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| Unique Visitors: 0 |
| Total Unique Visitors: 8435 |
| Visitors Out: 792 |
| Total Visitors Out: 792 |
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| - How to cook pigeon. |
| 2011-10-29 14:46:33 |
[This one's for you Mark Zuckerberg - for when that whole hunting thing becomes too much of a hassle.]In the days of the settlers and pioneers, early autumn was pigeon season. Pigeons could be eaten any time of the year, but just after harvest when the birds had fattened on grain, they were a prized food.Pigeons were so popular that there was an entire pigeon canning industry built up around them.But the settlers and pioneers out on the prairies had to hunt their own.From the 1854 Canadian Housekeeper's Guide written by Mrs C. P. Traill, we bring you a recipe for pigeon pie."Season your pigeons well with pepper and salt; as many as will lie in your pie dish; dust a little flour on, thin; add a cup of hot water; cover your pie and bake an hour."As simple as that! It's gotta be good. Her c...
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| - How pioneers stayed dry in the rain. |
| 2011-10-17 02:49:14 |
From the Home Mechanic's manual of 1896, a recipe showing how the settlers and pioneers waterproofed their clothing, shoes and boots.The Home Mechanic's manual is about as hard-core a DIY book as I've ever seen. There's no messing around in this big book.The candy recipes all start off with a pound of this and a gallon of that and the baking instructions include directions for making your own industrial size brick oven.The books covers carpentry, painting - from houses to frescoes to carriages, furniture finishing, horse shoeing, soap making, candy making, baking, taxidermy, tanning, etc, etc. And it's no light dip into the subject, every one of these chapters is close to 100 pages long.It doesn't out and out say this anywhere, but I get the feeling the book is largely for peop...
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| - DIY waterproof cement from 1881. |
| 2011-10-17 02:23:50 |
I was helping a Civil War re-enactor figure out how to seal his 1870's-style wooden water canteen so it was watertight and found this cement recipe in the 1881 Iowa settlers manual.It's described as a cement for aquariums [Who knew settlers and pioneers had fishtanks?] and is waterproof and will harden even when immersed. It was just a couple days later when I thought, "hang on.... I've used that stuff before!"And then I felt a moment of sorrow. You'll understand why in a moment.To make this waterproof cement:"Mix 10 parts litharge, 10 parts plaster of Paris, 10 parts dry white sand, 1 part finely powdered resin and add boiled linseed oil, mixing till it forms a stiff putty."If you don't need to apply this cement underwater skip the litharge that is mentioned in the recip...
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| - How to make a poultice. |
| 2011-09-15 04:08:14 |
We've all heard the word. But what is a poultice, what do you do with it and how do you make one?Poultices were homemade creams or pastes that were applied directly to the skin, usually under a bandage, to treat anything from blisters to boils to burns to bedwetting (don't ask, it's not pretty).They could soothe inflammation, soften skin or even burn with the classic mustard poultice.Up until modern times poultices were commonly prescribed by doctors, but they were also something that every housewife, soldier and settler knew how to make and use. They are still occasionally used on horses today.The pioneer and medical handbooks of the 1800's are full of recipes for poultices. Some should really be left in the past; a concoction of poppy seeds and opium to soothe a b...
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