Mondays at the Manor
With all of us at home,
one of the most often heard phrases is “I’m bored”. Luckily, we have time today to have down
time. Our ancestors had very little spare time.
Their day began with a
trip to the outhouse and bringing in water for washing themselves. This would have been a trip to the creek, and
later to the well. On your next visit,
check out our replica outhouse, and ask about the cistern on the east side
where rain water would have been collected.
Once the parents were
dressed, the fire in the stove would have to be lit, and the meals were
prepared by Mrs. Backus and her daughters.
Dough for bread would be started to rise, and vegetables brought up for
meals. The house garden, located between our House and our carriage house,
would have a small amount of vegetables and herbs to be used for family meals. In
between, there would be clothing to be sewn and mended. Of course, this would
be by hand. There was also laundry to be done and dishes washed. The children were taught at home, so lessons
had to be prepared and taught
Mr. Backus and the older
boys would head for the fields to work, taking with them a lunch prepared by
the girls. He would have over seen a few farm hands, raising sheep, pigs,
cattle for beef and milk, and chickens for meat and eggs. He also had to be
aware of the weather and seasons to know what and when to plant and when to
plan the harvest. In addition to his
farm work, Mr. Backus and his sons help at St. Peter’s Anglican Church up the
road. They helped with repairs for the church and the parsonage.
Next week we’ll take a
look at the daily routine of the Backus children and their responsibilities.
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and programming income goes into maintaining our heritage buildings, daily
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