Knit to This
Knit to This: Victorian Farm
In my day job as a historic interpreter at The Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, NY, visitors frequently sigh and say they wish they could go back to the mid 1840s. “Things were so much simpler then,” they say.
Leaving aside the wonder of modern sanitation, women’s suffrage, and effective antibiotics — which has a very “other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” vibe — what visitors can’t feel is how much work everything was.
Do you want hot water? First you need to build a fire and take a bucket to the spring.
Would you like a new blanket? Here’s your sheep and your spinning wheel.
Want some butter on your bread? Better hope your cow hasn’t run dry.
There are a million little tasks that needed to be done to make basic life possible.
But it’s hard to convey that in a five-minute interaction.
Victorian Farm does what I cannot. It is also the perfect way to pass an afternoon with some knitting.
Historian Ruth Goodman as well as archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn spent a year at Acton Scott Estate in England recreating (as you might guess) a Victorian-era farm. You can see just how much time it takes to do something as seemingly simple as getting crops in the ground or cleaning up after a day’s work.
While so much of what the team does is specific to Britain — I had to look up what a mangelwurtzel is, for one—the essence of life in the early 19th century applied in the US, too.
The Goodman, Langlands, and Ginn team approach all of the work with a cheerful spirit and a whole lot of help. And it’s also much easier to have some joie de vivre when you know you can always scamper off to a hotel by the motorway for a hot shower.
So, yes, it was much simpler then. But as Victorian Farm proves, “simple” isn’t the same as “easy.”
Come Shop With Us
Also Edwardian Farm, Tudor Monastery Farm, Inside the Castle…..
These are all lovely views of another time, one does get a sense of how hard life was before electricity and internal combustion engines.
Ruth knows all!
I love that series and the other ones they did.
Oh, as a kid, I used to love the Cooperstown Farmer’s museum. I grew up north of Albany and it was such a great place to visit. That museum and the Cardiff Giant are two fond memories.
Also, Rachel at Barkland Croft shares a very ‘down to earth’ look at her life as a lone sheep farmer.
Love the aesthetics of that time, but nope on the actually living in it. Modern medecine at the very least!
Still is, even with tractors, electricity, plumbing & all, farm work is hard work- getting the hay in, grains on silo, cows to be milked twice a day, everyday- even at 40 degrees(positive and negative, celsius, sorry very rudimentary knowledge of Fahrenheit)
I admire the courage of farmers around me, as there is little help to be found & the work is physically exhausting at times.
No thanks ! I will enjoy the show but so damn happy I didn’t live through that era!
I grew up on a farm. I remember getting up to feed the animals before I could have breakfast and go to school. Then when I got home, I had a snack and went to feed/take care of animals again. There were always chores. There were good things, too, like very fresh food, but it’s a lot of work even in the modern day with tractors and electricity and machines specifically made to harvest/plant/weed crops. I’ll stay in the modern day, thank you!
I’m going to enjoy this show. Thank you for writing about it!
Yes, lest we forget clothes washing machines!
Google Hans Rosling and ‘The Magic Washing Machine’ – about how such an item – which we take for granted – changed women’s lives and enabled them to, among other things, read, learn and educate.
Here’s one bit though there are others:
https://youtu.be/BZoKfap4g4w?si=7ZO6AoHJUBS4HY50
Living history for the win!
Thank you so much for the introduction to this wonderful man.
I just love this series and the others this trio has done–from medieval life through the home front during WWII. Thanks for giving it attention and spreading the word!
This reminds me of the 1900 House, another British show that makes it clear that the good old days weren’t always that good. Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll knit to that!
I knew mangelwurzels can be fed to stock, but this prompted me to look it up. Who’d have thought that honkin’ big beets could be used for human fun and frolic?!
From Wikipedia:
“Contemporary use is primarily for cattle, pig and other stock fodder, although it can be eaten–especially when young–by humans. . . . The mangelwurzel has a history in England of being used for sport (“mangold hurling”), for celebration, for animal fodder, and for the brewing of a potent alcoholic beverage. The 1830 Scottish cookbook “The Practice of Cookery” includes a recipe for a beer made with mangelwurzel.”
History nerd here — we were just back in my native Belfast, and took the kids to the Ulster Folk Museum, which takes you back to the 1910’s. It made me grateful for my washer and dryer and, as a doctor, so so many things, including antibiotics and widespread vaccination and public sanitation. And I should add that when I describe college in the 1990’s, my kids are grateful for stuff like not having to go to a computer lab on campus to use a computer with a modem to get on the fledgling internet. And searching for pay phones. 🙂 Anyway, I am totally looking forward to knitting to this! Thanks so much. 🙂
Thanks for bringing me back to reality, in the longing for more simple times. Modern sanitation, women’s suffrage, and effective antibiotics certainly are wonders! So is getting my butter at the local supermarket and my yarn at my LYS or from MDK. It was, however, a coincidence to read of women’s sufferage today because I just learned that on this date, August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote. Something to contemplate as November 5th approaches.
Years ago Oprah and Gayle took part in a show (Colonial House?) and went back in time to live for a day or two in 1628. I remember Oprah saying the amount of work it took just to stay alive back then was overwhelming. You’d finish a meal and immediately have to start working on the next one because everything took so long. And that was just the cooking!
This is the most phenomenal show! I cannot stop watching it. Thank you for recommending it! It really gives new insight into the industrial revolution and the effects it had in propelling forward changes. And also sadly how entire careers became crafts.
How wonderful that they found so many people that were still keeping these techniques and knowledge alive and passing them down. It’s important that we don’t lose this knowledge. The show truly is lovely thank you again!
Been watching it, so interesting! In fact it is keeping me from doing my chores! Thank you for the introduction.
I watched the first episode! It was so interesting; thank you for suggesting it!
I enjoy your column. 🙂
I love all of the farm video series! Victorian Farm must be said to be my favorite.