Homesteading club members - discussion #5

[homesteadmamma]

Our discussion this week will be on travel. Were travelling back in time when people travelled in wagons, during the long hot summers, where dust covered them continually, where there were dangers surrounding them daily and where life was hard.

The questions are:

~What would you take along with you in your wagon?

~Once settled on your homestead, would you willingly pack up and leave should your dh say you were going further west?

~Do you think it would have been easy travelling in a wagon with small children?

~Would you know how to forage should you run out of fruits/veggies?

~Do you feel you would have forgotten something and if so what?

~What do you feel would have been the most important item to bring along in your wagon?

~And if you had your choice, what "frivilous" item would you bring with you?

[guest2]

~What would you take along with you in your wagon?
*Having played the Oregon trail game many times, I'm going to take my clues from that and all the reading I have done on the pioneer families coming out West. I'd have 2 guns, lots of extra ammunition, a flint and striker to start a fire, 3 extra sets of clothing per family member, extra blankets, wagon parts, flour, dried meat or bacon, sourdough starter, salt, dried fruits and vegis, some sugar, a butter churn, 2 cows tied behind the wagon, a dog to alert me to danger, some basic household items like pans, silverware, knives, tools, soap, seeds for crops,and herbal remedy stuff. I'd also have my family bible and a few other cherished books.

~Once settled on your homestead, would you willingly pack up and leave should your dh say you were going further west?
*I might not want to, but if that is what Hubby thought was best I would go with him.

~Do you think it would have been easy travelling in a wagon with small children?
*not at all, many children died along the old wagon trails.

~Would you know how to forage should you run out of fruits/veggies? Depends on what part of the country I was in. I'd watch the animals and see what they were eating to know if it was poisonous or not if I was unfamiliar with the area and plants there.

~Do you feel you would have forgotten something and if so what?
*my extended family!!!!

~What do you feel would have been the most important item to bring along in your wagon?
*My family followed by the family bible and our guns with lots of ammo.

~And if you had your choice, what "frivilous" item would you bring with you?
*most likely a family piece of furniture.


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[Michele Annette]

You have excellent suggestions Debbie! I don't think I could add much to that list!


~What would you take along with you in your wagon? Well, Debbie has an awesome list, but I guess I would also bring drinking water, coffee or tea, herbs (medicinals) such as mint, bay leaf and cat nip. book or bible, writing paper and pencil for a diary, baking items and kitchen items to prepare such items.dried fruits, dehydrated meats, a cow and I like the dog idea! Yes I too would have guns and amo as well.

~Once settled on your homestead, would you willingly pack up and leave should your dh say you were going further west? If I truly had faith in his decision and he was willing to hear about my opinion.

~Do you think it would have been easy travelling in a wagon with small children? No way! It's tough in a modern car with conveniences everywhere!

~Would you know how to forage should you run out of fruits/veggies? I currently don't, but I would believe at the time you would know more about foraging.

~Do you feel you would have forgotten something and if so what?I don't think I would have much to forget. I don't think we would have very much to begin with and what we did have we would cherish greatly!

~What do you feel would have been the most important item to bring along in your wagon? a gun. it sounds terrible to say, but you have to protect what you have and you can hunt food with it.

~And if you had your choice, what "frivilous" item would you bring with you? a few pictures of family, some yarn and fabric to make clothing, etc. with.

[guest2]

I can't believe I forgot the water!!!!! OMG!!!!

Can you just imagine the kids saying "are we there yet" for months on end as you traveled the trails? I'd go out of my mind!!!!

[Michele Annette]

Debbie! Yeah I was thinking the same thing about the kids, but you know back then it must have been the most exciting thing happing at the time!

[homesteadmamma]

I can't imagine travelling either with kids in a wagon and many of the woman who did were also pregnant at the time.

One thing you ladies forgot was a hat of some sort, for yourself and family members. The sun must have been incredibly hot in those days (I think even hot than today) and the dust - they would have been eating that for miles and miles.

The other thing I often think about (played the Oregon Trail too Deb) is smallpox. I can't imagine travelling and having to bury a family member or members or having made friends along the trails, having to bury your friends. It would have been devastating.

[canadian gardener]

I would have wanted (in addition to the above items) some annual flower seeds that I could count on saving seed from

veggies seed that I could save seed from

Some rasberry canes, rhubarb.

And some medicinal herbs both seeds and roots.

[slowtypinwoman]

Wow! I want Debbie's answer. lol I think the only thing I would add would be good walking shoes as that is how most of the way was traveled.

[luvcatsnflowers]

I would also take some chickens, use some for eggs and the others to eat. Yuck, cant imagine plucking feathers! with a gun maybe shoot turkeys to eat also Tara