry out and make better bedding. I'll let you know how that goes.

Thanks, Ken.

An Introduction

Greetings one and all. As you see from the introduction we are conducting a living experiment, specifically living in the Victorian Era circa 1865. In order to judge the success of this endeavour we need to set out the limits of the experiment and some of these follow below.

As I see it we need to divide the experiment into several areas of interest. I believe these should be as follows:


1) Sanitation: Currently we have a modern toilet, but these have been around since at least the early decades of the 1800's. to simulate the "outhouse" we will continue to use the toilet, but flushing only after a "#2". This isn't a perfect example of the Victorian solution to sanitation in rural Elgin County but without building an outhouse it's the closest we could come. There will be further investigation into this, we may in fact be able to add an outhouse to the experiment.

2) Heating and Cooking: We already have a wood cookstove in our kitchen. We also have a wood furnace firing the central heating. We are fully aware that central heating was NOT an option in rural Elgin County in 1865. However, expense and fire codes and insurance rates preclude installation of fireplaces throughout the house. Therefore we have to compromise on this matter. We are still heating and cooking with wood, which includes heating water for washing, etc.

3) Gardening and Livestock: This is the area where we come closest to the methods used in 1865. We house our chickens in a coop, they free range most days, the exceptions being winter and days when we won't be home before dark (racoons like chicken too). Where we need to research is ways to keep the chickens warm in winter without the benefit of heat lamps.

With respect to gardening, we need to eliminate garden hoses. Garden hoses need pressurized water to operate, in 1865 Elgin Cty I highly doubt the farm would have had electric pumps in wells. This means that the gardens will need to watered by hand and we'll need to rely much more on Mother Nature's good graces to have a fulsome crop. Garden tools have not changed that much in 150 years, shovels are still shovels etc. the method of manufacture has changed and sometimes the materials have as well, but the way they were and are used has not changed at all.

4) Electricity: We have already eliminated electricity usage in the house with the exception of the fridge and the freezer for now. We are looking into an ice box and also an ice house along with a cold pantry.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more posts and updates.

Wow to the new blog page

Wow.
I am very impressed with this lovely blog page my husband built while I was in town today..Only  11 more days to get ready for our interesting year ahead..keep in touch and see how we do . M