He's Living History

Hunter will be part of history today. Mr. Wise's class is attending Living History Farms and its one-room school complete with lessons from the 1870s. They'll also go on a 300-year farm tour where they'll visit farms from 1700s thru the 1900s. To make the experience more authentic, they're wearing appropriate clothing and packing noon lunches of the time period.

To get started on the lunch project, Hunter and I visited the Brass Armadillo...
we were in search of a lunch carrying container
that simulated the metal lard cans of the day.
 Another option was a basket.

 Hunter had $10 to spend.

The Brass Armadillo is a huge emporium of small booths

 manned by hundreds of antiques sellers.

It's a daunting task to look at everything so we had our "eyes peeled"

only for tins with lids of a size that would work for carrying a lunch.

After a quick pass through about 35 booths,

we found this flour cannister.

The price tag was $10.

Just the right size.

We headed home with our cool can. A few days later,

we braided the handle from string and readied the bucket.

The instruction sheet from Mr. Wise reads:

"Please see that your child's name is on his or her lunch. No paper or plastic should be used, except for a plastic water bottle. All food should be wrapped in cloth napkins or dish towels. Food items should be from the time period...baking corn bread or any homemade bread with your child will enrich their learning experience. The following cookies are appropriate: cocoa, buttermilk, sugar, ginger, oatmeal, or molasses.

Hunter's 1870s lunch:

 peach, apple, cornbread, carrots, beef jerky, and oatmeal cookies.

An example of an appropriate lunch menu would be homemade bread with syrup, honey, jam or jelly; jerky, carrots, cucumbers or other vegetables that would have been grown in a garden, fruit that is grown in our area such as apples, pears, peaches, plums, strawberries, or grapes and homemade cookies. Students may bring one bottle of water in a plastic bottle to drink. For health reasons, we will not simulate how students drank water at one-room schools, but will drink only water as that was their only option in the 1870s."

One evening, Hunter and I baked cornbread with shredded cheddar cheese and bacon bits. We intended to bake oatmeal cookies but ran out of time so oatmeal cookies from the grocery store will have to do.
We bought "real" garden carrots that Hunter scrubbed with a brush (no potato peelers)
 and cut off the ends and leafy tops.

To dress the part, Mr. Wise advises, "Girls are expected to wear long skirts or dresses with an apron or folded dish towel. They are to do their hair in braids or a bun if possible. They should make themselves look as much like a young lady of the 1870s attending a one-room school as possible. The boys should wear jeans, overalls, or dark pants and button-down shirts. We want this experience to be as real as posssible, but also do not want this to be costly to you. Be creative and use what you have at home. The pioneers were extremely resourceful. We want your children to think in terms of being resourceful and creative."

We had a lot of fun getting ready for this day. Hunter's impression of his clothing is that he's a lot more dressed up than usual :)