This is an interesting tidbit from Great-Grandmother’s scrapbook:

“It is possible to find rare jewels where least expected. Dishwashing, when made a fine art, may be relied on to furnish its share of “pearls” in the form of satisfaction, even to the extent of improving, rather than injuring the hands. To find these pearls in dishwater, first have ready a big-headed, long-handled dishmop, next three pans; one for suds, one for clear hot water rinsing, one for draining, unless you have a good drainboard.

Renew both suds and rinsing water often, after glassware, after silver, after the tableware, after coarse tableware, and halfway through the pots and pans.

When dishwashing is complete, wash the hands in warm or tepid, but not hot water, with pure soap, rinse them in water of the same temperature, and dry gently, rubbing them over with cornmeal after they are thoroughly clean and dry.

A dish of cornmeal for this use should stand next to the sink as convenient as the soap. Use plenty of soap, water, and dishmop and most of the work will be taken care of “out of your hands”. They will be in water only often enough to soften and whiten them, and after dishwashing is just the time to manicure the nails because the skin around them will be soft and easily pushed back.”

Wow - modern exfoliate hand scrub, with a touch of glove-protection via cornmeal! Has any reader actually heard of this before? Anyone tried this?

Now that we can put our dishes in the dishwasher - can we imagine changing the water 5 times or having all those different pans to use? Thank goodness for whoever invented the dishwasher!!

More frontier tidbits on the website Frontier Cooking and More

Have a great week!

Until next time.

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Our Pioneer ancestors’ travels in the winter were very different from those that we take today.
While we go out to the garage and warm the car up - open air travel on the frontier was a cold ride indeed!

Few pioneers had the luxury of a sleigh, more often it was the family wagon. Covered with thick hides and blankets, with warm potatoes or rocks in their pockets, passengers rode in the back of the wagon.

“Over the River and Through the Woods” in winter was anything but easy, especially when the temperatures were much colder than we experience in our warmer, shorter winters. Winter came in October and lasted until end of March.

If you traveled in the winter it was for necessity. Long trips were dangerous and many times impossible in wintery conditions. You went by wagon, horseback, coach or train if you were lucky.

Pioneers learned to stock up before the snows came with staples and food to last through blizzards that were not-so-seldom on the frontier. Trips into town or to the next town were the only kind of traveling possible by wagon or sleigh in the winter.

Although a sleigh ride would have been great fun for a while, having the wind blowing on your for hours until you reach your destination would have been anything but warm!

Then when you did get home, the snow had blown through the logs and now lies all over the living room as well as the beds! There is no fire yet, so you can keep warm stocking the fire and getting thawed out chopping wood or putting the animals in the barn with food and water.

Ahh - winter on the frontier! For a treat, you can scoop up some fresh snow and drizzle some maple syrup over it - YUMMY!

Do you have ideas on wintering on the frontier to share?

Keep warm with long johns, leg warmers and more at Vermont Country Store
Until next time…

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Now that winter is in full swing across the nation, let’s see how the pioneers dealt with the cold and snow…

If you were a pioneer, you lived in a well built log cabin, that is if you arrived at your homestead in time to build it. Otherwise you survived the winter in a shanty until you could build your house.
No central heating, no insulated walls, no wall-to-wall carpeting under your feet.

I complain in the winter because our home is so drafty - and holds the cold well after it is warm outside. I wonder what those brave folks would think of my “draft” ??

They did have several methods of keeping as warm as possible. First, as we already talked about in the last post, the fireplace was almost always burning because not only was it used for cooking, but it was the method of heating the cabin.

Sleeping was another matter. Seldom were beds in the same room as the fireplace. They were cold and colder! Quilts were heavy and provided one method of retaining body heat in these freezing rooms. Night caps and heavy long johns may look funny to us, but they were survival wear for the pioneers.

Other ideas for bed were placing warmed stones, bricks and even baked potatoes in between the sheets to warm them and the occupant’s feet. Later families used actual “bed warmers” that you can still find readily at antique shops across the country. You filled these round pans will coals from the fire, clamped down the lid and holding the long handle, slid them under the sheets to warm them. These would not have been a necessity to the struggling pioneer family though.

Next time we take a trip in the sleigh (probably the wagon!)

Shop the Vermont Country Store for historical items and Brands from the Past.

Add your Bed warmer ideas by posting below.

Until next time…

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