By C. Kihm Richardson Walking from Strykersville ... - Fulton History

PAGE 94
Thoughts on Pioneer Living (continued)
able, women would have "apple paring" bees. The
apples were cooked in brass kettles, sour apples
on the bottom and sweet apples on top. Sometimes
quinces were added for flavor. Molasses, boiled
with apples, made pungent "apple molasses" and
was stored in the cellar.
In the earlier days, butter and churns were
rare. When milk and cream were available, the
buttermaking was always left to the good wife.
Even women of wealthy families expected to take
over the churn.
The apple was used in countless ways by the
pioneer housewife. There was apple slump, apple
chowder, apple tarts, apple pies, apple puff and
poached apples. House-pies used the leavings of
the apples and was given to the children. Some
apple pies in country places were made of apples
neither peeled nor cored. Apple pies were served
throughout the year. When fresh apples were no
longer to be had, the dried ones took over. It was
the evening meal for children. The crust of these
pies, however, was "something else." It was said
that the crust "could be broken only if a wagon
wheel went over it."
Pumpkins were plentiful and easy to keep in
dried form. Yet the pioneers did not welcome
this item with relish. According to one account,
"we have pumpkins at morning, pumpkins at noon.
If it were not for pumpkins we should be undone!"
Pumpkin bread made of Indian meal was not recommended
for its flavor. The Indians dried pumpkins
and strung them up for winter, as did the
settlers.
Squash was likewise a native vegetable. Beans
were grown abundantly. The Indians baked them
in earthenware pots, as we do now. Peas, parsnips,
carrots, huckleberries, blackberries and
wild strawberries were seasonal delicacies. Always
at least one berry was left on the stem for
natural seeding. Grapes also, were found wild.
Apple trees were always planted as soon as the
family settled, as well as pears and quinces.
Mill Stone in Pike located in front of the Wyoming
County Pioneer House.
OLD TIME UTENSILS
APRIL 1978
From Merrill's account in the RUSHFORD
CENTENNIAL: "The housewife worked under many
difficulties; pancakes were baked in a spider with
legs three or four inches long. Bread and johnnycakes
were baked in an iron bake kettle or brick
oven. To bake in these ovens, they would build a
fire, and when the stones or bricks were hot, they
would rake out the coals, sweep out the oven, then
put in their meat, bread or cake, and shut it up.
A crane with its hooks adorned the fireplace.
Meat hung from iron hooks, with a dish underneath
to catch the "drippings."
"Brooms were made of swamp birch or hickory;
the piece of wood cut into splints, the splints turned
up and tied, then turned down and tied again. Often,
however, hemlock or pine branches were used.
For a mop, a piece of board was utilized, about a
foot in diameter, hewn down at one end, through
which auger holes were bored and rags tied thru
them - the other end of the board shaped at the end
for a handle.
"In place of soda, or saleratus for use in baking,
the housewife burned corn cobs, poured hot water
over the ashes and used the lye to raise her bread
and cakes. Money was scarce, and about the only
way of obtaining it was selling black ashes. Trees
were felled, piled and burned; then from the ashes
a lye was made, until it crystallized into a hard
substance called black salts - or later, pearl ash.
"Sap troughs were used as cradles for babies,
and small wooden troughs used in place of dishes
on the table. Many times there would not be enough
stools for all to sit down; the children would stand
around the table, taking their rye bread or johnny
cake, and dip into the central dish of venison, or
whatever it happened to be.
"The first potatoes were brought to Rushford
by Holton Colburn in a pair of boots slung over his
shoulder. They were blue potatoes, and considered
a fine variety for many years
"Many times when the larder was nearly empty,
a circuit rider stopping in for the night had nothing
to eat but stewed pumpkin and milk. When blackberry
bushes sprang up the settlers were much
pleased, as they enjoyed the fruit.
DEER WERE PLENTIFUL
"Venison formed the chief article of diet, but
some men were not good hunters. David Vaughn
(of Rushford) was a "mighty hunter," and often
neighbors, when hard pressed for meat, would
get him to go hunting for them. All he asked was
that they work on the farm in his place The
deer were so tame they were often seen near the
houses, and at the "deer licks" sometimes a long
line of them could be seen. The skins of deer were
used for whiplashes and for clothing.
"When the settler owned a cow he was well off.
The cows were pastured on common ground and
(continued on page 95)