The Foragers Digest blog has a fantastic springtime post about wild edible plants. These days their culinary uses are almost forgotten and we classify them as weeds. But a lot of those “weeds” were carried into the west by pioneer and settler families to be cultivated for food. Lamb’s Quarter is a great example of a long forgotten salad green that is often growing right under our noses. I weeded Lamb’s Quarter out of my garden hundreds of times before I realized what it was. … Continue reading →

The DIY instructions from the pioneer and settler handbooks always contain a few surprises. They also give us first glimpses at emerging know-how that will one day become ubiquitous. Hidden within the pages of the 1896 Home Mechanic book are some of the world’s earliest instructions for making your own galvanic or electric battery. We don’t usually associate the late 1800’s with electricity. But scientists had been working with electricity since the late 1700’s and commercial electroplating operations started appearing in the UK in the mid 1850’s. These instructions from the Making chapter of the Home Mechanic book, show how … Continue reading →

Washing clothes in the days of the pioneers and settlers was an elaborate ritual.  Multiple tubs of water, scrubbing boards, handmade soaps, blue dyes for the whites, starch – and all done on a Monday. Monday was always washing day. Before the pioneers and settlers could wash their clothes they needed laundry washing soap. What was important was that it had to be a liquid soap that would easily mix in with the clothes. Hard soaps were readily available and reasonably complex to make, so it was always easier to buy hard soap.  But liquid soap wasn’t so easily transported. … Continue reading →