SEPTEMBER - Everyday Seasonal 18th Century Farm (and city) Life

~Just so you are aware,  these monthly Daily Life posts will be updated as I gather more information in my continued research and experiences~

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Presently,  September is the month that most tend to think of  as being about kids going back to school,  even though many students start the school year in late August.  September = school is what seems to be imbedded in our brains.
Oh!  It's also apple cider,  cinnamon doughnuts,  and apple picking time!  Going to the cider mill is a cherished autumn tradition celebrated heavily across the Great Lakes,  Midwest,  New England,  and Northeast regions of the United States—most notably in Michigan,  New York,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  Vermont,  and Connecticut—where local orchards draw crowds for fresh-pressed cider and warm donuts.

Harvest time lives on!
Let's see what the month of September - the first of the  "ber"  months - was like in those autumns of long past.

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In our modern times,  with September generally bringing the cooler,  crisp autumn air that naturally shifts people toward outdoor activities and seasonal treats like cider and donuts,  visiting cider mills in the upper Midwest and New England is the absolute cornerstone of the autumn harvest traditions.  While modern grocery stores supply juice year-round,  the migration to the mill in September preserves the rhythm of the agrarian calendar from long ago days.

In other words,  here in the 21st century,  when you go to the cider mill,  you are celebrating the fall harvest,  similar to days of America past!

Traditions live~~!~~

Yet in the 18th century,  apples were generally more popular and heavily utilized in October,  rather than September,  as this was the peak month for harvesting hard,  late-season  "winter apples"  meant for cider-making and long-term storage over the cold months.  And since these monthly daily life posts mostly center on the 18th century,  our apple info is being saved for next month---October.

In the earlier part of September,  the signs of autumn can also be seen on the leaves.  The coming of fall is in the air,  even if the daily temps are still summerlike.  Colors begin to show on the leaves of the trees,  and the grass isn't quite as lush as it was in May or June.  And even though gardens begin giving up some of their yield in August,  it is in the three main months of autumn - September,  October,  and November - when the bulk of harvest time production occurs north of the Mason-Dixon.

And it is a cause for celebration.

Historically,  however,  the word  "harvest"  was the original English name for the autumn season before the words  "autumn"  and  "fall"  took over.  Long ago,  people in England called the third season of the year  "hærfest."  The word  "Autumn"  came into English from Latin in the 1300s.  It slowly replaced  "harvest"  as the name for the season.  The word  "fall"  started in the 1500s as a short way to say  "the fall of the leaf."  

See how it all ties in?  

Gathering black walnuts dropped by the trees or thrown by the squirrels in early September are gathered to be used the following month for dyeing wool.

This photo was captured on an early September in the morn...a perfect day for gathering black walnuts.
Colonists foraged in September and October when nuts were plump and husks turned from green to yellowish-green.

It was not just nuts the colonists gathered for dyeing,  but certain plants as well.

Work to be done consisted of daily chores:  milking,  working in the fields and gardens,  cooking,  and the like,  but our colonial farming ancestors also did seasonal chores,  such as preparing for the coming months beyond autumn,  for those shut-in winter months coming up on the horizon.  There were certain tasks and chores to be done during the colder part of year,  per month and per season,  and to prepare ahead was the smart way in which to ensure all would taken care of.

  

Butter-making could take place throughout the seasons,  but during the hot weather,  when milk production was at its zenith,  butter could not be preserved safely,  and the excess milk was turned into cheeses of varying sorts.  

Butter making

As the coolness of fall crept in,  cheese production may have slowed a bit and butter-making for butter would increase.  The idealized picture of the woman of the house sitting in a chair and plunging the dash up and down inside the wood churn is emblazoned in the minds of nearly anyone who studies history,  and this vision is quite true,  though it may also be a child in the chair rather than the mother.  The cream inside the churn goes through three stages,  according to the book,  Victoria's Home Companion.  First it begins to froth and will become essentially whipping cream.  During this process the cream expands so if the churn has been filled too much it may begin to overflow.  Next,  the cream will begin to break when it will resemble curdled milk.  Finally this will gather into lumps which then combines into one solid mass of butter.  The lump of butter was then removed from the thin fluid with a wooden paddle.  It was squeezed and pressed with the paddle to remove all of the remaining milk,  for milk residue remaining in the butter would cause it to go bad much faster.  Salt was then added and the butter would set for a few hours.

The butter would then be washed in cold water and worked again to remove any remaining milk and water after which it was packed into a mold.  The mold was first dipped into cold water to prevent it sticking.  The butter then would be turned out onto a clean linen cloth in the spring house or the buttery and let set until it became hard.

The milk remaining in the churn was buttermilk,  which could be drunk as is or used as a creamer  for coffee or used in baking.

So in mid-September the kitchen garden,  so lovingly cared for throughout the growing season,  continues to give up her yield,  seemingly en masse.

"The housewife's universe spiraled out from hearth and barnyard to tending a kitchen garden and perhaps a large vegetable garden,  as well as assisting with the grain harvest."

The oats are ripe,  standing thick and tall and yellow.  The wheat is golden.  The beans are ready.  So is corn.  And it would only be a matter of a few weeks that the pumpkins,  turnips,  carrots,  and potatoes would be good for the gather.

Of course,  cucumbers,  tomatoes,  and melons are at the ready to be eaten and preserved this time of year.

But this was only the beginning.

You see,  the thing about old-time farming is that very little had changed from the Medieval period  (lasting from roughly the 5th to the late 15th century)  through the first half of the Victorian era  (mid-1800s),  so the manner in which they worked would not have changed much at all.  So what is written here about 18th century farming can also easily pertain to farming tactics of hundreds of years before and even a hundred years after.

As noted in Reliving History Magazine,  "The preservation of food was inherently important to the colonists.  They spent large quantities of time preparing the winters stores,  repeating an endless cycle of smoking,  salting,  brining,  boiling,  drying,  and pickling."

Besides the varieties of squash,  beans,  lettuce,  and other 

vegetables harvested to help sustain the family... 

...Anna Daggett would have also picked plants for medical purposes as well,  including wormwood,  which was a purgative for stomach issues or worms,  

tansy was used to stop bleeding and bruising,  feverfew for headaches and  "female complaints,"  and chamomile,  which was used,  same as it is today,  to make a calming tea.

A real...um...farmacy!

Throughout history,  wives,  mothers,  and some known as female healers extensively cultivated and gathered plants for medicine,  maintaining herb gardens to treat their families and communities.  These women would pass down knowledge of herbs like rosemary,  sage,  and chamomile,  and they did this for centuries,  acting as nurses, pharmacists,  and midwives.  The wife and mother was also essentially the family doctor.

We cannot forget the continuation of picking the right vegetation 

for medicinal purposes as well.

In 18th-century America,  cold viruses,  influenza,  pneumonia,  and other respiratory ailments  (often termed  "catarrh"  or  "winter fever")  were spread most extensively during the late fall and winter months, specifically from November through March.  They were a major health concern during these colder months,  notes the Virginia historical society.

The prevalence of such illnesses were driven by the  "Little Ice Age"  climate,  which caused harsh winters,  forcing families to remain indoors with limited ventilation,  effectively  "stewing in their own germs".

I was able to get a bit of information from the wonderful Oliver Pluff & Company.

Through the same Oliver Pluff & Company I also received samples.

I've noticed that many of these same  "medicines"  have made a comeback in our modern times.  Many a-new mother still calls their own mother or mother-in-law for questions and advice for help during the sicker months of the year,  continuing to pass down the old remedies that still work.  We,  for instance,  use aloe for burns here in our modern day.

With careful planning,  most of the vegetables also grown in the kitchen garden would carry over the family’s needs until the new summer produce became available again.  It’s no wonder that the first early greens from the spring garden were so looked forward to after a winter of starchy root vegetables. 

In late September and even well into October there will be raspberries,  pumpkins,  plums,  broccoli,  corn,  and all kinds of other fruits and vegetables ready for harvesting.  Later September and the month of October seem to make a good pair.  This means that many chores and duties known for either month can oftentimes blend with either month.

Most everything was saved - nothing was wasted.  With pickling a process rather than strictly a preserved cucumber,  other vegetables and even fruits were pickled,  including watermelon rind.  And apple cores were saved for making vinegar.

Many fruits,  vegetables,  and herbs were dried in the sun or near hearths during peak harvest months in the summer and early autumn.  

Pickling,  salting,  drying,  smoking were the most common ways way to preserve food:

Being one of America’s oldest native crops,  pumpkins were an important staple long before Europeans crossed the Atlantic Ocean and discovered them,  and they were cultivated independently by the Native peoples of North and South America for centuries before.  

Almost every early European explorer commented on the large amount of pumpkins in the New World.  Columbus mentioned them on his first voyage,  Jacques Cartier records their growing in Canada in the 1530s,  Cabeza de Vaca saw them in Florida the 1540s,  as did Hernando de Soto in the 1550s. 

A few Europeans also described how the Indian women prepared their pumpkins. 

We've grown heirloom pie pumpkins...

Pumpkins are part of a large family of closely related squashes that grow in goodly amounts throughout the Western Hemisphere.  The English word  “pumpkin”  is a more modern version of   “pompion,”  the term broadly applied to many sorts of similar-looking pumpkins and squash.

In the photo above you can see a pumpkin being cooked in the ground in the manner of  Native Americans of ancient times.

Yet Europeans in Europe did not embrace the pumpkin with the same enthusiasm as their brethren in the American colonies.  Some upper-class English gardeners grew them as a curiosity,  but pumpkins quickly acquired the reputation of being poor men’s fare and were then used for other reasons by the more wealthy.   Pumpkins fed livestock as well as people.  Plantation owners like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson raised fields of them for winter fodder for their animals. 

As pumpkins turned into holiday decorations instead of food,  Americans largely forgot how to eat them.  Save for the occasional pumpkin pie,  the fruit wasn’t seen much on dining tables. 

However,  pumpkin pies have had a 400+  year run,  so far!

This is one of my favorite period farming photos.  There are actually pieces from four different pictures to make this one up,  all taken in late September or early October.

(The following comes from the book The Complete Farmer and Rural Economist by Thomas Green Fessenden - copyright 1835):  "A correctly calculating cultivator will make even his hogs labor for a livelihood.  This may be done by throwing into their pens potato-tops,  weeds,  brakes,  turf,  loam,  &c.,  which these capital workmen will manufacture into manure of the first quality.

You cannot sow winter rye too early in September.  If it be sowed early its roots will obtain such hold of the soil before winter,  that they will not be liable to be thrown out and killed by frost.  It may be sowed early to great advantage in order to yield green food for cattle and sheep,  particularly the latter,  in the spring."

Preparing to sow winter wheat...

Winter wheat,  likewise,  cannot be sowed too early in September.  The book,  The Complete Farmer,  (not the same book as previously noted by Thomas Green Fessenden)  printed in part in the 1750s and in its entirety in 1768,  says that  "the best time for sowing wheat is about the beginning of September.  But if the earth be very dry,  it had better be deferred till some showers have moistened the soil.  

Early sowing requires less seed than late,  because the plants have more time,  and are more apt to spread and throw out a good number of stalks."  

The importance of wheat and other grains and food plants cannot be overstated.  For example,  in his will from 1798,  Sam Daggett wrote:

"...I likewise bequeath  (to my wife)  five bushels of wheat,  twelve bushels of rye,  twenty five bushels of corn,  & two barrels of cyder..."

Just imagine my wife reading my will upon my death and,  as a part of it,  I leave her...wheat,  rye,  corn,  and cider.

"The demands of winter cast a long shadow before them,  well into the waning summer.  Mothers taught daughters how to card wool and coax soft fibers from the hard stems of flax;  how to spin fibers into threads;  how to stitch and mend the heavy coats and hooded cloaks that soon must ward off the biting winds.  Cloth scraps and worn-out clothing found new life in quilts and coverlets.  Finer stuff went into quilted petticoats to keep a lady warm."

David Robinson

Life in September in the 18th century still meant rising with the sun,  though it became even more pronounced as daylight hours began to wane noticeably compared to mid-summer.  Because 18th-century cities lacked modern refrigeration,  grocery store chains,  and advanced long-distance distribution networks,  urban citizens relied almost entirely on local farm markets to survive,  thus September was a peak time for public and farmers'  markets in American urban life,  serving as not only a vital hub where city dwellers bought late-summer harvests and early autumn crops,  but was the lifeblood of urban American commerce in the 18th century.  Farm wagons arrived loaded with corn,  squashes,  pumpkins,  sweet potatoes,  late-season tomatoes,  beans,  and orchard fruits like apples and pears,  which,  oftentimes,  were ready in later summer.  These markets brought the height of the harvest season,  flooding them with late summer produce  (corn,  tomatoes,  peppers)  and early fall crops  (including apples,  squash,  root vegetables).

The farm market days were usually held in the town square, under open-air wooden sheds,  or on the ground floor of the town hall  (such as Boston’s Faneuil Hall Market).  City folk bought in bulk during September to pickle,  dry, or store items in root cellars for the brutal winter ahead,  in the same manner as their rural farm friends.  Freshly threshed wheat and cornmeal filled the stalls,  alongside livestock driven in from the countryside.  Cooler September mornings meant meat  (pork and beef)  was less prone to immediate spoilage than in July or August.

Markets typically opened at dawn,  signaled by a town bell.  It was illegal to buy or sell products before the bell rang  (a crime known as "forestalling").  Early morning hours were reserved for middle-and upper-class families or their servants,  who paid top dollar for the freshest picks.  By midday,  prices dropped,  and the working class,  poor,  and elderly filled the stalls to buy the remaining discounted goods.

While the 1700s saw a rising consumer revolution with cash,  many transactions—especially after the economic strains of the Revolutionary War—still relied on bartering goods and services.

The above farmer's market information came from an AI source.  I did double check the information - sometimes even triple-checked - and I copied and pasted the information,  only I did add a few bits of information because it either was not there or to help fill out a sentence or paragraph.  I essence,  the above Farmer's Market information is a combination of co-writing --- but you can be sure the information is as accurate as I can find.

So...to go along with this Farmers Market information,  I thought I'd post a few pages from an excellent children's book called Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall and illustrations by Barbara Cooney:

The book cover

I'm not going to reprint the entire book...just the certain pages that fit 

Daughter embroidering and her mother spinning flax into linen

And he made shingles on the shaving horse

To market to market with what he planned to sell.

Packing the ox-cart with brooms, line shawl, shingles,  wool,  and candles

The farmer loads his ox-cart with everything his family has grown, gathered, and made over the past year.   The cart carries maple sugar,  wool,  a handmade shawl,  knitted mittens,  birch brooms,  candles,  shingles,  and potatoes.  Then the farmer walks ten days alongside his ox to the market.

And there are a few other items he brought to market to sell.

 At the market, he sells all his goods piece by piece—and then sells the wooden containers, the ox-cart, and even his beloved ox.

At the market...

With his pockets full of coins,  he buys simple winter provisions  (like a kettle,  a knife,  and peppermint candy for his kids)  and walks the ten days back home to start the cycle anew.

I ordered multiple copies for my elementary school-age grandkids,  for it truly does a wonderful job in highlighting the traditional, industrious lifestyle of early rural America where families produced their own clothing,  tools,  and food representing daily life in those old days past.   I wish I had such a book when I was a child.

Well,  that about covers September in the 18th century.  I know I didn't cover everything...but as I gather up further information through my research,  you can bet more will be added.

Next up---October~~~

Until next time,  see you in time.

Click HERE to learn more about colonial city life by way of Colonial Williamsburg

Click HERE for a blog post on historic occupations

To check out my first five  'chapters'  in this monthly series,  please check out the links below.

For the month of March,  please click HERE

For the month of April,  please click HERE

For the month of May,  please click HERE

For the month of June,  please click HERE

For the month of July,  please click HERE

For the month of August,  please click HERE

To learn about ancient farming practices,  please click HERE

A few books that helped me with my research:
Horse-Hoeing Husbandry by Jethro Tull

The Complete Farmer and Rural Economist by Thomas Fessenden

The Seasonal Hearth by Adelaide Hechtlinger

The Complete Farmer... written by various  "Gentlemen"

Victoria's Home Companion by Victoria Rumble 

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