My So-Called Pilgrim Life

Here are some pictures of this years spring training:

That’s (half of a) Rebecca, Stacy, Bertie, Norah, Whitney, and Liz.

Village artisans Tom, Mark and Justin.

Serene Bean, long time interpreter in the Colonial Village at Plimoth Plantation, was laid to rest today. She was 19 years old, an advanced age for a Kerry cow. She fell apparently Wednesday night and was unable to stand again despite repeated attempts on her own and with assistance. Beanie was surrounded by friends old and new for each of the last three days of her life. She seemed calm, at peace, and in little pain through the end.
Bean trained generations of interpreters at Plimoth Plantation and charmed and educated literally millions of visitors to the museum. She will be greatly missed.

We will be, once again, opening the gates to our village (and the rest of the museum) to visitors on March 20th of this year. We hope all of you can plan on being in attendance.

And on opening day there will be a Farm Fresh Breakfast serving Scrambled eggs, Bacon/sausages, French toast casserole, biscuits & gravy, Corn & blueberry muffins, fruit salad, home fries, butter and preserves, assorted juices/milk, coffee/tea/decaf. Tax, tip and Museum Admission is included for: $32.00 for adults, ($15.00 for Museum Members), $22.00 for children ($10.00 for Child Museum Members).

If you’d like a FREE ticket to Plimoth Plantation, just stop by on Saturday March 13th, 2010 for our 18th annual Spring Clean Day.

“Spring Clean Day is a sign of winter’s end and a community tradition many look forward to! Volunteers are encouraged to invite a friend or enlist whole families to join Plimoth Plantation staff for a fun-filled day of planting, raking, painting, dusting, cleaning and the overall setup of museum exhibits and sites, as we prepare for the 2010 season. This harbinger of spring is a great opportunity to lend a helping hand. 
Registration begins at 9 AM, in the Visitor Center. Lunch will be served at 1 PM. Everyone will receive (with museum thanks!) a complimentary pass for a return visit to Plimoth Plantation in 2010 to admire the day’s achievements. All are asked to R.S.V.P. by Thursday, March 4, by calling 508-746-1622, 8210, or by emailing ppeters@plimoth.org.”

By the way, if you didn’t know, we’ve been having a Farmer’s Market here over the winter every third Thursday December through May. The upcoming ones are Thursday March 13, April 16, and finally May 21.

I hope I get a chance to see all of you this year. Stop by Stephen Hopkins’ house. He’ll look a lot like me.

Buddy

All’s well that ends well.

Buddy

Hi folks,

Another blatant shill for all our readers to vote for Plimoth Plantation as one of the (ah shoot, let’s go for FIRST PLACE!) 1000 Great Places in the Commonwealth! Just click that link.

As well, Do you want a FREE ticket to Plimoth Plantation? Please join us for Plimoth Plantation’s Annual Spring Clean Day, scheduled for Saturday March 13th. Come meet your favorite Pilgrims and Staff. I’ll be there (hobbled), look me up.

Buddy

So there have been some changes (and major improvements) to the Colonial Foodways kitchen and store room. I have installed a new floor in the store room which was desperately needed.. That painted particle board was just awful. I have also repainted the door (purple), trim (green), and one part of the ceiling in the kitchen to give the room a whole new cheerful and spunky feel (if I do say so). So I hope everyone will enjoy the new Colonial Foodways area. Here are some pictures from my progress over the past few weeks.

It's Not Just the Food, It's the Ways

Sky's the Limit!

New Storeroom Floor

Yours Truly,
Megan Stanley
Foodways Apprentice

On Friday, January 29th, after a long, cold morning of “de-thatching” the soon to be razed Brown House in the English Village, we welcomed archeologist Tad Baker, chair of the History Department at Salem State College and other friends who stopped by the Plantation to conduct an informal but informative survey of timber decay patterns & the thrusts & stresses of a failing, 23 yr-old earthfast timber frame. It may sound a little dry, but it was anything but! The detective work that archeologists and framers apply to an old frame and the surviving bits left in and above the ground are as interesting as anything seen on CSI! There are important details to be gleaned on how a timber framed house–without a foundation–will eventually succumb to the ground and the elements, and we can use this valuable information to instruct us in the building of new houses, even as we gain rare insight into the past. We were very impressed as Tad rolled up his metaphorical sleeves on a frigid afternoon, knelt to the ground, trowel in hand, and looked for clues. Many thanks to Tad and friends for their expert help! These are essential relationships for Plimoth Plantation to keep and cultivate as we move forward in our research, understanding, and interpretation.

Michael French and Justin Keegan “de-thatching” Brown House. The reed will be recycled for repairs on the lower storehouse. The old and the new: View of the soon to be razed Brown House with the new Brewster House in the background.

Tad Baker examining sill and post decay of the Brown House. He is looking for patterns of what oak does after 23 years in the ground, and how that affects the overall structure. There is value and insight in making archeological comparisons between a “new” structure, and framing remnants from from centuries ago.

Digging outside looking for sill remnants in Brown House.

Rick McKee
Interpretive Artisan

Tom explaining the nuances of pit -sawing to Justin.

Welcome new interpretive artisan Justin Keegan to Plimoth Plantation! Here we are sawing oak boards for doors and shutters for a new house in the 1627 English Village.

Rick McKee
Interpretive Artisan

Or another way to say Toast
Not just any toast, toast with a tasty topping. In the program it was titled Snippets of Spinach, snippets being a misreading of sippets, which I’m sure you all remember is a small sop. And a sop? A slice of bread that is sometimes toasted or sometimes fried that goes first in the dish to sop up the sauce or the broth. Sometimes the sop gets its own topping and served to fill in the edges of a meal. Am I the only on who hears bread with tasty topping and thinks bruschetta? This 17th century recipe is as easy as toast!

To make a fried toste of Spinage.
Take Spinnage and seeth it in water and salt, and when it is tender, wring out the water between two Trenchers, then chop it small and set it on a Chafing-dish of coles, and put thereto butter, small Raisons, Sinamon, Ginger, and Sugar, and a little of the iuyce of an Orenge and the two yolkes of rawe Eggs, and let it boil till it be somewhat thicke, then toste your toste, soake them in a little Butter, and Suger, and spread thinne your spinnage upon them, and set them in a dish before the fire alitle while, & so serve them with a little suger upon them.
- Dawson, Thomas.

Cook the spinach and wring out the water – put it in a clean towel and wring the ends over a sink. Chop the spinach, put in a saucepan with some butter, a few raisins or currents, some cinnamon, ginger and sugar. Squeeze in some lemon juice (or use about a tablespoon of orange juice and skip the sugar. They were using Seville oranges in the 17th century, so lemon juice is a better choice then sweet or navel orange juice in this case). The 2 egg yolks are to thicken the sauce. There are variations of this recipe that use 2 or 3 cooked egg yolks as well. Cook it till it thickens up somewhat. In the mean time, toast your bread – a thinly sliced baguette make a great base. You want something that isn’t going to dissolve instantly. Butter the spread, spread on some of the spinach and give it a minute or two to to meld. If you do this part ahead of time, you can run them under the broiler for just a minute to reheat them befoer serving. Now for sugar on top….A 17th century housewife would be scraping her sugar from a sugarloaf, which gives you very fine sugar, a very little at a time. So a pinch of superfine sugar is all you need here, and if you are using orange juice, it’s probably sweet enough or a very small pinch of granulated sugar, just enough to bring out the contrast between the sour of the lemon/orange juice and the flavor of the spinach (which I keep spelling ’spinnage’, thank you very much Mr Dawson) and of course the bread.

There are some wonderful images of the Embroidered Jacket on the Embroiderers blog, and I’m going to try this whole link thing again.

KMWall
Colonial Foodways Culinarian

http://www.plimoth.org/embroidery-blog

Since I didn’t ask for food pictures at the Embroidered Jacket event, there really aren’t any. People are gathered around what I know is the food, but the food itself isn’t really showcased. And it was really good. Kenny and the Creative crew did a fantastic job.
It looks like we’ll have to cook everything again for a photo shoot. Yep, somebody’s got to do it. Oh, the life of a Foodways Culinarian.
But on to mussels

To seeth Muscles.
Take butter and vinegar a good deale, parsley chopt small and pepper, then set it on the fire, and let it boile a while, the see the Muscles be cleane washee, and put them in the broth shelles and all, and when they be boyled a while, serve them shelles and all.
Thomas Dawson. The Second part of the Good Hus-wifes Jewell. 1597.
Mussels are easy. And this recipe is almost all you need to know.
To seethe mussels
Wash and pick over you mussels. Make sure the shells fit together tightly – no mud mussels or dearly departed for the pot. Scrub/tug the little beards off.
In a pot with a lid big enough to hold the mussels, put 1/2 cup butter (one stick) and 1/4-1/2 cup vinegar. Add 1/2 a bunch chopped fresh parsley. Bring to a boil. Add the mussels, shells and all. Put the lid on tight. After 5 minutes, carefully toss them withing the pan.It should take under 10 minutes for them to cook. You’ll know they’re done when they’re open. Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with the rest of the chopped parsley and enjoy.

Somethings never change. It’s not just the food, it’s the ways.

KMWall
Colonial Foodways Culinarian