Catching Up With Catie!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

This past week we were missing two of our amigos, Sarah and Kelsey, as they were enjoying a week at the cottage, but Mel and I survived J  We finished weeding the orchard garden and after 8 wheelbarrow trips of weeds later, it looks wonderful! We actually have a tiny little watermelon on one of the vines and Mel had the great idea to track its progress, so below is the first picture of it and we will see how it grows.

We also acquired a little animal friend this past week, that was enjoying our beats in the kitchen garden.  He/she is a little skunk and we named him/her Simon Flower Pepe because we couldn’t decide on a name.  He’s really cute, but we put the wire fences up to keep any other critters away from our veggies. 

Our bridge on the trail is now fixed and we thank the very nice man from MNR very much for doing so for us.  Therefore, the trail is completely back up and running.  Melanie also made a few exhibits for the residents and staff at the Bobier Villa, regarding the history of St. Peter’s Church and one to do with information from the two store ledgers that we have in our collection and prices of general store products during the 19^th century.

Unfortunately, we are not running day camp this week, as all of the interest was for the August session, but that just means that there will be a good group in August.  We are getting pretty excited for the adventures we are going to have!  This week will be filled with video-making on our part instead, which I am really looking forward to, because when making a few test videos, we were laughing lots and having fun.  Stay tuned! 

Enjoy your week and try to stay cool!  Also keep checking back for updates on our watermelons growth J

Catie!

Toolbox Tuesday - Yoke

Yoke

         A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of oxen or sometimes other animals (horses, mules, donkeys etc.) to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs. The yoke pictured above is called a neck yoke because the large beam sits on top of the neck with two bows that come down around the neck.This type of yoke requires the animal to push with their shoulders, neck and chest. Oxen were used across early Canadian history for breaking land, logging and transportation. Yokes needed to be fitted to each individual oxen to maximize the comfort for the animal which in turn produced a harder working oxen. Ill-fitted yokes could create sore spots and even open wounds that could potentially be very harmful. Oxen were more popular than horses because they could live off the land and could be turned into food when they became too old for working.  Overall, oxen's had a lower cost when it came to their upkeep. Eventually they were replaced by horses and then horse were replaced by machinery.

Media Mondays!

                Happy Monday everyone. This week we are discussing our new visitor survey research that we are conducting this year. We have a variety of visitor surveys in a variety of formats - all directed to making you experience here at Backus-Page House Museum a positive one! 
               Firstly, when you come to visit the museum your tour guide will ask you some basic information for our visitor research. That information is recorded on our white tour cards. We ask questions like age, address or postal code so that we can better gauge the demographic that we are connecting with here at the museum. Other important research questions include: how you heard about the museum or if any technology was utilized during your visit.
              Secondly, we have integrated our survey into a tablet that focuses on the tour of the museum in general. The survey is completely electronic, and created by use of the "Loop Survey App." The questions are customized for our museum and ask you to rate, comment on the quality and give us comments or suggestions. Questions include: rating your overall experience, rating the exhibit, and asking if your tour guide was clear and informative. These visitor surveys are intended to help us better serve our visitors here at the museum.
              Lastly, we have added the same survey to our website so that visitors can access it at their leisure. All results are confidential, unless you wish to include your contact information. The results are emailed directly to the museum and we make changes based on your comments and suggestions.
Overall, visitor surveys and visitor research are some of the many ways we are constantly improving our service here at the Backus-Page House Museum, so please fill one out on your next visit!

                                                Example of the visitor survey on the tablet!

by Sarah Johnston

Behind The Scenes Sundays

Things staff at Backus-Page House Museum say: "Let's name him Simon Flower Pepe."

This past week we have a very cute park resident hanging around and eating from the kitchen garden.  We had to put up the fences to keep out our new friend.  He (or she) casually walks away and hides under the deck of the carriage house whenever he sees one of us.  So if you visit the museum, be on the lookout for our skunk.  We're trying to get his picture, but he seems to be camera shy. 

The board held their monthly meeting on Thursday and spent about 45 minutes brain storming.  By January, we want to have a five year plan to present to the membership.  It's important to know where we are headed and set goals for the future of Backus-Page.  We focussed on ideas regarding Membership and Donors, Events and Programming, plus Large Projects.  I am very excited with the contributions of volunteers and staff, and encourage you to leave comments on this post with your thoughts.  I will take all ideas to the next board meeting, so tell us what you want to see at Backus-Page House Museum from now until 2019. 

It's family reunion time, so we've had many visitors asking about family records and resources in our records.  We have two reunions booked so far this summer to be held on the museum grounds.  One was held today which is why this post is late as it was my husband's family and we were hosting the event.  It was the 50th Annual Bobier Reunion!!  We were excited to have many attendees who had not been out in years.  The compliments on the Backus-Page grounds, the atmosphere, and the nearness to St. Peter's cemetery, where many ancestors are buried were numerous.  Next Saturday another reunion on site and I hope they have as great an afternoon as we did.  I look forward to meeting them all and touring them around the interior of the museum. 

The internet is still not working properly, as the nearest tower is having issues.  We are able to send and receive emails, but it's hit and miss on when we can and when we can't and how long it takes.  Please have patience if you send us something or we are trying to send you something.  Until next week, I wish you all the best.

Angela Bobier, Cultural Manager

Foodie Friday- Apple Pudding

Apple Pudding

 

 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds of flour
• 6 ounces of suet (fat) chopped finely
• 2 ounces of peeled apples
• 4 ounces of sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of water

 

 

Instructions:

1. Mix the flour, suet and salt with the water into a firm paste. Roll this out on a surface that flour has been shaken over.
2. Line a greased cloth with the rolled out paste. Fill up the hallow part of the paste with the peeled apples, gather up the sides of the paste and twist them together.
3. Tie up the pudding in the cloth and boil it in plenty of water for 2 hours. Turn out of the cloth. Cut a round piece out of the top and stir in the sugar.

Kelsey Conway

Backus Page House Museum



Catching Up WIth Catie!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

I hope you all had a relaxing and enjoyable week J  This past week here at the museum was a wee bit exciting at times.  We spent an afternoon trying to kill a hornet that was in the carriage house and Sarah was trying to spray it with bleach and water so we could stun it to kill it, but she ended up getting bleach on other things, such as my shorts and sweater.  We all laughed very hard!  We have a bunch of fun and laugh lots out here.  For example, we were filming videos for the website and having too much fun doing it.  We can’t wait for you all to see them!

We also walked the trail and it is all cleaned up and ready for our hikers, however the one bridge still needs to be fixed.  We are working on getting this done ASAP J  Mel and I are also back weeding today, the orchard garden this time.  There are some monster weeds in there and the squash is taking over the poor onions.  There is a before and after picture below.

Lastly, I experienced my first tea this past Sunday.  We were a happening place Sunday afternoon, between tours and tea-goers, which is great to see and be a part of. 

Have a great week :)

Catie!

Toolbox Tuesday - Sheep Shears

Hand Shears

Shearing refers to the cutting or shaving of the wool off a sheep. This does not hurt the animal, it is just like getting a hair cut. Sheep should be sheared at least once a year or they may become very stressed and uncomfortable. Today the majority of sheep are sheared with electric shears, although up until the beginning of the 20th century farmers would manually shear their sheep using hand shears (pictured above). Hand shears consist of two blades arranged similar to scissors except the hinge is at the furthest end from the point (not in the middle). Hand shears leave more wool on the sheep compared to the more modern electric shears. This would be beneficial for farmers who live in colder climates as freshly sheared sheep need more feed to help maintain their body heat. The wool taken from the sheep would then be cleaned, spun and made into a number of different items around the home including clothing and blankets.