OH, Suzanna: Stuff Settlers Said "The Hearth of the Home"

(Yesterday, October 29^th 2012 Hurricane Sandy hit the Atlantic Coast of the U.S. As I pray for the safety and relief of the millions affected I am in awe of the haven we have here inland in Indiana. We are kind of the secret to the heartland of America. There are many things that Indiana has to offer that the first settlers also enjoyed. That enormous character of the settlers still lingers on here over 200 years later. Tenacity and the willingness to live a bit different than most will net you great rewards. The spirit that is woven into the people that live along the often times turbulent Atlantic Coast is the same spirit that drove them westward to explore and make new lives here in what was the “New West” of the early 1800’s. The American people have not lost what made us great, it just has to be brought to the fore.)

The following is a recreation of an earlier post lost:

Today as I sit in my warm 21^st Century kitchen with electricity to power the microwave to heat my now cold cup of coffee (brewed in an electric automatic drip coffee maker), keep my milk for the coffee cold in the electric fridge, power lights to see with on this cold dark autumn afternoon so that I can “talk a spell” with you on the internet on my lap top it only takes my beloved wood stove to turn my mind to things back the way they used to be. There is something about the heat from a wood stove. It REALLY penetrates every muscle and bone to warm the center of your being. Our wood stove happens to be in the kitchen. Now, folks seem to situate the heat stove or fireplace in the living room. I get a thorough sense for how important the hearth of the home becomes on a blustery cold day like today. It kind of makes me feel like Pooh Bear in his warm abode….

http://www.forthoodsentinel.com/story.php?id=8794

So much of everyday life centered on the home during settler times. Cooking and cleaning were enormously time consuming. Home keeping duties were fitted into the small slots between food prep and cleaning up. Naturally, a child’s first experiences in language and culture were at Mother’s apron strings in the kitchen.

Teaching a child to do his or her chores in “apple pie order” was very important. A crowded home and open flame in the hearth needed order and neatness. Apple pie order gave an example of how diligent and tidy your work was to be. When baking an apple pie the settler women would slice the apples in uniform sizes and shapes to ensure even baking and pleasing texture. The level of expertise in baking skills was easily displayed in the pinching of the crusts together. Even pretty little pinches literally stitched the two crusts together when they baked. Attention to detail to achieve a useful and pleasing product was the height of efficiency.

Another display of skill created the term “upper crust” to describe the best of something. Cooks would routinely use cheap rye flour for everyday bread items. Wheat flour was saved for special occasions or when they were trying to impress a visitor (a perspective husband perhaps?) The less expensive rye crust was used for the bottom, since the filling would mask the inferior quality of the rye, but the top, or upper wheat flour crust was meticulously sculpted into beautiful scenes or floral designs.

http://logcabincooking.com/tag/lattice-crust/

Speaking of visitors there is a well-used term today that is a holdover from that early time here in Indiana. So desolate and deserted were many of the heavily forested areas of the Indiana frontier that any one passing through would be almost a welcome visitor. Coming unannounced though would mean you were at the mercy of the pot for dinner. “Pot luck” was the term used for what dinner would be for these unannounced visitors. You were lucky if it were tasty and fresh. You were unlucky if it were a stew that had been stretched to the limits of the cook and the larder. East Central Indiana had many passing visitors through the progressing years. First were the ever pushing settlers, then the waterway travelers on the rivers and canals, then the road travelers on the paths and pikes and then the National Road travelers that so greatly increased prosperity to the enterprising farms along the way.  Today, pot luck is a dinner where all attendees bring a dish to share with the whole gathering. Luckily our only worry today is if everyone brings instant mashed potatoes!

http://www.eduborail.org/NPS-1/Image-1-NPS-1.aspx

As a middle aged mother of a young daughter, I sometimes feel like I have “gone to pot!” I sometimes feel used up and not up to the challenge as I was when younger. A lot of times we say we have gone to pot meaning we have gained weight and are not as active as we once were. The settlers used the term in candle making! Candles were made by dipping the wick quickly and repeatedly in the wax melted into a pot over the fire. When the candle pieces were too small to light anymore they were put into a melting pot for the next dipping session. “Gone to pot” meant that it had been used up and was not much use until it was melted again. I certainly can relate to that!

http://www.harfordhistory.net/encampfotos.htm

Children of quite young age were put to work around the homestead to help and to keep them busy and under an adult’s watchful eye. As we walk on this journey into past we will see that cooking, farming, husbandry, sewing/weaving, industry were all things that were not foreign to these children and usually they were well equipped to handle the demands of their world by the time they ventured out into it. The closeness of the family was nurtured by the necessity of the hearth to everyday life. Without any other interruptions the family focused more on each other and what made them distinctively a family than what we do today.

What does your family make the hearth of the home?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_the_Three_Bears

-Suzanna