What's the stand called? Spider. Where'd you get your kettle? Ordered it at the sale. What kind of wood
do you use?
Well, they used most any kind of wood as long as it's dry. Where did you get that lid? Where'd you get
the lid for that? A little friend of mine made it for me. Do you have, like, a paddle or something to
stir the beans with? Yeah, here. What's it called? Is it just called a paddle?
How long have you been doing this? How do you know when they're done?
How long have you been doing this? Ten years, at least. Where do you do it? Most of it. Well, at the
Berry Street Picnic at Green Castle for reunion. That's where it started as a reunion. The island of
Kentucky. Did anybody in your family do?
sort of thing? Yeah, I've got the son-in-law and son both that help me. Do you use a certain kind of
beans or you can use just any type? Just any kind of a dry bean. These are great northerns. I like to
eat. Is it better if you have ham in it? Yeah. If I wanted to make some beans like that, how would I do it?
Well, first you go get the beans and put them in and soak them overnight. Then don't take as long to
cook them, either way. We'll usually soak them overnight. The whole kettle will, whatever we're getting, cook it.
to hang them in while you're cooking, salt them to your taste. That's about all there is to it. What
if you salt it too much? Huh? What if you salt it too much? Well, you're in trouble there. A special
treat was used on special occasions, like for a wedding,
Christmas of the recipe. It has six eggs in it and seven cups of flour. So back in Pioneer Day, they
didn't have a lot of eggs to waste, so that this was, you know, on rare occasions, they would make funnel
cakes. That was something that the children could help make. After they are finished, then you sprinkle
them with powdered sugar.
You know what an elephant ear tastes like today when you go to the fair and you have an elephant ear?
Something like that. And you order that. How long does it usually take to make? Oh, just about.
60 seconds, about a minute, and then I just, when they're golden brown, you get them out of the grease.
I'll make another batch here and show you how you put it in this funnel. Just curl it around in the grease.
Would you like to taste one? They're good?
Quite a treat, aren't they? Okay. You hold their finger underneath the funnel here.
Hold her around in the grease. Now get down a little bit lower so it doesn't splash. Get her down a
little bit lower, Ron, and then it won't splash onto you. Would you like to know what's in the recipe?
Okay, there is seven cups of flour, six eggs, four cups of milk,
One half teaspoon of baking powder, baking soda, and a dash of salt. You just mix this all together
and drop it in your hot grease. Once they get golden brown, and then you turn them over on the other side,
Take them out and sprinkle them with this powdered sugar. Want to sprinkle some more sugar on yours?
He would like, if you like, brown sugar and cinnamon.
You could make up a mixture of that and then shake that on out with the really pasty tooth. I think
that's what the elephant ears that you give the bear have on nails. What are you doing here? We're braiding
rugs out of old rags. How wide do the strips have to be?
Well, that depends on the weight of the material. If it's denim or woolen material, it's about two inches
or two and a half. And that will depend on the size of braid you have. I'm new at this. Mrs. Salzman's
teaching me. But she's, I think she's knowing how to do it for several years.
What does this thing in your family do? Well, I think so. And I had long braids. My hair was long and
braided when I was your size. And my mother taught me, and we've always braided them. And my grandmother,
she crocheted rugs with a needle, the rags. She'd cut rags narrow for that. And my grandmother always
used everything. She wasted nothing.
And I think I kind of took after her. How long have you been doing it? Well, about all my life. Probably
five or six years old when I started. Are the rags washable? Well, it depends on the material. If the
material is washable, why, yes. You want to be sure they're made with strong, put together strong thread
like Ann's using because
If it breaks, well then you have to mend all the time. Do you use them to walk on? Yes. I have one made
of denim that's at my kitchen and dining room. It's been there on the floor for seven years. How many
rugs do you have in your house? Oh, I don't know. I don't use them all at the same time.
And you can make them out of different material. A double knit would make good ones. That is made of
ribbons off of flowers at the cemetery. And it wouldn't wash. And it is braided, but it isn't sewed
together. They were made together. Now, I don't know how to do that one. And this double knit material
would last for years and years and years. The lady that made this one was 92.
She was way up in her nineties and in a nursing home when she made them. But she started long before
that. She made lots of them. Do you know who she was? She was my aunt. She lived in Kansas. She was
from southern Indiana when she was a little girl. Would you like for Clovis to cut some and show you
how to put them together and how she starts one?
What? Give me the pieces that are cut. The pieces that are already cut. OK. And some people weave rugs
on a loom. And that way, they don't use this wider material, more like 3 quarters of an inch to come.
And then they're put together on a loom with carpet chain, which is a strong thread. You put three together.
You know how you braid hair? Yeah. Well, this is the same thing.
uh, I can't find the ends. Have three and you'd pin them together or sew them together and then start
braiding. And you want to braid them firm. If they're too loose, they, uh, dirt dog will throw them.
Now these were braided by the children at Bell Union and I sewed them together this week other than
the pink and
In fact, you girls probably helped braid some of these. And you can see some children know how to braid
better than the others. Some of them were tight and some of them were loose, but I wanted to keep it
the way the children did it. And you don't want too long pieces to start with, maybe a yard long, because
you get too long, so you get all tangled up. If you ever go to State Fair in the woman's building, you'll
see braided rugs.
I tied these all together, but we didn't have enough material to go with this. But I started working
on this one two nights ago. And I've gotten this much done. And this was just in the evening after I
got my work done. So it takes quite a while to finish a rug. Have clothes that are outgrown?
The back of overall legs are leftover scraps and things that they can all be used. If you want to use
the same, sort of like same material in each one, don't get, you can't put silk with wool and light
wood and come out right. Then after you braid them, then you sew them together and you make it quite
long because if you don't,
You get it too little and it'll pucker. If you want a round rug, you start with a very small part.
But you, and that, sewing them together is very important. If you get them too tight, pull too much,
you'll come out with like more of a shape of a hat. But to lay flat, you want to kind of hold it back
as you sew.
Not if you learn how. It isn't hard to do. That's sewn together is the hardest job. Did anybody teach
you how to do this? I guess my mother did, I suppose. Are you teaching your grandchildren? They about
all tried it one time or another. I have scraps at home, little circles that about each granddaughter
tried. I think perhaps as
One reason they made rugs was they had more time at night and in the winter time they didn't go a lot.
They didn't have cars, you know. They couldn't get away from home like we do and they spent their time
sewing and things like that. We put one piece of material through the hole. Do you know how to use a thimble?
the other end through, and then you tie it that way, and you don't have to sew them together. Go in
on this side. You fold them like this. And you trim it so it's rounded. So there's no rough edge. Cut
a little slit, like that, so you have a little slit in it. And then you go to the other end, and you
do the same thing.
How do you know where to cut it? Oh, you just pretty much... If you cut it too close to the edge, it
will tear loose. But you don't want to cut it too far back because that will leave too much bulk. So,
just about like that. Okay, now, would you like to try and cut a strip?
No, I don't have any of that cut. I just had one piece cut. Okay.
Then you'll have to take another one. I'll do it the same way. I'll show you how to put those two together.
Didn't get that in finished, did we?
And then you bring this piece and put it through this end. Then you just pull it through. They used
to sew them together, but this is easier. It doesn't take near as much time. But, uh,
Then you kind of fold it over so it's smooth. Like this. See, then you have a nice smooth edge. This
material needs to be wider. When it was cut, it wasn't cut wide enough. Then after you braid it like
she's doing, Rhonda's doing,
then you sew it like Diana's doing. Here is a rug that's been woven on a loom. Now looms are big. They
take up a big room. And they use a carpet chain. And then they tie it on the end. And you have a fringe
for your rug. And they cut the pieces narrow for these, about less than an inch wide. And they make
them in stripes or solid colors.
They were a long, long time, too. The cradle's about old, close to 100 years old, a little over 100
years old. It's been put together, as you can see, without the nails. It's got the hand cut out. The
hand is where you can carry it, where they cut them out by hand, and it rocks.
The little buttons, that's just the fancy part. They just stuck the buttons on to make it look a little
fancier. Expect they're out of brass. How'd they get the holes in? Nah, I don't know. Probably took
a hammer and nail. What's that? What's this down here? Yeah. This is one of the toys that they used
to play with. It's what they darn socks on. They put socks over it.
darn them with a needle. Then they'd let the children play with them. This is the one. This used to
be, they used to make butter, butter paddle, take the butter out with that. And it was just something
that the children could play with and it didn't hurt them very much. Of course, just a wooden spoon.
The cradle, it was a sail. My mom and dad got it at a sail down south in Indiana. It was a woman.
92 years old when they got that, and she's, they've had it for about 15 years or so. It was her, she
had been rocked in when she was a baby. The chair I'm sitting in, it was my, my great-grandmother used
to rock her, her daughter in, which had been my great-grandmother, be his great-great-grandmother.
It's about 150, at least, years old. And the bottom of this chair is made of hickory. You go to the
woods in the spring, I think it is, and get a straight hickory pole. And they take a sharp knife and
cut the width you want your cane, and then peel off the bark.
wet the cane to put it in the chair so the chair will draw up and not be loose after it dries. And they
will last a long, long time. Me and my brother put it in a couple when we were children. And they're
still in use over 50 years. This is the original one and this one. This is the same one that it had.
Very comfortable, very comfortable. We'll rock a baby to sleep real quick. What can you tell us about
your shoes? Well, they came from a woman that had died, oh, it's been probably 30 years ago. My mom
and dad went to a sale, and she had long dresses and pantaloons and all kinds of shoes like this at
them. And we just got them and put most of the stuff
Halloween stuff and I've kept the shoes. They're very comfortable. They do not look it, but they're
very comfortable. I wear them down here pioneer days and they all day and they don't hurt at all. The
only thing that's hard is getting them laced up. It takes you a long time to get in them before you
leave. Outside that, they're very comfortable shoes to wear. They're just leather. These other things
that are made here are things that
you make and then you use your scraps for your quilts. And this is called the Dresden plate. And I have
applicated onto this material. And then, see the material right there, that white material? I will cut
a square the same size of this and pin it onto this frame and then cut some cotton and put on top of that.
And then we'll put this on here and pin it on. And then you would have your design here to quilt along
the edge. And then that would make the two, the three layers together for quilt. Quilting was the way
that they had covers for their beds. They didn't go to town and buy blankets back in the old days.
This quilt over here, I've made two of those, and that's called the Dresden Doll, and I did those in
this frame also. What kind of quilt is this? This is called a Dresden Doll quilt, and I have pieced
it on this frame here, and you adjust the frame to the size of square that you're going to use. A lot
of these pieces are
used from articles that you have made, like the apron. This is an apron, but it also can be used as
a bonnet. And of course, when you make shirts, you can use the solid materials. And this, you know,
would be a different color. This is called a star-fold design that you decorate clothing with.
That's a shirt. This is a jacket.
This is the log cabin design on a jacket. I have a lot of compliments on that jacket. But this is the
quilt that I have been working on for so long. And I just keep doing for others and don't do for myself.
But I'm going to get this done this winter. But you see, you take this frame and adjust it to the size
of your square. Then you cut the
cut the lining and then you cut your cotton to go on top of that and then baste it all together and
then you quilt and you use a certain kind of thread and you have to have a thimble. You have to go through
all of the thicknesses to go along the edge, you know? And then that way it makes your design and it'll
come out on the back
and then you sew all of your pieces together. Why is this broom wearing a dress? Well, I had bought
this broom at Billy Crick Village and they make them over there, you know, so I didn't want my broom
to wear out so I made a cover for it and I made it like an old-fashioned skirt and I'm growing broom
cane. I had taken the seeds from this and
I'm growing it this year, and I'll bring it over this fall for you to make some brooms. And these are
the little girls' brooms, and you can also make a skirt to go on that. But that's why I put a skirt
on my broom is because I wanted to keep my broom. I didn't want it to go to the barn, or the fellas
take it out in the truck and get it all dirty, and I wanted to keep it. I had bought it several years
ago. So isn't that neat?
We are demonstrating the old-fashioned corn sheller, the way corn was shelled back in pioneer days.
We have big combines now, but back then we used this contraption. It's a very inventive machine. It
works beautifully well, and whoever thought of it really helped out, I'm sure. Okay, these girls are
going to show you how that we shelled corn back in pioneer days.
comes out at this point comes out here and you just throw it away and your shelled corn is down here
in the box. Regina you want to do one? Can you hold the baby?
Go ahead. And here's our car.
What did you do with the corn after the pioneer day? What did the pioneers do with it? The corn that
they shelled? They threw that out to feed for their hogs and their cows. And then they ground it up
for cornmeal. That's where cornmeal comes from. What are you making now?
Are they hard to do? Do you use a certain kind of wood? You have to have a wood shingle. Are they hard to do?
The notch has to be cut pretty well on the balance with the saddle. Because if you get the notch too
far back, they'll back lay.
That's the way they're made. You have to have a sling for them with a string to it to shoot them up
into the air. There's another toy we played with when we were children. I'll try to operate this.
I forget just how it all come about. Us boys would make them and have a time with them. Well, the same
way with the wheel, it was about that age that's back when we started in with them. And then these,
uh, uh, the spools right there,
It's a very simple thing. You just cut notches on the edge of the spool for cleats and take a rubber
band and a piece of soap. Cut out a piece of soap, put on the face of the spool one end, drill and put
a hole in the soap for the band to go through.