Domestic Advice for the Bachelor Farmer

[J. Donaldson]

All-

I am in the process of developing a civilian impression for use at the upcoming May event at Boonesfield, as well as at other pertinent events that might come about in the future, and there are a few questions for which I would like to ask the help of this forum. I'm working to acquire the material aspects of my chosen first person profession, but I'm having trouble working in a couple of other areas.

Perhaps I should take a step back and ask this first: the next Boonesfield event is a post-war scenario; are there major clothing differences that I need to worry about (unfashionable male to begin with). I'm researching clothing patterns, but I'm having a hard time finding a vest pattern appropriate to the war years. Past Patterns #018 claims that after 1858 the vest lapel construction changed to a narrower build and the step collar developed, yet I can't find an appropriate pattern. Am I missing a quality pattern manufacturer that might have the corrections for the 1860s style vest?

The second question, the one I'm actually more concerned with, is kitchen-related. I still need to read the entire ration thread, but I'm unsure as to how to go about planning and preparing meals in a civilian manner. I know that I will be able to purchase meals from the Inn, but there will be events where I won't have access to such an amenity, issues of the pocket book aside. I have a modern-branded cast iron camp oven, but with a modern logo on the lid, it's probably not adequate for quality events. How does one accurately feed the inner man at an event when portraying a lone male civilian? I know that I can acquire and learn period recipes, but what do I need to acquire equipment wise to cook for myself? I really want to develop a quality civilian impression, but certain gastronomical aspects mystify me.

I really appreciate your help and input. As I said, I am in the process of trying to research through the forums as well as other means, but there are just some things I'm having trouble working through in my head.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Domestic Advice for the Bachelor Farmer

The second question, the one I'm actually more concerned with, is kitchen-related. I still need to read the entire ration thread, but I'm unsure as to how to go about planning and preparing meals in a civilian manner.

What profession are you thinking about portraying? Honestly, in real life, I expect that most single men didn't cook for themselves, unless they were market hunters, explorers, etc. etc. and thus isolated and living on camp-type fare, or of course were professional cooks themselves, in which case they'd be eating leftovers from the larger meals they prepared in a larger kitchen.

You don't see many men in households alone in the census. Most either show up with relatives, at boarding houses or as farm hands, because cooking anything more than camp-type food really was a full-time job. If anyone has period examples of a man living alone in a house and cooking for himself while also working at a job, I'd be curious what was cooked and how the meals were planned.

So cooking equipment for a single man at a reenactment really depends on the specific situation being portrayed. If you're portraying someone camping or living in the woods (woodcutter, hunter, etc.), your equipment need not be much different from a soldier's, except maybe substituting a frying pan for a canteen half, though post-war with plenty of veterans and surplus canteens, I don't even know if that would be necessary.

If you're portraying someone living as a bachelor in a house and cooking for himself, I expect he'd be poor and cooking very simple things, simply because he'd lack time to cook much else, and work a ten or twelve hour day. At reenactments, a lot depends on the circumstance you're given, though. For example, do you have a crane, or even the use of an indoor fireplace? No need to bring hooks if there's no crane, but a trivet or two would be good. Outdoors, you could bring a tripod and hooks. An unmarked (or period-marked) cast iron pot or bake kettle would certainly do, as would a frying pan. But you could also get by with the same simple items you'd cook with at a camp, and just use the fireplace instead.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[KarinTimour]

Re: Domestic Advice for the Bachelor Farmer

Dear Bob:

Well, first of all, do you want to learn to cook for yourself? It's a period solution to go become someone's batchelor boarder and contribute money or barter work (splitting wood, etc.) in exchange for having them cook for you.

If, on the other hand, you want to seize the opportunity to expand your period cooking skills, I guess I'd start with what income level you'll portray, what time of year you'll be reenacting and what food would be in seaon in that part of the country.

I'm also a big believer in practice at home with your modern equipment. If you never have cooked for yourself from scratch in your modern life, it's a real stretch to be confronted with dried beans, rice, cornmeal and a few eggs and be told "go for it." Once you understand how much water is needed to make rice, or how to mix up some biscuits, some of the (many) ways of making really tasty corn meal mush, transfering those skills into the 19th century isn't that big of a stretch.

There are a wealth of websites that have period recipes on them, but I'd also like to urge you to drop by the 19th century cooking forum on Elizabeth Stewart Clark's "The Sewing Academy" website. Cooking on a sewing website? Trust me on this one.

Elizabeth started The Sewing Academy" to provide support and on-line encouragement for people who were trying to sew period clothing for the first time. But then it morphed. Everyone got to talking about sewing, then about other aspects of material culture, and before you know it, the website had really outgrown it's name. It's now a great place to meet up with other like-minded people who are trying to figure out how to become civilians or better civilians. And who are asking lots of questions in a supportive atmosphere on the way.

There is a whole subforum just on 19th century cooking, another on religion, a letter exchange to work on personas and practicing how to express ourselves with fewer 21st century-isms, etc.

And I know there will be a wealth of other good suggestions on this thread in no time.....

Sincerely,
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Sleeping Hats, Balaclavas
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Domestic Advice for the Bachelor Farmer

Hank-

Very good questions about information that I was going to include in the original post, but as usual my fingers moved a tad bit quicker than my brain. My base civilian impression is that of a farmer, and since my wife does not participate in living histories, I figure that I'll be portraying a bachelor at events. While not always appropriate, especially since the individual I portray married post-war and farmed in Iowa and Kansas, events dictate my circumstances. Economically, this gentleman came from a large-ish family (three brothers, two sisters) and a farm around 190 acres, so probably a middling farmer. At Boonesfield I will portray one of the local farmers, but as I don't believe I'll be located in one of the houses in town, I was going to base myself at the barn if possible. I was thinking that since this was the first spring post-war I would portray a veteran who moved to the area and was beginning a farm operation. I know that the need for human shelter out weighs the dictates for animal shelter, but I'm basing my scenario off of what the event site dictates; the barn is present, while the housing will be used by others. Even if the men sleep at the Van Bibber site, I'll still be cooking over an open fire. In fact, taking in mind your questions, I imagine that at most events I would attend in the future I would find myself cooking over a fire, probably as a refugee or displaced person. I guess I was concerned with cooking in the appropriate manner as if I had access to a kitchen, but you've helped me realize that the farmer is more worried about field labor and farm work than he is with what he eats. I'd imagine biscuits/bread of some sort and meat or perhaps a stew might be adequate to my needs...something that takes little actual hovering to cook but takes care of a meal. If I remember correctly, Thoreau describes the victuals taken on the trek into the Maine woods as something like ten pounds of hard bread, fifteen pounds of pork, and tea enough to last six men a week; the lumbermen he encountered seemed to subsist on biscuits, pork and pancakes as well. Both good indicators of quick and simple meals for single men.

Karin-

I've lurked occasionally at the Sewing Academy. Perhaps it's time that I register and take full advantage of that forum. My questions arise not out of an event specific need but the fact that I probably don't many years left with doing a military impression and I would like to continue in the hobby pursuing a civilian impression at quality events.

Thank you both for your help and your insight. They are truly appreciated.

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Domestic Advice for the Bachelor Farmer

Karin-

In my haste I forgot part of the answer to your question. I'm generally the chief cook and bottle washer here at home, but I'm more familiar with the culinary dictates of the late twentieth century. Making things purely from scratch is rare in my kitchen, but I am trying to work on it. The last time I made biscuits from scratch, I briefly considered becoming a puck supplier to the NHL.

Bob

[Elaine Kessinger]

Re: Domestic Advice for the Bachelor Farmer

To adress your question on vest patterns.. the civilian gents generally draft their own using period tailoring manuals or know and pay someone who does. :p What you'd like to look for in a step collar pattern is one that goes all the way around the neck, as opposed to the "laid on" method that stops at the shoulder seams. There are a very few documented with a laid on collar, but full collars are much, much more common. If you apear to be in middle age, you may choose to go with the slightly out-dated shawl (or rounded) collar, in which case the Martha McCain Fashion Historian series and Laughing Moon Mercantile both come highly recomended.
Hopefully helpful-

[Hank Trent]

Re: Domestic Advice for the Bachelor Farmer

My base civilian impression is that of a farmer, and since my wife does not participate in living histories, I figure that I'll be portraying a bachelor at events. While not always appropriate, especially since the individual I portray married post-war and farmed in Iowa and Kansas, events dictate my circumstances.

I don't think a bachelor farmer is unusual, just a bachelor farmer who lives entirely alone. Though as I said, I'd be curious to see census examples of it; it might not be as usual as I think. But that still doesn't mean he couldn't be temporarily alone for some reason.

I know that the need for human shelter out weighs the dictates for animal shelter, but I'm basing my scenario off of what the event site dictates; the barn is present, while the housing will be used by others. Even if the men sleep at the Van Bibber site, I'll still be cooking over an open fire.

My wife and I had the same situation at the previous event, where I owned the mill and needed to stay in town, rather than at the (non-existent) house we rented outside of town. Sometimes, it happens, and you just need to figure out the most plausible storyline to work around the situation.

In fact, taking in mind your questions, I imagine that at most events I would attend in the future I would find myself cooking over a fire, probably as a refugee or displaced person. I guess I was concerned with cooking in the appropriate manner as if I had access to a kitchen, but you've helped me realize that the farmer is more worried about field labor and farm work than he is with what he eats.

Well, I think he's worried about what he eats, but the question is how he'd solve the problem on a regular basis. Unless he was very antisocial or in other unusual isolated circumstances, I think he'd tend to solve it by finding a family member to board with him and cook his food, rather than work in the fields and then come home and try to cook a meal besides. Displaced/refugees, of course, have their own built-in excuse.

Out of curiosity, I did a quick look through the 1860 Franklin Co. Missouri census for single men (guessing at the relationships and households, of course).

Not counting single young men living with their parents and siblings, I found examples of some single men living at a boarding house in a town, and some single men living as "laborers" with "farmers" and their families.

There were also a couple examples of two men living together alone as "laborers" in between other households listed as farmers or a miller, presumably working for their neighbors and maybe taking meals there, maybe even just living on a separate house provided for hired hands on the property.

I found one example of an actual "farmer" living entirely alone in his household, C.W. Miller, but he was living next to an elderly woman and two families with the same last name, so he was presumably a single brother living next to his mother and brothers' families, and taking meals with them.

But again, that's speculation--if there are accounts of farmers living alone and cooking for themselves, I'd be interested to see the circumstances.

I'd imagine biscuits/bread of some sort and meat or perhaps a stew might be adequate to my needs...something that takes little actual hovering to cook but takes care of a meal. If I remember correctly, Thoreau describes the victuals taken on the trek into the Maine woods as something like ten pounds of hard bread, fifteen pounds of pork, and tea enough to last six men a week; the lumbermen he encountered seemed to subsist on biscuits, pork and pancakes as well. Both good indicators of quick and simple meals for single men.

Yep, I think that if a man had to (or chose to) cook for himself, those are the kinds of things he'd do.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Domestic Advice for the Bachelor Farmer

The only account of a single farmer living by himself I've found was in southeastern Iowa (town of Agency, Wapello County). The gentleman was widowed and lost one of his children in the early 1870s, and his account books indicate a woman coming in to act as a maid. I'm not sure how much cooking she was doing though, as his accounts also indicated that he was buying his bread on a regular basis. An interesting aside, the gentleman was a tenant on the same farm for thirty-odd years, never made an attempt to purchase his own farm as far as I could find, yet lent money to others and bought and sold other properties. Again though, it's post war.

[Silvana Siddali]

Re: Domestic Advice for the Bachelor Farmer

I'm so glad this discussion has come up here, because your question brings to light the interesting conundrum of reenactors trying to duplicate 19th century relationships and living situations, which is sometimes difficult if single women and men travel to events without their families.

I wanted to add a few points about Boonesfield just by way of clarification -- technically the May event is just a few months after the end of the war, so most of us will still be wearing our dowdy wartime clothes, having suffered the privations of an occupied town.

About living situations & being a bachelor farmer: we have a boarding house situati0n in the village, run by Vivian "Grace Engledew" Murphy as a respectable home for traveling ladies, married people, and families. The people who live in that house mostly cook their own meals or purchase them in the Inn. No doubt in the 19th c they would have been served meals by the proprietress, but that isn't feasible at our events (Vivian can't manage all the cooking in her hearth.)

As you observe, those who don't have cooking facilities or who want some of Terry Sorchy's excellent fare eat at his Inn. One of the things we are trying to figure out at our events is why people are eating at the Inn in the first place. Of course 19th c farmers did sometimes buy their noonday meals in town if they were there on business. For the rest of us, we have to come up with plausible reasons.

The other boarding house, an all-male living situation, is at the Van Bibber site, & will be run by one of the Hairy Nation guys. Presumably the proprietor can't or doesn't want to cook, so his boarders have to deal with their meals in some other way.

If you want to know more about 19th c boarding house culture, let me direct you to two helpful sources:

The Physiology of New York Boarding Houses (1857), ed. by David Faflik. This is a great period resource on boarding house life. I've also been browsing through Richard Stott's Jolly Fellows, which is about male bachelor life throughout the 19th c (not just our era) & seems to indicate that most boarding houses actually catered to an all-male clientele.

Karin has given excellent advice on cooking. One thing I would add is that cooking over a hearth is actually much easier than most people think. Once you learn how to bank a fire & build up a good bed of coals, it's pretty straightforward. The men who live in the Wood Shop and in other buildings do tend to cook their own breakfasts etc. It seems to me (this is just based on my own experience) that you can make do with a medium sized frying pan, a kettle for boiling water, a coffee pot, and maybe a cook pot if you want to make stew or soup. Next time you're in the village, ask Terry for a basic hearth cooking lesson. If you haven't already checked out the Feeding America site, it's a fantastic resource for period cookbooks, recipes, etc.

About being a bachelor farmer -- you might not have to be. Couldn't you be in town to transact business, sell produce, pay your bill at the store, etc.?

[Johan Steele]

Re: Domestic Advice for the Bachelor Farmer

Bob, there are a few accounts from the Fayette, Clayton and Winnishiek County areas (if you're looking you'll have the best luck w/ the Winnishiek County research) of single farmers in Iowa. As well as some similar ones in SW MN, especially after the Sioux Uprising/War was ended. Though to back up Mr Trent further from everything I've found on that note it seems to have been short term while the men were building or homesteading the farm for their families to join them later.

The houses they lived in were quite small affairs, sod huts not being unheard of. There is a slate house just west of Red Wing dating to the 1850's/60's, about 12 x 14 and a family of 7 had lived there with a hired man. I believe the original sod house was used as a root cellar for quite some time after. I've seen quite a few log cabins dating to the period in NE Iowa and throughout MN, they're never big affairs.

I am going to beg one thing when you portray the bachelor farmer, please oh god please make certain you know the harvest levels of crops. I can never forget the young living historian who was asked what his corn harvest amounted to per acre and he said "about 180 bushels" a good crop for the time was in the 30 bushel range.

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Domestic Advice for the Bachelor Farmer

Shane-

Thanks for the information as well as the concern. It's too easy at times for people to bring in modern ag information when attempting to discuss period farming. I've been researching period agriculture and statistics for several years now, so rest assured that I won't make that mistake. I've found Allan Bogue's From Prairie to Corn Belt a great source for information on agriculture in Iowa and Illinois for the period, and I plan on Doug Hurt's book on farming in Missouri's Little Dixie this winter to beef up my information for Missouri.

Silvana-

Thanks for the information on the situation at Boonesfield as well as the boardinghouse sources. I'll make sure to give those a look. I also didn't take in to account the possibility of just being in town in order to take care of some business. Excellent idea.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Domestic Advice for the Bachelor Farmer

About being a bachelor farmer -- you might not have to be. Couldn't you be in town to transact business, sell produce, pay your bill at the store, etc.?

That's certainly true. At Westville last year, when my real-life wife couldn't attend, I portrayed someone who lived at the edge of town and was married, but unhappily so, and thus he was hanging out in town staying with friends until his wife cooled down--a good excuse to sleep on the floor by somebody's hearth and grab meals where I could.

Apparently we made up, because next year when my wife is attending, we'll be living together running a boarding house. :)

For Lost Tribes, my wife and I decided that we only rented a house outside of town, so I didn't care about protecting it with the army nearby, as much as we cared about protecting the mill which I actually owned. So that was our reason for staying close by temporarily, although we supposedly had a home elsewhere.

Lots of possibilities.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com