No waste for pioneers putting up their own foods

Imagine a cold snap like the one we had last week and no Jewel or 7-11 to run to for a gallon of milk or last-minute dinner.

For pioneers in the 1890s, the convenience store was their own root cellar and smoke house where they put up canned goods, meats and sausages from vegetables and livestock they had grown themselves.

Pat Walton, heritage interpreter at Kline Creek Farm in Winfield, recently gave a sausage making demonstration to show one of the many tasks farm families would have done to survive the harsh prairie winters.

"We do this because this is what would have been happening on the farm from November to March," Walton said.

If the weather was cool enough to assure the meat would not go bad, a hog would have been butchered as early as November. That first hog would often be shared with neighbors or family, allowing everyone to enjoy some fresh meat while preserving the rest.

Then later in the winter another hog or two would have been killed to ensure a supply to last into the summer. Sausage-making would have been just one of the ways the meat would have been used.

While the farm depicts life in the 1890s, Walton admits she doesn't butcher a hog or clean out the intestines for casings as the farmers would have done back then. But she does mix her purchased ground pork with herbs and spices and stuff the casings much as the pioneer women would have.

"If I had to grind the meat it would be extremely hard," Walton acknowledged.

But by butchering a hog, the farmers also would have had the various organs and other parts to use for food.

"They used everything but the squeal and the tail," Walton said. "You needed to use everything because this was your food."

Folks in town had it a little easier, she said, because there were green grocers and butchers where they could shop. In an emergency the farmers could have made the trip into town, but this would have been an expense in time and money they would not have wanted to incur, particularly in the midst of a harsh winter.

As our own economy has slowed and questions about food safety have risen, Walton said she has seen an increase in interest in some of the old food preservation methods such as canning.

While most modern cooks might not want to make their own sausage, Walton will be offering two pie-making classes Saturday. Participants will learn how to make a cherry, rhubarb, apple or lemon meringue pie from scratch. And they'll be able to take their pie home.

The cost for the pie making class is $25 and reservations may be made by calling (630) 876-5900.