Living History Farms in Iowa

Today we went with Kevin's parents and brother's family to Living History Farms in Urbandale, Iowa.  My Grandma and Grandpa Schafbuch wanted to take us when we were kids but we never ended up getting to go so it was a real treat for me and our kids as well.

Living History Farms is a 500-acre outdoor museum dedicated to teaching the history of agriculture and rural living over 4 time periods during a 300 year period.

Here we are starting out adventure through 300 years of Iowa's agricultural history. It was also a typical Iowa summer day - hot and humid - great way to set the tone.

In the 1700, the Ioway Indians raised their own corn, beans and squash.  They made lodges out of bark to keep them cool in the summer and used cattail leaves to create walls of their lodges to keep them warm in the winter.  During hunting expeditions they lived in tipis made of buffalo hides.  This lodge that Sally, Addie and Lindsay are looking in was quite small but a family of 10+ would live in it together.

In the 1850's farm they had pigs and other animals that Addison loved getting to see.  They also had a log cabin with the open fire and the family sitting outside eating their supper.  This farm was to portray the time when Iowa became a state in 1846 and when families were starting to produce enough food to now sell some of it for a profit versus being sustainable and feeding only their own families.

The 1900's "Horse-powered" farm was loaded with lots of familiar things for me.  The large barn, corn crib, chicken coop, old farm house and pump well.  These are all things I grew up with on the three different farms that I lived on before moving on to college.  

In the 1900's farms changed a lot because they used bigger barns to house animals, store grain and hay for winter feeding of animals, milking cows and store tools and equipment.  

After bringing Harrison through the large barn to see the calves and horses, Grandpa Mike held him up on the fence so he could get a better view.

Addison loved making the hand pump work.  It took a lot of work on her part just to get a little bit of water to come out so she asked any one she could to help her.  We used to have a pump well like this in front of our first house in Iowa and my brother, sister and I would use it to cool down in the summer versus having a swimming pool or sprinkler.  Most pumps like this on the farm used a windmill to help pull the water up as farmers were looking for other means to power equipment than just their own two hands.

Horses were a very vital part of the farm in the 1900's as they not only were used to pull heavy plows, they helped plant the crop, hauled grain and hay to the farm yard from the fields, and pulled the manure spreader.  These were draft horses that were used so they are really wide on top and would be very difficult to actually ride.  We watch this horse crack corn.  It was hooked up to the machine and walked around in circles to crack corn which was thought to help animals digest it better.

I really like the old farm house.  They had an old wood burning stove like had in the summer kitchen of our old house and the pantry was filled with "antique" kitchen tools that I've seen my grandmas and mom use and still do.  They say that the Mason jar made a huge difference in the way food was preserved in those days and just behind me was a shelf full of canned fruits and veggies.  Ahhh...I was in heaven!  One of the other cool things we saw were these spice drawers that hung on the wall and you pulled out little drawers to get what you wanted out.  Also these lantern sconces that had the reflectors behind them to shine out the light more where really cool.  

In the visitors center there were some play John Deere lawn tractors that the kids liked playing on.  The center was also nice because it was air conditioned like most farm houses on the 2000's!!!  They had displays on what a kitchen from then 1950's would look like and from the present time.  Also displays on all the things made from corn and soybeans...Iowa's main crops.

Harry and Kevin living it up large on the John Deere Gator.

Waiting for the tractor ride back the kiddos all found haven with their daddy or grandpa.

We also toured around 1875 town of Walnut Hill which represents a post-civil war town on the Iowa frontier and shows how farmers and craftsmen and merchants all heavily relied on each other.  One of the coolest things we saw was the printing press.  They had all the cases full of the different types and fonts that would be used to make up newspapers.  Unlike today where you can get the latest news on your cell phone and internet, back then it would take weeks to get news out to people sometimes.

The church was the only thing on the site that was not new to us.  Ryan and Lindsay were actually married in this church just 7 years ago.  Here they are today with their little girl Emma.

The church is really neat and has this amazing stain glassed window that you see behind Kevin and Addison.

We also visited the bank, the broom making shop, the cabinet maker, the millinery, the blacksmith, the pharmacist and doctor's office.

Things we learned:

Back then the cabinet maker made all furniture on special order and would often take months to complete an order.  Since mail orders were becoming more popular at that time the cabinet maker was one of the first occupations that were phased out of a local town because he couldn't adapt.  The local mortuary ended up taking over the lumber yard as he could whip up a coffin in no time and help repair any other woodworking needs you had.  

The blacksmith on the other hand still thrived even though they didn't make many things since there were now factories mass producing nails, horse shoes and equipment.  He ended up becoming a machinist and repaired equipment.

We saw how doctors would mix up medicines and grind them up and put them in little satchels for people or made them up into little pills.  We saw some pretty gruesome looking tools used and a drill used to make a hole in your skull if you had a persistent headache...yikes!  Most doctors didn't end up getting paid for their services with money because people couldn't afford it.  They did offer up food, firewood, and other services instead.

One thing I thought was really fascinating that we learned at the millinery was about what the women wore in the 1870's.  It would be very scandalous for a woman to leave her house without wearing a hat.  Hats were often very expensive so a woman would have to redesign her hat with different ribbons and other items to keep up to date.  Also they always wore dresses and often in 4 layers.  They would first put on pantaloons, then a very plain slip to cover the pantaloons, then a fancier slip in case the dress flew up so it would have something pretty under it and then they would have on the dress.  Also at that time they thought ladies with big booties were attractive so lots of women would where another layer f a bustle under one of their slips. Then on top they would wear a plain shirt then a dressier one and then a corset.  This is what they would where when they would go out...when they just stayed home they still wore about 2-3 layers while working in the house in the summer's heat.  I was wearing a short skirt and tank top and I was sweating up a storm.