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.