Mother

Oh what a day we had. What a wonderful day and I could not believe how productive. So many people showed up to help that the work spread out all over the homestead. I had such fun talking and working with everyone. The guys had fun teasing our DD about her climbing all over the barn helping but I noticed they weren't teasing by the end of the morning. That lady knows tools and how to use them. I loved watching their skepticism for her method of raising the higher logs turn to admiration when they found it really worked. She had them laying skid poles against the sides of the building, hooking ropes around the logs at both ends and through pulleys and then using the horses as the power to 'roll' the logs up the skids and to the men up above. In the past, pioneer used to use the skid poles and roll the logs up by hand, a dangerous project but one of the few ways besides brute force that could raise the logs over head. I did get a chance to finally talk with Q about her illness. I found she'd been sick for a while now and it seemed to hang on. We have modern meds in the valley but she wanted to try natural means before she resorted to them so I suggested some herbs that might help. As her symptoms were flu like and I didn't suspect H1N1 at this point, I suggested Elderberries and Echinacea. I haven't found the Echinacea in the valley yet but that doesn't mean we won't. She had elderberries that will bloom son nearby and the flowers would work well for fever as they make one sweat. They are both immune system enhancers. But to go easy on them as sometimes they can cause nausea and she already was having that. Slippery elm is good for sore throats and cough and indeed for almost any red or inflamed part of the body, inside or out. We probably won't find those in the valley but I still have hopes for them too. We have planted a few at our homestead but they will be years in the harvesting. A good substitute is Marsh or even the common Mallow leaves, flower, or root, and I showed her what the mallow looked like. The common or 'cheeses' mallow is easy to spot by its round ruffled leaves and small round seeds that look almost exactly like a wheel of cheese. The whole plant is edible as well as useful. I love to put the 'cheeses' in a salad as they are a bit crunchy. I suggested that ginger would work to help ease the nausea and that the regular kitchen spice would work. Wild ginger would work too but I hadn't discovered any yet. I hadn't had a lot of time to look either. I have brought some roots but am unsure about them growing. Mint, of course, will also sometimes settle a stomach but it also has a tendency to open the sphincter muscle in the stomach allowing acid to go up into the esophagus occasionally causing more problems. For fever and headache she knew I was going to say willow bark tea. That is really good for all sorts of pain but is not all that tasty. I left her a good amount of my own blend of cold tea, which contains wild cherry bark, juniper berries, coltsfoot, and several other herbs including some of the herbs above. That way she doesn't have to go searching until she feels better. But if this doesn't help she needs to use her own medical knowledge and take a good look at what is in the medical supply that will kick it. If it is a virus, then antibiotics won't help but guaifenesin might relieve some of the congestion. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour of her homestead, well, except for the cave that is. I was glad I had the excuse of someone working on a door for it to not go in. I saw Q almost giggling at the way I squirmed out of it. The snot. LOL She's really got the cabin fixed up nice and I envy her the nice solid four walls around her. I know we will have our cabins up before winter though so I am content to camp out a while longer. We are almost done planting and will have more time for logging then. We have spent this evening setting around the fire, tired but laughing, singing, and enjoying each other's company. Tomorrow we will be leaving and the memories will have to last me until the next 'raisin' we go to. I'm sure there will be others who will need help and now that we've found how much fun they can be, I'm pretty sure a lot of people will be all too willing to use any excuse to be together. Most likely we will be first in line !!!

Here's another good cheese page. http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese.html

Sunday We left the lodge not long after MT3B and her family did. It was too bad we hadn't been able to get messages out sooner to let her know we'd have brought the puppies and her goat down to her. I'm sure, though, that like us, she enjoys the services and seeing friends. I'm glad that we got to mention about helping Q with the barn during services. I just wish that MT3B had let us know when they were going to put up their barns as we could have helped with at least the bigger one. I enjoyed our trip south. The countryside seemed more open, more prairie like. It was nice following along the lake. The surface was almost glass like today and reflected the surrounding trees like a mirror. The track was pretty well defined and we followed it out away from the river once we got beyond the lake. The land seemed level when you looked across it but it reminded me of Iowa, there were small hidden dips and hills that made the distance longer than it looked. I wondered how difficult the trail would be in the winter with snow blowing across the expanse of open land. I could see why Q and Mt3B would want to live here though. It was great corn and grain land. As we got closer to Q's place the land began to become more wooded and contained outcroppings of rock interspersed with the prairie like land, almost a perfect combination. They had chosen well. When we came to an "intersection" of wagon tracks we weren't sure first which way to go. I dug out our copy of the map of the valley though and we finally figured it out. I am going to suggest that they put up road signs. They can each have a direction named after themselves. MT3B street…W&A Road,,, P and N Blvd, Q Avenue. What fun LOL. It was just starting to get dusky when I finally caught sight of the cabin and then there was Q, running towards us, ready with a big hug as soon as I managed to get myself down the back steps of the wagon. It felt so good but I knew as soon as I stood back from her that she really still wasn't feeling all that well. I hope we'll have a chance to talk about it a bit. But Oh how good it was to see her and I could hardly help myself but had to hug her again. Other people started to arrive and I laughed that we'd all been "on the trail together" but not together this time. They just kept trickling in. Mr.Q got us set up around the fire pit they'd used before they moved into the cabin and soon it began to look just like a night on the wagon train. There was so much to talk about, there was singing, and eating, and coffee cooking over the fire. It was hard to give up and go to bed but when Q and I caught each other yawning we both knew it was time. We will have the whole day tomorrow to chat and to see all that they'd been able to accomplish in such a short time. I want to see everything,,,well, maybe not their cave but every thing else. LOL. I'll have to be up early to help with breakfast. I forgot to even tell Q that we'd all brought food along and that she shouldn't worry about it. Someone is singing around the fire and I would love to join them but it is time I crawled into our bed and got some rest. Tomorrow will be a busy busy day. I am SO looking forward to it.

Sunday morning Just after most of the family had crawled into bed last night we had a visitor. I can’t believe that young man made his way to us in the dark with only one of those lights you wear on your head. DH, Mom, and I were still sitting at the fire and saw the light moving up the road below us. I guess our fire was acting as a beacon for him but it sure looked strange seeing that light coming up the hill like a one eyed Cyclops or something. It turned out to be one of the young men from the B’s group who had volunteered to be a messenger. He had gotten to Mt.R’s place before dark but then had stayed a bit too long eating with them. He was determined to get our letter to us though. We bunked him in with DS for the night after convincing him that it wasn’t safe to try to ride back to the Lodge this late by telling him of the wolves we had been hearing the last few nights. I’m not sure he realized the dangers until then. Once he was settled in I sat by the fire to read my note. I was grateful to see it was from Q and that she was doing better but when I heard they were ready to put up their barn but didn’t have enough help I was really glad we had already planned a trip there. Now we would be able to spend a day or so helping with that. We’d also been able to stick in an extra chain saw and extra gas. Our young messenger left early this morning instead of waiting to ride in with us, saying that he wanted to get his last couple of messages delivered early and then head for home. I aksed him to tell the others that we'd be working on Mr. and Mrs. Q's barn tomorrow in case anyone would like to join us. He agreed and then was on his way. I think the idea of wolves out there spooked him a little. I might talk to Mr. S about the men going in twos instead of alone from now on. It sure is nice to have messengers though and it sounds like they are going to get a regular route going mid week. We are ready to go now. The puppies are loaded and I hope we have Sasha tied securely enough she won’t be able to follow us. I am just waiting for the kids to saddle up. Our DS wanted the GS and his SO to go with us to add their help to Q and Mr.Q but none of us would agree with that as Mom and DS alone would have a serious problem taking care of so many animals and any problems that came up. The Gkids are totally willing to stay home this time so it was settled. It will still be hard to drive away from them even for so short of time as a few days. I pray we will all be safe.

After some discussion it was decided that this morning we needed to go back to plowing and planting. While the oxen were being hooked up I went out to check on the garden and found the weeds trying to grow faster than the seedlings and I grabbed a hoe. I was soon joined by some of the others and even Mom came out to help. We worked quietly just listening to the birds sing and I found myself trying to pick out the different nature sounds. Somewhere close I could hear baby birds begging for food and in the distance I heard the cough of a deer. The does would probably have babies by now or at least would soon and I was glad that our hunters were careful to take only male animals. I thought about the meat hanging in the cave and was glad that it was cold enough inside to let them hang for a few days. The meat was always so much more tender when it did. I would have wished that they could have been hung in the cave behind the falls as the kids said it was much colder there but it wouldn't have been safe from critters there. I'm glad it would keep a while as I was determined to take the next few days and at least check on Quiltys. We worked all morning on the gardens and fields but stopped at noon. After lunch, we put a cover back on one of the covered wagons and the guys rigged up a set of steps for me to get in and out. Then we moved our mattress and necessities into it along with tents and sleeping bags for those going along with us. It had been decided that Mom, DS, DGS and SO would stay at the homestead but the rest would go with us. We would be taking tools and the chain saw along just in case we needed them. I had the guys load one of the 12-volt refrigerators as I planned to take some of the meat, a couple of the green cheeses, and what other perishables we might need. I added a cage for the puppies and we were almost set to go in the morning. While Mom and I added the odds and ends the others took the oxen and went to the timber to cut more logs. Mom and I worked in the garden for a while after finishing with the wagon. I was pretty sure the chance of a late frost was past and we were replanting the carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, and other biennial root crops so they would go to seed this year. Many vegetable crops are biennials but the root crops are the ones we were able to keep well on the journey. The only other one we'd been able to bring with us was a couple of cabbage and I carefully replanted them. I had a lot of seed along but I wanted to get a start on saving each one that I could, especially when some plants would take careful storing this winter to produce seed next year. When we were done with the planting Mom went inside to start slicing the venison that DGSIL had brought in before they left for the timber while I started a fire in the fire pit, preparatory to grilling the meat. We had put dehydrated sweet corn on to soak early in the day and after lunch had mixed it with sour cream, cornmeal, eggs, and a bit of baking powder and put it in the oven to bake slowly. Now we hard boiled a few eggs, and mixed them with canned potatoes to make a potato salad. We'd been experimenting with our 12-volt blender and oil, eggs, vinegar, and spices and had a pretty good substitute for Helman's but today I used DH's grandmother's cooked dressing recipe and it turned out pretty good. Not as good as I remembered her's being but I always did say she left out one key ingredient when she gave me the recipe. Mom and I were just starting the chores when the family returned. When the chores were over DGS took on the grilling duties while we got the rest of the meal on the table. He excels at grilling and despite the meat not hanging long it was tender and juicy when he was done with it. After everything was cleaned up and put away we sat outside around the fire talking over various plans. We wanted to build a composting toilet but as yet hadn't figured out how it could be done and still have it close enough for everyone to use conveniently, especially in the winter. One of the first things we'd done after arriving was to dig pits and erect a couple of 'outhouse' over them but because of the wind and soil conditions near the caves, they had been kept a good distance from the cabin area. That worked fine for now but wouldn't be so great when the snow is flying. We all had small camping potties we'd been using at night and emptying each morning but we'd still have to go out in the snow or worse yet a blizzard to empty them. We had all the books; we had all the plans and even most of the materials but still no definitive way to be able to build them close. We wanted to use some of our Plexiglas as solar panels to not only give light to the area but also for solar heat to work the ventilation system that would take the odor away. We'd need some sort of containers that could periodically be emptied or 'switched' as they got full. If the containers were used under the seats that would mean the seat would have to be up high enough for the container to fit. That was difficult because of the overhanging rock ledge. We'd almost have to build it outside that ledge and the only areas for that were south of where the kitchen sat now and north near the hot springs. It was that or build them in front of the cabins themselves. Either way, because there didn't seem to be any way to dig down far in that area, we'd have to put steps up to the seat. When we finally went to our beds we still hadn't figured it out totally but we had some ideas in mind at least, ones we'd have to implement before winter unless we wanted to go out into the cold each time nature called. DH and I are going to be sleeping in the covered wagon tonight and it seemed strange to actually have the whole wagon to ourselves. Well, not entirely, Sasha insisted on coming in to check the new bedroom out and plunked herself down beside the bed. I wondered if I'd be able to get into bed with her there. More to the point, how was she going to take us being gone for several days. It wasn't going to be an easy morning for her. We were not only leaving her behind but taking three of her pups with us.

This morning, before the sun had touched the valley below, I had gone out to watch as part of the family took off to do some hunting. I stood in the cool dawn air looking at the pile of logs that was stacked at the north end of the plateau out of the way. It looked both huge and not nearly big enough. The family had managed to bring in more than 30 logs, varying from ten to twenty inches thick, but the estimate needed for just one of the cabins would be three times that much. We hoped to have at least two cabins up before winter along with a couple of medium sized barns along the face of the cliff with the cabins. These first logs will be used for the extension on the temporary kitchen and to close that in. The two rooms will form the first two rooms of the main cabin. We will more than likely add a covered lean-to towards the south that we can use as a temporary place to milk out of the rain as well as a place in case one of the animals has trouble birthing or was ill or injured. If we get a good barn up before winter that area could be closed in and used as another room. I studied the cliff face for the umpteenth time trying to make sure we had covered everything in our plans. It was starting to take shape in our minds with the main cabin being the closest to the main drive that led to the 'road'. It would not only sleep four of us, Mom, DS, DH and I, but would also contain the main cooking area for the next year or so. The sod knee wall outlined the 40-foot greenhouse next to the temporary kitchen. It would be attached on the north side of the main cabin. The fact that we were able to back it on the cliff with an overhang at the back saved us a lot of plexi that can be used for a second greenhouse but would cut the total amount of light we might get because of the location. The greenhouse would open into the kitchen area of the main cabin, lending it's warmth and light during the long cold cloudy days of winter and the heat from the wood stove would help heat the greenhouse at night. It would be easy to harvest food for meals or to tend seedlings. The 20-foot long sod chicken house was already started beyond the greenhouse knee wall. It was almost waist high in the front but there was more sod to be cut yet and we hoped to raise it to the roof overhang with openings for an outside door, good sized windows for solar gain and light to keep them laying and small access doors. By having the chickens there we would be able to do a sort of permaculture between them and the greenhouse, their body heat lending warmth at night and the greenhouse lending heat in the daytime in the winter just as with the kitchen. We would be able to easily feed the chickens greens and seed plants grown in the greenhouse and their waste would eventually become fertilizer for the greenhouse. If we worked it right their nests would be low and built into the green house itself and when they were setting in early spring the heat from their bodies would act as mini heaters for the trays of the seedlings we would place above them. We also hoped to place worm beds under the roost, divided into three or four sections complete with slatted or fencing covers that could be opened to allow the chickens to self feed in the winter. If we ever get rabbits we'll place their cages over a similar arrangement. The chicken coop will eventually have an outside run, also divided so that we can shut them out of one while we are growing greens in the other, at least at the times we don't want them to run, like in the spring when the garden is just coming up and they want to 'scratch' the tender new plants. We have decided though, if we don't get more of the cabins up before winter that DD and family will live in the chicken coop and we'll decide what to do with the chickens. They might just have to share whatever barn we get up for this winter. We managed to get more of the garden planted and even some more sod lifted and place on the chicken coop wall before noon. In the afternoon we started working on removing the bark from the logs. If it had just been a barn we were using them for we might have left it but as they were for the main cabin we wanted them clean. I was glad we'd bought the quality drawknives. We had an attachment for the chain saw that would remove the bark but we found the drawknives worked just as well and saved the gas for other projects. Still, it was tiring work and we worked only a few hours before taking a break. It was while we were taking the break that Annarchy showed up at the homestead. I could scarcely believe my eyes. She was on foot and that had to have been some hike. I offered to have one of the teams hitched up to take her home but she said she was enjoying her hike. It was SO good to see her and we had such a good chat. Just what I needed. I couldn't wait to go see her adobe home. She left us some sausages that smelled heavenly. I was thinking pizza before she even left. I watched her walk away with tears in my eyes. As we were watching her walk down the road DH and I decided to take a few days, before the animals started having their babies, to visit with the people we miss so much. It won't be long for the sheep so we'll have to do it soon. Our plans are to take one of the wagons outfitted for a few nights sleeping as we travel the valley, taking some of the family with us in case someone needed help along the way. I was hoping we could go this weekend. We would be taking three of the puppies to the Lodge and then could go from there perhaps but that meant that I have a lot to do before then. We were just headed to do chores when the hunters returned. We hadn't even heard shots fired so weren't expecting to see much game but they were toting game on two poles. The first was a good-sized buck that they told us almost walked into them. The other pole held two medium-sized mountain goats. They said they'd climbed higher than usual and came across the whole flock grazing in a meadow on a plateau. They had used the crossbow and compound bows to take the game and that's why we heard no shots. The coats on the goats were shaggy and we debated whether to try to shear them and use the hair to spin or to leave them as is and tan them to wear as furs in the winter. In the end we left them, hoping that cleaning them would restore the coats to usable warmth. The game was hung where the deer had been before only to do so we had to use some of the small logs we'd brought up to make a frame for them as there were few places to attach a rope to the cave ceilings. By the time we had the game hung, the chores done and our meal eaten it was late. It was good to think about heading for bed.

More plowing this morning but by noon it was starting to drizzle a bit. We could see sun off across the valley though and teased our son about his 'cloud' following us. It is a long-standing joke we have since he always seemed to get rained on when others around him were dry, especially when on his motorcycle. It was finally decided after lunch that it might be a good time to start logging and get the logs to the home site. They took the chain saws and several teams of oxen as well as one of the wagons. They would be dragging the bigger logs out with the teams but the smaller wood would be put on the wagon. Everyone went but Mom and I. We were the home security for the day. We worked on the excess milk again. It was becoming almost a daily job. We weren't getting as much milk now but still more than we could drink. Once the third cow had her calf we'd have plenty for soft and hard cheese both and I knew I would have to get some slatted shelves built somewhere in the cave to store them all. Because we were being cautious of our use of salt, the wheels of cheese would have to be turned and tended closely to make sure they were keeping well and to be allowed to develop a rind and I dreaded the time I might have to be inside the cave to do so. With so much to do and me being unable to do much of the heavy work, I knew that I needed to do as much of the lighter work as possible. I couldn't keep relying on others to do something I SHOULD be able to do myself. I was now able to go in and out of the storeroom and had even gone to the spring room several times but going deeper into the caves was almost more than I could even think of without being unable to breathe let alone do it. I have to get over it. I should be grateful that we found these caves or we'd have a lot more trouble trying to keep cheese at all unless we dug some sort of cellar or at the least a cool storage area. DH and DS have been working in their spare moments on the doors for the cave openings, making them from hand split logs for strength. They also used hand split logs for the trim on either side of the door frames to help hold the frames in the openings as there was no way to anchor them to the rock itself. But those were just for the openings near the hot springs to keep critters out on that end where we can't see the openings and to block off the spring room to keep the dampness inside, so it can be used as a root cellar, and out of the storage room. As it's too damp in the spring room for the cheese, I guess they will be in the storage room for now. We're definitely going to be grateful for the extra storage in the caves come harvest, or I hope we will or we aren't going to make it through the winter. We could hear the chain saws in the timber above and behind us most of the afternoon but only for short periods of time. I could only guess that they were only using them to fell the trees and were doing the rest of the work by hand. Several times some of the family was back with the teams dragging logs. Mom made a casserole for supper of home made noodles and left over meat and vegetables and a jar of broth. I baked several loaves of sour dough bread and a big pan of cinnamon rolls for breakfast. At the last minute I decided to bake some blonde brownies for deserts and snacks but used some of the honey we'd gotten from MT3B instead of sugar. I had set some of the comb in the warming cupboard on the cook stove just long enough to start the honey draining. When it seemed to be partially melted I set the whole thing in the cool storage room where the wax hardened enough to remove it from the honey. I saved the bees wax for salves and lotions in the future though I suspected that YGS would ask for it occasionally as he loved to chew it like gum. I poured the honey into jars and was once again struck with how few jars and containers we had brought. It had seemed like so many when we packed and indeed, it still looked like we had a ton of empty jars and etc. But when I calculated that we would need a whole lot more than we ever did at home, I knew we'd have to come up with other means to store things. Perhaps tomorrow I'd take some time to explore the riverbanks to see if I could find clay. The drizzle continued off and on all afternoon. It was almost dark and Mom and I almost had the chores done by the time the family came back from the timber. Only the bigger animals had to be led to water yet and I was just finishing up the last of the milking. Mom had supper on the table by the time we were all done and it was a tired, and very damp group that sat down to the table, almost too weary to eat. We convinced them all to take turns at the hot springs, first the girls and then the guys and they were all in bed before nine. Mom and I cleaned the kitchen, set the milk for cream, and then I encouraged Mom to follow the family to bed. I wasn't far behind. We had been soaking dried beans all day and I just wanted to get them mixed with a few pieces of fat meat, some molasses and onions, and into the oven of the wood stove to cook slowly for the night.

Just to let our wiriters and readers know that a few of our Wagoneers have run into REAL LIFE at the present moment. Don't fear, they will be back as soon as they are able. In the mean time hopefully the rest of us will be able to continue to hold your interest. Please, don't hesitate to post your comments or suggestions here. We treasure your help in keeping us on our toes and making us second or even first guess ourselves. We learn as much from your posts as we do from our own. I would like to hear what sort of homestead YOU would build in this situation. Logs? more caves? Sod? Or something totally different but still within the criteria? What about our bloopers? Have you caught any obvious ones? I know I had some I had to go back and edit out. Did you catch them? I know our posts are a bit sparce so why not help us out here in the comments section? We can use reinforcements. And speaking of that...anyone want to join us in the valley. Let me know and we'll figure out a way for you to do it.... :wink (2):

Wednesday The guys had borrowed the disc from the Lodge on Sunday and today they used it to prepare the plowed fields for the other grain crops; the wheat, rye, barley and etc. We have the metal parts to a spike harrow but the disc will break the colds of sod whereas the spike will most likely just drag them. If we use the spike after the disc it will mean an extra pass over the field but we hope that it will prepare the seed bed better and give us a higher yield in a smaller space. They have been working on forming the frames for both the spike and for the plow parts we brought along and have them finally finished. The plow is a double-bottomed plow that will have to be pulled with double teams but should give us more plowed ground faster. At one point today I stood in the garden at the edge of the home plateau and watched as several teams of oxen and the team of horses worked their way across the plateaus below me. I couldn't help but think of the scene as something out of the past and it struck me how much we had changed in just the last few months. It was as if we had taken a step back into time for every mile we traveled to the valley until now we'd come to a place that was lost somewhere between the past and the present. We had moved the pigs to another area early this morning and DGS was using the team of horses to pull the spike harrow through the soil there, knocking down whatever ridges remained from their snouts. DGD and SO was coming behind broadcasting the flax seed across the land. DSIL was using the new two-bottom plow and was having some difficulties with the double team of oxen. DGSIL was driving another team of oxen with the disc. We hoped to have at least 80 acres in cultivated fields before summer's end but none of us were sure we would get that much. We hoped to put some of the fields into winter wheat after that But I'm not sure winter wheat will make it through. It seems like a lot of land but I knew that it really wasn't much to feed eleven people and all the animals we had to care for. As I went back to planting lettuce and radishes I was thinking of the work that would be ahead of us. Plowing and planting was just the beginning. Those eighty acres would take a lot of work to keep them free of weeds and we have to add to that the huge garden areas. We brought the pieces for a horse or oxen drawn hoe but it would only work for the fields that contained our cole and root crops. Because we'd planted the corn with beans and squash, we'd have to keep the weeds down by hand in those fields. Once the plants were will established we might be able to use the geese and ducks to help weed but they would have to turn out a lot of babies for there to be enough to even make a dent. At least they were starting to lay and soon I would have enough eggs saved back to set under them and the chickens as well. For a few minutes I watched DH planting rows of beans using the small walk behind planter and was grateful we'd brought that along and the walk behind push cultivator as well. We had the material to build the long chicken tractors we'd be using but even with those most of the work in the garden would be done by hand. There were so many things to think about and planting seems to give a person plenty of time for that. Soon we'd be cutting the grass and weeds around the trees and vines not only to keep the weeds down but as a start on our hay for the winter. It would have to be cut, dried, raked, put in shocks, stacked in ricks or hay stacks and hopefully we will be knowledgeable enough to stack it in such a way as to keep it fairly well through winter as we have no baling equipment and and it's doubtful we'll have a barn big enough to store it in. Most of that work will have to be done by hand. Harvesting the field crops would all be by hand as well though we planned to leave some of the crops standing for the animals to harvest on their own a little each day. It wasn't ideal but we knew we'd not be able to store all that feed otherwise with no bins except for what we built out of wood. Despite my thoughts about all the work I felt a deep sort of contentment working in the garden. DD and YGS were laughing as they planted spinach singing the "I'm Popeye the sailor man" song, neither of them able to remember most of the words and making them up as they went along. Mom was setting under a tree cutting more of the seed potatoes so we could get them in for a late crop. Soon we would have to stop to get lunch ready for the 'crew'. My mind wandered as I worked, thinking of shelters for us and the animals before winter, how to deal with the outhouse situation, drying racks, and outdoor kitchens and I was glad when DD started singing a song we could all join in on. I smiled when I heard the words echoing from the fields below…." Buffalo Gals won't you come out tonight and PLOW by the light of the moon!!!"

The days seem to be slipping by so quickly I forget to write. Let's see, DD and DSIL had taken some time to shear the sheep on Sunday while we were gone. The battery packs had been solar charging for days so they were able to use the electric shears on the first two but did the last one by hand. In the end, there were several big bundles of wool setting outside the kitchen door. So yesterday, Monday, while the others were working in the fields, DH, DS and our grandson worked on assembling the spinning wheel in the morning while I went to dig out the books that would, hopefully, teach us how to make that wool into yarn. I can't help but wonder just how much yarn those bundles of wool would make and from the yarn how many knitted, crocheted, or woven articles it would produce. I remember someone telling me once that a sheep can produce enough wool in one year to make about two adult sweaters. With our few sheep I know we'll have to rely on the flax and the hemp if we ever get them in. There would also be wild crafted fibers like nettle, milkweed and dog hair. We could even spin the cotton from the cottonwood trees but I'm pretty sure we weren't going to try that this year. I laid the books in the kitchen for later reading and went to help Mom wash the cooled jars of venison and put them into the storage cave. Then we sat at the table shelling what acorns Mom hadn't finished yet. We put them into a mesh bag and then into a latching wire cage to keep critters out. DH later took them to the waterfalls and anchored the whole thing beneath the water. The running water would leach out the tannins so the acorns would be sweet enough to make flour. We could have boiled them in several changes of water but this was the method the Natives used and it saved a lot of work. YGS and I worked with the puppies again, making sure they weren't forgetting their lessons. Two of them would be going to MT3B next week and one of the B's group was taking a female and that would leave us with 2 males to use for breeding and five female if we count the two older Saints. We would have to be careful with the male Lab, as he had already showed interest in the female Saints. It was our intention to use him to breed both DD's saint and the female Border collie/lab mix with the hopes we'd have multi-purpose dogs but the Saints might be more advantageous as purebreds for light hauling and winter help. They were certainly ideally suited to search and rescue but we knew they were also strong and sturdy for pulling and made great pack animals. Either way, we wouldn't be breeding the Saints this year. We had enough for now. We would most likely be breading the herd dog mix though. When we were done with the puppies, he and I went for a walk around the homestead plateau looking specifically for wild greens for supper. We found lots of the usual variety of dandelion, lambsquarter, wild mustard and lettuce, and nettle but even better were the large stand of morel mushrooms we found near some old dead elms just off the plateau to the north in a stand of timber. I thought we'd have missed them this year but it had obviously just turned warm enough to make them pop out after that rain. We went back for a mesh bag and gathered about a gallon of little grays. We used the mushrooms to make a rich creamy soup and with slices of grilled venison and the greens made into a salad with bacon and vinegar dressing the meal was a nice change from canned or dehydrated foods. The left over mushrooms we put on the racks to dry for later use. After supper we had lots of fun taking turns at carding the wool and found it wasn't as easy as it seemed. We hadn't washed the wool first but I knew that some people preferred that. We would be trying it both ways. We also tried our luck with the drop spindles but hopefully the spinning wheel will be more productive. What we produced only vaguely resembled yarn. Good thing we still had time to perfect this before we really needed clothes; we're going to need some time to perfect this. We woke this morning (is it Tuesday already?) to several dead rabbits lying in front of the kitchen and the dogs lying anxiously near them. It seemed that some of the dogs had been hunting in the night but were too well trained to eat what they had 'fetched'. I didn't have the heart to tell them no but I knew that we couldn't reinforce them eating 'game' so we took the rabbits inside to butcher. We kept the back halves to make a stew and saved the brains and hide but the rest we cut into pieces and brought it out to the dogs. If they could manage to find their own food and some for us too it would save some worry. Rain threatened all day but so far has held off. I would have liked to get the flax planted and some hemp as well but the pigs had not done their jobs well enough yet so we left them another day. Instead, Mom and I mostly worked in the kitchen, making cheese, yogurt, and making plans. We were simmering the rabbit on the back of the wood stove as we had it going to work on the milk but as much as I liked my cozy wood stove I couldn't help but think that the open outside fire was better for cooking some things, like the stew. We could use bigger chunks of wood for one thing and that took less time splitting and hauling and the fire held a lot better. I could also see that soon it would be pretty hot to work over the cook stove as summer came closer. While we worked Mom and I made plans for the outside kitchen we wanted. We had brought the big piece of steel plate just for that purpose but we now had to figure out how to build it close enough to the house so it would be usable into the late fall or early winter and again in early spring as well as in the summer's heat. After lunch, Mom and I decided to take a walk to the waterfalls to get some of the cress that we'd seen there near the pool. I knew that we couldn't take chances being out of sight of help so I took my small handgun and called the Lab and Sasha to come along, making sure the puppies were in their pen. It wasn't far but I was afraid they would not be able to keep up with us. They seemed content with the blanket that MT3B had sent home with us. I was glad she'd thought of it. I knew the puppies would miss mom for a while after they left. The one going to the B's family would be even worse so I found an old piece of blanket to put in with them also so we could send that with them. Thankfully the family had older children and they were willing to learn how to handle a puppy from this bigger breed of dog. When Mom and I got to the pool the dogs wandered up the path besides the falls and we followed hoping to do a bit of exploring before going back to gather the cress. The path was surprisingly dry and not all that steep considering it wandered beside the twenty or thirty foot drop of cascading water that formed the falls immediately above the pool. When we were about half way up the dogs followed an animal trail into the vines and bushes growing beside the path and seemed to disappear behind the waterfalls. Figuring there was a cave there I made my way cautiously after them while Mom waited on the path. I had gone only a short distance when I realized that there was a large cave opening in front of me and that the dogs had gone inside. I waited for a minute, gun drawn to see what would happen but nothing did. The opening was not directly behind the falls as the falls was about thirty feet to my right. The opening was set into the side of the rock cliff that the water was running across. I wasn't about to go in so I called the dogs and when they came I turned back to the trail. We went a bit higher on the path but then it became pretty difficult to walk and we turned around and went back to gather the cress for supper, laughing a bit about being the great explorers and getting only a thousand feet from the home plateau. It was good for us to get away from the kitchen duties for a while though and we were both buoyed up by our little climb. I mentioned the cave to the kids before chores and they went to explore the cave when they took the animals for a drink at the pool. When they got back I found that we'd made an exceptional discovery. The cave really was a deep room behind the falls. You could stand inside behind the water and watch it cascade to the pool below. As was to be expected, the front part of the room was damp but further back it was almost dry and particularly cold. Cold enough to be used for cold storage for our fruits once the orchard started producing. We would have to modify the path to be able to get the wagons there but it could be done. It wasn't something we needed to think about until the trees and vines started to produce but for the future it would be extremely useful. DS was already thinking about it as a place to store and age his wine. It was a busy day and I'm ready for bed. Tomorrow we hope to remove the sod from another area of garden and plant more of what had already been turned. I might even plant the small plots the pigs already 'tilled' on the home plateau to flax or hemp. We didn't seem to have many leftovers to put on them so we might as well use them for something before they go to weed.

Yes, it really would be advantageous but if our situation were real it's doubtful that we'd be able to build that many rooms for each. I suppose in the situation of the Hobbit Hole where there are more than one 'room' it might be possible (as I have no idea how MANY rooms are there, not having been IN them ....) but even then, the spores would travel on the air currents unless the rooms were well sealed. And if they were well sealed, they would have to have ventilation to the outside in some way so the exchange of air would at least keep the outside of the cheese from molding. That does bring up the possibility of one home making all one product though and then trading for another. Most pioneer developed their own 'strain' of organisms and were famous for the taste of their cheese...or not,,,, depending on how it turned out. It was the same way with sour dough and I assume yogurt because there are so many strains of bacteria that are used in it. (Yogurt was not a staple of pioneer diet. It was brought here in the late 1700's by the Turkish but was not popular until the 1940's) Sanitation, at that time, was practiced unknowingly though because they knew that it was easy for the cheese or sour dough to "go off" (we know now that it was 'wild' yeasts and bacteria that can cause that). The housewife scrubbed their cheese making pots meticulously, sometimes because it was used for a number of jobs from laundry to cooking stews and some were known to pour boiling water into them before making their cheese. To 'culture' the cheese they either added a 'starter' kept back from the last batch made or they allowed milk, often buttermilk, to set in the room where they made the cheese and sour naturally. Of course it was picking up the 'culture' from the surrounding air at that point. Bread and beer are essentially the same thing. Bread (bakers) yeast and beer (brewers) yeast are two separate but similar organisms. I have recipes that call for using bakers yeast as the starter for fermentation however. What an interesting product the pioneer must have come up with. Our son is interested in making beer and wine IRL and has encouraged me to bring it into this thread. It was really his idea to have caves so he'd have a place for his wine. LOL. Of course, that meant the first thing he thought of bringing along wasyeast, hops and hop seeds to grow more. He was all for loading the wagon with barrels galore but I drew the line at that and told him he'd have to build his barrels.... but he still got a few in and called them "water barrels".... . Having grown up around most of what we are 'portraying' it's almost second nature to them so they tend to think beyond the survival aspect of it. Darn kids anyway.....

(This post replaces one that did not mesh with Q's…Will repost the other one at a later time.) Sunday was a good day for us. DD and DSIL stayed home with the animals but the rest of us went to the Lodge for services. We brought roast venison and a large bowl of wild salad greens to add to the community meal. The view on the way in was spectacular. The sun was lighting up the whole western side of the valley and gave the whole country a patchwork quilt look in various shades of green. The darker evergreen color was interspersed with drifts of the spring green color of new growth on deciduous trees and it had the look of an oil painting brushed by a lavish hand. I encouraged DH to go slowly so we could enjoy the beauty. We stopped to see how MtR was doing but found no one around. We weren't sure where they were staying but it wasn't near the garden and fields. I know they were going to be looking for a cave like ours but we had no clue if they found one to live in for sure. We tarried a bit too long on the trail and arrived at the Lodge with just enough time to take the food to the kitchen before the service. We found Chef there, bustling around as usual, but not too busy to greet us with his good-natured smile. It was so good to see those who made it in. Quiltys was there to take the goat but she sure didn't look well. She thinks just flu but I'm not so sure. We talked some about various herbs she could use but I'm not sure she shouldn't be taking some of the antibiotic that is stockpiled. I will try to get word of her in the middle of the week and see how she's doing. We talked for a while about the goat so she would know what to expect. The Nigerians are the same as regular milk goats only a lot shorter. It's a lot easier to milk them on some sort of stanchion. This one is used to just jumping up on a raised board. Q might have a bit more trouble with the shorter teats but I'm sure she'll be able to handle it. The doe should give Q at least ¾ of a quart of milk at a time. It was really nice to have a gift of honey waiting for me from MT3B. Bless her for her thoughtfulness. She deserves a ton of hugs. It sounds like they are getting their homestead together quite well. I'm glad to hear they are all under cover at least. We are still sleeping in our wagons but as we got a bit later start on our fieldwork, we're going to be a while doing it. I left some of the honey for Annarchy to share, hoping they would enjoy it as much as we will. Everyone was talking about their adobe home and I can't wait to see it. Especially their outside kiln. It sounds like something we might all be able to use. I was sorry to hear they had lost an oxen but am grateful they could utilize the meat. By the time we were headed home the sun was moving around to the west and I was intrigued once again by the scene before us. It was similar to the one we'd seen in the morning but the colors were subtly different. There were more dull reds and browns of year old leaves still clinging to trees and some of the drifts coursing through the darker evergreens looked more yellow than green. I began to notice darker shadows in the cliffs above our homestead and wondered if they were more caves of if it was just a trick of the sunshine. A movement high on the valley wall caught my eye and I drew in my breath. What looked like dozens of large sheep or goats grazing peacefully in a small meadow that seemed to be perched just below he rim of the valley. I could see some with large curled horns and I wondered if they were the Dall Sheep or the mountain goats, both of which supposedly lived in the area. I wished for the binoculars to see them closer but I could tell even from this distance that there were babies nursing on moms. It truly was spring. It reminded me that we'd have babies on the Homestead soon as well. I flash of color drew my eyes from the crags to the brush along the road. Just ahead of us a flock of brightly colored buntings sprang into the air at our approach. I wasn't surprised at the numbers of birds I'd seen in the valley so far. There was a wealth of food here for them. Just on the trip in I'd seen raspberry, June berries, and gooseberries all blooming. There were chokecherry trees, hawthorn and even a wild plum thicket on our property that would all be blooming soon as well. DH had found some wild apple trees on our property but they were most likely crab apples. Still, crab apples made great jelly. I reminded myself that I needed to take some time to explore so I would know what we were dealing with. The June berries would be ready to pick sometime next month but the wild strawberries should be ready in a week or so if we can beat the critters to them. They are a favorite early spring fruit with lots of animals and birds. If we're lucky there will be enough for us all. We arrived home in time for chores and then it was an early night for us.

Annarchy, Yeast can be sour dough. It can be made without commercial yeast and a good one can be shared, frozen, or dried for later use. Potato water, flour, and a bit of sugar will make a great sour dough. We brought cheese starter among a few other cultures (kefir, yogurt, sour cream) and they can be shared as well but cheese has been made for centuries without a commercial starter. The problem is, getting a good tasting cheese to begin with and then propagating the culture that caused it. A bad or unwanted culture can be propagated just as easily though as most of them can be airborn. Like me making blue cheese with a culture once and all the cheeses I made in that kitchen turning into blue cheese for months after despite meticulous sanitation. Vinegar,,,,well that takes longer for sure though it can be made from several different sources... Let us know what you find about those and the other things you mentioned.

This is similar to a brick oven like the one I'd like in my own back yard. Is this one heated by building a fire inside to heat the adobe and then the ashes, etc raked out before baking? Or is this one that you just build a fire inside and cook over the coals? Or can you do both with it. We saw an oven built into a fireplace in Nauvoo Illinois they called a bustle oven. I've seen them built in back yards as well. You can bake different things in succession in them, first things that require a hot quick oven like biscuits, then breads, then cakes or delicate things or for putting a pot of beans in to cook slowly the rest of the night. If they are built with enough heat storing capacity the can be used after the temperature cools for dehydrating foods. Have you found these sites yet? They are a couple of my favorites. http://www.traditionaloven.com/ http://heatkit.com/html/bakeoven.htm

We have one at the "Hobbit Hole" too, hand cranked but unless I'm cutting a whole lot for freezing or ? it's not worth the clean up. We found that partially frozen bacon worked best with either the knife or the slicer. We had an old slicer at the museum and it was basically just a sharp curved knife on a pivot that you pulled down to slice through meat, cheese, and such. They were used in the old general stores. Surprisingly enough, when it was well sharpened, it worked fairly well on bacon but cut across, like Canadian bacon might be, making it into rounds. As I write my posts I'm coming up with a lack of time and energy versus the amount of work that really would be necessary to this style of life. The amount alone that it would take to carry and heat water for just the cleaning and sanitation of milk pails, strainers and cloths, and etc., TWICE A DAY, is about three times as long and as difficult as just turning on a tap and having instant hot water. Add to that the amount necessary for doing dishes and bathing. I can see why the pioneer bathed in the creeks or infrequently. (I haven't started thinking on laundry yet. We don't have an infant so no diapers but what about those substitute toilet paper cloths?) Another thing I'm missing already is enough 'containers' for everything. It's amazing the amount we use daily that we don't even consider. Buckets, baskets, bottles, bowls, jars, boxes, and etc. There wasn't enough room in the wagons to take all that and the necessities too. We need to get busy with basket and barrel making and pottery before the winter harvest BUT.... when do we find TIME And ENERGY with all the other work.... They are both a precious commodity I wish we'd brought more of. I'm not sure there was room in the wagon for those either...

Saturday I was awakened in the night by rain. I lay listening to the wind blow it against the wagon and against the tarp covering the kitchen. It rained heavy for just a short time and then slowed to a light shower for almost an hour before tapering off. I wondered if it had rained all over the valley or just in the northern area. I hoped it was enough for everyone, to save them having to water new plants for a while as it would us. It was still dark when I stepped down from the wagon, and surprisingly warm. I headed to the kitchen intent on getting the stove going. I knew with this heat we'd have to butcher that deer this morning. Mom wasn't long behind me and by the time the others started to trickle in we had enough jars washed for two canners full and breakfast almost ready. We are trying to limit the amount of grain we use to make sure it will last until harvest so this morning we had left over deer from last night cut into small pieces and fried with reconstituted dried potatoes, onions, peppers and celery; our version of beef hash. We are finally getting the hang of cooking enough food for at least two meals and sometimes three. Sometimes the leftovers from supper would be reformulated for breakfast or lunch; sometimes breakfast leftovers would become lunch or even supper. Being able to set food in the cold spring water really helped but the temperature was usually about 45, just a bit too warm for real safety. Thankfully we had the two small, 12-volt refrigerators. They had been hooked to their solar powered batteries and were set just inside the cave store room so we'd have a safe place for perishables for the summer. This winter we would harvest ice and store it, packed in sawdust or other insulators, in one of the caves. We had turned one of the refrigerators down low enough to freeze but found that it took way too much battery power to use it that way long. We'd probably only use it that way on special occasions, like when we make ice cream…I better write that really quietly or we'll have Mt_Rider on our doorstep. She loves it as much as I do. When breakfast was over I left Mom doing the clean up while I went to help with the milking and other chores. DSIL and Dh started working on removing the hide from the deer and by the time we were done with chores they were already starting to cut up the meat. The hide wasn't big but we didn't want to waste anything so I had the guys set aside the head once they had removed the tongue so I could use the brains to tan the hide like Annarchy showed us on the trail. I took the tongue to the kitchen along with the first shoulder haunch and Mom and I got busy. We were soon joined by DD, DGS1 and his SO bringing the other shoulder haunch and the ribs. SO had not butchered before we butchered the oxen on the trail but she was fast becoming a real help with it. YDGS was there as well but soon went off to help his Dad and the others with the plowing and planting. By the time the others had the oxen yoked and were down the hill we had the first canner of cut up venison ready to go on the stove. I had Mom set down in her rocker with a pan of acorns to shell on her lap, giving her the job of watching the gauge on the first canner. The second one would be my weighted canner and we'd hear it jiggling all over the room and be able to tell it is up to pressure. DGS1 started de-boning the ribs while DD and SO started slicing roasts into thin strips for drying. We dipped the strips into boiling water for a few minutes before patting them dry, salting them very sparingly, and putting them on the hanging net dehydrator racks that are really hanging net shelves. I had brought dozens of them along as they fold flat and take up very little space. I've used them a lot in the past and I didn't want to have the guys take time to build a frame for the plastic and stainless steel dehydrator trays we'd also brought along. Once the first canner was done, while it was cooling, Mom got the heart from one of the small refrigerators. She put it and the cleaned tongue, some of the scrap pieces of meat and spices into a big pan and set it to simmer on the back of the stove to use for lunch. We were just done cutting up the meat from the ribs and front haunches when the rest of the crew came in for lunch. While they were eating sliced heart on biscuits I took a few minutes to step outside for a breath of air. It was hot and steamy in the kitchen despite the fact that we'd pulled back the tarp on either side of the door. I was really surprised to see the amount of land that had been plowed in only a few hours. All together there was probably 20 acres tilled and planted. A great start for the few days they'd been at it. I could also see that the pigs had made a good start on their 'pigorating' too. A few more days, a week at the most, and we'd be able to plant that area to flax. When the others came and settled under a group of trees for a rest, I went back inside to watch the canning while Mom got out for a while. We had finished the whole deer besides the back haunches and those we'd keep cool a while longer. I had in mind that we'd put one whole haunch into the oven tonight to use as a dish to pass at the Lodge tomorrow. If there were any left afterwards we'd send it home with whoever needed the meet. We would most likely take the other haunch in raw too. There might be someone who has not been able to hunt. We could easily keep it cold in one of the small refriges if we moved it to the wagon for the trip down and back. I began sorting out the bones that we'd put on to boil for broth and those that would go to the dogs with the meat scraps. When DGS1 came back in to help I had him get the meat saw and help me cut the big leg bones into pieces and then placed them in sealed plastic bags. The marrow would make a nutritious broth. I had him cut the rib bones into pieces too, putting some into bags for the dogs for later and having him take the rest out for them to enjoy now. The rib bones are just the right size for the puppies to start chewing on and the older dogs will love them too. I rarely feed the dogs cooked bones but will give them all kinds of raw ones. Even poultry bones are okay for them IF they are RAW. The dogs had not been given the tripe or stomach contents from the deer because it had been field dressed but the family knows now that they need to bring it in with them next time. It can be fixed for human consumption but I never liked it. It does, however, add much needed probiotics to the dogs diets and they love it. Mom took the left over tongue and meat scraps and cut them into small pieces before putting them back into the broth they'd been cooked in. She brought that to a boil and then slowly added cornmeal until it started to thicken. She stirred it to keep it from sticking and continued to cook it for about fifteen minutes while I got bread pans ready. I greased the pans using some of the deer's own fat and Mom poured the cornmeal mixture into them. We let them set to cool for a bit before placing them in a Rubbermaid container and setting them in the cold spring water to cool completely. That's our version of Scrapple and we'd slice and fry it for breakfast. We would be frying the liver, with some wild onions I spotted on our walk to the hot springs, for supper tonight. DS and YGS both detested liver so we'd be serving some of the slices of deer meet along with it. When the meat was finally all cared for Mom and I settled ourselves under a tree where we could watch the family in the field and started to scrape the deer hide. The dogs all brought their bones over and lay surrounding us while they chewed but I would rather have had them go away. The crunching and gnawing soon began to grate on the ears so Mom and I started singing. I wondered how often this picture had repeated itself with Native American women throughout history. I smiled at one thought I had,,,,I refused to CHEW the hide as they did in the past to make it soft.

Friday. Seems as if the week has sped past. We are getting used to being up early and retiring early. Our muscles are not protesting quite as much as they were, all except mine that is but that is a permanent thing. Even the dogs have settled into their work of guarding the animals and homestead. We had sheep out in the night and never heard a noise. We found them safely grazing NEAR their pasture with the dogs in attendance. As far as we can see, there was no damage to any of the new plantings. I'm glad we have venison to share with our night guard. That is one thing we discussed around the table at breakfast. Guards. Once we reached the valley we had not felt the need to do so but after last night's 'escape' we debated. Not about the homestead. The dogs will warn us of any danger to us here but about the security of the valley itself. How would we know if others entered the valley? We can actually see the area of our decent but would the dogs warn us if strangers were seen there? We are so remote would we even have to worry about people coming into the valley unless they were from the Ranch. It's possible that someone from the Forest service might wander this way, or perhaps checking out the noise or smoke coming from the area. I'm surprised the Forest service fire spotters haven't reported it before this but I suspect that Mr. S and Mr. J took care of that long ago when they bought the valley. We will ask Sunday when we go into the Lodge. My family never fails to amaze me in their thoughtfulness but in this one instance I'm not sure I appreciate it quite as much a others. This morning they were working at the north end of the plateau for a while. They were hoping to finish the interior door to the cave before they started on field and garden work. Mom and I were sorting seeds, getting them ready to plant when they came to get us. They wanted to show us what they'd accomplished. After yesterday I did NOT want to go into a cave again for weeks but they assured me the cave opening was very large and it wouldn't bother me. I finally started to grab my boots but they told me I didn't need them. Mom followed them eagerly, me a bit more hesitant. When we got to the area where the water was running out of the cave I was surprised to see a walkway of small logs. We followed it around the curve of a large rock outcropping and pushed through a wall of hanging wild grape vines. I was excited to see them, hoping they would yield grapes for jelly, but even if they did not the leaves would be great for other uses and the vines would make excellent baskets and other woven items. On the other side, just as the kids had assured me, was a large opening in the rocks with misty air seeming to pour out of it. I could hear water trickling and looked down to see a steady stream coming out of the cave and running away under the logs we were standing on. A couple steps off the logs walkway was dry land and that is where the path entered the cave. The cave was wide but not all that deep. I wasn't intimidated because it did seem more like a large overhanging ledge than a cave. The water seemed to seep from the base of a wall to the back. It flowed into a depression in the floor of the cave but I could see the bottom of the depression easily and it didn't look deep enough to really bathe in. There was no odd smell though I could see what looked like calcium deposits around the edge of the waterway. When I felt the water at the edge it was not quite too hot but almost. I looked up and found my family all waiting to show me what they'd accomplished. They HAD started on the frame work around what looked like maybe a thirty inch wide by five or six feet tall opening in the wall about fifteen feet from the spring. I gathered it was the 'door' to the rest of the cave but what really caught my eye was the 'shower' stall they had installed beside the door. They had taken one of the numerous shower curtains we'd brought along and placed it a coil of electric fence wire strung on a sapling frame. I can see where the kids had chipped out a small groove in the floor to take the shower water to the spring runoff. They had hung one of the solar shower bags from the frame and had even put pegs in the doorframe next to it to hold towels. I was almost in tears when I went forward to pull the curtain aside and look into the shower. Mom had the same sheen in her eyes as she stepped forward too. I thought that least until the weather got cold enough to freeze the water on the floor we would all have hot showers. When I brought that up to the kids they told me to feel the floor. When I did I discovered the stone was actually warm feeling. We weren't sure though how the water would dam up outside the opening where the cold would hit it and it was that which was causing the most problems with designing the outer enclosure. Until then, I was just glad to have hot showers through the rest of the year. The kids wanted me to take a walk back through the caves but I declined and thanked them kindly for the log walkway outside and DS walked back with me while the others walked back with Mom through the cave. They beat us to the kitchen and were having a snack of dried fruit when we got there. Must be a lot shorter that way or they all ran just to prove a point LOL. The rest of the day was spent mostly outdoors for all of us. The guys started the plowing and planting in the fields and us women planting in the garden. After lunch we all took some time to get another pen ready for the pigs on the third plateau down. This time we surrounded a much larger area with solar electric fencing close to the ground only using saplings buried in the ground between every three or four step in posts for sturdiness. We wanted the pigs to lightly 'till' up the area so we could plant flax. We should get a good crop as it is a fast grower and the soil is perfect for it but we are only on the edge of its zone. The manure shouldn't cause a problem with eating the seed. Flax seed has many nutritional benefits and it can be used when mixed with water, to substitute for eggs in recipes. Flax seed sprouts have a delicious spicy flavor that goes well in winter salads and parts of the plant are useful as a dye. If we can figure a way to extract the oil it will be useful too but the main reason is for the fiber. We will be able to mix it with other fibers for strength. Maybe even Sasha and April fur. The shower tonight was HEAVENLY. Mom went first but there was still plenty of water for everyone else.

Ah Boy, ambergris, that was off the top of my head but I know there are lots of places on the web that give recipes for cooking with leaves. I've experimented with all sorts of edible leaves though and some we've liked some flavored the filling too much. I often save some of the biggest cabbage leaves, blanching them and putting them in the freezer. They hold up the best in cooking in the coals though Grape leaves work well too you just have to make smaller packets and watch the coals closer. I use aleady cooked fillings like rice and potatoes and cooked meats so the time is shorter. I also use fresh green edible leaves or green corn husks to line a hole dug near the edge of a fire that has been burning a while. I make sure they line the sides well so no dirt gets into the food. I place larger pieces of food on the leaves, like chunks of potatoes, carrots, meat, etc. and then cover those with more leaves. I put the lid from my cast iron pot upside down or a pie pan on the top and put a few hot coals on them but I have used green bark to do it. It acts like an oven. You have to be careful uncovering them and taking the food out but it's doable and no mess if you use bark. Does that help a bit more???

My favorite site, Qulitys. We used it last year for DGS's Covered wagon curriculum. Some I read copies of years ago through inter-library loan and they just get better with each reading as I find something new each time. This site has a whole lot more than what I could get then though... Thanks for posting the link.

Way to GO, CAT!!!

Betty, taking that idea into the survival/wilderness mode, you can use all sorts of leaves to cook in. The standard vegetable leaves like Cabbage, kale, chard, mustard, romaine, squash, pumpkin, and etc are all good for cooking in the coals. Grape leaves, either wild or domestic as long as they are not sprayed are a favorite with greek cooking. Plantain, violets, and almost any edible greens with larger leaves will work and sometimes it's a good way to use older leaves. Even if the leaf is not big enough, small edible leaves can be picked in bunches on the stalk and used to wrap foods for cooking. You can often use a stalk to tie the leaves in place. Just be sure to wrap them thickly enough that as the leaves cook they don't fall apart losing your food to the fire. Sea weed works well. Some trees, like birch, beech, sassafras, and citrus give us edible leaves or the inner, cambium bark layer can be peeled for use as food or wraps to cook in.

I agree,,, GREAT thread.... We DID have more wagons but we also had more people to provide for and thanks to my IRL family, we made a good list...(they have been 'playing' along in the back ground) BUT...there were so many things that would be difficult if not impossible to get. I mostly keep thinking of IRON or STEEL things. My family are all welders and we could manufacture so many inovative and helpful 'gadgets' with various pieces but the weight was just too prohibitive. Paper, paper, and more paper. We CAN make paper but the way I would want to be writing it would be a full time job. If we were really writing journals in the BV, and I would probably do that, I'd have to learn shorthand. (can you all read shorthand?) I would have brought more Stainless steel buckets and items for their longevity and ease of sanitation. And sealed storage containers. We can make barrels and buckets and etc but it's hard to get an air tight seal on those things and still get in and out of them daily. I know now why the pioneer had trouble with spoilage. I'm avidly reading your replies here because I know they are going to remind me of all the rest of the things I forgot.

It was a busy day at the Hobbit Hole. DH, SIL, and GSIL left early this morning to do some hunting. They had the compound bow, a rifle, and a shotgun with them and it looked like they were going on a safari. DD, DGS1, his SO, and DGD went to work on the hot springs cave. They had all been down there a few times to get washed up but the floor was littered with rocks and debris and they wanted to clean the area and get it set up for bathing. They also wanted to measure the opening for a door of some type to keep critters, big and small, from entering the cave through that opening. They would need to figure out how the steamy air was going to be removed from the cave though. The walls were already dripping. They would need to make a door for the interior passage to the rest of the cave as well or that steam would permeate the whole length. Mom, DS, and I were going to make some sense out of the food supplies in the wagons. DS started by hooking up a couple of the solar lights inside the cave behind the kitchen. He was going to put up some bracing around the door opening to the fresh water spring room and then open it up so that it would be easier to get through. I was extremely concerned about that part of it but he assured me he would be cautious. While he was doing that Mom went into the storage cave to sweep it down and get an idea where to put things. At least she would be near him just in case of an accident but that meant they were both in there if it did. I started sorting through the boxes and totes that the kids had brought in earlier. I had a notebook nearby and jotted down what we had left. I had an inventory of what we'd brought originally but it would be easier for me to assess what we had to work with this way. There was a lot more than I expected and there was still food stored in the other wagons that we hadn't even opened. DS came out a couple of times and went out to use the chain saw, bringing various logs and some of the pole barn nails back with him. I heard the hammer for a while, and then it was quiet. Then I heard the sledgehammer hitting rock and suddenly realized with a start that he didn't have on a facemask. He has serious lung problems and NEEDED that mask. I grabbed one from our supplies and headed to the cave intending to give it to Mom to give him but found no one in the supply room. One of the lights was making the room bright and the other I could see down a short hallway and I headed in that direction, knowing they couldn't hear me over the sledge hammer noise. Mom was standing near the opening, holding up a big cloth to keep the dust from coming into the storage room. Surprisingly, there wasn't much dust and I went closer to see why. The rock DS was hitting was all wet. Obviously he'd used water from the spring to wet it down and really didn't need the mask. He stopped after about a minute and Mom grabbed the broom and started cleaning up the rock pieces and I grabbed the dustpan to help. After that was done Mom said I might as well take a look at the springs as I was that far and I braced myself and went. It was a pretty big room and the second light really made it bright. There was a small window like opening towards the cliff face and I wondered I hadn't seen it before. DS said it would open into the greenhouse and might help with the moisture there but they'd rig up a sort of window that could be opened or shut. The spring itself sat on the back wall of the room. It really was just a small stream, maybe a gallon or two a minute, that flowed in a small waterfalls into a natural stone bowl about four by five feet. From there it overflowed into a crevice and then disappeared into the floor. From there I knew it went under the plateau somehow and out the bank over four hundred feet away. I was fascinated with it but I could feel the tightness in my chest and immediately turned and left the cave. I did stop in the storage room long enough to give it a good once over and realized it was a lot bigger than I remembered from my first quick look. There was a good-sized alcove, perhaps a small room, just to the south side of the kitchen door but it was too dark to see inside it. It was cold in the cave and I was grateful for the warmth of the kitchen. Mom had grabbed her coat and gloves before she went in but I worried she would get chilled. I stood near the wood stove for a while just getting warm before making up my mind that I could not let Mom do that work. I grabbed my own coat and an extra broom and headed back into the cave. I thought if I kept busy I might be able to do it. It didn't work. I kept having to go back to the kitchen to be able to breath but finally, between the three of us we managed to get the storeroom cleaned and the frame for the door to the spring room up. DS hung a tarp over the opening temporarily but would be working on a wooden door for it when he finished helping us move totes and boxes and setting them up so they would be easy to get into. We were almost done with what I'd already sorted when the hot springs crew showed up, coming through the caves. They admired the work we'd done and then went to help DS move the camper wagon so they could bring the other wagons one by one to the kitchen to unload. We stopped for a quick lunch and then everyone pitched in to inventory our supplies and store them away. I was grateful that neither Mom nor I had to go back into the cave. When that was done Mom and I started supper cooking and the others went to the north end of the cave to start on the framework for the inner door on the hot springs. They had decided that it was more important to keep the steam and critters out of the cave than it was to close off the outer opening for now. I teased them about having to bathe in twos with a gun within reach. But it wasn't really that funny. We were just starting the chores when the hunters returned. I looked on in amazement as they came up the north trail with a small deer on a pole between SIL and GSIL. DH was carrying a game pack over his shoulder and it looked full. At first I was concerned that we would not be able to use up all that meat but when the game bag was opened I saw it was full of acorns. I quickly pulled some out, thinking perhaps they had gathered empty or worm filled shells but soon discovered they were all beautifully full. DH told me they had raided an animal's stash. They'd found them accidently in a hole under a tree that was covered with leaves. I was overjoyed. There must have been three gallon of them. I could already taste the acorn pancakes. I set them aside to shell and then leach later and took a plastic bag from DH. It contained the heart and liver from the deer. We would get the tongue when the deer was butchered. For now the guys took the deer into one of the caves to hang for a while in the cold. It would keep there for several days, becoming more tender as it hung. When I asked DH what had taken them so long he said they'd done a bit of exploring above the homestead. They did some game counts and found large numbers of deer and other game. They had seen mule deer, white tail deer, and even mountain goat on the crags above the valley. Rabbit were plentiful as was squirrel. Even more important than game, was the discovery of a large stand of mature Maple trees. From their description they are Manitoba Maples, good trees for syrup come next February. The last thing he handed me was some strips of inner tree bark. I recognized the smell immediately. Elm, and from it's feel, slipper elm. The bark was strongly mucilaginous and used as a tea or a wash it would sooth the most irritated stomach, lungs, throat, or skin. Ground to a powder it was an extremely nutritious but easily digested food source. The powder or tea could also be made into soothing lozenges or syrup if a sugar source could be found. Treasures upon treasures, all of which added to the assurance of our survival.

Isn't it interesting how well we learn from this whole thread? I know that I'm finding that I could have packed things that I wished I now had. Annarchy, I love that drawing. I can see where it might be usable for winter conditions as well with the back area closed off to the north and the open courtyard to the south it would gather heat during the day. I also instantly saw the courtyard as a place to shelter the animals closer to the buildings in the winter, especially during a bllizzard. One issue we will have is getting to the animals and back when the snow is blowing so strong we can't see. Ropes are a good way to get there and back but having them in that courtyard would be much safer. Just thinking

Annarchy, don't you dare worry about getting on the same day. I'm not always sure what day it even IS. LOL. You are doing great and I love your Adobe addition to this. I'm hoping that you'll have a drawing of what it looks like so we can "see" it. I'm learning so much from this thread and there must be a lot of others out there learning too as we now have over 266 views per page in this thread compared to about 216 for the Wilderness, 234 for the Ranch, and 257 for Town. I would say the views are ranking on top for this thread, we must be doing something right. We're missing a few of our ranks lately. I hope everyone is okay and will be back with us soon.