Holy Cow

Holy cow, it has been a very eventful summer.  My apologies to you for a prolonged absence.

We have had twin grandaughters and a grandson born.

We have also learned of another grandchild on the way, and were saddened by the loss of a grandbaby-in-womb.

Our garden has been prolific lately, but as a result of much tending and watering due to the extreme high temps this summer and drought.

Our bed & breakfast, Amanda’s Bequest Bed & Breakfast, in here in Montague, Michigan  www.amandasbequest.com  has been busy.  Certainly for its opening year!  We operate as a farmstay and guests are immersed in a real working farm-stle home.  They collect eggs and can help churn butter or gather food from the gardens for breakfast if they wish.  We have enjoyed many wonderful and diverse guests from all over the world now!!  (How cool is that?!)  One guest, who was a world traveler, rated us as top two B&B’s in all his travels.  Turns out I’m I’m an ok cook.  He couldn’t decide who was better, a B&B in Scotland, or us.  I have to tell you, I was so dumb-struck at the remark.  After all…we are just..us.

Also busy for us has been our Bygone Basics culinary experiences.  www.bygonebasics.com  People are really wanting to know how to go back to the healthy nutritious foods that were on our predescessor’s tables.  I teach them how to use what tools they already have to get that heritage “kitchen is the heart and soul of the home” healthy foods back into their lives and in their “today” lifestyle.

We have had kitchen guests from 7 countries and 44 USA States now.

To top it all off, I’m now a licensed kitchen and am baking and selling heritage recipe and artisan foods.  All made to order and by hand from natural foods and basic ingredients (nothing you can’t spell or say!).

We have grown our little flock of hens from 6 to 12…plus a duck…but don’t tell Daisy, she thinks she’s a chicken.

My loving husband has been amazing as our journey has brought us to this kind of activity.  He just smiles and builds what I need.  🙂  I wish this kind of a husband on all of our daughters.

Anyway….

My niece Jade is now “apprenticing.”  Leaving me with a few hours at the end of the week to blog and do other things that I’ve been too swamped to do.  I taught her how to hoe the other day.  I told her she was going to be a great hoe-er someday.  She laughed.  I realized what I said.  Too funny.  She’s been learning to bake, make pies, artisan breads, hoe, can, make soap…she’s been a treasure of help to me too!

I will “talk” with you soon.  Just needed to catch you up on my busy-bee “holy cow, what changes!” summer.

Yours,

Valerie Hanson

Is Valerie Crazy?

I thought I might have your attention.  <chuckling>  Anyone who knows me may have actually asked themselves that very question.

You may not know that I went from business executive to helping others learn about a more simple life, one that includes hands-on messy work…(compost comes to mind).  Why not just keep doing what I was doing so I could just BUY anything I thought I needed or wanted?

It took me a bit, but I learned what others already knew.  One cannot buy the best things in life.  Love.  Happiness.  Health.  Those things come from a bank of a different sort.  And you have to work for them.

But…I digress…Is Valerie Crazy?

Yep.  Just crazy enough to open two businesses, in MICHIGAN, in this poor economy..and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  It is quite an adventure too!  Crazy enough to trust the relationship my husband, John, and I have.  Although, maybe he’s crazy-er for smiling and helping to make all this happen!  A very good friend, Gordon, reminds me once in a while that “John didn’t sign up for that.” when I get a bit ahead of our plans.  (John says I do everything fast.)

Bygone Basics is nicely established and picking up steam.  I am thrilled with the uniqueness each guest brings to an experience.  I feel truly blessed by them.

Amanda’s Bequest Bed & Breakfast is just now opening.  (click the name to check out the website) John and I look forward to every guest.  I’m all excited too…MORE PEOPLE TO COOK FOR!  (I can’t help it, I grew up on a rural country farm in a big family….food was a very important part of life…and you fed people as a means of letting them know they are welcome)

Here is the perfect example of why I do what I do:

Bygone Basics' guests sitting down for a hearty farm lunch.

This family planned a vacation in March 2012 around their Experience with Bygone Basics.  They drove through two states plus part of Michigan to get here.  They were a brother, sister, husband, mother.  And oh did they know how to enjoy each other’s company (I can only imagine that road trip)!  They make a point out of celebrating holidays with a unique theme every time so noone takes any holiday for granted.  Isn’t that a great idea?  It might sound odd, but think how memorable a “Mexican” Easter would be.  As each is different, it isn’t as likely that these special family times will fade from memory.  They learned how to can at Bygone Basics, both pressure canning and water bath canning.  I feel certain they will take that knowledge home and have much quality, happy, family times, canning produce from someone’s garden together.

Canning CAN be fun!

People of the past always knew, but we’ve begun to forget.  Many hands make light work and lighter hearts.  Think barn raisings and Amish summer kitchens.  It’s not much work when you are enjoying the company of others while using the time industriously.  Some might even call it a vacation.  Is that crazy or what?

Light is the task where many share the toil. – Homer

On a completely different note:  Here is a link to the March “I Can at Bygone Basics” Newsletter.  Try the dried apples recipe.  They are easy, healthy, and delicious.

Therapy Cookies and Suzanne’s Lesson

Back from yet another long trip to Kansas.  This time for the funeral.  A 43 year old vibrant wife and mother of five passed on Valentine’s day.  I really do want to shake my fist and rail at the universe for its injustice to good people.  But, while was mentally considering how to do that without getting struck by lightening or something, I baked cookies. (It’s how I wrap my head around things, I bake)

As it turned out, there was therapy in those cookies as well as the realization that I had just been taught a huge life lesson by my sister, Suzanne.

Abraham Maslow said that we could define therapy as a search for value.

I suppose that defines my thoughts this morning.  I set to work doing my Bygone Basics’ bakery orders (www.bygonebasics.com) with the very recent death of my brother’s wife, Mary, weighing heavy.  Seeking reasons or value to this tragedy.

Toasting the walnuts, tossed with cinamon sugar.

I began by making my special recipe for chocolate cookies.  The first thing was to create small walnut pieces out of whole walnuts.  I will admit to excessive force.  The walnuts were cracked with some malice.  Then I put the walnuts in a heavy plastic bag and whammed the heck out of them with a french rolling pin. …Beginning to feel a bit better.  🙂

Next, everything needed to be measured out.  The flour, rolled oats, chocolate chips, butter, eggs, spices….By the time I was finished, the concentration on accurate measurement had actually taken my mind to a better place.  Of course tasting fresh cookie dough helps too.

By the time the cookies were going on the cookie sheets and being baked, I was thinking more deeply about the recent events.  My brother had chosen an unusal passage for his wife’s funeral service.  It began “Rejoice Always.  …In all circumstances, give thanks,…” (Thes 5:16-24).  He had explained that when he was at his lowest point, when it was obvious Mary was slipping away, he heard this passage at Church.  It angered him at first, and then, it served to bring him out of a very angry and dark place.  It caused him to look around and find that there was still good in his life.  His children especially.  His family was brought close by this.What did I have to rejoice in?

What gift has Mary’s passing given me?

The example set by my sister, Suzanne.  Not too long ago, she lost her own husband to cancer at 41 with a young son at home.  It was a long and hard path to (and from) his passing.  She endured a lot that I can’t even imagine.  Yet, there she was, the first one to understand that our brother was alone several states away and needed help.  Placing her job in jeapardy, she made two extended trips to help him.  I was blessed to go with her.  Even though it caused her to relive her own deep pain, she cared for our sister-in-law with such depth and consideration.  She talked with our brother on a level that only those two could understand.  She cried at night and was a pillar in the day.  She made sure our young nieces had what they needed.

I loved my sister before.  But now, I rejoice in the heart and soul of such an amazing woman.  Her selfless example of care will live on in me and in my priorities in life.

Add the oats, toasted walnuts and chocolate chips

Such was Suzanne’s lesson for me.

I feel better.  The cookies are baked.  I’ve had a bit of an epiphany.  I even went on to get my french baquette order done and restarted the Sourdough starter.

…..Heck, I might even feel like doing my blog.  Hope I don’t get to philisophical…..  😉

By the way…Did I ever tell you that I have started to “Tweet”?  Find me at @ApronsRUs.  (Yes, it is an odd twitter name, sometimes, I just can’t help myself…my humor is a bit …quirky.)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

CRAZY INSANE, ALMOST THOROUGHLY, AMAZING WORLD

Squash in the Bygone Basic's garden...before it snuck out of the fence.

Just letting you know that I’m still here.  I’ve …well…you read the title of this Blog….a bit overwhelmed by life.  It is truly amazing, but gets crazy too, doesn’t it?!

Lately, I’ve been putting by everything that doesn’t run faster than me.  And if I can find someone who will do a bit of hunting for me…well then…all bets are off on that too.    We also have had a lot of Bygone Basics guests come to learn how to make these heritage recipes themselves, while immersed in old-farmhouse style atmosphere and tools…they are always surprised how easy old-fashioned baking and home canning really is.  Especially when I show them (if they wish to know) how a few of today’s tools can speed things up with out reducing the quality of the food.

I’ve also added pies to my line of baked goods that you can order through the Bygone Basics pantry.  Right now a lot of various types of apple pies are going through the ovens.  Pumpkin pies are following in popularity.

I’ve submitted an application for a Special Use Permit to turn our old manse into “Amanda’s Bequest – A Heritage Immersion Bed & Breakfast.”  More on this in the future.

As the season changes into autumn and the weather is colder, so is my house (because when I’m the only one in it I can put on a sweater and I hate high fuel bills). 

Did you know that in the past, home baking served a dual purpose?  Food was baked, not only for the table, but also to keep the house warm. 

I follow that principle as well.  Lately, I’ve been baking squash for pies, breads, and savory dinners.  Squash is such a nutritious and versatile fruit.  It is just as tasty in desserts as it is in the main meal.  It is surprisingly cheap and easy too.  Here’s my simple treatment of it:

Cut the squash in half or smaller if it is really large (by squash, I refer to pumpkins and other winter squash such as acorn, Hubbard, and butternut).  About 4-5 inch chunks are good.  Don’t worry about peeling, just wash and cut up.  Remove the seed portion with a spoon easily once it is cut.

Line a large pan (cookie sheet or 13×9) with foil and spray or wipe with oil.  Place the squash cut side down.  Place in oven (as many racks as you can fit for maximum energy use) at 325 F.  Bake until fork slides easily into squash to shell.  This may take two or more hours and is dependent on ripeness, variety, and cut up size of squash (smaller pieces cook faster).  Really easy right?  I must warn you, it will start smelling really good towards the end and you will want to serve some of that for dinner!

Once soft throughout, take out of oven and cool for 15 minutes.  Use a knife or spoon to scrape the flesh from the shell.  At this point it is perfectly useable in recipes and for dinner.  I take it one step further.  I press it through my cone shaped food mill with a wooden pusher (that is ages old, but works like a charm!).  That takes all of a few minutes.  You can use any type of food mill you have.  Voila!  Yellow Gold! 

Make pumpkin pie using eggs from your free range chickens (I do anyway); serve it with butter (or bacon grease) and salt/pepper for dinner; can it for future yums!!  It makes great sweet breads and even baby food.  You can even add brown sugar and butter for a great “Thanksgiving sweet potato” taste…

I promise to look the other way if you decide to add marshmallows to the top.

Squash we grew for the sense of humor in its name...Great Warty Thing. It is true to its name!

If you didn’t have the space to grow squash, it is incredibly reasonable to buy this time of year and stores until you have time to bake it.  I’ve even been known to bake the flesh of my jack-o-lanterns on Halloween eve.  Why not?  I’ve already gone through the work of removing the seeds and since I carve my pumpkins the day of Halloween, it is still fresh.  Waste not – Want not.

The Outhouse Was Good Enough For Grandma…

The outhouse was good enough for Grandma, shouldn’t we still be using them then?

Lately, it seems that nearly every time I tell people what I do at Bygone Basics, a common comment is made by someone in the circle of conversation.  “Oh, my daughter-in-law (or whomever) wants me to teach them how to can.”  Of course that piques my interest and I ask about what they’ll can and which methods they’ll use.  Almost always, the response is peaches or tomatoes to start with and they use the same method that has been in the family for a few generations, open kettle.

If I’m beating a dead horse I do not apologize.  I know I’ve touched on this subject before.

I cringe when I hear open kettle or water bathing vegetables, or many other dangerous methods.  Open Kettle refers to a pot on the stove of the product to be canned, boiled, and then pour hot into clean jars and lidded with no following water bath or pressure canning.  When I let the person know that open kettle is not a safe canning process AND ALSO that meat, poultry, seafood and vegetables should ALWAYS be pressure canned (not water bath canned because water only boils at 212 degrees so the food product never gets hotter than that), the next (sometimes indignant) comment is as predictable as the one that led to it….

 “It was good enough for Grandma, its good enough for us!”

Let’s explore that comment.  Why?  Because I need to get this off my chest as I’m going to explode the next time I hear it as a reason to pass along outdated and unsafe actions.

• Grandma used an outhouse, the sears catalog for toilet paper, and probably didn’t have a sink with nice hot water and antibacterial soap near it either.  It was good enough for Grandma….how about you?
• Grandma (and Grandpa) butchered the hog and hung it to dry or cool.  Did they hang it in the clean USDA certified cooler or smokehouse?  No.  That didn’t exist for most homes.  This too, was good enough for Grandma…..would you be ok with this meat today?
• Grandma got her water out of the ground and used it as it was…..how many plastic bottles or purified water have you consumed or given your family lately?

Home canning is a versatile heritage art.

My point isn’t to suggest that someone is taking the easy road.  My point is that:

Grandma did the best she could with the equipment and the knowledge she had, shouldn’t we? 

Science has come a long way in the last 75 years.  Botulism isn’t the only organism to be concerned about, but it is a VERY serious one.  We now know that botulism actually only grows in the absence of oxygen.  So when a person does an open kettle canning process, they are creating a bit of seal on the jar, but the product inside never reached the temperatures necessary to kill organisms if they were present.  (botulism is killed beginning at 240 degrees F.)  The perfect environment to grow a nice bit of toxin.

How do we know that no one ever got sick from her home food preservation methods? Back then did we do a state-of-the art autopsy on every death?  Did anyone ever just get sick? How do we know it wasn’t from the food they ate hours prior?

I’m sure many, many jars of home canned food was just fine from Grandma’s kitchen.  It was tasty and nutritious.

Were they all?  Probably not.   Why wouldn’t we make the most of science and today’s advancements to make our home prepared foods as safe as possible?

For more information from the USDA on updated home canning recommendations check out this link:

http://www.csrees.usda.gov/newsroom/news/2011news/home_canning_guide.html

For other comments on canning safety, check out the Bygone Basics August 2011 newsletter:

http://bygonebasics.com/web_documents/bygone_basics_i_can_news_august_2011.pdf

You can find more information on safely learning to can and read other newsletters at www.bygonebasics.com

Spiced Beets, canned in the Bygone Basics kitchen.

Of course, I’d like you to come to Bygone Basics to learn about safe home food preservation while having a fantastic heritage culinary experience in an 1874 home.   As always, thank you for preserving your heritage through food and fun….because …. You CAN.  🙂

 

Bunny Laid an Egg!

I know.  It isn’t Easter but it almost seems that way here.  Bunny worked magic and laid an egg last night.  I should mention that Bunny is a chicken.  Bunny’s story is humorous and inspiring.   She came to us on Easter morning this year as a practical joke.  A friend learned that we had aquired a chicken tractor and had ordered chicks.  He thought it would be funny to toss one of his old used up hens into the coop with some plastic easter eggs.   “She wasn’t good for anything but the frying pan anymore.”  She was rough looking and a bit dirty.

I woke up on Easter morning to one of my daughters at my bedside telling me that my chicken had scared her.  What?  A chicken?  Yes.  She said.  In the coop.  Of course I had to go look into this.  Sure enough.  There she was on a nest of pink, yellow and blue plastic eggs.  Angry as a wet….well…hen when I reached in to love her up a little.  As it turns out she believed she had laid all those eggs and when I removed them the next day.  She was ornery and wouldn’t get off her nesting spot.  When we figured out who put her in there, I asked him if she was lonely.  He laughed.  OK.  Evidently not lonely. 

As all of her drama was occurring, my baby chicks had arrived and were immediately put in a box in the shed under a heat lamp.  Bunny might have heard their cheeping as they where nearby her, gave no indication of it.  A few weeks later.  The weather was warm and the 8 little chicks had out grown their box.  Bunny seemed ornery still but I had finally gotten her flushed off her nest and wandering about the yard each evening. 

My baby “girls” were introduced to Bunny in her tractor.  I worried she would peck them to death.  I needn’t have. 

These little chicks couldn’t have known a better mother. 

Bunny took them under her proverbial wing.  She taught them what to eat as free range chickens.  Those little ones learned how to consume kitchen and garden scraps with relish.  I barely have to buy food for them.  She marches them into the coop every night to bed.  All I have to do is close the door.    

As summer has progressed, Bunny’s little girls have grown to tower above her.  She is a little white Brahma hen.  She has filled out and is a plump smooth sturdy little lady, but little she is.  The other chickens are a mix of leg horns and other large egg layer breeds….well there is one anomoly…but that is another story.  One chicken at a time.  She still ushers them about as the senior member of their little flock.  When a dog or cat happens through, she flaps and screeches and runs AT the threat to chase it away.  Pretty good for an old bird. 

Bunny is the little white hen in the rear at the coop doorway.

Guests at Bygone Basics have come to to love feeding the chickens as part of their visit.  Everyone loves Bunny’s uniquely feathered feet.  Her red comb and pure white body are even the colors of the Bygone Basics logo.  She became quite a pleasure to have, and a character too.

Last night, Bunny laid an egg. 

She went from a washed up old chicken who was no longer laying to a vibrant, healthy, contributing member of her society.  I wish I understood fully how this transformation happened.  We women sometimes find we have to move on and rediscover ourselves at various phases in our lives.   Bunny did it.  She was old, terrified, tired and useless….or so the people in her life thought.  She was tossed aside.  And landed in a strange environment.  She didn’t just lay down and die.  She transformed herself.  She made a community and gave herself completely to it.  She is now a beautiful and valued senior member of my little society of girls. 

In many ways I relate to my little fiesty Bunny.  Transformations are hard, but if a chicken can do it……

Bunny is the little white hen with the very red comb.

You CAN be safe.

I am finally finding myself with my head above (sort-of) water in this whole “restore an old house” endeavor.  🙂  I will be blogging once per week going forward.   

Look forward to learning about my girls in future posts…..they are chickens really….and having a flock of chickens and vegetable gardening while living within “City” limits.   

Check out the facebook Bygone Basics page for daily updates or quick photo shots.   Here is a link….Click LIKE to keep notified of updates or just to let me know you like what we do here at Bygone Basics.  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bygone-Basics/135169416537153?sk=info#!/pages/Bygone-Basics/135169416537153?sk=wall

Please read the August 2011 issue of “I Can at Bygone Basics” newsletter.  I am especially concerned about canning safety (page 2) as we get heavy into harvest season.  There are a lot of old family methods that are just not safe.  http://www.bygonebasics.com/web_documents/bygone_basics_i_can_news_august_2011.pdf

I look forward to blogging more!

Happy Harvest.

Valerie

Tallow Anyone?!

I told you it wouldn’t be long before I got another blog post out.

It feels like spring may finally arrive after what seems like the longest winter in my memory.  I have been making soap to replenish my supplies and to create an inventory to sell.

Bygone Basics has two lines of soaps.  One is a Heritage line. These soaps are heritage pure and made up of standard home goods available  between the 1870’s and the 1940’s.  Standard ingredients include rain water, goat or cow milks, castor oil, and several other ingredient options (and of course lye).  Some of the soaps contain animal oils such as lard and tallow as well.  These make a very good bar of soap by the way.  If these soaps have scents, they are created by adding ground coffee (which is a fantastic way to get odors off your hands, such as garlic), cinnamon, and ground herbs.  I am put off by soaps that smell of so much perfume they become offensive, plus I wonder at potential chemicals in the scent and colorant additions in some homemade soaps I see being sold.  It is ok for many, I just don’t want to walk about smelling like a perfume shop, nor have my husband’s co-workers wonder why he smells…pretty.  🙂  Just personal taste.

The second line is so much FUN.  It is a play on the words “alphabet soup.”  The line is Alphabet Soap. Each soap variation in this line has ingredients that begin with a certain letter of the alphabet (some have to stray on an ingredient once in a while).  For example, one of the “C” soaps is a kitchen (citchen?) has these ingredients:

• coconut oil
• cocoa butter
• castor oil
• coffee
• coffee grounds
• cloves

These soaps and home dipped bygone era candles, as well as

Unrendered Tallow.

baked goods, jams/jellies..etc (things of bygone eras) will be for sale at the Bygone Basics Pantry, located at Amanda’s Bequest, the home of Bygone Basics, 5200 Anderson Rd., Montague, MI 49437 beginning May 1, 2011.

Tallow as it melts. This batch is about half done.

I started to tell you, and then sidetracked myself….Tallow.  It is hard to find.  It reminded me of the frustrating time last summer when my daughter, Jessica, and I were trying very hard to find a source of local goat’s milk for soap.  We were told repeatedly where we might find a source but kept striking out.  She quipped in frustration, “Everyone knows someone who sells goat’s milk, but no one actually does!” I’ve gone to a couple of butchers and they weren’t sure what it even was!?  FYI, it is a very hard fat deposit on lean grazing animals like deer, sheep and goats and sometimes around the kidneys of cattle.  In the past, my source was deer, taken on the property…but we now live in a no-hunting zone, where there are 20 deer standing in my lawn at any given time….just teasing me.

You may remember that the Bygone Basic’s kitchen is under renovation, but fortunately, we have a second kitchen here.  Nothing fancy, but it does the job.

This is our second kitchen. It works just fine for us. Note the Guiness cake cooling in its springform pan.

Today, I am making a cake for my mother.  Guiness cake.

Yes, it has almost a full bottle of Guiness Extra Stout in it and becomes a very moist, chocolatey cake.

The Guiness has a way of not adding it’s own flavor, but of adding a wonderful depth and dimension to the chocolate (the alcohol cooks off).

The cake is in the oven and the tallow on the stovetop. A wonderful "back home" aroma.

……..AND, I am rendering tallow.  The house smells like bygone homes where the kitchen eminated aromas of wonderful baking and the chores of economy (rendering tallow for example).  Tallow was inexpensive (or free if you hunted or farmed your own animals) and used in many ways in bygone era homes….but you had to render it.  Rendering is just cooking the hard tallow into a melted liquid and then straining it to remove impurities.  Those strained impurities will go into the composter.  We really do try not to waste anything.

Speaking of letting nothing go to waste, later today, I am making a series of “B” soaps.  What starts with “B”?  Beer.  The rest of that Guiness (and then some) is going into a complexion bar I’ve developed.  🙂  Never a dull moment here.

If you are interested in having any of these unique experiences and gaining their associated heritage skill, call or email today to get the date of your choice in the Bygone Basics kitchen.

• (231) 740-4065
• ICan@bygonebasics.com
• Check out the website at:  www.bygonebasics.com

Until next time…thinking SPRING!

Of Names and Odd Things in Walls

Original Wood floors and a couple of odd rooms at the side of the kitchen, OK, but fairly modern for such a beautiful old house.

Yes, that was a weird title.  What’s weirder is the unusual assortment of things we have discovered in the walls of this home as we do some restoration during the normally slow season of Winter.  We were all set to install an entire heritage kitchen in one of the front rooms.  But that eventually left us wondering why we would put in a THIRD kitchen.  (duh?)  We decided to use the lowermost kitchen for our own use and make the house’s existing big kitchen the Bygone Basic’s kitchen.  (My husband, John, had designs on the lower kitchen….something to do with hops…guess he’ll have to rethink that one.)

Anyway…we pulled down some of the crazy mixture of recent walls that created a mouse maze of little rooms.  The previous owner had the place rented out as a tri-plex.  In process we found:

• A bathroom (circa 1960 ish)
• Dentures
• Bunch of Bones (yes….we aren’t quite sure what to do about this find)
• Old Tinker toys
• A chimney
• Beautiful original paneling (real tongue and grove pine original to the house)
• A tarnished coin that had John all excited until I read the inscription on it “where a kid can be a kid.” <I’m still laughing about that find>  circa 2003

And that was all within a 15 square foot area that got a complete, down to studs stripping.  We can’t help but wonder what else these old walls have.  Hopefully not the ears to the bones.  🙂  I’d sure like the rest of the tinkertoy set though.

This renovation/restoration has been enlightening.  Just seeing how a home was constructed 140 years ago has been quite an education.  Anyone know what we can do with the square iron nails we have pulled from some of the lumber?  We are trying to reuse/repurpose anything that isn’t being re-placed.  The kitchen will be complete by April 1st.  I can’t wait for guests of Bygone Basics to experience it.

We are booking the spring and summer now so if you would like to Experience heritage skills in a fun and unique way, get your date on the Calendar of Experiences by giving me a call or an email.  (231) 740-4065 or ICan@bygonebasics.com

Of course, check out the Bygone Basics website too at  www.bygonebasics.com

Of Names:

I announced previously a name contest.  We did get some submissions, and I thank EVERYONE for their submission; but not “The Name” that tapped us on the shoulder and made us feel like it belonged.  We are calling the house for now “Amanda’s Bequest” as it was Noah Ferry’s mother, Amanda, who left the bequest in 1870 to build the house.  I think the name will make itself at home and stick around.

Until next time….and I promise it won’t be as long….

Name Betty

In my recent newsletter for Bygone Basics, I announced a contest. And so, I thought (it is almost always dangerous when I do that) that I should bring the same information to this blog.

In November, I introduced the new home of Bygone Basics. To recap, it is an old manse built in 1874 and was the parsonage that was completed with the building of Ferry Memorial Church on Old Channel Trail in Montague.  Noah Ferry died heroically in the Civil War and his mother and brother comissioned the manse and church in his memory.
We’re still moving in while recapturing the place.  There’s a lot of work to be done in the house. For example, we are creating a private heritage kitchen separate from the home’s main kitchen for Bygone Basic Experiences. But for now, we use the big main kitchen for our guest Experiences until that work is completed.
I thought upon first seeing the house that it was female and got the clear impression of a grand dame, “fallen” a bit.  In fact Betty Boop came to mind with her arched eyebrows and pursed lips, ready to reward you with a kiss. 

The new home of Bygone Basics....do you see Betty Boop?

Now the contesting part comes in….I want a name for the house, but with such history and character, I contest that the name “Betty” just won’t do.

Here’s where YOU come in….

Please, submit your names to me at ICan@bygonebasics.com. The winner of this naming contest will receive $30 toward a Bygone Basics Experience OR a loaf of homemade bread and a jar of jam to go with it all made in our kitchen. (HINT: Take the Experience and MAKE the bread and jam!)  Plus, you get boasting rights for naming it.
I’m leaving the photos of the front and side of the house in the newsletter and including a few more as well. To help your naming process here is some information to keep in mind:

• Bygone Basics does heritage experiences such as home canning, baking from basic scratch ingredients, soap making, butter churning…etc.
• The home has enormous windows and ceilings.
• The house is not lavish victorian in style, it has great lines,original wood floors, and didn’t waste resources on unecessary flourish.  (Perfect as it is in keeping with the home food preservation, no-waste lifestyle we are promoting)
• We are planning a heritage immersion style bed and breakfast in its future.
• We have a sense of humor.
• Valerie is sure the home is female.
• There are whitetail deer EVERYWHERE.  (Wondering how a garden will fare…)
• We have 8 children (6 girls/2 boys) plus 2 son-in-laws, 1 daughter-in-law, 1 fiance’ and 2 grandsons.  Additionally, 2 girls we consider daughters as they’ve been with our family since age 4.  (it’s ok, I’m thinking it too…THAT’S A LOT OF ESTROGEN in one family)
• There are other pictures of the house in previous posts and in the I Can newsletter posted on our www.bygonebasics.com website.

 

See the standard sized door in front....the windows dwarf it.

Please submit your name suggestions.  Any and all will be considered – by January 25 via email

and the winner will be announced in the February newsletter.  Feel free to email any additional questions as well.