History – Page 3 – tim mcmurdo

the threshing meal

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Earlier this week, I promised to share some images of the threshing meal at Carriage Hill Farm. Traditionally, the hosting farm would be responsible for preparing and serving a midday meal for the threshing workers that were working hard in the fields. The ladies of the farm would begin preparing the meal days in advance and worked hard to impress their guests.

Fifteen minutes before the meal was to be served, the bell was rung to give the men time to come in and wash up before they ate.

The first order of business was to get something to drink. They had plenty to choose from:

Ice Water

Lemonade

Raspberry Shrub

Iced Tea

Coffee

After grabbing a glass of their chosen beverage, the workers migrated to the table and found a seat.

What was served at this threshing meal?

Fried Chicken

Green Beans with Smoked Bacon

Coleslaw

Bread

Cucumbers and Onions in Vinegar Water

Apple Pie

Berry Cobbler with Whipped Cream

Watermelon

Not a bad meal at all. The men were served under the giant catawba tree in the back yard. With the good food and shade combination, they got to relax, cool down and recharge before they went back to work.

While the field workers filled up, the farm staff waited patiently for their turn at the dinner tables. These are the folks that had prepared and served the huge meal to the hands.

the summer threshing

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Sunday was the annual summer threshing day at Carriage Hill Farm. If you have never seen wheat being threshed with a steam engine, you have really missed an impressive event. I've created a short video so that you can see and hear the process. Basically, a steam engine is used to drive a thresher via a long belt. Workers load dried wheat into the thresher where the wheat kernels are separated from the stalk. The kernels are drop into a bin that is emptied into a wagon while a conveyor piles the wheat stalks beyond the far end of the thresher where it is collected to be used as fodder for the farm animals.

Carriage hill uses a 6 horse power wood fired engine to power the thresher. A dedicated team of approximately 12 volunteers operate the engine and thresher, assisted by the farmer and his assistant.

The crew started in the morning and worked hard until lunch time. For lunch, the rest of the farm staff had prepared a traditional summer threshing meal for them to enjoy. They needed the energy because after less than an hour of rest, they were at it again until evening came.

I'll show you the threshing meal in another post. Meanwhile, enjoy the video and marvel at the hard work and ingenuity our ancestors employed to feed a growing nation.

the color of history

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

You can be forgiven if these images are the way you think of life in the past. Black and white with lots of grey muted tones. When I convert images of the farm into black and white, I am often complimented on the conversion. Everybody seems to think that black and white or sepia are the perfect treatment for the historic topic.

In actuality, our ancestors enjoyed colors very much. Daily items from clothes and stone wear to farm equipment was often very colorful. Our thinking of history dressed in grey is only the result of old photographic methods and technology.

Visit your local heritage farm, living history village or museum and you will see spectacular colors being used for centuries. Our ancestors lived in color not black and white.

love of cemeteries

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

It is an oddity of my child hood that we spent quite a bit of time in old cemeteries. My grandfather would take us to a cemetery to pitch pennies while my mother and grandmother were shopping. My parents took us to cemeteries to make rubbings of the grave stones. They taught us to interpret the information on the grave stones to reveal a small part of the story behind the person lying there and the circumstances of their death. I recognize a mother that has died in childbirth by the presence of her infant child lying next to her, usually dying within hours or days of the mother. The influenza pandemic of 1917 is another easy to spot occurrence.

Even the most meager of old cemeteries will often have wonderful trees that may have been growing for centuries, like this magnificent spreading oak tree. Here in Springfield Ohio, we have a small historic cemetery dating to the post colonial settling of the area.

The cemetery holds the remains of American heros. Including one of the "Indians" that participated in the Boston Tea Party, just prior to the American Revolution. Many of the headstones can no longer be read, their inscriptions erased by time and the elements.

Some of the headstones are crowned with colonial designs, quite different form the victorian decorations more commonly found in other old cemeteries in the area. The stones are worn, weathered, and often dressed in lichen and moss.

Here we have the the remains of Elizabeth Strain, "Consort" to her husband. In this cemetery, the term consort is found on several markers while "wife" is often used as well. I don't know if there is any difference in the usage of the words at the time. Something for me to look into.

I don't find cemeteries spooky or scary, even when visiting them at night. They are comforting and peaceful, as though I am in the presence of old relatives. I've visited cemeteries all over the US and in Europe. They all have the same familiar feel to them, though customs often differer between them.

I am thankful that my parents and grandparents taught us to enjoy cemeteries. For me, I treat them with the same reverence that I give to libraries and churches. Whenever I need a peaceful hour, I know there is always a cemetery near by. Have a little time to kill? Look for a cemetery. The older, the better. I am not impressed with polished granite and marble. A nice worn stone will do fine.

What are your feelings about cemeteries? Do they have any special memories or connotations to you?