The most recent entry is immediately below this line.  Read down to experience the year.

Thursday, August 21
 
Another bountiful day is upon us as rain finally again falls from the sky. This has been a great relief for us as we have once again needed to irrigate the tobacco crop to help it along. Monday Brian and I went through the crop looking for tobacco worms and pulling suckers from the plants. With hot weather returning Tuesday and Wednesday Brian has also been building a chair at the Tool Barn and I have been working on replacing the hitching post at the Ox Barn.
 
This past Saturday we held our annual Children's Day on the Farm with almost 500 people in attendance. At various stations around the farm children learned how simple machines such as pulleys and levers work, made quilt squares, played marbles and other period games and other activities. In addition to these stations, there was a Punch & Judy puppet show in which Mr. Punch learns the importance of telling the truth. There were also opportunities to meet and see the chickens and draft horses up close. The weather was very enjoyable and overall it was a great day.
 
Coming up next weekend we look forward to being a part of Summer Finale with the Woodlands Nature Station. On Saturday we will be hosting a first in recent years Storytelling Festival from 1-4pm, Sunday will be a traveling medicine show featuring the Cumberland River Plowboys old-time string band and Monday will feature Period Pastimes including 19th century toys and games.
 
Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

 

Wednesday, July 23
 
I have been out of town for a few days enjoying some whitewater kayaking in Pennsylvania and Maryland but while I've been gone, work at the farm has kept on keeping on here at The Homeplace. There has been some rain to help the crops along. In fact, Rob was able to harvest some of the Stowell's Evergreen corn which the ladies used in a meal today at the Double Pen House. Charlotte, Lora Ann and Jessica prepared a meal of pork, squash, potatoes, biscuits, corn, tomatoes and cucumbers with a dessert of blackberry cobbler; all of which came from the farm. Indeed it was hard to push myself away from the table to come up here and log this journal entry.
 
Nevertheless, work has continued in the tobacco field with the crosschecking of the the crop using Bob the draft horse. Brian and I hoed out the field this morning. We also topped a few plants by breaking off their flowering ends so the plants will put energy into producing leaf.  The crop is very uneven having been reset several times but it will still go in the barn all the same. The cotton is up and doing well also as is the Bloody Butcher corn.
 
It has been hot while I've been away, besides the fieldwork that needed to be done, the ladies have worked quite a bit doing handwork, quilting. One tolerable day they dig out the last of the potatoes from the Spring garden.
 
Overall the livestock are well. We did lose a couple of chickens recently but they would not go into the coop at night. I guess they were at the bottom of the pecking order and got tired of getting beat up on by the other birds. Jake's eye is doing better. He had cut himself in early July and needed stitches. Robert pulled the remaining stitches yesterday.
 
Soon it will be time for our annual Children's Day program on August 16th. This program will focus on children's life in the 1850s. Also it's not too early to be making plans for Labor Day. Saturday, August 30th will be the first annual afternoon of storytelling at The Homeplace. Come Outside and Play!
 
Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

 

Wednesday, July 9
 
Today is a day to be remembered. It is the day that something that was forgotten fell from the sky. I believe they used to call it "rain". Anyway, even with the downpours we had this morning, we're still having to irrigate our corn, cotton and tobacco. As Rob was moving around the soaker hoses this morning he found that 3 inches down the ground was dusty and hard. It will take some soaking rains to really make an impact. However, even without the rain, the garden is looking really good. Lora Ann, Charlotte, Jennifer and Jessica have all been keeping up with it daily and even harvested some carrots, potatoes and cucumbers yesterday. Most of the varieties grown are heirloom types that allow saving seed for growing out the next year. Many of these varieties grown in The Homeplace garden are available for purchase in our gift shop.
 
The pigs are also benefitting from the work in the garden as culled plants and pulled spring vegetables make their way almost daily to the hog lot. Indeed the pigs ate really well last Friday as we had the rinds from 11 watermelons to discard. We did have a small shower but not anything to put a damper on the spirits of the 542 people that came out to celebrate Independence Day. Henry Clay's arrival by horse drawn spring wagon really set the stage for the day. Later the Cumberland River Plowboys Old Time String Band stole the show as other visitors enjoyed marble games, relay races, watermelon, and town ball. New for this year we had a pie eating contest which was extremely popular. To round out the day there was a reading of the Declaration of Independence, a presentation by Dr. Waldo on the "new" technologies of the 1850s and the attempted launch of a smoke balloon which did rise about 20 feet before the wind brought it back down to earth. All in all it was quite a great day.
 
Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

 

Wednesday, July 2
 
Oh deer!!!, the deer are upon us soon to eat us out of house and home! Well, maybe it's not that bad yet but it's getting there. Just as our Stowell's Evergreen corn was beginning to tassel out, the deer came by night and raided the field. There were many casualties as the strewn stalks bore witness to the following morning. Rob set up some flags around the field with strips of white cloth on them to scare the deer away from the field. They had little effect as the corn was raided the following night. I joked with Jonathan that the flags look like we mean to surrender to the deer or seek to parlay with their leaders. Maybe if we just tried talking to them we could get them to understand that there is plenty of corn in the field down the road. No such negotiations are planned at this time. But I did take the offensive the other day by spraying the remaining corn tassels with an eco-friendly hot pepper wax. Since then, no corn stalks have been broken down. Perhaps the palates of the deer just are too soft for hot sauce...for now.
 
But the deer have been only part of the barrage of wildlife descending upon the farm site. In the duck coop there was found a very content skunk who rather enjoyed the dark, straw filled residence with a virtual endless supply of fresh duck eggs. It took ten minutes of beating on the back of the building to convince him to relocate but he left. Then we had the black snakes, 2 on the same day even. I managed to catch both and put them into feed sacks and then drove them 15 miles south of here to live happily ever after.
 
The way things are going we'll have some buffalo waltz on through by the end of the week. Hopefully not though because that will put quite a damper on our Independence Day festivities. I can almost taste that springhouse cold watermelon as I write. There is a forecast of rain for the day but I almost hope we do have some showers (before and after the program) as we are very dry. We've even begun irrigating the tobacco for the second year in a row. The corn still looks good even if it is bare of corn. Oh well, maybe next year....
 
Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

Wednesday, June 25
 
Fieldwork continues despite the lack of rain. The tobacco has been cultivated and hoed and replanted again and again. This is the first year that we might actually run out of plants from the plant bed as we reset plants in the field and then it turns off dry preventing the plants from taking root. It's almost depressing. The other crops though are doing quite well. The garden looks the best it has in years and the corn is beginning to top out. We even have cotton germinating and beginning to grow. Over the weekend, Rob presented a program on how crops were cultivated in the 19th century featuring a number of different cultivators and discussion on the cross-check method whereby the plants would be set on a checkerboard type pattern so that the rows could be cultivated north and south as well as east and west. On Sunday, the ladies presented a program featuring what vegetables were to be harvested from the great looking garden and demonstrated 19th century methods for preserving the harvest.
 
Soon it will be Independence Day and the preparations are in full swing. Charlotte has been busy making repairs to the flag and making hats for the town ball game. Watermelons have been ordered and the wagon had been given a once over for basic repairs so that it can be used to bring Senator Henry Clay out to the farm for a rousing Independence Day celebration. The fun begins at 1pm on Friday, July 4th and will be capped off at 4pm with the ascent of a paper hot air balloon. Hope to see you here!
 
Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

 

Wednesday, June 18
 
Last Friday we had a pretty significant front come through and brought 2 inches of rain with it. This has been a great benefit for all the crops especially the tobacco. We've been having to reset so many plants that we will soon run out of plants in our plant bed. The rain has also helped the corn, gourds, and garden and we are just beginning to see cotton coming up in the front field.
 
Over the weekend we had our Pickin' Party Old-Time Music Festival with acts featuring Leroy Troy, Mark Dvorak, the Dixie Volunteers, and the Cumberland River Plowboys. The nice temperatures brought out over 800 people for the program for some terrific musical performances. As well, vendors had musical instruments for sale, and there was plenty of opportunity for people to sit around and play music to their hearts content. Our next special event will be Independence Day 1850 on Friday, July 4th from 1-4pm. The great statesman Henry Clay will be attending and we will have watermelon, games and fun for all!!

Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

Wednesday, June 11
 
It's still very dry here and unseasonably warm with temperatures in the 90's. Still we are cultivating corn using Bob and a double shovel plow to cultivate the Bloody Butcher corn. Hunter volunteered with us again and we hoed tobacco in the front field. In the garden the ladies have put out sweet potato plants and will soon be putting up poles for the beans to climb. Over the weekend the ladies made some new mattresses (ticks) for the beds at the Double Pen House and Lora Ann has made a new shirt for Rob. We do have a new staff member join our team and he is not a Bob, Rob or Robert, but a Brian. He is a 2007 graduate of East Tennessee State University with a major in History and a minor in Appalachian Studies.

Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

Wednesday, June 4

The weather has turned off hot this week with temperatures in the low 90's. It would go to figure that after three months of rain, we are now in need of more as we now have corn and tobacco in the fields. In fact, Rob and Robert set out 546 tobacco plants over this past weekend and Rob used Bob the draft horse to cultivate the Bloody Butcher corn in the front field. Jessica and Charlotte worked in the garden cultivating the summer crops of beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, and other summer vegetables. The spring garden may turn out to be a loss. Onions have done well, but the potatoes are beginning to flower, the carrots and turnips haven't really produced at all. Charlotte has also been at work on a new quilt with a wagon wheel design.

Hunter volunteered with us yesterday. He is interested in learning how to work the draft horses and oxen. One of the first steps in this process is understanding how the harness works. One of the best ways to learn this is to clean it piece by piece which I set him to yesterday morning. Meanwhile Jessica and Charlotte were at work at the Double Pen preparing a meal of baked chicken, corn dressing, potatoes, black eyed peas, sourdough biscuits and apple cobbler. In the afternoon, Hunter had a little trouble pushing himself away from the table but once I told him he needed to go finish cleaning harness or he needed to go put on a dress to help wash dishes, he was inclined to get back to work.

Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

 

Wednesday, May 28

This past weekend there were a number of programs held at The Homeplace focusing on the connections between the rivers and life in the 19th century. This was part of the River Days programs that occured in LBL in part with Woodlands Nature Station.

Saturday at The Homeplace we had a program featuring a traveling peddler and his goods. This program accented just how important the rivers were for the transportation of material goods in the 1850s. During this program, Charlotte had a table set up with a number of items that people could guess to see if they had those items in the 1850s or not. Some of the items on the table included mason jars, matches, tin wares, chocolate and lemons. If you're curious, mason jars were not available commonly until the 1860s, matches were commonly available in the 1850s as was tin ware, chocolate and lemons were available but would not have been consumed on a daily basis because they both would have to be brought in to the area.

On Sunday, Rob had a really interesting program called Ratting on the Rivers. For this program he staged a number of fish traps in Pryor Creek near to The Homeplace. Almost 100 people trekked the half mile to observe Rob's program on 19th century fishing methods.

Monday, Charlotte cooked Southern Fried Fish at The Double Pen House. The meal was complete with hush puppies and slaw.

In addition to these programs we also had some special guests Saturday as Mr. & Mrs. Midkiff and some friends came to visit. Mr. & Mrs. Midkiff are the couple who donated Red & Star to The Homeplace. They were very happy to see the oxen in yoke as Rob had the oxen out to pull a sled and haul some trash wood.

In a card that the Midkiffs sent to "Friends of LBL" they noted, "Thank you and your staff for the time you spent with us. It was a neat visit. We are impressed. We were happy to see Red & Star so healthy and happy. We know they are in the right place. Have a great summer."

Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

 

Wednesday, May 21

Finally after much effort we have planted the front corn field. Time to work in the field has been a challenge because of weather, staffing numbers and anything else you could think of, but yesterday we did it. Monday we harrowed the plot of ground with our oxen (Red & Star) and Tuesday we drug the plot with our team of Percheron draft horses (Bob & Jake) then we marked rows at 42 inch centers and planted Bloody Butcher Corn. This red eared variety has been grown in America since the 1840s and will grow to be over 10 feet tall. It was nice to have help planting the corn as several children and their families stopped by. One boy exclaimed that he had never planted corn before and almost had to be pried out of the field by his family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of corn, Rob & Jonathan hoed out our other plot of corn recently and used Bob to cultivate the rows. The gourds and flax are doing well and the tobacco will soon be ready to be transplanted to the field in front of the Double Pen House. Jonathan is hoping to do this work with the oxen.

This past Saturday, Robert helped with a program called "Behold the Bison" where he and a staff member from Woodlands Nature Station set up a table near the South Bison Range. On this table where a number of bison props such as a skull and hide and a black-powder rifle. During this program visitors could see the bison with help from a spotting scope while learning how the bison were hunted to extinction in this area.

Visitors also had a chance to learn more about the developing Oak-Grassland Restoration Demonstration Area that is being developed around The Homeplace. This project will make use of several different methods including prescribed fire to revert the landscape to what it is believed to have looked like at the time of European settlement. Near The Homeplace Visitor Center a plot of ground has been prepared up to be planted in Warm Season Native Grasses which will also be used as a teaching tool to explain this project.

At The Double Pen House, Charlotte and Lora Ann have been at work on a Wagon Wheel quilt while Cindy has been trying to salvage a rug section that is still on the loom at the Single Pen House. It seems that the mice have been nibbling on the warp strings that hold the weaving pieces together. I guess all in all, we've had quite a week with all creatures great and small.

Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

 

Wednesday, May 14

We've been working to get a second plot of corn planted but the weather has not been in our favor with rain almost every other day. This is a great contrast to last summer when we couldn't make it rain at all. The rain and cooler temperatures has kept some of our plants from really taking off yet. The garden was planted in late March but the young plants are still very small for late May. Our young tobacco plants are coming along well and will soon be ready to transplant to the field in front of the Double Pen House. We might even try plowing that plot with Red & Star our new Milking Shorthorn oxen.

This spring we've been noticing a number of bicyclists stopping in to visit the farm. I spoke to some of them while they were at the site and they mentioned that they were on their way on to Canada. The trail that they are biking is called the Underground Railroad Trail which begins in Mobile, AL and goes on to Canada. Part of the trail goes right through Land Between the Lakes. They said that we should expect to see more cyclists coming through this area as the trail has only recently been created. In fact yesterday we had 15 cyclists stop who were also following this trail. One of the cyclists mentioned that on average each person would spend about $2000 while on this trip, all of which goes to support the economies of the Underground Railroad Trail Corridor.

Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

 

 

Thursday, May 1

While the weather was cool of late, I was spending one day splitting out fence rails. This involves taking a metal or wooden wedge and a wooden sledgehammer called a maul to split the pieces of wood into useable rails to fence in the crops and fence out the livestock. While I was splitting out the rails my friend Mathew came by to lend a hand. He was very excited to be on the farm and very glad to help me with my chore. Here is a photo of Mathew and I splitting rails (used with his parent's permission).

Then suddenly the weather turned warm and we were able to work up a patch of ground near the Tool Barn to plant corn. The type we are growing in this patch this year is called Stowell's Evergreen Corn. It is a white open-pollinated corn that was in America during the 1850s. Jonathan used Bob the horse to plow the ground while I used Jake to harrow the ground to break up the clods of soil. Rob used Bob again to drag off the ground to level it and then marked off the plot so that Robert and I could plant the corn. Now if we can keep the deer out of it we'll really have something.

Over this past weekend The Homeplace had its second annual Quilt Show. Many historic and reproduction quilts were on display from The Homeplace collection while Lora Ann coordinated for a number of locally made quilts to be on display. Some of the quilts that were on display this weekend are from the family who owned the land in the 19th century that is now The Homeplace. Besides the quilt displays, demonstrations of quilting practices took place throughout the day. It was a great day and we're looking forward to the third annual quilt show to be held on the last Saturday in April, 2009.

 

 

In addition to the second annual Quilt Show, The Homeplace, in partnership with Fort Donelson National Battlefield and the Stewart County Library, will be participating in a quilt trail where a number of quilting squares will be on display at area attractions, historic sites, businesses and other places of interest. The quilt block chosen for The Homeplace is the Rose of Sharon. This appliquéd pattern is representative of the prosperity that existed between the rivers before the war between the states. Additional quilt blocks are scheduled for The Homeplace to represent the periods of hardship that accompanied the war and the redeveloping economy that developed during reconstruction. There will be an additional quilt block at South Welcome Station. We are very excited to be part of this quilt trail and are looking forward to working with our partners to showcase the heritage of this area.

 

Bob Holliday

Lead Interpreter

 

Wednesday, April 23

Over the past week work has continued on replacing the fence around the Double Pen House. Jonathan used Red & Star to pull the old posts out of the ground and is replacing the fence using oak fence boards that he cut last year. Yesterday, Jonathan used Bob the Percheron draft horse to plow a patch for planting corn. Robert also worked with horses Saturday using Jake to pull some knotty logs to be cut up for firewood.

On Sunday, Charlotte presented a spinning wool program at the Single Pen House. With sunny warm weather we were quite busy with many visitors coming just for that program. Yesterday, Charlotte and Cindy worked on the loom in the Single Pen House. Lora Ann has been very busy collecting locally made quilts for the quilt show. Some of the quilts displayed this year will have a direct connection to the Vinson family who in the 1850s owned the land where The Homeplace Living History Farm is now located.

Yesterday was Earth Day and we had a school group on site from Woodlawn Elementary in Stewart County. During their visit to the Tool Barn I showed them how wedges are used to split fence rails. The students where very excited because they had been studying simple machines in class. We also discussed how trees were a very important natural resource for farms in the 1850s and we also discussed how they are a renewable resource in that they are self-replacing.

Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

 

Wednesday, April 16

Once again, we had a substantial amount of rain fall this past week causing some localized flooding in the area. On the farm site it brought the creeks up quite a bit. Rob was able to take advantage of the weather conditions to try out some toy boats  and water wheels that he made. The ducks are also delighted by the higher water conditions and the pigs are very happy in the endless supply of mud made available to them.

The cool weather has also made it ideal to cook on the woodstove. We had a great meal the other day of bean soup with sausage, cornbread, cracklin bread, sweet potatoes, and chess pie. The ladies have also kept busy dipping candles, knitting, weaving, and cutting up some meat from the smokehouse.

Saturday and Sunday were the Spring Wildflower Weekend in Land Between the Lakes. On Saturday, a local watercolor artist, Judy Black, painted wildflowers while Cindy presented a program on the uses of wild plants in Folk Medicine. Rob also lead a guided hike called the "Pryor Creek Creep" looking for wildflowers and also focusing on local history. Sunday, Charlotte presented a program on wild edibles and Jonathan did some woodworking with flowering trees. During his program he made a rolling pin out of Dogwood using the spring pole lathe at the Tool Barn.

Sunday we brought Red & Star out on the farm for the first time. Jonathan and Rob worked with them the better part of the day ground driving them around the farm.

Monday Red & Star were out again. This time they pulled three logs and moved 250 pounds of feed, a sled of fence rails, and a sled of fire wood. Considering that the weather was very cool and the steers haven't worked in almost 3 months, I'd say they did quite well.

Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

Sunday, April 6

The weather has been cooler the beginning of the week so we've still been covering the tobacco plant bed to protect it against frost. The plants are just beginning to germinate so we want to make sure they have everything they need to grow. One thing we haven't been able to protect them against is the sheep. For some reason this year the sheep have a taste for cedar. Every morning it looks like a buffet line at a restaurant as the sheep gather around the plant bed to nibble on the cedar boughs that cover the bed. As long as they don't start standing in the bed we should be ok.

Also with the cooler weather, work has continued on making split rails and repairs to the fence around the Double Pen House. It will be another couple of weeks until we are able to plow for corn as we had two more days of heavy rain Thursday & Friday. Rob has also been working on tightening the fence around the hog lot and with the wet weather has been stripping some of the tobacco to tie it into hands. This is how the tobacco would be prepared to go to market.

The young pigs are doing quite well and soon should be ready to relocate to the bigger lot. We just want to be sure that the fence is tight enough to prevent them from finding a way out. In the 1850s farms in the area may have had 30 or more pigs and all would have some sort of ear notching to distinguish who they belonged to.

Lora Ann & Charlotte have been busy dipping candles, crocheting, knitting and weaving on the loom. They've cooked dinner on the woodstove Thursday and have been airing out the bedding in the parlor and other rooms in between rainstorms.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the 24th Annual Southern Kentucky Horse Drawn Machinery Auction in Scottsville, KY. At this auction they had seven auction rings going at the same time selling all manner of horse drawn machinery, furniture, livestock, walking plows & cultivators, lumber, and other odds & ends. There were quite a few Amish & Mennonite buyers there and it was quite an interesting day with the ankle deep mud caused by the rain Thursday & Friday.

After leaving the auction, I traveled on to Oneida, KY to meet with Mr. & Mrs. Midkiff who had contacted The Homeplace about donating a working team of oxen to us. The oxen are named Red & Star and are a 5 year old team of Milking Shorthorn cattle. The oxen have pulled logs, sleds, carts, and been in parades as well as other public types of outings. After seeing the cattle first hand and meeting with the Midkiffs and understanding their love for the cattle and want to see them go to a facility that will care for them well and use them for public demonstrations and educational programs, we have plans at this time to accept their donation of the oxen team, yoke, and hardware and we hope to have them on the farmsite soon!

Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

Saturday, March 29
 
On Tuesday we had another Breakaway College group from Hamilton. They also spent their Spring Break at LBL and on Tuesday helped us out by stacking the rest of the stove wood which is used to heat the wood stove in the Double Pen House. Then we cut slab wood for Snap Apple Night, our 19th century Halloween program. The group also helped with fertilizing the trees in the parking lot, cleaning the windows at the Double Pen House, and hauled off more brush from around the farm. They also got to meet the livestock and tour the Double Pen House as well as the rest of the farm.
 
We were able to get the spring garden planted this week with a little help. After five days of dry windy weather we had a tractor rototill and box blade the garden. Now of course we have horses to to this kind of thing but over time, plowing the garden has caused a hump to form in the middle of the ground. Using the tractor we got the ground leveled out and it couldn't have been timed any better as Lora Ann and Charlotte were able to get everything in the ground just as the next rain system was moving in Thursday morning. They finished planting the garden in the rain but it's in and good thing. It hasn't stopped raining since then and isn't expected to until next week.
 
Today I worked the team to do some transporting around the farm. Bob & Jake, our team of Percheron horses pulled a log, a big bundle of fence rails and a heavy sled full of sapwood from Jonathan's shingle making up to the tobacco barn. The boys did great. They worked slow and easy and we often stopped to talk to people as we worked. It was a really nice day of working with horses.
 
Rob was at Brandon Spring Group camp today hosting a workshop on making baskets using invasive plants such as kudzu and Japanese Honeysuckle. Invasive plants such as these are non-native to this country and as they have introduced tend to displace native species of plant life. Rob said that the workshop was a great success with 11 participants and 2 assistants completing baskets.
 
Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

 

Saturday, March 22
 
This past week we had a Breakaway College group from St. Norbert which is in Wisconsin. This group of 12 students spent their Spring Break in LBL and on St. Patrick's day they were at The Homeplace. While there they helped to stack stovewood, cut sawmill slabs for fire curing tobacco, helped to repair split rail fences, and hauled off brush from around the farm. During this work time, we also took time to tour the farm, meet the livestock and split a few fence rails.
 
More rain came upon us mid-week which has made turning soil impossible. There may not be as many cold crops such as cabbage and broccoli in the garden as it's getting a bit late in March for them to do well. The ladies have been doing more weaving at the Single Pen House and on Easter Sunday dyed Easter eggs using natural dyes.
 
With all the rain, the ducks have been getting adventurous following the creek wherever it takes them. I had to turn them back once they got to the Double Pen House. Otherwise they might have continued down to the river. The ducks we have are Black Cayaga, a rare breed that developed in New York during the 1840s. They are a black duck with a green sheen. They are great egg layers and a very good meat duck.
 
At the Tool Barn, Jonathan has been splitting shingles and Rob has managed to put in a few patches of gourds around the fence. I worked with Bob the horse on Easter Sunday picking up scrap wood to take to the tobacco barn. This wood along with the forementioned slabwood will be burned in the barn to cure the dark-fired tobacco that we will grow this year. The heat and smoke cure the tobacco and give it a dark color to make it suitable for use as chewing tobacco.
 
Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

 

 

Saturday, March 15

The calves are doing a better the last couple of days. Rob haltered them both and groomed them both and they were very calm. We hope to have them out on the farm the next week. The pigs are doing really well. We have them in a brooder building near the Single Pen House. Here they can root and wallow where the public can view them easily while having the protection of an enclosed building at night.

The farm staff have also been busy getting ready for this year's crop planting. Jonathan has worked on the walking plows and Rob has prepared the tobacco plant bed. To do this brush is piled and burned to kill weed seeds in a 15 x 4 foot area. The tobacco seed which is about the size of a grain of salt is then broadcasted over the area. These seeds will germinate and grow and will be ready for transplanting in early May. Rob has also prepared plots to plant gourds and flax, a fibrous plant which is used in making linen.

At the Double Pen House, the ladies have done some rearranging of the main house and continue to smoke the pork in the smokehouse using green hickory wood. Interestingly the smoking process does nothing to preserve the meat. It only imparts flavor into the meat. All the preservation is done by salting the meat. This removes all the water and other juices from the meat and cures it so that it could be stored for later use. Because of this preservation ability, it was most common to have salt pork in the 19th century.

Cindy has been down today along with volunteers Lydia and Robin to help with the weaving bee at the Single Pen House. Rags have been ripped and strung together into long strands and are then worked on the loom to make new rugs to put on the floor of the Double Pen House. And if it should ever dry out, we'll plow up the garden for spring planting.

Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

 

Saturday, March 8

This has been quite a week at The Homeplace. We were able to get our pigs for 2008. I drove to Effingham, Illinois to pick up our pigs from Mr. Ron Navis who has been our source for Tamworth pigs for the past several years. Ironically, we make the parking lot of Cracker Barrel our meeting place. Mr. Navis has been kind enough to donate the pigs to us and they are always in excellent condition when they arrive. Last year we did have one pig that just wouldn't put on weight but with some peanut butter sandwiches and a round of antibiotics, he finished out at 195 pounds. His brother finished at 380 pounds. This pig is now in the smokehouse. This is part of the cycle of the farm. Young animals are cared for tenderly and given what they need to be comfortable and healthy. Then they become food. Although the Tamworth breed is a rare breed with fewer than 5,000 believed to be in North America we do not maintain a breeding program but get new pigs each year. In essence, we help to preserve the Tamworth breed by raising awareness of its qualities and doing business with people like Mr. Navis which helps to keep people in business who are making a living raising these rare types of farm animals. Each year we get 2 barrows (castrated males) this is in case the pigs should escape the farm at least they will not breed and add to the problem of wild pigs here in Land Between the Lakes.

On a sadder note, we had to put down Blaze, our 10 year old Milking Shorthorn steer this week. After a night of storms dropping over 3 inches of rain, Blaze sank into some mud up to his belly and became quite stuck. Jonathan, Rob, and Robert gallantly started to dig him out using hand shovels and I coordinated with Darrin, our facility manager, to get a back hoe to assist. It was a warm sunny day so we were in agreement that once Blaze was out of the mud and had a chance to rest he would be fine. It was not to be. By 3pm Blaze was still down so Robert called the vet to check him out. Dr. Edwards of the North Stewart Veterinary Clinic gave Blaze steroids and electrolytes and I stayed with him over night to keep him from laying on his side and bloating. He tried several times to get up but just didn't have the oomph to get there. The next morning the backhoe was back and we tried using a harness to lift Blaze and let the blood re-circulate through his legs. After about an hour we tried letting him walk and he did well. He made it to the barn but got down again and could not get up on his own. The next morning it became necessary to have him euthanized. I brushed his face while Dr. Lewis of the North Stewart Clinic gave the necessary injections. And then Blaze calmly relaxed and it was over. Jackie from Ecotone Services was extremely helpful with burying Blaze near the barn. Jackie also was the one who rescued Blaze from the mud and rigged the harness to try to get him on his feet. Through everything, Jackie was very sensitive to the situation and was very concerned for Blaze's welfare. Special thanks to Dr. Edwards, Dr. Lewis, and Jackie from Ecotone Services for all of their assistance during this ordeal.

For the past couple of days we've been keeping Cain & Abel (our other Shorthorn steers) off site. When they first came to the farm as calves, Blaze was the only other bovine they have known. He sort of became an uncle to them to the point that they would not leave the pasture unless Blaze was with them. Cain & Abel have been bawling quite a bit calling out for Blaze but don't quite understand that he's not here anymore. In fact, the steers broke out of the wooden fenced corral on site to go and find Blaze so they'll remain off site until we feel that they have completed their own version of the grieving process and are calm enough to have them out where the public can view them again.

To everything there is a season
Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter

 

 

Saturday, March 1

Another season is upon us here at The Homeplace and we welcome you to our 2008 online journal. Here you will be able to keep up with the happenings around the farm while learning more about life in the 19th century.

Over the winter we had quite a time battling skunks and opossums at the barn where we keep the livestock over winter. We successfully trapped and relocated 5 skunks, 5 opossums, but lost 1 chicken to an unknown predator (probably a raccoon) that dug under the chicken coop and busted through the weak wire. We also found evidence of 2 deer that were killed by coyotes.

Also over the winter, the staff spent their time preparing for the 2008 season. Seeds have been ordered, garden plans have been decided, and programs have been planned for the entire year. This spring be sure not to miss the Second Annual Quilt Show featuring historic and traditional quilts on Saturday, April 26th and the ever popular sheep shearing on May 3rd.

Over the winter we were able to make some capital improvements as well. In 2007, The Homeplace was named the Interpretive Project of the Year by the Southern Region of the US Forest Service. Along with this recognition came a $1000 cash prize which we spent on some projects that we always wanted to do but never had the funds available. Visitors to the farm will notice new locksets at the Double Pen House. During a renovation project in 2001, a professional consultant specializing in historic structures determined that this type of hardware would be very appropriate for a middle class house between the rivers due to this farm's closeness to the Cumberland River and the steamboat traffic traveling there. So part of this money went to purchasing nine reproduction locksets for the house. Some of the  money was also spent on purchasing a specialized vacuum for cleaning historic textiles in our collection of original artifacts.

Besides these projects, the staff also was busy this winter installing a ceiling in the kitchen of the Single Pen House and will be working this spring at building a new fence around the Double Pen House.

We've gotten everything fixed up and ready for 2008. Come visit with us when you get the chance!

Bob Holliday
Lead Interpreter