Pilgrims and Pioneers: August 2011

Welcome To Pilgrims and Pioneers!

After many years of researching my family geneaology I have been lucky enough to discover actual information about my relatives that lived in the Pilgrim Era and the Pioneer Era- while many people also have realtives from those eras- many do not know their names or where they lived- actually seeing the proof in print makes you much more aware of who they really were.
After discovering these relatives it of course made me curious to learn more about the eras that they lived in and what their lives were like as, the history I learned in grade school had long since been forgotten.
I decided to start this blog for others who are also interested in these eras.
Some of the information here will be actual facts about my realtives and some will be information about the eras in general that I have found on the web.
I hope you will enjoy traveling back in time with me!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Antique Butter Churn ca 1850's

About a month ago I visited the rennovated Lincoln- Manahan here in my home town.
Abraham Lincoln spent the night there when he came to Sterling in 1856. This churn is in the kitchen of the house- note the crock jug too!
This is a crank style churn - not a dasher type

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Harvesting the Pilgrim Garden

Ten muskmelon this year- it is the first time we have had melons that actully got ripe enough to eat and that the wild critters did not beat us to!

The tops of the tomatoes are not as yellow as they appear!

Not everything I tried to grow this year was successful. I an not sure if it was weather, seed that was bad or, my lack of skill.
I did however have good luck with a big portion of the garden.

Green beans snapped and ready to cook for tonight's supper!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Prairie Woman Driving Wagon ca 1898

I found this great photo at http://www.treasurenet.com/ ( Click to enlarge the photo) It is the first train leaving Oklahoma in Indian Territory 1898. I love the woman in the prairie bonnet driving the wagon- wonder whose gggrandmother she is?

Friday, August 5, 2011

Sewing for the love of a dog

This is Josie. She is a 13 year old Golden Lab.
Her human parents are customers of my husband's and mine at the farmer's market where we vend.
They have been customers for 4 years now and I always take treats out to Josie whenever they come.
I have grown to love this sweet dog like she was my own. She is so obedient and gentle.
She is dressed in a costume that I made for her last summer.
A few months ago it was discovered thet she had a cancerous tumor in her leg- the tumor was removed but the owner's decided not to do any other treatment at this time and just observe her. She seems to be doing well.
Last week her human Mom asked me to make some scarves for Josie and a new costume.
Sewing is not so much my favorite thing to do but I am getting paid for it and I actually would do anything for Josie.
Her Mom did not skimp on the fabric as it came from a quilt shop so was probably 9-10 dollars a yard.
The Americana fabrics are wonderful/
The costume does have a sailor hat that I just finished so there is no pic of it but Josie is going to look sooo cute tomorrow!