Pioneer Farms

I remembered to bring the camera with me into the farm this past week, so here are some images of our most recent trip to Pioneer Farms. This is the beautiful peaceful walk we go down in order to reach the homestead site where we volunteer. I love walking down this road!

Here is the view of the Kruger cabin, where we spend the rest of the afternoon. It's a one-room homesteading cabin that housed a family with 13 children!

The covered outdoor area is actually the kitchen. There is no fireplace in the cabin. The table in the yard is the kitchen table where food is prepped, then it would cook over the fire pit.  I can't imagine trying to cook in windy weather or a storm.

The children were delighted to play with marbles this week. We bought a large bag of assorted marbles for us to bring each time. They had a great time organizing them by colors and counting them. Sarah pretended she was a blind person who needed to use marbles for solving math problems. I brought needlework to work on, so I sat in an antique rocking chair and sewed while I watched them play upon the floor of the cabin. It was amazingly happy and peaceful with the cabin doors open, a cool breeze blowing over us, the birds singing right outside our door, and the children laughing on the floor. I realize life wasn't this romanticized in the 1860's (with all the hard manual labor they did each day), but I have loved these sweet little moments. 

Once again we had no water on the site, so Matthew took initiative to haul water this week. I was quite impressed with him. It's a very heavy pot and a long way to walk.

It's a long walk to the water supply, but it's a beautiful walk shaded by trees. I loved hearing the birds sing as the children skipped along the path. Daniel has such an affinity for sticks, so he promptly 'adopted' one as we walked down the road.

This is Matthew running down the lane to the water shed. I love the setting! It's so lovely! We had butterflies crossing our path several times.

On the way back, Matthew collected sticks for whittling with Nathan. They sat on the porch together whittling for some time. Matt really loved it!

Nathan started working in the blacksmith shop today. The shop is quite a walk from the homestead site, so we didn't see him the rest of the afternoon, but we delighted in hearing the hammer striking metal. The sharp 'pangs' could be heard echoing across the pasture. He learned how to make a knife today, and we're looking forward to learning more.

The children loved playing treasure hunt games, where I'd give them something to hunt for. I send them to find 5 different colors of blossoms in the forest behind the house, or 10 different types of leaves in the yard. This is them running back to the cabin from the woods. What a great backyard to play in!

 For lunch we had packed 2 dozen wheat rolls, cheese slices, meat, fruit, and lemon cookies. It worked out really well. Sarah and Matthew enjoyed eating on the front porch and chatting.

Here are some other candid moments I caught on film (when there weren't any visitors who would see our modern camera!) I didn't get many shots of the interior of the cabin, but it is pleasant and cozy inside. The children had more fun this week than they did last week. Matthew didn't want to go home when we left (we had even been there for 5 hours!). He begged us to stay, so I am content in knowing that this was a good choice for creating family memories in unique wholesome recreation.