Grace Ventures Back in Time
Hi! This past weekend was the Goschenhoppen Historians' main event for the year. A folk festival with demonstrations of Pennsylvania German home skills, farming, and trades. As well as PA Dutch foods and stage shows. Yes, Pennsylvania German and Pennsylvania Dutch are interchangeable terms for the German settlers of Pennsylvania. "Deutsche" became "Dutch" like "bot boi" became "pot pie" hence the eternal argument of noodles vs. crust. (giggles) But that's a topic for another time.
Anyway, my turn to go since the weather was too bad last year! Kirsten helped me get dressed (we chose my outfit last year after I was told I couldn't go) and we were off. Looking over all the photos we took...there are 47 or 50, so I'm thinking three posts . I know just how to break it up too.
This year Xyra helped with the farm animals so we were both dressed to represent the 19th century or 1800s. The animals were amazing! So this post focuses solely on them.
Arriving Early
The volunteers arrive well before guests. When Xyra and I got there the first thing we noticed were eggs! One of the ducks had laid an egg.
And there were more in the chicken coop.
We gathered all the eggs and put them aside for display.
The Farm Animals
There were two pens with ducks. These two are the daughter and son of one in the other pen, where we found the egg.
The big sister is two months old; her little brother is three weeks old. Can you imagine growing that much in just five weeks. That's the difference in their ages.
These grey geese are of the Toulouse breed.
We had white embden geese as well.Farms kept geese for their down, feathers, eggs, and meat. The down could easily be removed from the breast without needing to destroy the bird as they grow back. The down was used in the home or sold.
We had a family of peafowl. The dad is the really colorful one; Mom is standing next to him warng earth tones; and the daughter is crouching down lower. Her head barely visible at her mom's wing even though they are almost the same size.
Here's a better picture of the three.
The peafowl were usually found on larger farms. The feathers were collected and sold. Since they would wander the property, they would act like watch dogs because their cries could be heard over long distances.
Millie reminded me a lot of our Garnet at home.
She's so pretty.
Cows, their job really hasn't changed over time. Milk is gathered for a lot of different dairy products. Most were butchered for meat and horns and hides. Millie is 10-years old and a breeder.
This is Sniffler. Pigs dig for roots. This pig was really good at digging with his snout.
See. He made it big enough to lie down with a comfy spot to rest his head. Pigs were also raised for their meat.
Sheep! These sheep stayed together all the time and stayed pretty far from the crowds.
Two times each day the guys did a shearing demonstration using hand clippers. This is when you realize the sheep have it much easier today with electric clippers.
The big crop from sheep, of course, is the wool. Collected, cleaned, carded, and spun into thread or yarn.
I got to pet the duckling. He was so soft! Or some might say, "So FLUFFY I could die!"
The little guy put on a good show, but there were a couple of brief quite times when he and his sister could take a quick nap.
The ducks are Pekin breed which sounds like Peking. (giggles)
Oh, I almost forgot about the guinea fowl keets! And they were so adorable.
These four keets are baby Guinea fowl. Guinea fowl are roamers. They bustle around in packs and eat lots of pests. Like the peafowl, they are also good watchdogs.
That's it for the animals. Any questions?
Come back tomorrow for a look at foods.
À bien...machts gut!
#GHFF51
Theme Shifted, Slightly
Hi! Lanie told me it was my turn to reveal this month's build.
I jumped at the chance. do you remember the theme we've been using this year? Well, our calendar this time still has a tree, but not the same tree. (giggles)
See the tree. Have a guess at the overall theme?
Did you say, "Beach"? If you did, you got it right. We wanted a beach theme for August.
Have you been to the beach? I have and love it! What do you pack in your beach bag?
I think we covered a bit of everything here.
The buttons represent waves. Andrea has a radio under the tree plus her lunch. Three puppies are playing in the sand. Birds are looking for french fries. There is a photographer on the dunes.
Oh, and the stripes are supposed to be the colors of a sunset.
The crab is funny too.
Here's a closer look.
Hope you enjoyed our August build.
Have a great day!
Tea for Tuesday #11
Mint from the Garden
Hi! Today we're going to tell you about what Great Aunt Lanie calls "Garden Tea."
Some time ago a friend gave Xyra some mint for our garden. The first year it was a small patch. Then there was so much we could barely handle it. Then something else seemed to take over and we have a very small batch again.
I think we'd rather have a large patch of mint. Especially now that we know we can harvest and spread the leaves around to keep pests away.
ANYWAY! The mint we have we know as wooly mint, but it is also known as apple mint. There are 30 different types of mint.
Did you know catnip is part of the mint family? And did you know that people make cat mint tea to drink themselves?
You know how Pyewacket and Licorice and the other kitties are always trying to drink out of our milk glasses? I can't even imagine how they'd react if we had cat mint tea!
(laughing)
Anyway! Wooly mint makes a lovely beverage. It's best to cut it when the leaves are smaller and before it goes to flower like this one has.
The tea grows back, so you can have more later.
I love the little white and pink flower the mint gets. And it smells wonderful when cut.
Here's a closer look at the leaves. Can you see they look fuzzy? There are tiny "hairs" on the stems and leaves.
You can use the leaves to make tea or as a garnish or you can add into salads. You can add it to sorbets, ice cubes, and herb rubs.
We're going to separate the smaller, unblemished leaves and use them to make tea.
Because making garden tea is not like steeping loose or bag tea, we're just going to tell you the process and let Xyra do all the work.
After we sort and rinse the leaves, Xyra will put them in a pot and fill the pot with water.
Then she puts the pot on the stove on medium heat and lets it come to a boil. Once it boils we let it boil for a couple minutes then turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes.
This is an herbal tea so no caffeine; however, if you let it sit too long it will get bitter.
Made that mistake once. Once!
[Time passes]
Now, here we have our lovely garden tea. Some call it mint tea. The tea in the pitcher is hot. This is one tea we prefer sweet. So have added sugar to taste to the hot pitcher; that way it dissolves properly.
The glass did have ice in it, but it melted. (giggles)
(sips) Light mint flavor. Just cold and sweet enough. Very refreshing.
(sips) You know, it's not a strong mint like peppermint or spearmint. Almost fruity. I guess that's why they call it apple mint.
A great place to try mint tea is the Goschenhoppen Folk Festival. It's a great place to learn about the different uses for mint and the different mint plants too. If you're in the area this Friday or Saturday...
August 11 and 12. Stop by the Antes House off Rt 73 in Perkiomenville, PA. You may not see us, but you could find Xyra helping with the animals.
Have you ever had mint tea? Is it a favorite? Do you grow mint in your garden?
So glad you stopped; come again soon! À bientôt!
Rock-A-Hula
This past Friday a couple of stations were playing Elvis movies back to back. We've noticed them on more frequently lately. Xyra said the movies get more air play in January, near his birthday...January 8, and August, near his death...August 16. Then her eyes got wide and she grabbed some scratch paper and declared this year will be 40 years since Elvis died! So we watched Blue Hawaii, Xyra's favorite Elvis movie.
I LOVED the Rock-A-Hula scene during Chad's welcome home party. Then I saw our hibiscus plant...and got inspired!
The Results
How do I look? Which is your favorite photo?
I love how our hibiscus matches the outfit!
You know, maybe I should have held this for next week and posted a Wednesday Wonders on the anniversary, but this shoot doesn't quite match the movie cover, just inspired by.
Outfit Details
It's all from one spot this time - no mixing or matching - Kanani's Lu'au set (AG retired).
Oh, speaking of outfits, don't forget Grace's wardrobe outfit challenge. We've collected one photo and would love more. See the details here and email your photo to melodyq2000@gmail.com
Tchau! Até mais tarde! (giggles) or Aloha!
