Ran into a bit of snow in SD yesterday with even more snow in the forecast right smack dab in the middle of our chosen route between "here and there" lol so what's a wagon train to do but circle up the wagons and stay in camp an extra night! We were super lucky to … Continue reading The Conestoga gets snowed in!
Yesterday and today was spent lazily traveling thru Wyoming and South Dakota, which is honestly my favorite part of this trip. Such beautiful landscape and very sparsely populated... I can imagine myself traveling in a true Conestoga in a wagon train as one of the many first settlers to the area. Some of the mountains … Continue reading Conestoga Chuck travels across the prairie
Today is day one of our travels this year, after spending a very long winter learning how to weave with some awesome ladies from the Billings Montana weavers Guild. After getting everything packed in the Conestoga and ready to go, it's important to make the first day of travel a short day so that you … Continue reading Day 1 in the Conestoga with Conestoga Chuck
Part of traveling full time in an RV means keeping an eye on the weather and knowing when to postpone travel plans for a bit lol. Well this weeks travel plans have been postponed due to a freak April snowstorm and subsequent forecasted flooding right along our planned route. This gives us a bit more … Continue reading Snow in the forecast! And some RV remodeling…traveling with pets
I've looked at grinding mills for some time now but they are super expensive! I want one to use as a teaching aid for kids at a pioneer museum we volunteer at during the summer. So after a bit of online research, I decided if the American Indians of old and Latino population of old … Continue reading Pioneer style grinding mill experiment (and a bonus kitchen tool) made from garden rocks!
It's awesome to have friends! I just have to state that right up front because tonight's dinner is brought to you by several of my friends! Read on to find out more 🙂 So first off a shout out to my friend "the grizz" who is not only a fabulous artist but master sauerkraut maker! … Continue reading Toaster Oven, Homemade, Individual, Sauerkraut Casserole
So our wood ash lye soap has been curing for many weeks now and it's time to give our experiment a test and see what the results are! So exciting! First I tried to rub the soap between my hands like a bar of soap, but it is much too soft for using like that, … Continue reading Wood ash lye soap experiment update #4 : the final results!
Since the first batch of soap didn't seem to be curing properly, I got to thinking: "what am I doing differently from how the pioneers would have processed their soap?" Then it came to me! They probably would have cured their soap in the cellar house /root cellar. The average temperatures for a cellar house … Continue reading Wood ash lye soap experiment update #3
So it's been 6 weeks of curing time and the homemade ash lye soap we made 6 weeks ago has transformed and actually smells like soap! Which is super cool! However lesson learned on the curing process. I placed the soap in a container wrapped in parchment paper with the top exposed to air in … Continue reading Ash lye soap experiment update 1
I've always wanted to make some real pioneer style wood ash lye soap! So I'm going to give it a try. I've done a bit of research using a ton of different books and websites so I can't exactly reference any one specific recipe or site... so I'm making this up as I go along … Continue reading Pioneer style wood ash lye, peppermint soap: a living history experiment
Conestoga Chuck 