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craftyYesterday we went with several friends to the Fall Frolic at Lincoln Log Cabin.
They had two clusters of demonstrators and vendors, a handful of food trucks, the visitor center and the gift shop. That meant a lot of walking, but we managed to see everything this time. The weather was sunny and quite mild, not rainy, windy, frigid, or sweltering -- all of which we've encountered in the past at events there. It was nice to walk around and enjoy the whole event.
We got lunch first, a corn dog for me, a sandwich for my partner Doug, and a lemon shakeup to split. Later we got ice cream too. He found a pecan flavor that was fancy. I wound up with plain chocolate, but it was good. I love the fact that they have a little food truck park at these events nowadays.
These are some of the booths we visited...
Mike Anderson "The Dulcimer Guy" (also on Facebook) played mountain dulcimer (aka fretted dulcimer, played with fingers and a pick). He talked about the history of dulcimers, which belong to the zither family.
Cathy Grafton of Prairie Quilts offered silk ribbon and other embroidery, appliqué, and quilting.
Barbara J. Dyer made scherenschnitte, which is a German-based cut-paper craft. This year she had some of her sister's work in a slightly different style, as well as her own.
We watched the circus for a little while. They had an acrobat on an aerial hoop.
The spoon lady was there, and this time also had a box of nuts for people to try to identify. She explained how to make laundry soap from buckeyes (aka horse chestnuts). Why this works is also why they are not edible: they contain saponins. I had no idea of this use; I only knew them as good for playing conkers. So now I've got another option besides soapwort. \o/
Tinker's Tinware actually included copper as well as tin, with mugs and pans and other things.
Morning Dove Creations (also on Facebook) had a leather shop with finished goods and also small pendants or bracelets that you could decorate by stamping. Really a great hand with fringe, which is challenging to cut narrow and even.
One booth was demonstrating how to make sauerkraut. The pounding with the wooden pestle caught my eye. You have to beat it until enough juice comes out to cover the shreds, then weigh them down to ferment.
Next to that on one side was the cider press where people were grinding apples. This is a modern double-barreled, hand-powered press. You can also make your own. Note that a really great batch of cider requires cider apples, which are all but impossible to obtain nowadays -- some orchards still grow them, but I've never seen any in a nursery catalog. They are also called "bittersharps" because some have very aggressive flavors. Grinding only dessert apples gives insipid juice. :/ The art lies in choosing the right combination of cultivars to create a complex flavor profile. Grissom Family Orchard and Farm Store makes the best cider in our area, as evidenced by the many awards on their wall.
On the far side, a fire was going to hand-dip candles. They had a different method this time, three or four wicks on a stick which was hung on a rack to cool, going through the sticks in order to build up layers of wax. We used to stand in a line with one or two (if you doubled the wick) candles. Dip, go to the end of the line, repeat. As long as you had at least 6 or so people, it worked. Tedious, but amusing, and something to do while the demonstrator lectured about candle history. If you want to make candles in any quantity, molds or glasses will work faster. However, the dip method works great for making pinecone firestarters because you only need 2-3 dunks.
Barbara Miner: Weaving, Spinning, and Seat Weaving was caning a chair. She had a set of 6 wooden frames showing the steps: first vertical, first horizontal, second vertical, second horizontal, first diagonal, second diagonal. It makes so much more sense when you see it step by step like that. She belongs to the Artisans Guild of Southern Illinois and the Seatweavers Guild. The latter includes not just caning but also rush weaving (which makes a solid seat that looks like four triangles stuck together), strap weaving (which can make amazing patterns given different colors), and other methods.
In general, historic crafters are passionate about their craft and will talk your ear off about it. Or other things -- we wound up talking weather with Barbara, who was also a meteorologist. Most crafters are nerds. If you are lonely, or bored, or new in town with few friends, or you want to fight back against enshittification, look for a historic craft group in your locale. You don't have to be good at it already, or even intensely excited; "That looks kinda cool" is plenty to start with. Get in touch with them and give it a try. You'll probably have fun and make new friends. If the first attempt doesn't pan out, just pick a different craft and try again. Me, I'm a fan of many historic crafts, have dabbled in some of them, and often feature them in my writing with links in the footnotes about how to do the thing.
The friends we went with were interested in volunteering at Lincoln Log Cabin, so I was happy to shill for it. Then I spotted a flyer advertising two volunteer orientation sessions, one in October and one in November. I encouraged them to stop at the desk in the visitor center and ask for more details. They went. :D They're hoping to catch one of those sessions.
On the way home, we finished the current cookbook, The Mediterranean Dump-and-Go Slow Cooker Cookbook. This one has a lot of extra material besides the recipes, regarding how to use dump recipes, how to make freezer bags, and so on. Among the recipes we marked were Lemon-Oregano Greek Chicken, Beef and Eggplant Stew, Greek Lentil Stew, Slow-Cooker Hummus (from dry chickpeas, not canned), Greek Seasoning, and Shawarma Spice.
It has been a fun day.
They had two clusters of demonstrators and vendors, a handful of food trucks, the visitor center and the gift shop. That meant a lot of walking, but we managed to see everything this time. The weather was sunny and quite mild, not rainy, windy, frigid, or sweltering -- all of which we've encountered in the past at events there. It was nice to walk around and enjoy the whole event.
We got lunch first, a corn dog for me, a sandwich for my partner Doug, and a lemon shakeup to split. Later we got ice cream too. He found a pecan flavor that was fancy. I wound up with plain chocolate, but it was good. I love the fact that they have a little food truck park at these events nowadays.
These are some of the booths we visited...
Mike Anderson "The Dulcimer Guy" (also on Facebook) played mountain dulcimer (aka fretted dulcimer, played with fingers and a pick). He talked about the history of dulcimers, which belong to the zither family.
Cathy Grafton of Prairie Quilts offered silk ribbon and other embroidery, appliqué, and quilting.
Barbara J. Dyer made scherenschnitte, which is a German-based cut-paper craft. This year she had some of her sister's work in a slightly different style, as well as her own.
We watched the circus for a little while. They had an acrobat on an aerial hoop.
The spoon lady was there, and this time also had a box of nuts for people to try to identify. She explained how to make laundry soap from buckeyes (aka horse chestnuts). Why this works is also why they are not edible: they contain saponins. I had no idea of this use; I only knew them as good for playing conkers. So now I've got another option besides soapwort. \o/
Tinker's Tinware actually included copper as well as tin, with mugs and pans and other things.
Morning Dove Creations (also on Facebook) had a leather shop with finished goods and also small pendants or bracelets that you could decorate by stamping. Really a great hand with fringe, which is challenging to cut narrow and even.
One booth was demonstrating how to make sauerkraut. The pounding with the wooden pestle caught my eye. You have to beat it until enough juice comes out to cover the shreds, then weigh them down to ferment.
Next to that on one side was the cider press where people were grinding apples. This is a modern double-barreled, hand-powered press. You can also make your own. Note that a really great batch of cider requires cider apples, which are all but impossible to obtain nowadays -- some orchards still grow them, but I've never seen any in a nursery catalog. They are also called "bittersharps" because some have very aggressive flavors. Grinding only dessert apples gives insipid juice. :/ The art lies in choosing the right combination of cultivars to create a complex flavor profile. Grissom Family Orchard and Farm Store makes the best cider in our area, as evidenced by the many awards on their wall.
On the far side, a fire was going to hand-dip candles. They had a different method this time, three or four wicks on a stick which was hung on a rack to cool, going through the sticks in order to build up layers of wax. We used to stand in a line with one or two (if you doubled the wick) candles. Dip, go to the end of the line, repeat. As long as you had at least 6 or so people, it worked. Tedious, but amusing, and something to do while the demonstrator lectured about candle history. If you want to make candles in any quantity, molds or glasses will work faster. However, the dip method works great for making pinecone firestarters because you only need 2-3 dunks.
Barbara Miner: Weaving, Spinning, and Seat Weaving was caning a chair. She had a set of 6 wooden frames showing the steps: first vertical, first horizontal, second vertical, second horizontal, first diagonal, second diagonal. It makes so much more sense when you see it step by step like that. She belongs to the Artisans Guild of Southern Illinois and the Seatweavers Guild. The latter includes not just caning but also rush weaving (which makes a solid seat that looks like four triangles stuck together), strap weaving (which can make amazing patterns given different colors), and other methods.
In general, historic crafters are passionate about their craft and will talk your ear off about it. Or other things -- we wound up talking weather with Barbara, who was also a meteorologist. Most crafters are nerds. If you are lonely, or bored, or new in town with few friends, or you want to fight back against enshittification, look for a historic craft group in your locale. You don't have to be good at it already, or even intensely excited; "That looks kinda cool" is plenty to start with. Get in touch with them and give it a try. You'll probably have fun and make new friends. If the first attempt doesn't pan out, just pick a different craft and try again. Me, I'm a fan of many historic crafts, have dabbled in some of them, and often feature them in my writing with links in the footnotes about how to do the thing.
The friends we went with were interested in volunteering at Lincoln Log Cabin, so I was happy to shill for it. Then I spotted a flyer advertising two volunteer orientation sessions, one in October and one in November. I encouraged them to stop at the desk in the visitor center and ask for more details. They went. :D They're hoping to catch one of those sessions.
On the way home, we finished the current cookbook, The Mediterranean Dump-and-Go Slow Cooker Cookbook. This one has a lot of extra material besides the recipes, regarding how to use dump recipes, how to make freezer bags, and so on. Among the recipes we marked were Lemon-Oregano Greek Chicken, Beef and Eggplant Stew, Greek Lentil Stew, Slow-Cooker Hummus (from dry chickpeas, not canned), Greek Seasoning, and Shawarma Spice.
It has been a fun day.
