Cobblestone House & The 1850 Lunch



The lilacs are finally in bloom.

It's rare when I treat myself.












Like many busy parents, I save up all my vacation time for the unexpected. The sick child, the mid-day appointment or some emergency repair (think furnace) to the home that I have to be there for. Occasionally, I'll save up a week all year round  to visit the family back home for Christmas. Rarely do I take the day off just for a "mental health" day.





But sometimes the stars come into alignment and an opportunity presents itself that seems be custom made for you. This is what happened this week.

Hurd Market is a 200 year old family farm located just a hop, skip and a jump from the Farmhouse in the Field (http://www.hurdorchards.com/). Sue and Amy Machamer honor their farm family heritage by not only continuing the fruit business created by their predecessors but by redefining it to create an unique farm experience for their visitors. Their farm market is exquisite and for years I've secretly wanted to attend one of their luncheons but just could not justify taking one of those coveted days off for something so self-indulgent.







In getting one of their annual "newspapers" last week I saw something I could not resist, they had a "Cobblestone Luncheon".








Local history and a luncheon that dates from that time...oh yeah, I'm in. Our lunch was served in the manner of the time with each portion being served on it's own plate. We were told that the land around this area had made the pioneers of this land rather affluent and they had wanted any visitor to the area to know that they were just as cultured as anyone in Paris or anywhere else.





Our lunch was delicious and made with products grown on the farm. Now I'm not one of those people who constantly photographs the food they are about to eat, but this was so pretty I just couldn't resist.
These recipes were out of a 100 year old local
cookbook for Orleans County.





Our 1850's menu featured:

First course: Oat bread with butter and raspberry preserves

 

Spring salad (watercress, dandelion greens, dill, wild violets) with boiled  dressing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second course:

 

Chili braised port roast with apples and carrots
    

Aspargus boiled in cream

 

 

Third course:

 "Pie Plant" pie... i.e. Rhubarb

Some of the best I've ever had and I've had good pie..

The meal was served in their "barn" which was so pretty. Prettier than any barn I've personally be acquainted with...

 





















I love the history of the common person throughout history. Sure wars, heros, dates and events are important to the development of a culture but in between spectacular events, people lived everyday lives which, it could be argued, built this country every bit as much if not more that the big proceedings


Unbeknownst to me, I was not aware of how unique the area in which I lived was.

Apparently 13,000 years ago, Ridge Road was a giant beach marking the southern end of what was then called "Lake Iroquois" now, Lake Ontario. This lake was the result of melting glaciers whose deposits make the land very fertile and perfect for farming and stone fruits. This is the reason you'll find fruit trees all over this region.

Lake rolled cobblestone set with a distinctive raise "V" pattern.

The lake also created little cobblestones through it's rolling action and deposited them all over the area as well.

Bottom cobblestones showing the inverted "honeycomb"
design.

When settlers first came to this area called the "Black North" due to the extensive forests, they built log cabins like they had elsewhere to clear the lands. (The "Black North" by the way is a restaurant on the edge of Lake Ontario.)  Eventually, they discovered that stylish homes could be built with the surrounding cobblestones and the cost of materials was simply the labor to gather the free cobblestones. Rubble walls were built with veneers of cobblestones anywhere from 1 to 2 feet deep. Local masons would imprint designs into their work and no two cobblestone houses are the same.


 After about three runs, the mason would have to let the house cure for a period of two weeks before the work would be hard enough to put on another three runs. It took 3-4 months on a good year to get a house done.

Amazingly enough, this was apparently a fairly exclusive phenomena for the surrounding area. 95% of the cobblestone houses in North America reside in western NY with a sprinkling of some in Colorado and Ontario. We toured the oldest cobblestone church (built in 1834) in North America. This was in use on and off for about 40 years and had been revamped several times.

Just to demonstrate that trompe l'oeil is nothing new.

 

 

 

Gaines, NY

We visited the cobblestone one room schoolhouse that had been in operation until 1953.









 



Visiting alumni of the little schoolhouse, came in and signed their names on the board. If you look closely, you'll see students that attended back in 1914 & 1916!

The music lesson.
 

Your calculator, Mr. Abacus!

The county historian also allowed us to tour the Wade house that had briefly been owned by Horace Greeley.  The couple that "owned" this house couldn't sign for the mortgage and Mr. Greeley was apparently a relative who signed for it.





The husband died and Mr. Greeley had to take ownership for a bit of time.

 

This was set up as a middle class home.

When this house was constructed, the kitchen was originally in the basement.

 

 

Horsehair couch from 1850.

 

Wallpaper from the Victorian time period was not all soft colors and frilly patterns as people seem to believe and immulate. The red wall paper is close to what I have in my house. In many ways, the amount of pattern and the colors can be very garish.

 

 

The kitchen set up for ironing the pleats in shirts and that blue bottle is the 1850's equivalent of a fire extinguisher! If a fire started on the stove, you pitched that at the stove as hard as you could.



Getting ready to make lunch..




The dining room set for lunch...

Another gentleman in the area was had a cobblestone house that had been in his family for well over a hundred years plus and was revamping it to his grandparent's time. It was absolutely beautiful and really a wonderful place to see how people would have actually lived.







Some beautiful quilts were on display...


Beautiful small Star of Bethlehem quilt in the master.


Broken Sugar bowl quilt



The "visitor's" room or a place to lay out the dead! Ewww!
People were definitely a lot more comfortable with death in those days.
Beautiful satin log cabin on the bed.

Large view of the master.



Half doll lamp over the bed.

An Edison phonograph. Not sure if that is what is was called but
it was amazing to hear a vaudeville performer who's been dead
over 90 years.

The dining room is ready for supper..

The parlor...



Horsehair chairs with embroidery.

Isn't this amazing!


 

This was such a fun and fulfilling day. It's so incredible to think that this was in my backyard the entire time and I never knew it. I guess the lesson here is too look around your own community and you'll discover amazing things about the communities that you live in. There is so much history to take in, perfect for a day trip or a staycation. I know this summer I'll look around more closely to find more local opportunities!

 



 

 

Oh, What a Find!

So last Saturday I was out on an errand and decided to treat myself to what my husband calls my "shiny places" for a bit of fun. "Shiny Places" are places that you just loose time in, the phrase coming from the "deer in the headlights" type of hyponosis that happens in a place that I enjoy... i.e. craft stores, bookstores and in this case, an antique shop.

I'm not in for antiques for the sake of antiques.... the older I get the more nostalgic I get.
I wasn't looking for anything in particular but then I found it.

 

                                                THIS!

This is my mother's 1961 Betty Crocker Cookbook. This is the golden chalice, the sword in the stone.



My mother bought this cookbook when she was in high school. Not only did she learn to cook out of it but so did I and my nieces. Why is this cookbooks so spectacular? Well, because it was written almost like a storybook with inserts about housewives long forgotten who submitted these recipes and what they loved about it.





It has helpful hints and directions on purchasing food and preparing food.

 

SERVE WITH A FLAIR!

 

But perhaps the reason I love the books so much is because like all cookbooks (and I collect LOTS of cookbooks), it shows a snapshot of a particular point in time.













APPETIZERS!

NEW ADVENTURES IN COOKY MAKING!



 

Cookbooks offer us a glimpse in time as to what life was really like and what was valued and cherished. Memories of mom or dad cooking something not only to fill our bellies but to build memories. As Louise Fresco said:




Food, in the end, in our own tradition, is something  holy. It's not about nutrients and calories. It's about sharing. It's about honesty. It's about identity.



 

 



April's Project, a Little Late: Un Petit Projet

Wecome to post #100! Wow can hardly believe that but here it is...

... And to mark this grand occasion we're going to do a small project....

Have you ever been working on a large project that you swear will never get done?




You too? So glad I'm not alone....



I've been working on a quilt for two months now. It's one of those things that you don't think it will take very long until you realize that for each finished 12" block, it takes about 5-7 individual pieces to make one small components and three components to make a block!
So I have about one row done. ONE ROW! After two months of work.




Sometimes you just have to do a small project you can get done in a day to feel some sense of accomplishment. This was that project. This is out of a recent quilt book purchase,
"A Cut Above".

This was the perfect little patchwork project to do with all those small bits and bobs that you have after large projects. They are too small for a large project but too big to throw away. It's hard for my frugal soul to throw something away that has use. Or if you have a small piece of fabric that is just so pretty like this one that you have to find some use for it.







So I saw this in her book and decided I liked it so much that I would make one for myself and one for my mother. For mom's I used some of the fabric left over from her quilt.

First I did the four 2 1/2" squares and just mixed and matched.

Then I did the flying geese patch. You can make them in two different ways. One that I'm currently using for what we'll call, "The Two Month Quilt Project", that I'll show you later. Or the way I first learned how to do them which is simply a rectangle and  a square patch.





Sewing the flying geese patch, corner to center both
sides.

Take one 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangle patch and with the right side towards you, lay it in front of you. Take one of your 2 1/2: and from the outer corner on a diagonal, sew towards the center like this:















Then do the same for a second patch on the other side. You will cross in the middle at some point.









Trim the outside corner and fold and iron the patch back. Congrats, you just made a flying geese patch.

This is the easiest way to make these if you're only making a small project. If  you are making a larger one, I'd use the Eleanor Burns method.

Now added four white 2 1/2" square blocks in the corners. View the block as rows and grab one row and sew across. Do the same for the remaining two rows then sew the finished blocks together.

 

 

 

 
Make three of these blocks and as  you make them remember to trim your pieces so that you have straight lines throughout the process.

 

 

 

 

 

Sew these blocks together and then sew a 2 1/2 border along both small sides of the finished block set. Trim and iron. Then sew another 2 1/2 border along the bottom and the top. Iron.

 

Now step back and be proud of your one day project. Quilt if you want. I think I'm going to attempt to frame it like they did in the book.

 

Mom's with some fabrics from her quilt.

 

 

 

Nice to have a quick project for a sense of craft satisfaction.

 

Mine. I think I'll hang it on the porch.

Finally Spring! Opening the Summer Porch

The balmy breezes of Spring are finally here!


While we still get the crisp morning where we grab our winter coat, for the most part, warm temperatures have returned.








Have you ever noticed how suddenly you hear the birdsong for the first time in Spring and have forgotten that you missed it all winter?

This was a hard winter. I mean a really hard winter. In March, we only hit "normal" highs for FOUR HOURS. Yes, in 31 days total, the weatherman said we hit FOUR HOURS of normal temperatures!

Mother Nature threw the book at us to be sure.

Yikes!

The unofficial start of Spring at our house is the opening of the summer porch.
The summer porch typically becomes a respite for two facecord of wood during the winter months but this year it became a dumping ground for anything that we didn't want to deal with as you see:









So after throwing out things we weren't using anymore, putting out the flag and washing down all the surfaces, it came back to it's wonderful relaxed self.








It truly is one of my favorite places in the house...









I love sitting out here to read a book, talk to my mother on Sunday nights or watching the occasional summer thunderstorm.

 

 

 

Clearly I wasn't the only one awaiting the porch to be open!

 

 

 

 

And of course there was a new rug to mark the occasion. (Which I thought I had taken a picture of on the porch but apparently did not).

In other news, the chicks have begun getting their adult feathers which mean they are a special kind of cute/ugly. One of them tried to make a break for it last night. I went to give them clean water and there were only 5 in their little container house. My mind went to bad places. Did the cats get it? (The door is always closed but accidents happen). Did it escape and we'll find it by the smell later? (EWWWww!). Then I looked down. The little chick had quietly settled herself on the rug and was just dozing off. So I picked her up and put her back in her container house with her sisters.

 


While she wasn't happy being picked up, I secretly think she was glad to be back "home".






It's so nice to welcome Spring back!