What year is it?...and Where are we?

Yesterday morning, I woke up in my house and the year was 2009. I loaded our breakfast dishes into the dish washer, and did a load of laundry with my washer and dryer. (I know it was Sunday, but sometimes you just have too!!)

Then we took a little trip and went to the Frontier Culture Museum. It was as if we entered a time machine and went back to the 1700's.

Here the boys are in front of a West African Farm house. This area is not finished yet, but is was still interesting to see. The doors on these houses are carved, and really beautiful!

Then, we went to the English Farm. On this farm, I learned that they give the farm to the oldest boy of the family. The younger boys would get money and trinket items.

They had geese on this farm.

The boys found a "bull." They have since learned that just because a cow has horns, does not mean that it is a bull.

We had to cross a bridge and found some ducklings in the water below.


Next, we went to the Irish Forge to see the Blacksmith.

He showed us the process they went through to make nails.

Austin is holding the nail he just made.

Here are the pigs that were outside the Irish farm. I learned a bit about pigs. I (being a city girl) did not realize that they had "potty corners." No wonder it smelled so much worse at the one corner than the rest! They are really smart little creatures.

Austin is showing us how bad is really smells.

This is the outside of the Irish Farm house.

And look what we found strutting around outside.


They had a weaving loom.


Adam took a "sit down" break on one of their wooden stools.


We spent the most time at the German farm. Which you can see here.

Austin sitting on the stairs at the back of the house. As the man was talking to us, Austin raised his hand and waited patiently for the man to listen to him. When he was finally able to talk he said, "You have a dead mouse by the steps." Not exactly what I expected! He found 3 additional dead mice in the barn. That was apparently an exciting part of the day! (in 1st grade Austin's class came here, the thing that struck him then, and the only part I heard about were....the chamber pots!! I'll never understand!!)

Our interpreter told us, in this culture the boys would continue to live at home and their wives would come to live with them and raise their families there. That could become a very full house, if there was a family with a lot of boys! This is a bit different compared to the English culture that we had just seen.

Our German interpreter played a song on the dulcimer. Mom knew the song.

Austin tried on their wooden carved shoes. They did not look comfortable to me!



Then we jumped forward to the 1820's. We went to and American Farm.

I have to say that it was an interesting day, and I learned a lot. But, I would not trade my meager kitchen for what they had. And I do enjoy the convenience of my appliances!