Pioneer Weekend-Saturday Part I

Since Ma and Pa had the roped bed inside the cabin, us kids decided to spend Friday night out in the barn on our ticks. It was a terrible choice. We shared the barn with several sheep and a gaggle of geese and ducks who did not quiet down the whole night. This video from Kyle describes it best:

Just at the point when they would drive me nuts and I would want to go inside, they would quiet down again. I don’t think I slept more than a couple hours total the whole night. I was surprisingly comfortable and warm enough though. Saturday morning came very early as the rooster crowed about 4:15. Kyle rousted me about 6:15 to head out for some sunrise pictures since the sky was streaked with orange and purple. It was so quiet and peaceful.After taking a bunch of pictures, we headed back for breakfast which I cooked up over the hearth. It consisted of cornmeal mush (sprinkled with some delicious maple sugar) and scrambled eggs. It’s so much fun to cook over a hearth with an old fashioned receipt book because there’s really no measurements or explicit instructions so it's all just a guessing game.

After breakfast, it was back to work as Don continued doing some digging in the root cellar while Kyle and Dad continued on their woodworking and Mom and I cleaned up the cabin. When Aunt Marie came Mom and I got to work on preparing the days meals while the boys stayed down at the barn and built a cabinet. We had a nice break from work when the gunsmith stopped by to demonstrate black powder shooting. We each got to fire off a shot from a rifle musket. The thing was huge and heavy and I marvel at the fact that it can be shot with any sort of accuracy.It was really fun through to go through the whole process of tearing off the paper with my teeth and then pouring the powder in and then tamping the paper down in. Dad actually knew our shooting instructor as he used to work with him at Lapp!After shooting, I was tasked with going to the garden and gathering up purslane for salad. I had never heard of purslane but once I saw it in the garden I realized that this plant is the same weed that I am always pulling up in our garden at home! Purslane contains more omega-3 fatty acids than any other leafy vegetable plant. It also contains vitamins (mainly vitamin A, vitamin C, and some vitamin B and carotenoids), as well as dietary minerals, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, and iron. Who knew!