A small disquisition on hoeing, boredom, and starvation

Many of these days lately I have spent much of my time hoeing among the corn hills in the field outside the fort.  Not long ago, while I was bent to my task, I gradually grew aware that someone was watching me.  I straightened up slowly (in negotiation with my arthritis), and turned to discover that [...]

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Fort attacked by Shawnee war party

I participated in my first re-enactment this past weekend during the Fall Festival here at the fort. I was working outside the stockade, gleaning the field for the last few ears of corn and gourds. Some distance away, a young woman from the fort was collecting buckwheat kernels into a basket. It was hot, and [...]

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Bringing in the corn . . .

I began bringing in the corn a few days ago.  We had planned to leave it on the stalks to dry completely, until the end of the season if necessary, but then we found two large gourds lying on the grass some distance from the field, where someone had evidently thrown them.  When I went [...]

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At last, an egg . . .

After waiting much of the summer, our little heirloom hens have finally begun to lay.  The nesting box which we built for them and placed in their coop has until recently had only two sad little clay eggs.  Now, suddenly, warm white real eggs have begun to appear beside them.  I say ‘our hens’ in [...]

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Honey bees on the frontier

A few days ago a new feature appeared in the herb garden in the fort, an 18th-century style stick beehive, a skep, courtesy of our senior interpreter, Judy Wilson. There are no plans at this point of actually introducing bees, because none of us on the staff is sufficiently knowledgeable in beekeeping to undertake the [...]

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Frontier pest control

As mentioned in several previous posts, it has been a very bad year for beetles. Recently we noticed an infestation of several hundred squash bugs on one of the pumpkin plants inside the fort. We discussed several possibilities for destroying them, as they had already destroyed one of the pumpkin plants by the time they [...]

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The harvest begins . . .

It is now mid-August, but these so-called dog-days have been the pleasantest I can remember: more like seasonable late September than sultry mid-August. I’m sure the heat will hit us yet, but for now it has been exceptionally nice. In the garden everything is coming rapidly into its own.   Many ears of corn are ripe [...]

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Garden update, late July

Everything is growing apace in the garden, despite heavy assault from a whole range of beetles, including Japanese beetles. Many of the bean leaves are thoroughly shredded, but since the beans are growing so fast, they generally keep ahead of the damage and the vines are producing well. The beetles seem to leave the corn [...]

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The newest fort residents

Recently a new structure appeared in the sheep pen: almost a kind of treehouse. Greg did the preliminary work on it, and Charlie, a local farmer a and frequent volunteer at the fort, finished the structure. It turned out to be a chicken coop, and as soon as it was finished four hens — two [...]

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How does your garden grow

To all appearances, the fort garden is flourishing.  Most of the Seneca Red Stalker corn, planted May 8, is about 12 inches high, and one stalk is 17 inches.  The Birdhouse and Dinosaur gourds, planted May 8, are all about 7-8 inches high, with some leaves as wide as 5 inches.   Lima and Knifecase beans, [...]

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