By Lindsey Schibelhut, Staff Reporter.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go back in time and see how our ancestors lived? The Chippewa Nature Center in Midland hosts Homestead Sundays, from May to September throughout the year from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. All visitors may enjoy the unique experience of visiting a homestead farmhouse, a one room schoolhouse and more in the attempt to recreate the feeling of living back in the 1800s.
For volunteer Susan Erhardt, working at the homestead, has given her a new respect for the hard work it took not only to make clothing but the dedication required to prepare food. It has also given her a new appreciation for modern advances in technology too.
“I know certainly as a spinner and a weaver you learn to appreciate the effort that used to be made to make clothing, to make socks, etc,” said Erhardt.
The homestead is set back in a quiet wood with the Pine River nearby, which adds to the tranquility of being away from modern conveniences.
While walking along the stone path up to the homestead, you pass by a pen with sheep inside. The sheep are loaned to the Nature Center by Lavender Fleece Farm and Studio and are a breed known as Leicester Longwool Sheep which are valued for the mutton and its long luxurious wool.
As you come upon the homestead, the house itself is a recreation of what the original home may have looked like. A family named Sinclair lived there from 1874 to 1916, according to the property’s history. However, the present log cabin has been assembled by Nature Center volunteers in the 1970s from other century-old buildings.
Andrea Foster, Conservation Outreach Coordinator for the Little Forks Conservancy in Midland, has always connected with “the old ways.”
“When I learned to spin my own yarn and process my own sheep fleeces, it really connected me with the tasks that so many generations of women performed before me across many cultures. When you are doing something so tactile and of the earth, you can almost physically feel yourself falling into the past.”
Inside the home was one main room with a bed and a pot-bellied stove with a chimney, center room. Another bed was up in the loft area, accessible only by a ladder. The house decor looked as if the family could have still lived there today. Family photos and clothes were hanging on the wall. Furniture was under each front window including an old spinning wheel. The bed was a stuffed mattress laid on a wooden frame, with nothing more than rope holding it up instead of modern day box springs. On the back wall, is a doorway leading to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, is a wood burning cast-iron stove, a wooden wash basin called a dry sink was used for cutting up vegetables or washing dishes lines the wall, while an old fashioned wooden washing machine sits on the back porch.
“When you’re cooking on the stove,” said Erhardt,” The amount of effort that it takes to keep the stove going, to prepare the food and to get it to the point where you can actually serve it to somebody, is a lot more than what we have to do at home now.”
Indoor plumbing was not a luxury enjoyed yet, so an outhouse stands out in back for bathroom use. A root cellar imbedded in a hill was useful for keeping food from spoiling. This natural refrigerator will keep produce at approximately 50 degrees fahrenheit year round.
“I want people to learn about the history,” says Angela Oros, a volunteer at the homestead at the Chippewa Nature Center, “But to also learn that we can go back to the basics, that we don’t have to rely so much on technology and that we can live off of nature. I want people to learn that there’s a process, that things aren’t just randomly made in the store.”
Oros’ desire is that the activities and experiences people have at the homestead will help give necessary background information, which will nurture renewed skills and aid in learning where clothing and food come from.
“That’s what this farm life is. There needs to be a balance,” said Oros,”There needs to be a balance and an equilibrium utilizing both basic skills and modern technology to advance, so we don’t take life for granted.”
As for Foster, having the opportunity to come and visit the homestead means never forgetting the hard work that was put in by our ancestors to get us to where we are today.
“I believe that with the amount of technology that children and adults are exposed to on a daily basis, it’s important for everyone to remember our roots and the kinds of activities our ancestors might have done on a daily basis. It reminds us that our days used to be much tougher and quieter. That manual effort was put into nearly every daily task. It was just what we did to survive, and now these chores and activities are almost unheard of. We sit with screens in front of our faces as often as possible. We cannot forget where we come from.”
Other places you’ll enjoy visiting is the newly built barn (to specifications of that time period), a chicken coop with live chickens as well as live cows and pigs on site. A short walk up the road will take you to the one room schoolhouse to see where kids of various grades and ages would learn.
On Saturday Oct. 3 the Chippewa Nature Center will be having their Fall Harvest Festival from 10 a.m. to 4.p.m. At the homestead area, they will demonstrate “woodcarving, herb-craft, wood-stove cooking, woodworking, cider making, beekeeping, apple butter making, spinning and weaving wool, natural dyes and traditional music,” according to the Chippewa Nature Center website. Children will have the opportunity to make “rope and stamping leather, dipping candles, stenciling and grinding corn,” among many other activities. The event is free and open to the public.
“If I can spark someone’s interest or if I can get one person to be excited about what we’re doing, it’s a good summer,” said Erhardt.
For more information visit: http://www.chippewanaturecenter.org/events-programs/fall-harvest-festival/
