Some of you may have heard how Caleb, Brie, Grace, Sam, and I had a 'No Electricity' week, where we lived as if we were in the beginning of the 1900's.
It was very challenging and at times it was just plain old awful. But all in all it was a great week!
So to start off here is a very rough drawing of our house. We had sheets as walls, Brie and I had doors as beds, Sam and Grace had a wooden ledge for their beds, KK slept in a tent outside our house, rough boards as counters and a table, stumps, boards, and stools as chairs, and finally a metal shelf for a pantry (which ended up being a catch all shelf instead).
Outside we had a dry brick oven. It was made of old chimney bricks and corncrib paneling. It could be an oven or stove. High or low heat depending on which shelf you used. :)
We got our drinking water from the house but used water from the pump to fill a black tank for our everyday use. It worked very nicely!
Emily was the baker, butcher, and grocer. She did an excellent job!
Mom was the 'Big House' owner and also our landlady. We had to pay $.80 for rent twice. She could 'hire' us if there was work that she wanted done. KK got $.26 per hour, I got $.13, and the little guys got $.06.
So come along and join us as we walk back into the 1900's!
Our house
Left: North Top: East Right: South, Bottom: West
Preparation Days
Me, knocking down cobwebs and anything else that was handing on the walls.
Brie and I's beds. :)
Sweep, sweep! It was very dusty and dirty.
Squirrels!
Sheet metal
Brie, KK, and I removed all the sheet metal, putting it in the back of Ryan's truck.
Thanks Ry (he's my oldest brother)! :)
All hands on deck!
A little friend we found while cleaning. Glad we found him now. :)
KK worked so hard!
Buckets, water, children...
We had five sheep in here one time, so it needed a really deep cleaning.
"THIS IS FUN!!"
Two hard workers
Now for a little soap...
Scrub, scrub!
(See that shelf? That is what Sam and Grace slept on.)
"Look Daddy, NO SHOES!"
Now for a rinse
It was difficult to get all the soap out but we finally managed to do so. Then...
Bleach!
It smelled so nice in there! :)
Yeah, yeah. I know what you are thinking! MUD??
Not quite. We gathered clay from the dirt that was dug out of our front ditch, mixed in mowed grass, and then some water. At first we tried to mix it with just our hands, but that didn't work very well so I told everybody to just get into the tub and start stomping! It was a lot of fun, well for me. Some didn't really enjoy it.
"But what for?" you may ask.
To chink all the holes in walls and soffet. :)
Brie needs a bath
It was very, very stiff mud.
On to cleaner things. Here we are making our kitchen table. :)
Oh boy, what do you do when nobody is a carpenter?
Just smile and hope it turns out!
Here we are making the dressing room floor. At first this was going to be a bed, but then plans changed so we used it to elevate the floor in the dressing room.
We clean up nicely!
"CAN WE STOP WORKING NOW?"
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