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The families are outfitted for the frontier.
Update from the field:
Micah Fink, Field Producer
The families arrived and were immediately given a
tour of the old town by John Ellingsen. John knows
and loves every inch of the Nevada City collection of frontier-era items, and has been
involved in building, planning, and protecting it since the early 1970s. He has grown along with the revived town, and
is just as quirky, interesting, and weathered as the
collection itself.
When our three families stepped out of
their cars and took their first tour through town, they
were electric with excitement. The
next day they met the eclectic team of historical
consultants, who taught them the practical skills
they will need to survive during the next five months.
Sue Cain, our domestic life consultant, has been involved with teaching
living history for the last thirty years, and showed the families how people cooked, cleaned, washed, and
dressed in the 1880s. Rawhide Johnson and Bernie
Weisgerber, our other two main consultants involved in
this training period, taught animal skills and woodworking techniques. Rawhide was responsible for teaching
our families to care for their livestock (horses, milk
cows, and dogs), and Bernie covered the use of
axes,
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"Sue Cain taught the families how to cook a simple
meal in a Dutch oven suspended on a tripod over a
campfire."
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Sue Cain reports on training week. Read her bio.
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Rawhide Johnson describes the livestock. Read his bio.
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Next week's story: The families arrive at the land they will call home for the next five months.
knives, and saws -- the tools that will allow
the familes to build their new homes. Our three families quickly adapted to the training schedule. Members
of each family rose at 5:30 to milk their cows
and feed their horses and dogs. Bernie taught a class on axes and building a
campfire. Rawhide taught the
first class in riding and maintaining the horses.
Sue taught how to cook a simple
meal, using basic ingredients like flour, beans, and
lard, in a Dutch oven suspended on a tripod over a
campfire. These are basic skills, and the degree to
which the families can master them will greatly affect
their ability to succeed during the next five months.
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