Friday, March 26, 2010

1750 Family







I actually did this layout one snowy cold day this winter but forgot to post it. For the top trim piece, I used some of the material that was leftover after I made Skyler's dress which she is wearing in the picture.

This is a part of our lives that we seem to have less and less time for -- reenacting the Pre-Revolutionary War days -- but it will always be a part of what defines us and made us who we are. We have learned to appreciate all of the luxuries that are a part of people's lives these days and how much more difficult life was back then even though society has romanticized "the old days." Would I want to live back then? A part of me truly would. However, the early deaths because of war, disease and dangers we never even have to think of is something that makes me glad I am living now instead of then. But the simplicities and hard work of a time long gone are something I wish were more a part of today's society -- and so where we can -- we try to incorporate those things into our lives now. Because of this we carry and hunt with our flintlocks and that will never change. Hunting with a flintlock means we have one shot and one shot only to make an ethical kill -- so we spend a great deal of time practicing regularly in order to make that one shot count. Also, in keeping with this lifestyle, other than when we go out to eat (which is also very rare) we eat almost exclusively wild game. It is a VERY rare occasion when we stray from this. We also have, for the past 2 years, cut, split and stacked the wood that solely heated our home. This is something that we almost always do as a family. We each have our chore. Paul runs the chainsaw and I haul the wood to the truck. Skyler helps by making the wood stack in the back of the truck nice and tight so we can haul as much as possible. We then unload the truck at home and Paul splits wood as I stack. The manual labor is something that both Paul and I love and we have a warm home to show for it. So although we have the luxury of a truck instead of a team of horses and a chainsaw instead of handsaws -- we are doing our part to keep alive an era that has unfortunately become too far gone for many people to grasp.