Thursday, April 11, 2013

Living on the Frontier


Homes and Kitchens From Yesteryear by Martha Rogers


As I shared last month, cooking in the 19th century was no easy task for the women in the family. As families moved west, lifestyles changed. A family on the prairie may have lived in a dirt soddy that served as their home until one could be built. Those who moved into heavily timbered areas had natural resources at their fingertips to build log cabins or larger farm houses for the family. Some of these old farmhouses are still standing today.

No matter how many were in the family, most log cabins were about ten by twenty feet. Smart women maximized the space by having the men build lofts across the cabin roof or lean-tos across the rear of the cabin. Typically, frontier cabins featured only one room, which served as kitchen, dining room, living room, workroom, and bedroom. Finding a family of six to ten living in these cabins was quite common in frontier days.

These log cabins or wood frame homes sprang up across the land in areas where timber grew in abundance. However, in the treeless lands of the plains, the homesteaders turned to the ground beneath their feet to build shelters. The sod house, or “soddy” was the most common in the frontier west.

The long, tough grasses of the plains had tight, intricate root systems, and the earth in which they were contained could be cut into flexible, yet strong, bricks. Settlers used rain or snow soaked earth for construction. They used an ox or horse drawn sod cutter to harvest long, narrow strips of sod which was then chopped up into two to three foot squares about four inches thick. These were stacked to form the walls of the structure. They then used interlacing twigs, thick branches, and hay over another layer of sod for the roof of the structure. Many were built into the side of hills or high embankments because it saved time by having to build only a front wall and a roof.

Cooking in these log cabins and sod houses was a challenge for the cooks. Many settlers draped the ceilings of their sod houses with cheesecloth or muslin to catch falling debris. If they didn’t, some of that debris would wind up in the food.
 
The open hearth presented the easiest way to cook and vent holes were left to insure proper ventilation for the fireplaces. Large cast iron pots hung by hooks over the fire. Some had openings that served as ovens in the early homes. One rule of thumb for the frontier housewife was this bit of advice: Always take two to three steps back from the fire before turning away. This will keep your swishing skirt from catching on fire as you turn around. Sounds like good advice to me.



The equipment a cook may have in her kitchen contained the usual pots and pans and stirring utensils much like what we have today, but they had none of the more modern conveniences we use to make their cooking easier. Wooden spoons mixed the batters instead of electric mixers. Many kitchens had racks where their equipment could be stored. As seen the pictures, handles had loops or curved ends so they could be hung over the racks.


Another type of kitchen cabinet appeared in homes with larger, separate kitchens and held more pieces the cook needed to prepare meals. It was also used as a preparation station. My great-grandmother actually had a similar cabinet in her kitchen and it was painted white. In the upper left bin, she stored flour and it came down the "shoot" you see under it. That "shoot" was also a sifter. Everything she needed was right at her fingertips. 

Many cooks in later years established a "mixing center" in their own kitchens and kept all equipment for mixing and baking in one location. Today, with our convenience food, frozen foods, mixes and take-out, kitchens may not have as much equipment as our ancestors, and what we do have is far more convenient than that of the 19th century.

I hope you've enjoyed this foray into the past. Even if you don't cook much anymore, you can appreciate what you do have in your kitchen today. 


Martha Rogers is a free-lance writer with fourteen novels and novellas published. She also writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston where they enjoy spending time with their grandchildren and attending football, baseball, and basketball games when one of the grandchildren is playing or performing. She is a member of several writing groups. The first book in her new series, Love Stays True, releases in May, 2013.




My cast iron skillets are my favorite kitchen utensils and I use them for everything from cornbread to frying chicken to pineapple upside down cake. 

Leave a comment and tell me about your favorite piece(s) of kitchen equipment or utensils. 


20 comments:

  1. For interesting and informative post! My favorite kitchen 'helper' would have to be my crock pot. So nice to just set it and forget it..and the smells that fill the house all day are wonderful.

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  2. Thank you for a nice post. I think one of my favorite kitchen things is my thing from pampered chef that I use to cook hamburger with, I can't remember what it is called but I love it.

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  3. My mother-in-law had a Hoosier cabinet that looks very similar to the one you have pictured. Of course, she never used it in the same way that it was originally intended! But I believe it does have that chute for the flour, just like you mentioned.
    I am thankful for my modern kitchen and all its convenience! My favorite kitchen tool is probably my Kitchen Aid stand mixer - best money I ever spent for a kitchen helper! I use it all the time. :)

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    1. Ah, Bethany, you gave me the word I needed for my flour bin. I couldn't think of it to save my life as I finalized the piece yesterday.

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  4. Speaking of that flour shoot...Daddy built the house that I grew up in, and in the kitchen he built a flour bin. I'm not sure if he just "imagined" this bin and built it, or if he'd seen others like it.

    It was a V-shaped "drawer" with hinges on the bottom so that it tilted OUT when you pulled the handle. It was large enough to hold a 25 lb bag of flour. Gracious, in my mind, it seems like it was even bigger than that! lol

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    1. I remember seeing something similar to that in an old farmhouse. There was one beside it for sugar and a smaller one above the cabinet for cornmeal. They looked convenient, but now I wonder how they kept "critters" out of the flour and sugar and corn meal.

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    2. They probably DIDN'T keep critters out! (shudder)

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  5. I like to look back at the old times, thanks for sharing about the kitchen today, I am not fond of them, don't like to cook esp and like Chaplain Debbie above, my fav utensil is the crockpot..I use this cooking method a lot.
    I do use iron skillet for corn bread. My mom cooked biscuits everyday and she had a wooden board that she rolled them out on with a rolling pin. she had large tin container that she kept flour in and also one for dried beans as we had these often.
    Paula O(kyflo130@yahoo.com)

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  6. Very interesting, Martha. Thank you for the post.

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  7. Thanks for this step into the past, Martha. I'm not that fond of cooking, but my favorite kitchen tool is probably my food processor. It can slice 5 pounds of potatoes in a minute. So much easier than doing it the old way with a grater and ending up minus some skin.

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  8. Interesting blog! Love my Belgian waffle maker - but am also grateful for the inventions of the electric mixer, blender, juicer, & food chopper.

    bonnieroof60@yahoo.com

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  9. Martha, very interesting post. I do like to cook. For convenience sake, I'd be lost without the microwave. But for cooking the gumbos and soups I love, nothing beats the large, heavy stock pot I've had for over 30 years.

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  10. Microwave! But I am starting to wonder what evils we are doing to our body with nuked food. :)

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    1. Don't think you need to worry. I've been using microwave ovens since the 1970's in the classroom and at home. After 43 years some data would have come up if they had any potential for a health hazard. They sure have improved over the years.

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  11. I would have to say my Kitchen Aid stand mixer - I love to bake, and would have a real tough time doing it without my mixer!

    bettimace(at)gmail(dot)com

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  12. Just think of all the hardships women had back then.

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  13. My cast iron is what we cook from too! Love it! Kathleen ~ Lane Hill House
    lanehillhouse[at]centurylink[dot]net

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  14. Will have to say my cast iron skillet can't be beat. Good for most anything. I also have a cast iron Dutch oven I believe its called. Great Roast pan or whole chicken. Maxie mac262(at)me(dot)com

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  15. Things sure have changed through the years in our kitchens! I love those kitchen cabinets with all the conveniences. Would love to have one today!

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