A Weekend in the Past: Doing the Garden Digging the Weeds and Hanging With the Voyageurs

This blog is a history blog  (duh!);  it can be used for information on the past,  or it can be used to see how living historians and reenactors bring the past back to life.

Either way,  it is all about history - my own personal Passion for the Past that I am able to share with anyone who has the same interests as I.

It's also a sort of diary - a record of my historical activities.

That's pretty much what it is for today's post - a record of my recent time-travel adventures - a weekend spent in the past.

Let's begin on Saturday at Waterloo cabin,  where the garden we planted back in May is coming along swimmingly well,  even during the 30 day drought.  I appreciate very much Waterloo Ron,  Brian,  and Arlene watering it for us.  We live about an hour and 45 minutes away so we,  unfortunately,  cannot make it there very often.  We actually are doing good if we can make it out twice a month.

That's where my wife and I were in mid-June,  spending a sunny Saturday...weeding in our garden.

I was honored that the good folk who run Waterloo told me it was my garden and I can pretty much grow what I'd like there...Ron said by having such a garden we are giving Waterloo Farm credibility.

Makes me very happy!

In fact,  it makes all of us living historians - Larissa,  Jackie,  and Charlotte - involved in this endeavor very happy!

My wife,  too,  who happened to come out with me on a weeding excursion one warm Saturday!

Here's Patty & I weeding.
Some of the seeds we had seemed to be having a tough time coming out of the ground. 
But we're not giving up hop!

Got my hoe & my old wood bucket for the weeds.

Oh,  and I do really like my work smock/farmer's smock.  It does its job in keeping my clothes clean!

My wife captured the image of Brian,  the President of the Waterloo Historical Society,  while he was capturing my image  (lol).

Patty  (top pic)  and me  (bottom pic).
As I mentioned before,  I have sciatica,  which hurts so much to bend over!
But I force myself to do stuff like this.  Who cares about a few days of suffering - I have
a job to do,  and that job is to bring the past to life!

That's the map of the seed placement Patty has.

The turnips are doing great!

The hoe I'm using belongs to Brian,  and it is a pretty darn old one.

Brian opened the cabin for us to eat lunch.

Since this was not one of our special cabin days,  we just brought along a simple sandwich to eat while we caught a light breeze between the two doors.  Yes,  it was pretty warm - it got into the mid-80s that day.

I did bring along a few period items,  mainly for our
own benefit and purpose and just in case there were any visitors.
I mean,  we did dress for the occasion!
But there's one particular item sitting on the table
I would like to tell you more about -
it's there...to the left...

Brian surprised me with a replication of an 18th century wooden candle holder that he made.  As he gave it to me he told me it was a retirement gift.  Yes,  I am actually much older than my immaturity shows and can actually retire after nearly 50 years of work  (lol).  As of the day we were here,  I only had four more days left in my working career.

It was a wonderful gift to receive!

Of course I had to see how awesome it looked with my antique candlestick that I purchased a couple weeks earlier.  And we hung it on the cabin wall:

This is so cool!
The wooden candle stand/holder is replicated from an original  (Brian
is a woodworker as well),  the burning candle you see was hand-dipped at the cabin by one of us living historians on that warm day back in February,  and the candlestick itself is a recent acquisition of mine,  made in 1757!

I brought it along to show Brian,  since he also collects 18th  (and mostly 17th)  century antiques.

Here is my beautiful wife,  all full of smiles and joy,  for she loves working in the dirt and growing things  (lol).  On the right is the new holder with the candlestick & candle...
but wait---there's something else I wanted to show you:

Why...it's my new/old porringer!
But just what is a porringer?

A porringer is a low bowl or dish that was commonly used for containing a wide variety of food and drinks such as bread,  vegetables,  soups/stews,  and milk.  Bestowed in honor of a marriage or baptism,  or as a gift to a child,  silver porringers were popular presentation gifts throughout the eighteenth century.

Traditionally European porringers featured two handles,  whereas their colonial counterparts were crafted with just one.

I have a beautiful replicated porringer made in Colonial Williamsburg.

But the one that is in the above picture that I brought along is an original...

If you look close at the handle you can see it is engraved/stamped by the maker:

1769!

So now I have two items from the 18th century in my collection!  (I may have a couple more antiques that may also be of that period,  but their age has not been verified;  they may be of the late 18th or early 19th century period.  But the candlestick and porringer are bonafide).

For right now they both sit on my desk,  but in a short time the candle holder and stick will be hanging on my wall,  and the porringer may also be a-hanging on the wall as well...or a-sitting on the fireplace...or inside our corner cabinet~

Candlelight at night gives a wondrous glow.

So it was a good day indeed for Patty & I at the cabin.

The very next day found me at a timeline event with my Lac Ste. Clair Voyageur friends in a place much closer to my home.

The Chesterfield Historical Society puts on an annual timeline,  which generally includes 18th century Voyageurs,  sometimes soldiers from the same period,  people from 1812,  Civil War,  WWI and WWII,  and once in a while even beyond that,  closer to our own time.  Unfortunately,  with the threat of rain on Sunday - first rain in a month! - many had packed up and left,  including participants from those other eras.

So though Sunday was smaller with a less diversified history,  the event continued on.  Those of us there still put our best foot forward and gave any visitors that came their money's worth.

Micki had a nice set up,  and even had a few items for sale!
She and her husband used to present as chandlers,  but since her husband passed a few years ago,  she has since sold a few of her candle-making accessories to me.
In the photo below you can see Micki & Jerry's set up from 2017:

Pretty awesome!

Dale showed off his ropemaking skills.
In this picture he is showing a sort of twine and explaining the process on how to
make it into a viable rope/twine to interested guests.

The one I am sitting next to showed her skills in weaving a belt.

The doctor is in:

Blood letting to improve your health appears to have been a standard treatment for fever and other ailments in the 18th century.  It was also considered of value in the treatment of hypertension and drowsy headaches as well  (among other things).

Lynn felt the need to be bled,  for she wanted to  to rid
her body of impure fluids to cure a host of conditions.

Bloodletting involved cutting a vein or artery to remove the affected blood.

Notice Dr.  Bloodsworth uses a porringer to catch the dripping blood from the vein.

I have an Indian friend  (who does not mind being called an Indian,  as long as it is in a respectful manner),  and he and I have plenty of good conversations.  We talk mainly of  American history,  and neither one of us are afraid to speak our knowledge and opinions  - sometimes agreeing,  sometimes disagreeing - but we often have discussions others may be hesitant to have for fear of being called a bigot.  But he and I are open-minded enough to listen to each other without fear.

And we always remain friends!

And this is as it should be - this is what should be allowable in conversation.

When we were trying to come up with an idea for a background for his picture,  this is what we came up with.  Mark's heritage is of Osage blood,  which were mainly from what is now Texas,  and bits of Oklahoma and Arkansas,  but he portrays an Oneida,  who were originally came from upstate New York but later could be found in what is now Wisconsin.

I appreciate our shared knowledge and friendship. 

Besides the Voyageurs,  there were a few guys representing WWII

I gotta say,  in listening to their conversation,  they really have a great knowledge of the 1940s military and earlier,  and sort of give their own gun timeline.
WWII reenacting has taken off for both soldier and civilian,  for I also have a number of female friends who show the many different aspects of homelife during this war.
Even though I have no want in reeenacting this era,  I do have a great interest in it since this was the war my father was in,  and I also love learning new things.

I remember years ago when I first began going to historic reenactments,  one mainly saw military men,  with a few women around representing civilian homelife mainly by usually doing cooking demonstrations.  But as I have witnessed since getting involved in this history hobby 20-odd years ago,  I've seen great changes take place.  Changes which now include a large civilian contingent in nearly every time period.  For the realization has come to pass that having a strong mix of both military and civilian reenactors and living historians completes the picture.  And civilians today do much more than cook over a campfire.

That is a good thing.

Until next time,  see you in time.

To read more about historic colonial farming,  please click HERE

To read more about the Voyageurs,  click HERE

~    ~    ~