More baby lambs!

From Julie H., historical interpreter:

Today is a very busy day here at the Frontier Culture Museum! We had three baby lambs born today, two of which came late morning in the middle of a large school group from Fluvanna County.

The first one was born on our English farm. The baby Cotswold lambs have been arriving all week. I'll post some photographs of the ones born earlier this week, and then our newest little one. The Cotswold are an older English breed of sheep, and have a nice long thick curly wool.

Hi!

Here's this morning's baby. Mama was very protective, and did her best to keep me from getting a good photo! Notice that Mama Sheep hasn't been shorn yet. Now that she's given birth, she'll be one of the next on the list to shear.

 She decided to take the newborn for a walk, farther away from me.

 Those little legs are only a few hours old, and they do wobble, but they can move!

The second two lambs arrived on our 1850s farm,and I think they're the last Tunis sheep for the season.

Mother Sheep licks her two lambs clean.

 SLURP!

*****One of our visitors (who wished to remain anonymous) just sent a recording of the birth this afternoon! When our 1850s staff noticed the sheep in labor, they noticed that a head but only one leg were sticking out instead of two. That's bad. Our livestock director came immediately to push the baby lamb back in, grabbed both front legs, and helped the sheep give birth. The second baby lamb had the same problem, and our livestock director assisted again.
Of course, this all happened in front of 50 first graders. Ahh, the miracle of birth!
You'll notice in this video that as soon as the lamb is out of the mother, our livestock director swings the baby lamb back and forth. He is not hurting the lamb- he is helping clear its lungs so that it can breathe. Complicated births can be dangerous for both lamb and mother, and it is important to help get the baby breathing as soon as possible.

Wool Days might be nearing an end, but there are still plenty sheep left to shear! Call ahead and stop on by to see us shear!

New FCM Family Members

From Julie H., historical interpreter:

Hi all! It's been a little quiet here on the blog lately. Our staff has been busy during our winter hours with many projects, like sausage making, fence building, and mass amounts of sewing of new garments for the upcoming costumed season. We're excited for the upcoming year, and there'll be a lot of posts in the near future on more farm & daily life activities. I'll have a few winter-themed posts up shortly, now that the bulk of the sewing is finished, but before we get into that, there are some exciting announcements!

Our dear Hallie, an English Red Devon, gave birth today!!! We haven't named the little heifer (female) yet, but we'll think of some good 1630s-appropriate names soon. We were expecting Hallie to have her little one next month, so we were quite pleased to see the wee thing this morning. Come by and meet her, she's so adorable!

Hallie's half-sister, Lottie, will be giving birth in about a month or two, so stay tuned for another birth announcement!


Also, for those of you who made it out to our Christmas Lantern Tours programs, you met some beautiful horses who pulled the wagons to the New World. We are so fortunate to welcome two Percherons more permanently to the museum, and their owner, one of our new staffers, will be working them regularly. I'll have more about Chip and Mike here in a few days, but here's a teaser photo of these handsome fellows:

Also, coming up, after the horses, we'll post photos from a beautiful snow fall from the other week, finish Part II of English Christmas Baking, and maybe even learn all about the recent thatching job on our Irish blacksmith shop. Check back soon, we'll be updating frequently again!

English Christmas Baking - PART 1 - Making the coffin

From Sally L., historical interpreter:

Even though it's now January, we want to show some of the projects we did in December on the farms. We get so busy with our Christmas Lantern Tours and all our other programs, so we are glad to finally share these with you!

On our 1630s English farm, we are demonstrating Christmas baking. We are making mincemeat pyes to be cooked in the bake oven. We used to interpret the 1690s on the farm, and we just recently switched to an earlier time period, so we are still in the process of changing things over to the 1630s. This is the method we've used for the past many years. We combine 3 receipts- two from The Accomplisht Cook, by Robert May, first written in 1685, and one from The English Housewife, by Gervase Markham, first written in 1615.

Mincemeat pyes are key to the Christmas celebration. It was an English custom to try to eat twelve pieces of mincemeat pye from twelve different pyes to insure good luck for the next twelve months of the year. Christmas bake day is especially a hub of activity. The goodwife (lady of the house), daughters, and servants would be bustling about preparing mincemeat pyes, plum pudding, and making a very large quantity of wassail. We made all of these, but we will discuss the latter ones at a later time! Today, two staff members, one adult volunteer, and three jr. interpreters are all helping with the Christmas baking of the mincemeat pyes.

These are the three receipts we combined to make the mincemeat pyes.

Below, is our mix of beef, currants, raisins, candied lemon peel, suet, and then all the spices you cannot see- cloves, mace, nutmeg, salt, pepper and caraway seed.

Next, rye flour and whole wheat flour are mixed together. These two flours will help make the pastry container, called a coffin, very strong.

 Now, we add plain hot water, and additional hot water containing melted lard into the flour mixture.  

Here is a close up of coffin mixture as we stir it, and me mixing the two flours, the water, and the lardy water together to make a malleable dough.

After it forms a nice dough that isn't crumbly, we roll out the coffin mixture. The ideal crust should be at least 1/4 " thick. 

Rebecca is using a plate as a template to trace around to make the bottom of the coffin an even circle

Here we are making the walls, again rolling the dough about a 1/4" thick, and then using the rolling pin as a template for the height of the side pieces.  

 Now it's Kayla's turn to try...

Make sure you wet the bottom of the coffin where you plan to attach the sides. Water acts as the "glue" for attaching the pieces together.

 

We pick up the sides and attach them to the base of the coffin. Pinch/bend a little of the side in, and then attach it to the base where the "glue" is.

 More bending and attaching.....

A close up of the coffin.

 Two coffins under construction......

We are all hard at work!

We put a tab on the coffin side. We did this to reinforce where two side pieces connect. This really helps the coffin to hold the meat mixture inside and not leak!

 Rebecca with her completed coffin and ready for the next step!

Kayla and Sally putting finishing touches on another coffin.

Now, the coffins are ready to be filled. Join me next time, and check back soon for Part II- filling up and covering the coffins, and baking the pyes! Until then!

John Lewis Society Feast!

From Julie H., Historical Interpreter:

What an afternoon! Every year, our John Lewis Society (JLS) members get together to cook a massive historical supper on all the farms. Such a feast!

What is the John Lewis Society? It is an apprenticeship offered to young teenagers, ages 12-16, who are assigned to one of the farms as a mini-interpreter, costume and all. They learn to work with our animals, do household chores, participate in typical daily activities, and interpret the house to visitors. And, they get to cook. A lot!

So what's on the menu for tonight's supper feast? Let's hop around the farm and take a look at the preparation. Keep in mind that all the foods are from historical receipts (recipes), and are appropriate for each country and time period.

First stop, 1630s England! Menu: Roast lamb, mushy peas, rolls, almond tart, currant cake

 Notice the bake oven roaring away in the background above.

Try not to drool on your keyboard for this next one:

Group shot:

Next up, 1730s Ireland. Menu: Oat cakes, pottage (with oats, parsnips, turnips, carrots, and onions)

With only one JLS apprentice today, they kept the menu small, but mighty! Here is our Irish apprentice, rolling out the oat cake dough.

Onwards to 1720s-40s Germany. Menu: Sauerkraut, bratwurst, spelt noodles with bacon and sundry garden foods.

 The German JLS kids went for a fun group shot.

 Heading out to 1820s America next. Menu: Bacon & Eggs pie, blueberry pie.

 Building up the pile of hot coals before placing down the spider skillet. This is for the bacon.

 Blueberry Pie, fresh out of the dutch oven:

Last stop, 1850s America: Mashed potatoes, mashed squash, garden vegetable salad.

They harvested their own potatoes from the farm to get started, and washed them up.

  

Here is the squash they used, from the 1820s garden, called "Turk's Turban."

 Group shot!

Now, I know what you're all thinking. "Poor interpreters! They must've had to clean up after all those children!" I assure you, readers, that these wonderful apprentices even did the dishes!

If you're not drooling yet, here's some final photos of the feast before everyone dug in:

 Until next year!

(If you have a son or daughter between the ages of 12-16, and are interested in joining the John Lewis Society next year, please contact the FCM for details.)