WOI: News Clip 403

good afternoon we're again showing you some of the crafts you'll be able to see at the Living History Farms crest Crafts Festival which is May 23rd and that will run from 9 until I believe it's 5 o'clock at the Living History Farms which are west of Des Moines these ladies or at least some of them will be out there doing some quilting and we're going to find out a little bit about that mrs. Taylor can you tell us how you lay the quilt down on the frame well you'll get your frame to the the size of your quilt and then you pin the lining on to the frame then you lay the padding over there what kind of padding that you use well this is dacron d a c r o n and then you put the quilt on top and also pin that down now at this point the quilt part is all applicate on the pieces are together the flowers in this case are there yes this quilt was ready to go it's all sewed together and in one piece laid on the frames now you said you could get it that size quilt you want so you can vary it on the frame then is that right no you have to have your frame the size of your quilt but I mean can you get different size quilts oh yes so you can arrange it you can make your quilts any size you want to okay so the applique is on and now they're doing the quilting stitch what kind of needle do they have to use for the regular quilting needles and quilting thread which is waxed thread and nothing else will work you have to use the quilting needle and threads well it's better long time I think a long time ago they used to use ordinary thread but now we're using the quilting thread and what was she saying 8 to 9 what does she mean the size of the needles an eight to nine is the size of the needle that you need okay now I know you were saying when you're putting your thread through there's one thing you have to keep in mind what's that Oh be sure that your knot doesn't show so you have your hand underneath you and you're gonna pull that thread through aren't you I always put my needle down from the top though and then pull it up that way and of course part of the quilts already done and that's what you have turned under here and you'll keep turning it under so we can reach farther over okay now there are let's see seven people working on the quilt is that a common number how many can work on a quilt this size at one time about eight or ten and how long would it take them to complete one if they work three or four hours in a day Oh expected to take about a month okay now not all quilts are this applique what are some different kinds of quilts well there are a lot of piece quilts some men I think think it's kind of foolish to cut up material in little pieces and sew it together again she had a pieced quilt that she just did yes so then you wouldn't have the applique work you just put those little pieces that you cut together yes it would all be pieced together like that one laying over there you know what were some of the occasions when women would have quilting bees in the past weren't their special times when they'd get together to work on quilts oh I don't know I thought maybe like if a girl was going to get married they'd all come together and help her make her quilts or something yeah probably ok I quilted at University Church for a good many years how do you come across the frame like this are there very many of these around or are they hard to find I don't think there are very many around some carpenter has to make one okay she said that her husband made her her own frame for the size quilts that she'd make and of course you can vary them to get the size quilt to fit your better wherever you're going to put your quilt we're going to talk about chair caning now after we get this roll make it smaller we have some smaller or shorter sticks to put here on the ends we're going to use those see eventually we won't have this part of the frame here won't take up so much room in okay thank you this is mr. L G harder and he is caning a chair mr. harder how did you get started doing this kind of thing oh I don't know I just picked it up I had a chair I wanted done and I watched a man do it you learned it just from watching just from watching yes and then I later got a book that told me all about it so how long have you been doing it Oh 20 years I guess more or less I've caned about a dozen chairs in the last year so you do them pretty quickly really if you can do twelve in a year well I take my time at it and it's kind of tedious work I work a little while and rest a little while do you have to do anything special to the chair do you fix make the chair yourself no I oftentimes have to refinish the chair first take the paint all off or whatever's on it and bring it down to wood and then stain it and refurnish it so it looks like new again how about the holes though they already there they're already there there's two kinds this is the old kind and the new kind just has a groove in it and the cane comes already already woven and it should just set in this groove that's the way they do it at (prison?) that would be the easy way then wouldn't it that's the easy way yes but in your way you have the holes now is it a set number of holes always have to have even numbers and when it's all finished then there's a bead goes around the edge that covers up all the holes okay how about the material that you're using now to cane your chair well this is just regular cane like like this and it comes in lengths so about 12 to 20 feet and but it's already in the strip you don't have in the strips you buy it just that way how much of it would it take to do a seat well can you approximate about half of an amount I've got there okay now you don't use a needle or anything what tools do you need no all I use is my hands it's just you're weaving in and out this is coming you have four steps the first step you put them all down this way then the next step you put them all this way then you go again and put another strip in the same holes that way and then this is the fourth step I'm getting this way then when I'm that's all done then you go crossways and this way and that draws it all into a perfect pattern so there's six steps all together and you're on the fourth one well there's seven counting the strip that goes around the edge I'll show you how what I mean by that when you get done this strip goes in like that down in this hole oh I see that finishes up seven steps are there different patterns that you can use on the seat yes you could but this is a regular pattern that they generally use it's a standard one huh the standard one sometimes you use a heavier cane and make a different kind of pattern now in that that's where they have just the rounds and you have to go over and under and around and around and around like that that's a different kind they can use this kind of cane or you can use a heavier cane but you prefer the lighter weight oh yes this is much easier to do what are these tools that you have well sometimes I have trouble getting in underneath getting underneath and especially towards the end and in that case why I have to use the all the get raise them up like that to see so they can get the other piece underneath yeah and this this is used to hold it so that the length won't it won't pull out does your cane ever break oh yes that's the problem that's one of the things you get a whole row made and all at once snap oh dear take it out and start over again that's ok mr. LG harder caning a chair we'll be back again tomorrow see you then good afternoon we are again at the Living History Farms west of Des Moines and today we're on the 1840 farm and with me is again mr. Darwin thede who is the manager of the 1840 farm and you built the cabin behind us can you tell us a little bit about its construction yes this is a typical pioneer cabin of the 1840 to 60 period here in this area the cabin is 14 by 20 feet and its built of oak logs that we cut down right here in the vicinity what's the mortar that you've used the chinking in between the logs to seal these spaces in between the logs is a native clay and is this what normally was used back then yes the clay was used especially in this earlier type of cabin such as we have here as they got into the more square Hillin type of cabins often time they used a mortar of lime and sand but this was a later development in the log cabin cabin business moreso yes this type of cabin was often built first because there was less time actually to build to get your cabin up before the first winter and as you see the bark is still on the logs and the log has not been hewn they've just been cut down and the corner style is called notch and saddle which is a little quicker type of construction in the more finished houses is it any warmer when you leave the bark on as in this one actually you wouldn't have any real difference in warmth the most of the warmth of these cabins came from the fact that they were quite thick walled and usually they were heated with a fireplace of various sizes now this cabin has this fireplace in the other end but taking the bark off is just a more refined way of doing it that's all it's just a better way of finishing up your cabin and making it a little neater now you said the corners of the house are notch and saddle can you explain that a little more yes the notch and saddling is taking the log the lower log and cutting it crossways with your axe let me show you how these corners are made here you see the bottom log is notched in a saddle like formation a v shape and your upper log laying on that is again notched crosswise the lower one is called the saddle on the top of the notch there's your notch and saddle cabin what other kinds of corner pieces were used other than the notches the squared beam cabin what you do with the broad axe is usually dovetailed at the corners and they're dovetailed in such a manner that the rain and water will run out of them such as I built the log church at the State Fair ground and you if you go down there you can see how the each cut is face down so the water will run out so this is an easier way to do it this is an easier way and this also excludes the rain or snow other too what kinds of tools do you need to do that we have a few of the tools here that I've used on building and restoring various cabins and this is a broad ax which I've used the most often this is a what's called a half handle it's a short length broad axe and it's used for squaring the round beams into square and also I have the tool here to make the shingles with the froe this is a rather rare type here the knife froe and I used it to build and make all the shingles for this cabin here's the more conventional type of froe this type and it's held in this manner on your block of wood and then you drive it through with a wooden mallet with this type do you have to use a mallet yes you do you use with both types the mallet with both types and how about this one this is a rather large broad axe which I've never used much because it's still in new condition as you see it still has the label on and another reason I'm a little hesitant to use it it's 14-inch bit I really haven't used that large an axe before this is also unusual in another way too yes this is a left-handed axe and oftentimes people will mention a left-handed axe because it's beveled from only one side with most you can turn the head over and make it right or left but this one particular head the handle will only fit in from the left so it is a left-handed axe okay how about this one here this tool here is called a slick and it's just a large chisel like instrument and it's used for peeling the bark off of logs as well as smoothing down rough spots on your logs or on your boards so now you'd use this like for the doors yes you use it to pare down or trim your rough spots on your wood to get the bark off yes how about this one this is what's called a [long build ads?] and I used it to do most of the work as you see up along the Gables of the cabin here and you use it just like a hoe your log lays out flat and you take it like this and go right down your log chipping off and flattening your log do you have a hard time finding tools like these well not too hard really if you keep looking for them it takes a little luck and a lot of looking to get the type of tools you want the broad axes are fairly common yeah now you mentioned that you built the log cabin Church which is at the fairgrounds have you made other log cabins besides these too yes I built a couple of others I built one other Museum that we had to operate Glidden and also I've restored several cabins how did you learn how to do this well mainly just through having an interest in this type of work and I began to collect several of the tools that did this type of work and just wanted to learn how to use them now when you look at these and you see this huge log you know that you couldn't have lifted it yourself did you have help when you're building one man worked with me last summer to get this cabin built and we lifted the logs in with a lift and normally they how would they do this in the past they wouldn't have had a tractor or anything - no and in the past they either wouldn't have built this large a log cabin or if they did they would use several neighbors and roll the logs up an inclined set of poles to place them in let's talk a little bit about the roof and how you've done this the roof is split from pine logs and are mostly done with the froe I spent part of last summer splitting out the shingles for that and we're having the Craft Festival that will be coming up next Sunday and we'll be demonstrating the making of shingles then so you've used shingles all over the roof but you haven't used any nails or have you the roof has shingle nails in to hold it down now one of the old methods was not to use nails and lay the weight logs across but in a cabin of this period they would have used nails for the roof ok let's talk a little bit about the other things you've done here on the 1840 farm that you've built yourself yes we have a storage cave dug over at the north side of the cabin here we have our garden in this year with the various vegetables and things planted and also I have a field which is over back of us here and that's planted to rye and corn and pumpkins we're trying to grow the crops that would have been growing back at that period of time do you have any facilities for cooking outside we have a place to the west of the cabin here that the poles spread for the kettle to hang on and this would have been used to render lard and to cook soap and so forth also we're building a smokehouse in that area so its back there too yes this is back of the garden area you've also done the fences which are around the house yes how'd you do these the fences in the background here are what's called stake and rider fence its rail fence that was typical of that period of time how about the structure that's over this way this pole barn is the structure that is was used back at that period of time to house livestock and it's called the pole barn it's just the poles laid up and every fall they would cover them with wild hay and leave it covered throughout the winter and in the spring they usually tuck the hay off and fed it to the livestock other than the smokehouse are there other things you're going to be building here yes the 1840 farm here we'll have another outbuilding and later on another barn too for storage of grain and implements and so forth now you've mentioned your crafts festival let's again give the people some information about that the craft festival will be held at the living history farm site east of the interstate Sunday May 23rd and this will have about 20 crafts and demonstrations of many of the old crafts that were used it's from 9:30 to 5:00 9:30 till 5:00 and the admission is $1 for adults and children under 16 are free and again now how can they find the Living History Farms we're west of Des Moines on interstate 80 and 35 at exit 32 you just this is old highway 6 east of Adel so if you'd like to see some more of the crafts we looked at this week and many others go to the Living History Farms May 23rd we'll see you next week good afternoon we are again today at the Living History Farms northwest of Des Moines my guest is mrs. Judy thede and we're talking this week about some of the crafts that you'll be able to see at the crafts festival here at the Living History Farms this is May 23rd let's tell them the times and the admission this kind of thing it'll start at 9:30 and close about 5:00 and the admission is $1 per person and under 16 free okay how can they get here from Des Moines give them directions they can come out on the interstate and get off at exit 32 and that's at the junction of 35 and 80 interstate 35 and 80 there's kind of a detour here they're gonna have to go around right right but they can get through it though okay you don't want to scare them off when they see that they can still get here today we're going to talk a little bit about coffee grinding and let's start first and talk about this what do you call it this is the coffee mill or coffee grinder and this is about a hundred years old this particular one where do you get a hold of this kind of thing this one we've had so long I don't even know where we got it but you can get them in the antique stores they still have them they're not rare a lot of the equipment that you use here on the farm things like this do people donate these to you how do you find them they're donated to us or we just buy them from people that heard about us or a lot of things we just have because we used to have a museum and we just have it from the museum what's this constructed of what's it made of I don't know what kind of wood it is it's just the wood and the metal grinder inside it's basically just a wood box and then the grinder and that's all there is to it really it's pretty pretty simple right right then it has a little drawer at the bottom okay how about the beans that you use I use beans that I buy from the local grocery store and there's two different kinds of beans one gives you a strong flavor and this particular kind gives you a more mild flavor how many beans does it take to make what is kind of a standard pot of coffee well I fill my drawer up and I don't know how many beans that is but I do feel my drawer up and and that gives me about oh four tablespoons can you show us how you do it okay first I put my coffee beans in the coffee grinder through this little hole now is there some level that you're putting it up to a line or something or you just fill it full oh I just fill it to maybe half full or so and you just buy your beans at the store could you have some imported or is this the only way you can get ahold of them you have to buy them you have to buy them (inaudible) around here no then you have to there's a little handle here and you hold on pretty firm the children enjoy doing this how do you know when it's ground enough well when it gets to that oh well I'm just it's grinding continuing I'm just um it takes a long time to grind them and you can grind different Oh like for a drip coffee or percolated coffee or you can grind your coffee beans finer or coarser just by regulating this little wheel here you said it takes a long time just about how long would it take to do this many beans it would take maybe oh this many beans it would take maybe 10 minutes I imagine I just grind enough to fill the drawer and then I know that I have enough for my coffee pot can you smell the coffee mhm is it hard to clean this out when you just have that hole in the drawer well I don't clean it you're just putting beans in all the time I guess it wouldn't really matter would it right but it takes a little longer to make coffee then this way then it does just to buy it already ground from the store is the flavor better though oh we think so we've had other people say that they enjoy it better okay we're gonna talk about cider making we can head over this way to my right is Judy's husband Darwin thede and to the left chuck Schaffner and they're making apple cider Darwin can you tell us about the machine first of all yes this is a old cider mill and we're using it to grind the apples right now into this lower basket it has the two baskets and as you fill this one you slide it ahead and press the juice out and of course the cider is just the apple juice and there's a metal tray of some sort yes this tray holds the juice and it'll come and run out of this front pan up here how old probably is this this press is probably 75 years old and this is typical of the cider presses with the grinder you grind into the first basket slide it ahead and squeeze your juice and then you can change your second basket around and grind into it was this a standard sized one or were there different models this is quite standard for home use or for use on the farm they made much larger ones for commercial use and some were even hydraulic but this is a common standard home size how about the parts of it now you've got a crank here and the gears over yes this is a crank that you turn you pour your apples into the hopper here and you can set your grinding so it will grind different coarseness for different hardness of apples and the gears just grind it down into the basket okay well let's go ahead and do some okay it's about a two-man process one has to load and one does the grinding do you have to prepare the apples in any special way no there's no special preparation for the apples other than see that they're fairly clean and they should be well ripe are some apples better than others for making cider yes Jonathan apples make a good base Apple for cider different people have their own recipes of how they like to mix today we're using the Jonathan apples here as well as Delicious apples and you mix them together and get a sweeter or a little more tart cider depending on what your own particular preference would be then yes okay what was the side are used for just just something to drink the cider was a summer drink and also you can make vinegar from the cider by letting it sour you can make hard cider by letting it ferment generally the cider was kept in the cave in a stone crock or in a more often in a barrel and used as a drink through the winter and it on into the summer did they have any problems with the water so that they had to drink something else instead in certain areas ciders were used and other drinks if the water wasn't too good cider makes a good drink you've got a full basket now what's the next step the next process is to move it ahead and squeeze out the juice so you have two baskets and you could keep both processes going out at the same time you can just circulate your baskets and it works much faster than the single press okay we've got about a minute we can show a little bit of this this is a cider mill right this is called a cider press or a cider mill yes now I'm ready to squeeze out the juice from these apples and usually you have to strain the juice again so it'll settle and become clear but you don't add any sugar or anything else to it this is just the way it's going to come out and that's the way it'll be yes there is no additives how much cider will one of these baskets make it depends a lot on how juicy the apples are but you can get anywhere up to 3/4 of a gallon from one squeezing and then you strain it again and it's all ready to go yes you have to strain it and if you want good clear cider you leave it settle and then rebottle it into bottles and you get the cider that you see in the stores a much clearer cider can you tell us what the machine to your right is yes this is a juice press here and used mostly for grapes and cherries you see it doesn't have the grinder on that the the cider press has okay we'll be back at the Living History Farms tomorrow see you then