Tuesday, September 26, 2006

The Big Adventure

On September 29 and 30 I will be joining a few other ladies on an adventure. Little House on the Praire style living for two days. To live without any modern convienences, just like the Pioneer familes did long ago.

Two books that I have been reading through for ideas are "Little House in the Classroom" and "The Little House Cookbook."


Books
Originally uploaded by pwinn.



Grace and Emily are VERY excited. They would like to start
tomorrow. :0) These two little dolls were made for my sister and I, by my Great Grandmother. Grace and Emily will be allowed to play with them for the two days.


Dolls
Originally uploaded by pwinn.



They come with a complete wardrobe and quilts to keep them warm.


Clothes
Originally uploaded by pwinn.



Here is a list of possible things to give up or do differently. I will be modifying the list for my city house! I do plan on using my camera to take lots of picture to share with you all.

I put a * beside the ones I plan on giving up.

*-No Electricity
*-No TV
*-No radio
*-No lights
*-No phones (unless it is an emergency)
*-No driving anyplace
-No running water
*-No plastic stuff
*-No microwave
*-No instant, junk or fast food. No sodas
*-No showers
-No deodorants
*-No air conditioning or fans
-No liquid dish soaps
*-No makeup, lotions, etc.
*-No paper products (I'm giving everything up but toliet paper!)
*-No washing machines or dishwashers
*-No shampoo

Here are some fun things we will be doing for the two days:
-Writing with our ink pens
-Wear dresses or skirts
-Wear our hair up
-Walk to the store for any food we may need but limiting it to produce and dairy
-Make homemade butter
-We will do our schoolwork on black slates
-Use a bucket to bring water in from the outside faucet. We will be flushing toliets!


Here is our makeshift bowl and pitcher for washing our faces in the morning.


Pitcher
Originally uploaded by pwinn.






I have also been researching about the Food for our "Little House."

Breakfasts:

-Oatmeal
-Biscuits
-Pancakes
-Fried potatoes

Lunches and Dinners:

-Baked Beans and Cornbread
-Fried Potatoes
-Creamed Carrots
-Stuffed Roasted Chicken
-Potato Cakes
-Hasty Pudding

Desserts:

-Apple Turnovers
-Pound Cake
-Custard Pie
-Popcorn

Beverages
-Cambric Tea
-Coffee sweetened with molasses

Please let me know if you have any other ideas to make our adventure more authentic and especially if you would like to join us!

It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.-Laura Ingalls Wilder

17 comments:

Carole Burant said...

What a fun idea...I'm afraid I love my modern conveniences too much to give that a try! lol It certainly does make one realize, though, how lucky we are to have running water, electricity, etc. I'll look forward to seeing pictures and good luck with this little adventure:-) Hugs

Symea said...

Hi Kelli,
what a nice idea.

Did I understand you right - you will stay at home but live like 200 years ago?

In german TV there were some series showing for example a family moving to a farm and living in the year 1900 for ten weeks. They had to do all the farm work without any machines.
Or families living in the year 1910 or 1920 and having servants. The life of the servants was very hard.

Rowan said...

This sounds like a really fun project and just the sort of thing that your little girls will enjoy especially if they can play with those beautiful dolls. Glad you aren't giving up your camera though as I'm really looking forward to reading about it all and seeing the photographs.

Beck said...

Sounds like fun - I think that the things that people ate in pioneer times were very tied into the seasons, so you're lucky to be doing this in Autumn and not in March, when they had a much more limited diet! And did little girls wear their hair up?

Sandra said...

That is such a fun idea Kelli, can't wait for all the pictures :)

Oh and I want to tell you that I made your bread yesterday, it was DELICIOUS, I love how simple and how good it is.

Thank you for sharing the recipe :)

Hugs,
Sandra

Anonymous said...

This sounds like so much fun! I've always been fascinated with the 1800's and the "Prairie Days"...I used to tell my mama that I was born 100 years too late! I can't wait to follow your 'big adventure' via your posts!
Have a great day!
Amy
(Picket Fence Mom)

Kelli said...

Sylvia, was the show called PBS's Pioneer House? We watched it too and that is what we are trying to copy!

Beck, Grace and Emily will probably wear their hair in two little braids. :0)

Sandra, I'm glad you liked the bread! I had the last of it toasted for breakfast with raspberry jam. :)

Amy said...

Don't forget the roasted rabbits! Lol!

I've read the Little House books over and over again. This sounds like fun!

Sandra said...

I like your list Kelli and think it would work for our "city" house too.

I will probably join you but need to talk to my husband first to see if he's o.k. with it. :o) (He won't be if we had to give up flush toilets and showers though, lol!)

MariaJ said...

Little House on the Praire was my favourite book when I was 10-12 years old! We also watched it on TV. I cant wait your pics! A fab idea!

Susan P. said...

Wow, what an exciting adventure. I would have loved this as a child:) Can't wait to hear all about it. I loved the quote you used at the end from LIW, it is SOOO true:)

theups said...

Oh, Kelli!! Sounds like y'all will have the BEST time!!!! How exciting!! I can't wait to hear all about it!

His,
Mrs. U

Unknown said...

I teach from the Prairie Primer several times a year in our homeschool co-op. I bet you would love this book/lesson set. Check it out.

dot said...

Kelli, hope ya'll enjoy your adventure! I love the little dolls the girls will be playing with. I'm a little worried about the no deodorant, no air conditioning or fan. LOL

Patty said...

Have fun and remember, No zippers or elastic : )
I think this will be so much fun.
I am starting tomorrow evening.

Unknown said...

This reminds me of the a few PBS shows were people would live in a period of time with no modern conveniences. I really enjoyed it.

I look forward to your posts of your experience afterwards.

Jenn said...

One PBS special is "Frontier House" and I watched it from Netflix. I think it was like a 5 month journey of it though, they built their own homes and everything! It was sooo good, but there were some squabbles between families and such also, I still loved it though.

Jenn