The Old Timer Page..............................

[kanuck57]

The Old Timer Page
The Way We Used To Do it...

http://waltonfeed.com/old/index.html

When my grandfather got his first tractor he decided to keep his horses and old horse-drawn equipment in case the day ever came when he couldn't buy gas or tractor parts. Grandpa, his horses and farm machinery are now gone. But his vision lives on.

* The Spring House
* The Ice House
* Building a Root Cellar (5 pages)
* Potting Meat
* Long Life Salt Cured Ham
* Salt Curing Meat in Brine
* Yeast Cultures for Bread Making
* Making Bread in a wood burning oven
* Making Butter
* Making Sauerkraut
* Soap Making (13 pages & 33 Sites)
* Growing and Harvesting Wheat By Hand
* Building a Cistern
* The Out House
* Remember Mama's Recipes (46 pages)
* Grama's Recipes for Life By Julie Janson (30 pages)
* Knowing Where To Dig A Well by Rod Hendricks
* Digging A Well By Hand
* Memories, by Libby Maxwell
* Just for Fun - The Homestead House
* Just for Fun - Getting Electricity
* Just for Fun - Getting Water
* Just for Fun - Heber Valley Products

Links to Other Sites....................................

* American Memory Historical Collection
* Old Time Trade Exibitions at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.
* The 1850 Westville, GA Living History Museum
* See 1850's cooking, candlemaking, buildings & furnishings, blacksmithing, spinning and weaving, pottery making... Widow Rumble's Home Page Recreations of many facets of life in the 1800's.
* Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation
* Association of Personal Historians. Helping people preserve their life stories.
* The Online Homesteading and Small Farming Resource
* Candle Making Supplies and Information
* Spinning Wheel FAQs by Christine Jordan
* Handmade Parchment & Vellum
* Cheese Making
* Handweavers Guild of America, Inc.
* Cisterns by the University of Florida
* The Rural Resource Center
* The Kansas Pioneer Way of Life by Norris Torrance
* Jackie's Smoke House
* The Rugmaker's Homestead '99 Learn to make a rag rug.
* Old type bread baking ovens
* Laura Ingalls Wilder author of Little House on the Prairie
* The Overland Trail Tons of really interesting, exciting stuff.
* The Home Steader Web Ring
* Family History of Walter Scott
* Eldon’s Jerky and Sausage Supply Everything you need to cure meat.
* Whoever thought plumbing history would be interesting???
* Hundreds of Civil War Recipes
* Farm Dogs
* Captain John Outwater's Company Living History Site
* Hand Weaving - Fiber News/Fiber Arts
* William "Cookie" Luke's Cowboy Site.
* Country Folks Magazine

.................It has been said that when a person dies a library burns. Only those who have tried to compile a life story on someone who has departed this life knows what a reality this is. Today there is an increasing self awareness among many toward becoming more self reliant. We try new things and - in my opinion - try to re-invent the wheel. The pioneers of 100 years ago were already more self sufficient than most of us will ever be. Perhaps instead of looking to the future and new ways of doing things, we ought to at least take a small look into the past and re-acquaint ourselves with the old ways that are proven, that work, yet are nearly forgotten. The subjects listed on this page comes from the old folks themselves. Occasionally their stories have been supplemented with newer ways of doing the same things, but generally the ideas and methods remain theirs.

 

[sssarawolf]

Agree

I do agree with you there is no need to keep reinventing the wheel on this stuff, the old ways are tried and true ane most of the time the best.

 

[kanuck57]

Chicken Noodle Soup, The Old Fashioned Way!

Chicken Noodle Soup, The Old Fashioned Way!
http://waltonfeed.com/old/lifes-rec/jj-soup.html

If you want chicken in your soup the first thing you have to do is go to the barnyard and catch an old hen that has done her time, laying eggs and raising biddies.

If you are lucky, you can find one of your kids that can shoot a match head off at 30 paces, and have her shoot the chicken for you. If you can't find someone as talented as that, just run the chicken down. This will give you the exercise needed to reduce your cholesterol (unknown in those days.)

After you have caught the poor thing, grasp it's two legs firmly in the right hand, (left hand if you are left handed.) Oh, first you must alert your father that he should sharpen the ax. After this is done, you lay the chickens head on a chopping block that is made from the scrub oak that your men have dragged from the mountain, and hold the chicken so it won't move. With one mighty blow, you hope, the head will be cleanly severed from the chickens body.

Then throw the chicken out into the grass and let it flop around until all the blood has drained from it's body. Soon it will be ready for the next step!

I am getting things, sort of, in the wrong order, but anyway, before you chase after the chicken you should have planned to start a fire in the wood-burning range and carried a tub of water from the ditch and have it boiling by this time. Then immerse the carcass into the boiling water and then you can sit down on another oak stump and enjoy the smelly task of plucking the feathers off the bird.

Save the small feathers for pillow making, at a later date, because you must not waste anything. Do not save the big feathers, because they poke through the pillow ticking and this does not make for comfortable sleeping!

After all feathers are removed find a wood match, some of your 10 kids homework papers and light the torch. Hold the chicken above the flame for this singes all of the little hairs and the small down that may be left on the bird. Rub your hand around the chicken to remove the singed hairs-feathers and you are ready for the next step.

Have you instructed your father to sharpen the butcher knife? If not do it now, for you will need the knife sharp so you can remove the chicken's entrails. Save the giblets, because they will add flavor to your soup. First take the craw and cut it lengthwise and remove all of the gravel that the chicken has in there to grind up it's food. Don't save the gravel for the soup, because they may prove harmful to the teeth.

After this is accomplished, take the chicken down to the clear, un-contaminated stream and wash the chicken thoroughly. Cut the chicken into serving pieces and toss them into a big pot. Boil until tender. If the hen has been around for a few years, this tenderizing may take a long time!

NOW, if you want noodles in your soup you must break about 5 fresh eggs into a large pan. Salt and pepper them to taste. Then add several cups of flour, that has been ground at the nearest grist mill. Make a stiff dough, flour a big place on the table, get the heavy rolling pin down, that your father has carved out of a large oak stump. Roll the stiff dough into almost paper thickness. Flour the dough, generously on top. This will prevent the dough from sticking together when rolled. Starting at any edge, roll the dough into a nice tight roll. Your father has already sharpened the butcher knife, so starting at one end of the roll slice the dough into 1/8 inch rounds. Then call your 10 kids. They will want to help you unroll the little slices and line them up on a floured table. Let noodles rest and dry out a bit before dropping them, a few at a time, while stirring, into the hot chicken liquid.

One must not drop the whole glob of noodles into the boiling liquid all at once, or they will cook into a big wad and you will have to call them dumplings! The best way is to stir the liquid as you add the noodles, so they will cook separated.

If you want some peas and carrots added, you should have thought of this sooner. If the vegetables are not already gathered and cleaned you have to summon your 10 kids again and have them go out to the garden and pick a big batch of peas. They should also be instructed to pull a big bunch of carrots. They may have to be told a few times to get going, but after they gather them they should be instructed to take the carrots to the ditch and wash them. Instruct them to twist the tops off the carrots, but this may take longer, because they will want to slap each other with the wet carrot tops. They also will have to shell the peas. This will possibly delay supper a bit, but you have plenty of time!

Dice, or slice the carrots and add them before you add the peas, because carrots take longer to cook than do peas. The peas can be added a short time before the soup is ready. This whole process of gathering vegetables will take a while, because the 10 kids may eat the first batch of peas raw and have to go for another batch to shell for the soup.

Oh, I forgot the potatoes! If you want potatoes in your soup you should have already sent some or your 10 kids out to dig a few. Tell them that they are only to take the potatoes that are exposed to the sun. Some potatoes always push away from the soil, when they are growing. These should be used first. After the potatoes are cleaned in the ditch and pealed with the sharp butcher knife, they should be diced into the hot liquid. If you dice them small enough they will cook as fast as the carrots.

Now it is time to call the crew in for a delicious feast. You will have to tolerate watching your 10 kids suck up the noodles, because the only way to eat the long noodles is to put one end into the mouth and suck! Grose, you say!? Yes, but what fun for the little darlings!

Now doesn't that sound more fun than opening a can of chicken noodle soup? Much better, also!


...............................my grandma would butcher her chicken....as I, a 5 year old watched near by........and she would cut off the head and throw the chicken onto the ground it would start running around headless and I swear the chicken always made a beline for me.......................

 

[Caplock50]

Darn, kanuck57. That sure brought back memories. And yes, I'd swear that the headless chicken *would* make a beeline straight for me.

"Thanks...I needed that!"

 

[PCViking]

The Old Timer Page
The Way We Used To Do it...

http://waltonfeed.com/old/index.html

Cool site kanuck57...

I saw the 'spring house' page... but didn't see anything on 'capping a spring'. Does anyone have experience capping a spring, or found plans for doing so? What I've got is a spring in the crotch of 2 slopes, and would like to have a spigot out of the top of the capped spring and then dam below to create a small fish pond.

 

[oldladydoolin]

Some great info here. What I want to know is, how do you build a wood burning oven? I have a gas camping oven but when I am out of gas, then what?

 

[SmartAZ]

If you are lucky, you can find one of your kids that can shoot a match head off at 30 paces, and have her shoot the chicken for you. If you can't find someone as talented as that, just run the chicken down. This will give you the exercise needed to reduce your cholesterol (unknown in those days.)

Old timers were a lot lazier and a lot cleverer than you might have thought. To catch a chicken, you get a coat hanger. Go to the coop and stand around looking cool as you straighten the coat hanger and rebend it into a hook with a 3 foot handle. Then casually (don't frighten the stock) snag the chicken's foot with your hook. Proceed with the rest of your project.

 

[Onebyone]

Darn, kanuck57. That sure brought back memories. And yes, I'd swear that the headless chicken *would* make a beeline straight for me.

"Thanks...I needed that!"

Doncha know you go stand on the weathered wooden steps with no rails at the back covered porch so the chicken can't find you. That is what I finally figured out.

 

[Onebyone]

Some great info here. What I want to know is, how do you build a wood burning oven? I have a gas camping oven but when I am out of gas, then what?

There are several types you can build.

One is on a wood stand covered in rock and clay. The actual oven in that type is a small metal barrel which is then covered in rock and clay. The fire is burned at the side and it is covered with a metal plate. This would have be built in advance as the barrel and metal plate may be hard to find in a SHTF.

One other oven is a adobe type oven. You can actually make the bricks of adobe and stack them or you can do it quickly by just mounding up straw and grasses in a mound covering with a mixture of clay, straw and sand. Let it dry to cure for a few days then fire it up to bake the shell. You will need to add some wood to the grasses which are burning to let it burn long enough to cook the oven. To use it you get a good fire going in it to heat it good then rake out the coals and place your pans of what ever in there.

I use to have some links to show some of these but don't know it they are still live. If I find them I will post them.

Another type of oven used in the middle ages was made similar to the adobe oven only they also used rocks in it. Not wet creek bed rocks as they may explode. Then they cover it with earth and moss. Heat it the same way then rake out the coals and the oven gets up to 700 degrees or so and stays hot for hours gradually cooling during the hours so you add meat etc later.

 

[Caplock50]

Onebyone Quote:

"Doncha know you go stand on the weathered wooden steps with no rails at the back covered porch so the chicken can't find you. That is what I finally figured out."

But, where's the fun in that? Me and my brothers used it to prove who was the bravest of us all. We all vied to see who could stand the closest and get the chicken to chase us. Then it was a mad dash for the fence and a quick climb to safety.

SmartAZ Quote:

"Old timers were a lot lazier and a lot cleverer than you might have thought. To catch a chicken, you get a coat hanger. Go to the coop and stand around looking cool as you straighten the coat hanger and rebend it into a hook with a 3 foot handle. Then casually (don't frighten the stock) snag the chicken's foot with your hook..."

Again SmartAZ, where's the fun in that? There was seven of us kids and 5 were boys with a heck of a lot of energy to burn. Chasing a chicken around the yard is harder and trickier than a 'greased pig' race...and a heck of a lot more fun.

And while I'm on the subject, anyone remember the 'rat killin's'? All the kids would get a short stick and form a ring around the piece of furniture the mouse was seen entering. We'd all sit quietly waiting while Mom or Dad would shift the furniture and scare the mouse out of it. Then all heck would break loose as everyone would try their best to hit it as it ran away. I can remember getting clubbed on almost every body part I have and the mouse was no where near me even.

 

[Onebyone]

I haven't found the links to the adobe ovens but here is one I just came across that is pretty simple even though not pretty

http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1976_September_October/A_Cheap_and_Easy_Stove_Top_Oven

 

[BoneDaddy]

I tried to explain how cool a spring house was to BigDog....he never did understand.
Great site

 

[The Flying Dutchman]

I tried to explain how cool a spring house was to BigDog....he never did understand.

LOL...

BoneDaddy;

I never believe that there were ice caves in New Mexico either.

Not during the summer time.

But by golly. A BLM ranger once showed one to me in the Valley of Fire Monument in central New Nexico - and it was above a hundred degrees and in the middle of summer to.

But the back of the lava tube he carried me out to, was a solid sheet of ice w/ice cicles hanging from the roof of the tube...

 

[BoneDaddy]

But the back of the lava tube he carried me out to, was a solid sheet of ice w/ice cicles hanging from the roof of the tube...

Got pics?
Been thinking of buying in NM.....in Lincoln county.

 

[chairborne commando]

Don't forget to cover the blood with sand or dirt.
There's a Biblical verse that suggests that is a
prudent thing to do.

Leviticus 17:13

It's also easier on chicken #2 if you do.
There's power in the blood...to coin a phrase.

My father used to slaughter chickens in a specific area in a shed.
Other animals avoided it. The feeling was palpable-at least
to me.

 

[The Flying Dutchman]

Got pics?
Been thinking of buying in NM.....in Lincoln county.

sorry - I don't have any.

Lincoln county? Beautiful country that; and lots of room to get lost in, but I'd take Silver City myself (you must have a fire arm in your house hold - or register at the county court house as a concience objector (no kidding). The whole county + city are adament that all lawful citizens own at least one fire arm (my kind of country) And there are a few hundred thousands of acres of Gila wilderness area to the north of the city/county as well. Not to mention the placer gold located to the north west of Silver City....

 

[ainitfunny]

Only one thing my ma did differently. After the chicken stopped running, she would hang it upside down from the apple tree to drain the blood and cool for about an hour before proceeding with the rest of the plucking, , scorching pinfeathers & eviscerating etc.

 

[Cardinal]

OK,
#1-You plan your chicken soup in advance, wait til nightfall and get the chicken then, when it has settled in and won't run from you. Keep it in a separate cage til morning, or, proceed.
#2- Take an old bleach or detergeant bottle, cut off the neck of the bottle, nail it upside down (so the neck of it points to the ground) to a tree.
#3-place chicken head first in the "killing cone" you just made, so head sticks out the end, but body is restrained.
#4-chop off head, wait til chicken drains out into trash can or bucket you placed beneath killing cone.

There now, wasn't that a lot easier?

 

[kanuck57]

Yeast Cultures for Bread

Yeast Cultures

http://waltonfeed.com/old/yeast.html

Method One
As told by Maud Shurtz (born 1896)
contents © Al Durtschi

We kept our yeast culture in a gallon crock jar. When making bread, we used all the contents except about a cup. This gave us the `seed' to rebuild our culture. We did this by adding cool potato water, some mashed potatoes, a 1/4 cup of sugar and a cup of flour. We then gave it a stir, and set it in a warm place near the stove. When potatoes were cooked for dinner, we added the cooled potato water to the yeast culture. If all went well with our culture, the yeast was ready for the next bake day. If for some reason the yeast died, we carefully washed and sanitized the crock pot then went to the neighbor's place for another start.
Method Two
As told by Rose Adamson (born 1915)
contents © Al Durtschi

When making bread, my mother pulled a piece of dough off maybe the size of a cup and threw it in the flour bin. The day before she made bread again she went to the bin and got the bread dough which was now large and flat and quite hard. She put this in a bowl of warm potato water with some sugar and let it sit in a warm place. The next day when Mother was making bread she poured the now frothy yeast culture into the bread makings.

(Note from the author: In trying this out, it worked fairly well unless it was left in the flour bin too long. I found that if I left it more than a week the yeast culture died.)
Method Three:
Yeast Cakes
By Bob Scott

* 1 pint fresh buttermilk
* corn meal
* 1 cake of yeast
* 1/2 cup of white flour and more corn meal

Bring the buttermilk to a boil then remove it from the stove. Stir and add corn meal until quite thick then cool. Soak yeast cake in warm water. Stir into above and let stand (rise) overnight. In the morning stir in the white flour and extra corn meal to make the dough very stiff. Roll out to thickness of boughten cakes and cut into squares and let dry.

Use like store bought yeast cakes.
Notes on Yeast and Yeast Cultures:

* Yeast requires warmth to grow
* Yeast goes dormant at 63 degrees F (14C)
* It works best between 80-95 degrees F (24-35C)
* Yeast slows down above this until it dies at about 109 degrees F (46C) Yeast cultures are fragile and are easily contaminated and killed by bacteria
* Keep all wooden or plastic spoons, and everything that is added to the pot as sterile as possible
* Do not use metal as your yeast culture pot (this includes the stirring utensil) - use a ceramic or plastic container
* Place a loose fitting lid on top to allow the carbon dioxide to escape
* Yeast changes sugar and simple starches into carbon dioxide and Ethel alcohol
* It is possible for the yeast to kill itself by the alcohol it produces. For bakers yeast this happens at about 12 percent alcohol content. To prevent this from happening you must keep an eye on it. When it stops frothing it is either out of food or is nearing it's toxicity level. Add more water and carbohydrates and if your crock is already full, dump some of it out.

Final Note: Don't expect your yeast culture to act like dried high potency yeast. It will act much more like a sour dough recipe and may take several hours to raise.

 

[Ozarkian]

Man OhMan Caplock50 and SmartAz, what memories. I remember my Dad catching chickens with a clothes hanger hook and then ringing its neck lol. Everytime he rung a chickens neck I swear they would chase me all over the place. If I turned they turned. Back then I was real young and it scared me to death.

 

[SmartAZ]

Yes, I missed that part the first time through. It says "throw the headless chicken on the grass ..." and that is an important detail. If you don't have a sizable area of grass you don't want to cut the head off. The chicken will bruise itself, and bruised meat is not nice. Wring the neck instead. Just grab the head and snap it like a whip. And yes, hanging the carcass seems like a good idea, for the same reason.

I used to watch my mother do all this when I was four. Looking back, I am amazed at how much work went into making food in those days.

 

[kanuck57]

Food Preps archive from an earlier version of TimeBomb 2000...............goin back to 1997

Food Threads:
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-one-category.tcl?topic=TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000)&category=Food

Survivalist issues Threads:
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-a...Bomb 2000 (Y2000)&category=Survivalist issues