Order up!

By: Joshua Harley, Historical Interpreter for Todd’s General Store

Todd’s General Store will occasionally receive a request for the historic craftspeople. Since Todd’s most often works as the go-between, and I am the shopkeeper most often in Todd’s, it is my job to then take the specifications of the request and consult with the appropriate historic craftspeople. Our main focus at The Farmers’ Museum is education, not production, and as such it is not always feasible for the craftspeople to meet both needs. In that event the experience and education of our visitors on site comes first. However, being the stellar group of people that they are the historic craftspeople are often able to do both with adroitness and polish.

In one such instance I received a request for a number of the spade finial hooks made in Field’s Blacksmith Shop. The couple making the request wanted to make a unique pot rack utilizing a few of our hooks, with some minor customizations, to accommodate their various sized pots and pans. I went to our lead blacksmith, Steve Kellogg, and after discussing the requirements he immediately began working. Emails were sent back and forth; details were finalized in these correspondences, questions of aesthetics and style, measurements and hook strength. Finally the hooks were ready to be shipped out. It was not long after sending the hooks off in the mail before I received a small package from the folks that had bought them. The flat rate box was filled with pictures of the completed project and a wonderful note of appreciation!

I was so excited to see these that I immediately emailed the couple thanking them for the pictures and asked if I could write a blog post using their story and pictures. When I was given the green light by them I promptly did not get around to writing it until now (sorry about that folks!). So without further ado here are the pictures of the completed pot-rack.

This is beautiful work combining skills and needs from both the 19th and 21st centuries. As a shopkeeper for The Farmers’ Museum, I was glad to act as the go-between for the historical craftspeople and some of our visitors so that this collaboration was successful. All of the emails, phone calls, and running back and forth was paid in full by seeing these pictures and the knowledge of happy customers with a new well-made addition to their home.

Daily Workshops Coming to The Farmers’ Museum

By: Keith Rohlman, Public Programs Intern

I’m excited to announce that starting July 5th, The Farmer’s Museum will be offering daily workshops on different crafts from the 1840s. All of the workshops will start at 1:00 pm sharp, and you can sign up in advance or on the day you choose to visit the museum. Sign up sheets will be in the building where the craft takes place.

On Mondays our blacksmith, Steve Kellogg, will be instructing a lucky few in how to forge your very own clothing hook for your home.

On Tuesdays our pharmacist, Patrick MacGregor, will be instructing visitors in the methods used in the 1840s to craft medicines.

Wednesday is a double-header! Gwen Miner will be showing us all how to bake in a hearth oven, and Wayne Coursen will be showing us how to mow with a scythe. And, last but certainly not least, Ted Shuart will be giving lessons on printing with a Washington press.

These workshops only cost $10, and you can sign up in the building where the workshop is held.  If you have questions, or would like to reserve a spot in advance of your visit, please call Kajsa Sabatke at 607-547-1453.

Springtime!

Steve Kellogg, our blacksmith, has an excellent post this week. Marieanne Coursen, one of the Museum's farmers has chronicled a spring morning on the farm.  Head over to Steve's blog - Rural Blacksmith for an inside view of farm chores.  You (and even your entire family) can help out Marieanne, Wayne and Rick before the museum opens as part of our farm chores workshop.  Hope to see you there!

My Experience at The Farmer's Museum

This post is by Young Interpreter Jacob Efthimiou, and was originally posted on the Rural Blacksmith blog.

“Are you ready for another exciting day in the Blacksmith Shop?” questioned Steve as he and I prepared to leave the Creamery, where the morning staff meeting had been held moments ago. It was another Wednesday; and during my summer, that meant turning into a 19th century blacksmith’s apprentice for the day. Upon arriving at the blacksmith shop, one of my first jobs was always to clean up after the previous day’s fire. This job consisted of setting aside the coke (reusable coal) to start the next fire, and putting the clinker (fully burned coal) in the ash bucket. Next, the fire was started using birch bark, small thinly cut kindling, leftover coke, and a few puffs of air from the bellows. My Wednesday would then launch into a fun and exciting day of making hooks, nails, chain links, and all manner of things. Another important part about being a good interpreter is communicating with the public. I explained many times that kids ages twelve to fourteen can write essays, be interviewed, and then possibly work at The Farmer’s Museum over the summer. Thanks to Steve, now I can pursue the trade using my grandpa’s old forge. I am so blessed to have had this opportunity and will try to stay in practice throughout my life. Maybe I’ll even volunteer at The Farmer’s Museum next year.

Great Saturday

By: Kajsa Sabatke, Interpretive Projects Coordinator

Autumn in central New York can mean nearly any variety of weather; last Saturday brought sunshine, warmer temperatures, and crisper autumn air. After several dreary days, the sun had clearly brightened the spirits of staff and visitors alike and I had one of the best days of the season in the More House. I saw smiles on nearly every visitor’s face and discussions of the weather entered into many of my conversations throughout the day. I had forgotten to bring my watch with me, but thanks to the many activities during the day I usually knew the approximate time. The morning flew by with quilting a pot holder and talking to visitors, and I didn’t think about the time until the noon whistle blew from downtown Cooperstown. The loud pounding from the Williams Carriage Shed (the only noise louder than the blacksmith during the day) signaled the 2:00 flax processing demonstration, and visitors began congregating in the More House a little before 3:00 to take a tour with me of the second floor. By about 3:20 the grounds quieted as visitors gathered at the farmstead to milk the cow, and the sun dipped below the nearby hill at 4:00 as it begins to do this time of year. What a great day! The museum will stay open through the end of October and changes to its reduced hours after Columbus Day weekend – so stop by and see us soon! We also have a few other programs running through the fall.

Above photograph of the Blacksmith Shop by Steve Kellogg who blogs here.

We Milked Buttercup!

By: Kajsa Sabatke, Interpretive Projects Coordinator, Kate Betz, Manager of Pubilc Programs and Erin Crissman, Curator Among the many things that the three of us have in common is that none of us had milked Buttercup, the dairy cow at Lippitt Farm . (A few other commonalities being that we all graduated from the same masters program, we all have a keen sense of fashion, and all recognize that ice cream is one of the greatest foods in the world—see, it all comes back to dairy!).

Buttercup is a very patient cow.

At least not until last week, when we arrived at the museum early to help Farmer Wayne with the morning milking. Buttercup is a gentle cow and she patiently allows dozens of visitors to milk her every day under the watchful eye of one of our farmers. After Wayne gave us a tutorial of the basic milking technique (pinch and squeeze), we were ready to try milking Buttercup. Farmer Wayne shows us the pinch and squeeze technique before we get started.

Kajsa milking Buttercup

Kate milking, and not getting her foot stepped on.

I went first and my city girl savviness ensured that I immediately got milk all over my hand (and might have had my foot trampled if Farmer Wayne hadn’t warned me to move my leg out of the way!). However, after a few pinch-and-squeezes I started getting the hang of it. It was really an amazing experience. Now, I saw the steaming buckets of milk when we came in, but somehow my brain did not connect how warm the cow, udder, and milk really would be. Being that close to a living, breathing thing that could produce such an amazing product (please recall the earlier ice cream comment) was a humbling experience. I even got the two-handed milking down (if not mastered) by the end of my turn.

I loved milking Buttercup. I’ll also admit to being a little apprehensive about the whole thing, but I only have to milk a cow for the first time once, right? Erin milking Buttercup My biggest problem, actually, was trying to get dressed in the morning knowing that I would be milking a cow AND attending an important meeting in the afternoon. Thankfully, I got all of the milk to go in the bucket and my clothes stayed clean. Farmer Wayne is absolutely amazing. I understand why so many families run to the barn yard starting at about 3:15, and why our members bring their children after school to ride the carousel and milk the cow. What a way to spend the afternoon!

Here's Steve Kellogg, our blacksmith. It was his first time milking, too. He also served as our photographer for the milking adventure. He blogs about blacksmithing and working at The Farmers' Museum. Thanks, Steve!

Creating The Farmers' Museum: Get Moving!

By: Erin Crissman, Curator

American outdoor living history museums, like The Farmers’ Museum, are 20th century creations. Skansen in Sweden is the world’s oldest, started in 1891. Some open-air museums, like Williamsburg (1927), are entire restored towns. Others, like The Farmers’ Museum (1942) are village settings created by moving relatively local historic buildings to a central location. Some, like The Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village (1929), have buildings and artifacts from across the country! When beginning to re-create a historic village in the 1940s, the Museum’s founding director, Louis C. Jones, didn’t have very far to go. Across the street, the New York State Historical Association and Fenimore House (today the Fenimore Art Museum) had a growing collection of primary source material – paintings, drawings, lithographs that illustrated what New York’s villages had looked like in 100 years ago. You can see one of the project’s most influential works here. Jones and early museum staff set out to collect all of the buildings important to a New York village. The first buildings were Todd’s Store, Filers Corners Schoolhouse, and Bump Tavern. Below are photographs of some of the museum's buildings in transition.

Louis C. Jones oversees moving Dr. Jackson's Office from Westford, NY

Re-constructing Fields' Blacksmith Shop -1950s

A crane positions the rear wing of the Westcott Shop -1997

Moving Cornwallville Church for the second time. It was originally placed behind Lippitt farmhouse, in the background of this photo. - 1990s