Wool was a necessity that pioneer families used to fill bedding and spin or weave into yarn for clothing. Since there were no stores in the new settlements, pioneer families usually had a small flock of sheep.

The sheep’s wool was dirty, tangled, and matted when it was shorn (cut). Therefore, it needed to be washed, dried and combed. This was done with two wooden paddles studded with wire teeth called carders or carding paddles. A handful of clean, dry wool was placed on one carder and the other carder was pulled vigorously in the opposite direction across the top of it, pulling and untangling the wool and removing any debris. Once the fibers were smooth and lined up, the wool was removed by pushing the carder backwards and creating a roll of soft wool called a sliver which was then stored in a basket until it could be spun.

Spinning was done by pulling and twisting the wool fibers into a thick thread. The natural oil in wool, called lanolin, helped the wool fibers stick together. The spinner held the sliver of wool in one hand and gently pulled and twisted the fibers out with her thumb and forefinger, adding more fibers as needed to make a smooth, strong thread.

Pioneer girls learned to spin using a drop spindle, an 8-inch long stick about the size of a pencil, with a flat wooden disk at the end. First, she created a short thread by finger spinning and tied it to the end of the drop spindle. Then she turned the spindle like a top while she added the wool fibers, creating thread. When the spindle reached the floor, she wrapped the thread around the stick of the spindle and started again. Wool yarn was used for knitting sweaters and socks as well as darning socks using a wooden darning egg.

Hogs were an essential pioneer farm animal. Not only was the meat butchered and cured for eating, but the hog’s fat, called lard, was used in candle and soap making. Just a spoonful of lard or butter was needed to fill a small metal dish, called a cruisie or betty lamp, which could dimly light a room. For stronger light, the pith (soft inner part of plant) was stripped from the insides of cattail stems and dipped in lard. Although they were often smoky and smelly, they were fine for everyday use. For special occasions, pioneers made candles from tallow (melted cow or sheep fat and beeswax). The tallow was heated and a long wick (thick string) was held by the end and repeatedly dipped into the hot wax and dried until it thickened into a 1-inch thick candle. Another way to make candles was to thread the wick through a hole at the bottom of a candle mold. The heated wax was poured into the mold, which was then left to cool. They also made candles from the waxy coating of bayberries, which were imported from the East Coast. Candles were stored in candle holders or in tin boxes to keep them safe.

Lye Soap was made with lard and lye. Cook fire ashes were collected in large barrels and left out for rainwater to wash over them. The water dissolved the ashes and created lye-water. The lye-water was put into a large caldron and mixed with lard, fat scraps, meat drippings, and leftover candle ends. Then it was stirred while heating over a hot fire, creating irritating fumes which stung the pioneers' eyes and noses. Once the liquid turned into a jelly-like thickness, it was stored in stone crocks (containers). A jug of the slimy soap was kept near the washbasin for daily use and a ladle was used to spoon the soap into the caldron for washing clothes on wash day. A barrel of ashes and twelve pounds of lard made 40 pounds of soap -- enough to last a pioneer family for one year.

Pioneers cooked over an open fire, which could be dangerous. Women and children wore heavy wool clothing to protect themselves against flying sparks and had to stand back from the caldron to avoid being scalded by the contents. To make the cooking pots easier to reach, they were placed on an iron crane, a long iron rod which was attached to the side of the fireplace by a hinge which could swing over the fire or out into the room. Kettles, pots, and meat were attached to the rod by hooks situated different distances from the fire. Flat bottom pans and kettles were placed directly on the fire.

The food was plain and tasteless, consisting of boiled potatoes, fried pork, stews, and soups. Dried herbs and salt were the only flavoring. In the summer, fresh vegetables were added, but by March the settlers might have only porridge to eat. In the late spring, wild leeks, cow cabbage and other greens were cooked and eaten.

Cows were another important pioneer animal. Cows produced milk for dairy products and the calves were either sold or slaughtered for meat. Male cows were trained to pull a plow or wagon.

Once a calf was five days old, the mother cow could be milked. The milking was done first thing in the morning and at the end of the day. Everyone knew how to milk a cow, but it was usually done by women and girls, using a wooden bucket with a rope handle. It was the job of the children to call the cows in at the end of the day, either using a cow bell or a horn. Stragglers were fetched by the children and farm dog.

Cows produced about twenty-one quarts of milk a week. Since milk spoiled so easily, little was used for drinking. As a consequence, people didn’t get as much calcium as they needed and often lost all their teeth by age thirty! Instead, milk was made into cheese and butter, which could then be traded at the general store, or used to fatten pigs & hens.

Making butter was a time-consuming process. First, the fresh milk was left in a shallow pan overnight, allowing the cream to rise to the surface. Then, it was skimmed off with a wooden spoon and left to sit until it was slightly sour and the surface was shiny. In winter, the cream would sit out for several days by the fire, but in summer it would only need to sit out overnight. Next, the cream was poured into the butter churn and one of the children would pound the dasher (a stick with paddles on the bottom) rhythmically up and down for about thirty minutes, until the cream thickened. To keep the rhythm, the children often chanted,

“Come, butter, come
Come, butter, come
Peter standing at the gate
Waiting for a butter cake
Come, butter, come”

Once the butter was solid, the buttermilk was drained off and fed to the pigs or saved for baking. The butter was rinsed thoroughly in cold water and salt was added. Then it was pressed into wooden crocks and stored in a cool place.

Cheese lasted longer, but was much more difficult to make than butter. It was made by soaking a small piece of rennet (made from the dried stomach of a newborn calf) in water. This was added to milk and left out overnight, which made the protein particles in the milk stick together. Soon, the whey (watery milk) floated to the top and curds (thick clumps of protein) settled on the bottom. The curds were cut into small pieces and stirred with a wooden spoon over the fire, along with the whey. When the curds crumbled, the mixture was poured into a loosely woven basket lined with a cheese cloth. Salt was added and heavy stones or bricks were piled on top, which pressed the cheese into a solid block. The cheese was then stored in a cool place (called curing).

Pioneers didn’t have refrigerators or canned foods, so they had to put by (store) their farm produce for the year. Potatoes, turnips, and other root vegetables were stored in a root cellar or pit, lined and covered with straw. A hollowed out wooden tube was stuck into the pit to release the gas that built up from the mulching straw. If the vegetables were stored in a root cellar, there was either a trap door leading down from the kitchen, or a separate door outside. If pioneers were lucky, stored vegetables lasted the entire winter. In the summer, the root cellar was used to keep milk and butter from spoiling.

Apples were harvested in the fall and stored in straw-filled barrels for winter eating. Some were taken to a cider mill where the juice was pressed and made into cider and vinegar. Others were cooked into applesauce and apple butter and stored in glass jars. Most were cut into slices and dried by the fire or in the sun. During the winter the dried apple slices could be soaked in maple syrup and baked into pies. The same could be done with other fruits like peaches, pears, and berries.

• Wool
• Carding paddles
• Wooden darning egg
• Knitting sample with yarn and needles
• Candle molds
• Dipping candles & holders
• Lye soap
• Caldron
• Kettle
• Ladle
• Wooden bucket
• Cow bell
• Butter churn
• Dasher
• Wooden butter crock
• Wooden spoon
• photos of pioneer life

Source: A Pioneer Sampler: The Daily Life of a Pioneer Family in 1840, by Barbara Greenwood (Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1995).