Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Farm Days

Today a few more pictures from the Harvest Festival.

The spring house where root vegetables would have been stored.



Onion skin dyed eggs. After dyeing the eggs the designs are scratched on with a pin or other sharp tool. I can remember my grandfather doing this when I was a child and I have done my own eggs in the past.



Dried flowers still bursting with color.



Our baker placing loaves in the outdoor bake oven. It can hold 60 loaves at once.



A nearly full bake oven.



Mmmm, can't you just smell the warm bready goodness? At the festival you can get a slice with fresh butter or fresh apple butter also made at the farm in the 19th century way.



A five strand braid of rye straw. The woman working this braid has completed 6 yards. She will need 25 yards of tightly braided rye straw to complete a sun bonnet for herself. The bits sticking out are where new pieces are added in. Each length of straw is approximately 12 inches. After the braid is completed the entire length will be put through a press to flatten it even more before it is sewn into the bonnet.


Here is an example of a competed bonnet. The string on it is a narrow woven tape which was made on the inkle loom.


Now comes the reader participation portion of the post. Can you guess what this picture is?

30 comments:

Balou said...

It looks like apple peelings to me. I've never seen them hanging to dry though.

Great photos!

Bijoux said...

Um, this is gross, but is it some sort of animal intestines that have been dyed? Sorry to ruin anyone's breakfast, but that's what it looks like to me!

(M)ary said...

those eggs are gorgeous. too pretty to crack open and eat.

(M)ary said...

my guess: curtains shredded by cute kitty cats with long claws.

G-Man said...

Noodles?

Anyway, when I was a kid, thats how we colored our Easter Eggs!!

Mona said...

How beautiful those eggs look! So many artists remain unsung!

That does look like noodles!

The bread is so fresh & looks just yummy! Nothing like simple pleasures in Life!

The bonnet is awesome too! We have baskets weaving that way & some of the straw is dyed in vibrant colors and designs are woven in the baskets!

Craver Vii said...

The first thing that came to mind with that mystery photo was onion skins. I don't know why anyone would do that, but it's what came to mind. Yes, I'm weird--I know.

I'm curious to know what song was on the egg!

Craver Vii said...

Not curious anymore about the egg... I embiggified the picture and read the words.

furiousBall said...

the eggs are beautiful!

KFarmer said...

I would wear such a bonnet as that around the farm and be quite content~ what workwomanship!

My first thought was dyed onion skins too but after a close up I thought my, but those had to be some mighty big onions...:)

NYD said...

I'm with Balou. Thems apple peels.
What they dryin them for is beyond me. Some kind of confection or maybe they will weve them into some edible underwear.

EmBee said...

Apple Skins!!!!
???
:-)

Desmond Jones said...

Molly's mom does the onion-skin dyed eggs.

And I'm gonna go with the apple-skin folks. . .

Anonymous said...

Mmmm.... that bread looks so good. BTW the pictures are fabulous... especially love the first one of the window. Can I steal it for something? ;)

Anonymous said...

Tey look like ribbons but I'm sure they are something totally different! :)

Beatuful pictures both yesterday and today! :) Awesome!

S said...

Apple peelings

orrrrr

rainbow linguine?

barman said...

Those eggs look incredible. I could never have the patients and certainly not the tallent to produce anything like that.

The bread has me a drooling.

The mystery does look like noodles or maybe onion peels but do they really do that?

Wonderful picture you shared as always.

Kat said...

Are they apple peels?

Those eggs are so beautiful! I just love festivals like these. :) Great pics!

snowelf said...

These pics are fun!!

I am completely stumped on what those things are... and also completely fascinated by the pioneer life. What an incredible amount of work the pioneers did on a daily basis!! I feel lazy using my microwave now... ;)

--snow

Fred said...

There's nothing like bread right out of the oven.

Anonymous said...

Awesome pics! I soooo want some of that fresh bread!

Anonymous said...

We have also used onion to die eggs, but not quite so advanced as those you have pictured hehehe!! They are lovely. And I could really go for some of that bread baked in a stone oven :-)

BTExpress said...

I haven't a clue, so I'll go along with the crowd a say apple peels.

SignGurl said...

What an informative post! I absolutely adore festivals that teach our youth (and ourselves) how to keep some of the old arts alive. Great pictures!

Sheri said...

Super post! I'm not quite sure what those things hanging are... maybe apple peelings?

Lulda Casadaga said...

Ah leave it to those Germans! LOL
Eggs are beautiful...I'm sure if I tried that the colors would come out blotchy or tie dyed looking. :D

OK, I first thought pea pods. But seem too thin...2nd guess was pieces of material for weaving something...but, now I'm leaning toward the apple peelings!

Moosekahl said...

I scrolled straight to the bottom without reading other people's answers but those look like apple skins? Now what do they do with them? I rarely peel anything...mashed taters, leave the skins on; apple pies, leave the skins on; peaches, slice them and cover in heavy cream. They must have a use.

Also...how do they use onion skin to dye the eggs? That looks like something I would have fun doing.

Anonymous said...

Rapunzel on a bad hair day???

buffalodick said...

Gay looking snake skins?

Cheesy said...

What DO they use the skins for??

Love the eggs,,, would be fun to know how they do that.. the dyeing part~