Here we are in May...and planting season is nigh.
Let's look at 18th century daily life as it may have been in the month of May
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| This is one of my most favorite memes of all-time. You may have seen it before on other blog posts of mine, and I am sure this won't be the last time I will be including it. Just let its words sink in a little - it seems today many parents are afraid to teach their children to plant and to do seasonal activities. They'd rather have them play video games to keep them quiet. And keep them clean. Sad. I am grateful my own children (now all adults) have the spirit of the past within them, and I hope to plant that same seed in the minds of my grandchildren. |
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Now let's get into...
The Month of MAY
According to The Complete Farmer and Rural Economist (written by Thomas Green Fessenden and published in 1835):
Attend to your pastures. Do not turn cattle into pasture ground too early in the spring, but let the grass have a chance to start a little before it is bitten close to the soil. The 26th of May is early enough...
Attend to your pastures. Do not turn cattle into pasture ground too early in the spring, but let the grass have a chance to start a little before it is bitten close to the soil. The 26th of May is early enough...
Cleanse your cellars, as well as the rest of your premises from all putrescent and other offensive and unwholesome substances.
(The following quote below was taken directly from the book, "The American Farmer in the 18th Century" by Richard Bushman).
"God called men and women to perform particular tasks or work in this life: women were invariably called to be housewives and mothers, and men were called to specific work as farmers, carpenters, store owners, coopers, and so on. This was the colonial thought process."
This is, for the most part, undeniable. There are some in our modern times who may not like or agree with that thought process, for it goes against their contemporary 21st century sensibilities, but it certainly was the way life was a couple of centuries ago.
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| Mid-April photo~ My wife and our granddaughter checking out the remnants of the kitchen garden. After a successful growing season last year, we are beginning to plan for 2026. There is plenty of preparation to be done before sowing can begin, including tilling the soil. Also in this picture you can see one of my grandsons roaming about. He's a gamer in modern life, but while at the cabin, not once did he ask if he could play a video game. That's what happens when one spends time with children. Please check out last month (click HERE) to see how our grandkids kept busy as any colonial children may have done. |
Springtime truly is the season of rebirth, and not just for animals, for thoughts for the majority of the populace in 18th century America was the need to accomplish a successful growing season. In those long ago days, Spring was considered a time for preparing for the rest of the year; a time for a new beginning. A time for leaving the winter darkness and cold behind to look toward sunny warmth and renewal...rebirth. It would set the pace for the rest of the year.
Generally, it was in the month of May when plowing, harrowing, and sowing would, once again, be on a farmer's agenda (I encourage you to click the April link at the bottom of this post or the link in the picture comment above - to see chores and jobs of an 18th century April - there is always some overlapping).
Caring for the pregnant farm animals was also a top priority, for this would ensure continued generations of cattle, pigs, sheep, and horses...maybe goats...all necessary to run a farm.
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| Plowing the fields. |
The process of plowing is an unbroken link to the past, a link of which is still carried on today, though with much greater ease than in days of old. The plow, of course, breaks up and turns over the soil to make it smoother for planting. A plow is one of the oldest farm tools, beginning with something little more than a strong stick in the BC and early AD period, then eventually molded into the more familiar plows closer to our time.
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| The best ancient historic plowing I've seen yet, depicting the way it was done 2000 years ago. (From the series The Chosen) |
To this plow 1800 years later:
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| The plow pictured here is from 1775 and is made of wood. |
Back and forth, walking literally mile after mile. Arms, as use to plowing as they are, will still ache nightly, and they ache even worse come the next morning when the farmer, once again, will find himself behind a plow horse or two in the cool of the morning air, digging the mould-board plow into the ground to turn up - "till" - the soil that had laid dormant and frozen all the long winter.
Men would often hold plowing contests in the spring in which they vied to compete to see who could plow the straightest furrow in the shortest time.
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Harrowing in colonial times (Photo courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg) |
It was after plowing that the farmer would use the harrow, which was comprised of a wooden - sometimes metal - frame with iron or wooden pegs. The purpose of a harrow was used to break up the ground after plowing or to mix soil and newly sown seed together, making for better planting and growth. Back across the field the farmer would go, and when he finished in one direction, he would harrow (or drag) the field crosswise to smooth it further. It was a repetitive process: fields were plowed, then harrowed, plowed again and then harrowed again. Sometimes a farmer would harrow three or four times to break up the earth.
It was the harrow that convinced Henry Ford to create historic Greenfield Village. This occurred around the WWI era that, in part, due to his strong pacifism during that "Great War," and given that Ford knew little about history as taught in schools, a number of newspaper articles were published expressing Mr. Ford's anti-war sentiment, called him an anarchist, among other things, and quoted him as saying, "History is more or less bunk..." which has been repeated often ever since. What most folks don't know is that this "bunk " comment was stated for reasons other than what the press said. It is here that I quote from the book, A Home For Our Heritage by Geoffery C. Upward: "...what (Ford) meant and explained many times in later years was that written history reflected little of people's day-to-day existence. 'History as it is taught in the schools deals largely with...wars, major political controversies, territorial extensions and the like. When I went to our American history books to learn how our forefathers harrowed the land, I discovered that the historians knew nothing about harrows. Yet our country depended more on harrows than on guns or great speeches. I thought a history which excluded harrows and all the rest of daily life is bunk and I think so yet.' "
Hear! Hear!
So, plowing and harrowing done, next up in our May chores is sowing (planting).
Planting the crop was a critical step with no room for error. For hundreds of years, farmers sowed grain by hand; shouldering a bag of seed, the farmer walked up and down the tilled field, fingering the seeds from side to side. Oftentimes he may be on his hands and knees, dropping seeds into the soil a few at a time, or perhaps transplanting vegetable plants that were started indoors during the later winter to get a head start. The farmers who sowed the seed had special skills in these operations.
"On spring-plowed fields it was heavy traveling for the man who carried grain and sowed by hand. Of course, it was heavy work, even traveling over fall-plowed ground, with the grain hung over the shoulders, and the steady swing of the right arm throwing the grain as the right foot advanced, and dipping the hand into the bag for another cast of grain as the left foot advanced."
Or bent over, hands and knees, face near the dirt, fingering a few seeds at a time...two seeds won't work, nor will three or four...best put in five...
Then there's transplanting those of which had a head start.
Day after day.
No matter which, it was dirty, slow, and back-breaking work.
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| Sowing in the kitchen garden |
The special skill resulted in the seed being sown evenly leaving no bare areas. Missing a section of a field could cause a huge problem: no seed in the ground, no crop.
But the sowing process and outcome could sometimes be frustrating at best. There is an old proverb that I recall hearing in my youth from my own farming grandfather that best describes the planting of seeds:
One for the mouse,
one for the crow,
one to rot,
and one to grow.
Yep...best plant maybe five or six seeds per hole.
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The sack in this photo is filled with flax seeds to plant to eventually be used for linen, for flax is a plant that is grown for its fibers. |
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Planting flax~ Matthew Patton, a New Hampshire farmer, planted flax on May 18, 1787, and recorded in his diary: "I sowed about 1 of a bushel of flax seed and I suppose near as many pease." The very same day, 150 miles away in Hallowell, Maine, Martha Ballard's husband was engaged in similar work: "Clear...Mr. Ballard ploughed flax in," she wrote. Since the seed was light, it took skill to distribute it evenly and well. |
~For more information on flax and other textile/fiber arts, please click HERE ~
In 18th-century New England, corn (maize) - also known as Indian corn - was typically planted in May, often stretching into early June, to avoid the last spring frosts. Following Native American techniques, planters often waited until the oak leaves were the size of a mouse's ear and oftentimes used alewives (herring) as fertilizer, planting in hills when possible to maximize yields. Not only corn but peas, oats, buckwheat, and probably most other grains and vegetables. While early planting was dangerous due to potential rotting in cold, wet soil, the month of May was the standard window, with some planting continuing through early June.
The men plow the fields with horses, and they set the maize by hand in neat and even rows. Within a few weeks the fields hold spears of Indian corn, less than an inch high.
Now, "maize was the recognized name for corn derived from the Spanish form of the Taíno Indian tribal word mahis (meaning corn), while English settlers in North America adopted the phrase Indian corn to distinguish it from the generic European term corn, which referred to local staples like wheat or oats, for, you see, in the 18th century, the word corn generally referred to any common, staple cereal grain—most notably the aforementioned wheat and oats, as well as rye and barley—rather than the American crop known as maize or Indian corn."
Whew...got it?
If not, perhaps re-read it.
If not, perhaps re-read it.
Also, later May is a good time to plant pumpkins, sometimes utilizing the Three Sisters method.
"The Three Sisters planting method is an indigenous companion planting system using corn, beans, and squash together to maximize space and finding a better soil. Corn provides a sort of trellis for climbing beans, beans help to fertilize the soil, and squash covers the ground, acting as a sort of living mulch to conserve moisture and suppress weeds."
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| Each pumpkin seed placed in the ground by hand... Our corn usually doesn't do too well... |
"Rog. Sunday. After meeting, we all walked our boundaries," wrote Noah Blake in his diary on May 19, 1805.
Now here is something I was not familiar with until recently. "Rog. Sunday," as Noah wrote, is actually Rogation Sunday, which was the day when farmers looked to their land and crops and prayed for a bountiful harvest. It was on this day when the clergy and his flock walked through the village and out into the fields to bless the planted ground. In the evening of Rogation Sunday, farmers and their families walked the boundaries of their own property; it was a time for giving thanks for the crop that should grow on their land.
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| Rogation Sunday, which was the day when farmers looked to their land and crops and have the local minister pray for a bountiful harvest. I like that we celebrate the old holydays. |
"In the 18th century, Rogation Sunday (the Sunday before Ascension Day - also known as the 6th Sunday of Easter) and the subsequent Rogation Days (days of prayer and fasting in Western Christianity) marked a significant period for rural communities, focusing on blessing crops, praying for good harvests, and reinforcing boundaries through processions, which involved walking the perimeter, reciting psalms, all while observing fasting and meatless meals as acts of supplication."
Rogation Sunday typically occurs in May, though it can occasionally fall at the very end of April. It is the fifth Sunday after Easter (or the 6th Sunday beginning with Easter) Many colonials observed Rogation Days in the 18th century, a tradition brought from England.
These Rogation holydays were ancient church festivals to seek blessings for a community and its sustenance. The word rogation comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning "to ask," which reflects the beseeching of God for protection from calamities.
The core purpose of Rogation Days was and is to ask for God's blessing on crops, agriculture, and to pray for protection from natural disasters. That's it in a nutshell. This was particularly relevant in a largely agrarian society of the 18th century.
Catholics and some Protestant churches, particularly the Anglican churches, also celebrated Rogation Sunday and Rogation Days in the 18th century.
In essence, the specific details of the celebrations might have varied between different Protestant denominations, though the community's well-being in prayer was always present.
As the days of May went by, the farm families of the 18th century were genuinely excited to see the fresh-grown asparagus from the kitchen garden popping through the dirt and reaching toward the sky.
In the 1700s, asparagus was both a prized food and a medicinal herb, and was frequently grown in kitchen gardens, as was what you see here. It was known for its diuretic properties (in the 18th century, diuretics were primarily used to treat "dropsy" - edema/fluid retention - by stimulating kidney function). It was believed that asparagus purified the blood, and was a necessary part of a garden.
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| Spears of asparagus shooting up through the ground, reaching for the sky. |
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| Freshly picked late April/early May lay on the Daggett table~~~ |
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| Bundling asparagus - tying them together in a bundle before cooking - was one way they would have cooked them back in the 1700s, and was likely done to make it easier to handle and retrieve the asparagus from the boiling water. Bundles also ensured that the asparagus cooked more evenly and that the stalks remained intact during cooking. |
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| Chopping a few spears up, perhaps for a stew of some sort. |
Speaking of planting, did you know that our first President, George Washington, was a fan of Jethro Tull?
It's true!
Though it wasn't until the late 18th century and into the 19th century that the seed drill's popularity grew, it was Jethro Tull, an English agriculturalist, who is credited with inventing that first practical planting machine back in 1701, allowing farmers to plant their crop much easier and more uniform, if they had the money to buy one. Though I do not know whether or not he owned a seed drill, George Washington did own a book called "Horse-Hoeing Husbandry" written by Jethro Tull, and Washington became a practitioner of Tull's ideas.
I think it would be kind of funny for me, as one from the 21st century, to see and hear George Washington having a conversation about Jethro Tull!
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On the left we see the original cover of the Jethro Tull agricultural book that George Washington swore by, and on the right we have Ian Anderson, founding member and flautist of the rock group Jethro Tull, performing at the grave of the original Jethro Tull. |
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Not much left in the root cellar (photo courtesy of Hobby Farms) |
As the daylight increases as the month of May continues on, hens begin to lay eggs faster. And with calving season taking place in the earlier part of the year, the cows are giving plenty of milk. By May, diets transitioned from stored winter foods and fruits that were dried, pickled, or oftentimes preserved with methods of vinegar, to later May giving fresh spring produce, featuring early greens like spinach, asparagus, and lettuce, herbs, and even enjoying lamb and veal, meaning if one of the calves didn't make it, they were not to be wasted. Common 18th century meals included stews, fresh fish (cod, salmon - depending where you lived), poultry, and dairy. Cooking heavily utilized rendered pork fat, and meals often relied
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| Smoked and salted meat |
on bread, butter, and pickles.
In the meat category, besides lamb and veal, ham was popular since it was getting warmer, and whatever was left in the smokehouse wasn't likely to keep much longer. The sow has farrowed and now piglets were to be raised.
There could be a suckling pig to eat for Sunday dinner. There could still be fresh beef maybe, but most probable there wouldn't be any left. Salted beef would be much more likely.
Being that it's May, and the weather is getting warmer, it's time to give the sheep a haircut!
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| Sheep shearing done by hand. |
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Sheep Shearing at Colonial Williamsburg (found on the CW page a number of years ago - no name listed) |
Written in 1765: "The proper time to shear your sheep is in the increase of the moon, in May; and, if you have the conveniency, make a pen near some water course or pond, and wash your sheep before you shear them: As soon as they are washed turn them into a small enclosure that has plenty of grass, and let them run on it two or three days, or until you see the fatty or oily substance shedding amongst the wool. Then is the proper time to shear them, for that is a great preservation to the wool."
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| Wool after being shorn from the sheep. |
Shearing sheep is usually done only once a year so that the sheep are free of their heavy wool coats for the hot summer months. You would not want to shear the animals too early in the spring, however, for fear of freezing weather for the animals. Going from a full thick winter wool coat to almost no coat can be a bit stressful, and more so if the weather hits a late season cold spell. But, since lambing occurs in the late spring or early summer, shearing often takes place anywhere from late April or early May, if one lives in the middle colonies, or possibly into mid-to-later May or even early June if the chore is done in the northern colonies. Most farmers prefer to have their sheep sheared before lambing commences - usually about a month before. The ewes are still a few weeks away from full pregnancy so the process is a little easier on them.
A sheep without her fleece is pretty naked looking! This annual ritual also has the benefit of producing salable wool or, if you're like my wife, spinning it herself on her spinning wheel to make yarn. During the American Revolutionary War, homespun textiles were associated with domestic necessity and patriotism, as the idea of American independence was merged with self-sufficiency, which was often expressed as a goal. Like tea, boycotting the importation of wool wasn't a problem if one could process, spin, and then weave or knit it.
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| Spinning wool into yarn... |
How about the ever-popular "spring cleaning" ritual?
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| Springtime is here... |
Though it may not have been called "spring cleaning" at the time, oftentimes there was a "turning out of the winter dirt" when warmer weather finally hit after months of winter; an annual spring cleaning as we know it to be, if only by action and not by name.
The constant fires for cooking and warmth combined with long hours of candlelight all winter long deposited ashes, smoke, and soot on nearly every surface...the kitchen had been the center of activity for months, and the remnants of spinning, sewing, whittling, cooking, and other wintertime activities are in desperate need to be cleared away. The great hall, shut up during the cold weather months, was also in dire need of a cleaning as well, many times due to inactivity, mice droppings, and the lack of a going over before being closed up last fall. Colonial houses were inadequately swept, certainly by today's standards, for there were no brooms made of broomcorn yet, so they did a "meh" job at best.
Knowing that sweeping floors is a primary function of cleaning, we must remember it wasn't always thought of in that manner:
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Brooms of Colonial Williamsburg Picture courtesy of LeeAnn Ewer |
"American brooms were hand made prior to 1797. They were an unrefined round broom made from fibrous materials such as grass, straw or hay, fine twigs or corn husks. The broom sweep was tied onto a tree branch for a handle. Cordage used to tie the broom was retted from hemp and flax. Rougher fibers were used to make the cordage that tied a broom. The refined fibers were used for linens.
Cooking at the time was often done in a large open fireplace, so dust and ashes were a factor of life. Wood was carried inside the home for heat and cooking. Dust, debris and ash were always left behind from this chore. The homemade brooms swept as clean as could be at the home & hearth and kept the rooms a more pleasant place to be.
The unrefined brooms were inferior and fell apart easily. Their crude nature did not allow them to sweep well. Changes started to come about in the form of a farmer from Massachusetts in 1797."
Levi Dickenson used the tassels from his harvested sorghum to make a broom. His sorghum broom "swept better than previous materials used, but the broom still fell apart after a time of use."
Now, to give wooden floors a deeper cleaning, the wife or servant could scour it with sand, using a brush or a cloth. This job of physical labor may have been done by the same poor women who did other people's laundry, so there is not much written about it. The only information comes from the household accounts of wealthy homes and a couple of 18th century domestic advice manuals written by housekeepers.
In 1753 Mary Johnson gave her views on best practices in cleaning. She described herself as a "Superintendent of a Lady of Quality's Family" (in York, England). "Housemaids working under her may have found her high standards a little daunting. Her book, Madam Johnson's Present, tells us how "very industrious" they should be. She wanted them to use sand for scrubbing dirty stoneware, the outside of copper pots, pewter (using sand mixed with lye), and more, but they must never use sand on wooden dressers."
In that same book, floor cleaning is explained at length. If you were going to clean a wooden floor you must start the night before by putting ox-gall, which is still used today, on greasy spots. Next morning a "strong hot Lye, made of Wood-Ashes" went on the whole floor. After spreading clean sand over that, the maid was to get on her knees and scour the boards with a hard brush.
"A second tour of the floor with a clean cloth was required before the final wipe with yet another cloth to speed up drying and keep the wood light in color. Then they were through except for oiling the skirting boards, as long as the floor wasn't dirty enough to need a longer treatment with more sand and cold water."
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This picture and the one below are actually of a scene from the John Adams mini-series showing Abigail Adams scrubbing the floor of their home. In actuality, the Adams' had a servant to do this sort of work. Note that she is putting (I believe) water on the floor, and right after (as the scene continued) she poured some liquid from the bottle - possibly ox-gall? - sitting near her over the same spot. |
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Mrs. Adams then began to scrub the floor with what looked like a brick. I've searched for information about using a brick to scrub the floor, to no avail. Perhaps she did not have a hard brush readily available? |
From the blog Boston 1775:
"The Adams’ never had slaves, but as a genteel family they were used to having servants. There are letters John and Abigail exchanged in 1764 as they were setting up their household and hiring help. There is (also) a receipt from Rachel Marsh, who received “one pound six shillings and eight pence lawful money for a quarters wages” from Abigail in May 1765. Most modern Americans are unfamiliar, even uncomfortable, with the idea of personal servants, but that was an essential element of eighteenth-century genteel life. John Adams did work in his fields. Abigail did clean her house. But they didn’t do that work all alone."
Now, though there were housekeepers who were hired to do house cleaning, in general, farms were somewhat dirtier, with more bugs and mice droppings, and a bit smelly, too. Doors that did not shut tightly, those floors without rugs or carpets, and large open fireplaces guaranteed that dust, dirt, insects, rodents, even barnyard animals, would invade the house. Manure from the barn & stables and the mud of fall & winter covering the soles of shoes are now ground into the floors and rugs, firewood chips and slivers lie throughout, especially in corners.
This is not to say, however, that they did not clean, during the shut up winter month. They did, but usually not too deep of a cleaning for they had too much other work to do.
This is not to say, however, that they did not clean, during the shut up winter month. They did, but usually not too deep of a cleaning for they had too much other work to do.
By May, the want to remove the dirt of winter from the rest of the house would have commenced in other areas, including the cleaning of chimneys of the soot build up, and pantries & bins to help keep it as clear of bugs and rodents as possible.
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The bedchamber of the more urban and prosperous Giddings family. |
And feather beds would have been aired outside for a couple days so each side could be moistened by the dew and dried by the sun.
Beds and bedding were a bit different in the colonial period as compared to today. A prosperous American of the 18th century slept on a bed made up of several layers. At the bottom was a simple, firm “mattress” pad or cushion filled with corn husks or horsehair. Next came a big featherbed for comfort, plus feather-filled bolsters and pillows. People who lived on farms, or close to them, may have made their own from goose and duck feathers, while town- and city-folk could have bought professionally made feather mattresses from someone like Betsy Ross (yes, she made these as well).
Besides the featherbeds, blankets and linens, too, were to be washed and hung out for drying.
"Spring is particularly the time for house cleaning and bleaching linen" states a quote I found, though I do not know the year of it.
Beds and bedding were a bit different in the colonial period as compared to today. A prosperous American of the 18th century slept on a bed made up of several layers. At the bottom was a simple, firm “mattress” pad or cushion filled with corn husks or horsehair. Next came a big featherbed for comfort, plus feather-filled bolsters and pillows. People who lived on farms, or close to them, may have made their own from goose and duck feathers, while town- and city-folk could have bought professionally made feather mattresses from someone like Betsy Ross (yes, she made these as well).
Besides the featherbeds, blankets and linens, too, were to be washed and hung out for drying.
"Spring is particularly the time for house cleaning and bleaching linen" states a quote I found, though I do not know the year of it.
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| Scrubbing cloth on the scrub board~ |
Each room of the house is emptied and scrubbed and freshened with new whitewash and the furniture rubbed and polished. Susan Leslie recalled her mother awaking before dawn to begin her housecleaning. “The two parlors, dining room, entry and staircase are all carefully and thoroughly swept before six o’clock. She then calls up her domestics, if they are not already up.”
Heavy drapery is to be taken down and be replaced with the summer curtains, fresh blinds replace the filthy ones that have taken on the winter's grime, and the windows need to be washed.
Woolen clothing worn for weeks on unwashed bodies did not smell their best. Flannel undergarments began to itch instead of providing comfort.
From 1812 (just barely into the 19th century, so I suppose we can use it), there is a letter written by Anne Kane to her mother as she described the effect of spring cleaning: "...we have been so engaged in white washing and cleaning house and such a large smoky house as ours with so much woodwork that I have been fatigued to death both in mind and body."
Meanwhile, outside the house, the banking around the foundation, put there the previous fall, would be decaying at this point, harboring mice and other vermin amid the hay, dirt, leaves, and rotted vegetable matter, and needed to be pulled away.
Heavy drapery is to be taken down and be replaced with the summer curtains, fresh blinds replace the filthy ones that have taken on the winter's grime, and the windows need to be washed.
Woolen clothing worn for weeks on unwashed bodies did not smell their best. Flannel undergarments began to itch instead of providing comfort.
From 1812 (just barely into the 19th century, so I suppose we can use it), there is a letter written by Anne Kane to her mother as she described the effect of spring cleaning: "...we have been so engaged in white washing and cleaning house and such a large smoky house as ours with so much woodwork that I have been fatigued to death both in mind and body."
Meanwhile, outside the house, the banking around the foundation, put there the previous fall, would be decaying at this point, harboring mice and other vermin amid the hay, dirt, leaves, and rotted vegetable matter, and needed to be pulled away.
However, for those who chose to farm, I note a line I found in the Benson Ford Research Center Daggett House information folder:
"While sanitation was not unknown, most (farmers) felt no urgency about cleaning up. In fact, hardworking farm families saw dirt as something positive, even healthy, as it gave life and livelihood in the form of crops."
Cleaning was not the top priority, not just for looks but for survival. Those who lived in the 18th century did understand what caused diseases or infections, but they were understanding that cleanliness was important in keeping many such health risks at bay.
"While sanitation was not unknown, most (farmers) felt no urgency about cleaning up. In fact, hardworking farm families saw dirt as something positive, even healthy, as it gave life and livelihood in the form of crops."
Cleaning was not the top priority, not just for looks but for survival. Those who lived in the 18th century did understand what caused diseases or infections, but they were understanding that cleanliness was important in keeping many such health risks at bay.
May was quite the busy month. Whereas in our modern times, folks dream for a sunny day to perhaps plant a garden, not out of necessity but more of being a hobby, take a walk, go shopping, and maybe even carry on the ancient tradition of spring cleaning. But I do hope this post, and the others in this series (so far) will help you to understand the daily lives of our early American ancestors.
Until next time, see you in time.
This monthly series will be a year in the making.
To check out my first two months in this, please check out the links below.
For the month of March, please click HERE
For the month of April, please click HERE
To learn about ancient farming practices, please click HERE
The following are links to our spring 18th century daily life cabin excursions.
~To read about our 2026 late winter/early spring visit, please click HERE
~To read about our 2026 early spring with two of our grandkids, please click HERE (scroll down a bit
We have actually spent a total of 36 days experiencing life in the 18th century at this cabin. And, God willing, these adventures will continue for a long time to come.
In the links here I centered on our spring visits, since this posting centers on the spring month of May. To see other colonial cabin excursions, please check out the links in the cabin posts here.
Sources for this post include:
Seasons of America Past by Eric Sloane
Holidays and Celebrations in Colonial America by Russell Roberts
Early Farm Life by Lise Gunby
The American Farmer in the 18th Century by Richard Lyman Bushman (though not nearly as much of this book is actually about farming practices of the time as I had hoped...it is a bit of a let down)
Diary of an Early American Boy by Eric Sloane
Diary of Mary Cooper
I do not hide the fact that much of what you have read came, word for word in some cases, from the above sources.
Seasons of America Past by Eric Sloane
Holidays and Celebrations in Colonial America by Russell Roberts
Early Farm Life by Lise Gunby
The American Farmer in the 18th Century by Richard Lyman Bushman (though not nearly as much of this book is actually about farming practices of the time as I had hoped...it is a bit of a let down)
Diary of an Early American Boy by Eric Sloane
Diary of Mary Cooper
Family Life in the 17th and 18th Century America by James and Dorothy Volvo
Some information came from my presenter friends at Historic Greenfield Village as well as Colonial Williamsburg
I do not hide the fact that much of what you have read came, word for word in some cases, from the above sources.
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