The Rural Voice, 1992-02, Page 30RURAL LIVING
Let's not forget to celebrate:
Heritage Day__
in Canada
February 17 is Heritage Day for Canada. In some places it is
acknowledged and in many others it is just another day of the
week. Interest in Canadian history has increased in the last few
years and debate over treaties and differences between founding
cultures of this country has drawn many back to the history
books in an attempt to understand how things were arrived at.
When I first thought about writing this column it was back in
October when I had the good fortune to be part of a tour of
Battlefield House in Hamilton. Built in the late 1700s, this
historic home gained some notoriety in 1813 when American
troops were sighted coming across the back fields by a young
boy who quickly sounded the alarm. Today a monument at the
bottom of the back garden can be climbed for a lovely view of
the area and with a little imagination you can see the troops
coming to take Canada. The home is lovingly furnished with
items from no later than the 1860s. There is a very dedicated
volunteer staff which conducts summer tours and prepares tea
parties.
Tea was served in the upper veranda overlooking the back
garden. All the baking was done on the premises using the old
fireplace and bake oven. The jams and preserves, served with
the biscuits, were made during the season from fruit and herbs
found on the property. Their deliciously light tea biscuits were a
big hit and I managed to get the recipe from one of the ladies.
A tour of the kitchen showed the conical lump of sugar that
pioneer women would scratch at to get enough sweetener for
their cooking needs.
Not long after the tour and closer to home, students at
Brookside public school held a very successful Pioneer Day
with over twenty displays organized and staffed by volunteers
from the community. The displays ranged from making simple
pioneer toys like thread and button spinners and cat's cradle
hand -weaving to the essentials of everyday life: candles, soap
and the weaving of cloth to make clothes. It was all very excit-
ing and extremely challenging to think that all these activities
had to be done in order to survive life in the new country.
But the hardships of pioneer life were not really impressed
upon the children. For settlers who were unable to get firmly es-
tablished upon the land, lean years left many facing a season of
starvation. In the first years of the 1700s, hundreds of Loyalist
families lived for months on soup made from beef bones, bran,
boiled green grain, and herbs, roots, bark and berries. Game
might have been more extensively used but guns and powder
were scarce and eating fish for days at a time soon became sick-
ening.
The first wheat flour was ground in hand mills, producing a
very coarse wheat flour sometimes called "camp". The bread
was baked in kettles in the fireplace until clay bake -ovens were
built under the same roof as the smoke house or incorporated
into the wall near the fireplace. Experienced cooks produced a
tasty golden loaf, but the less experienced turned out a decep-
tively lovely brown loaf that had an interior of putty.
During the summer months, settlers ate a lot of vegetables
and fruit with a little salt pork for flavouring. Come August and
September, boiled or roasted Indian corn became the main staple.
Settlers had to experiment with some of the local plants to
discover what was safe to eat. Boiling water poured over sumach
flowers produced an astringent, hard -tasting drink similiar to
lemonade. There are also records of settlers using peas to make a
coffee -like drink.
Life for the first pioneers improved with increased settlement.
Together they worked to build the communities that we now call
home. This Heritage Day we should think about our history and
be proud of their accomplishments. As Canadians we have much
to be thankful for and I know that during these recessionary
times it is very hard to dwell on the good times, but we must try.
To get you started, have an updated pioneer meal of corn soup
and Battlefield biscuits.
Battlefield House Scones
Sift together:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons of sugar
Pinch of salt
Cut in 6 tablespoons of butter or margarine
Stir in 1/2 cup of raisins
Add 1 cup of milk in which a good pinch of baking soda has
been dissolved.
Stir till well moistened. Pinch off pieces and place on ungreased
cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 F. oven until golden brown. Makes approximately
18 to 20 biscuits.
Corn Soup
4 tablespoons butter (60 ml)
1 onion, peeled and chopped
12 oz. pkg frozen corn kernels (350 g)
4 tablespoons flour (60 ml)
4 cups hot chicken stock (1 litre)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (1 ml)
1 teaspoon chopped chives (5 ml)
1/4 cup hot light cream (50 ml)
salt and pepper
Heat butter in saucepan. When hot, add onion; cover and cook 4
minutes. Add corn and continue cooking 2 minutes over
medium heat. Mix in flour; cook, uncovered, 18 minutes over
low heat. Pour in chicken stock and season well. Add nutmeg
and chives; bring to boil. Cook soup uncovered 18 minutes over
medium heat. Stir occasionally. About 2 minutes before end of
cooking, mix in cream.0
Rhea Hamilton -Seeger, in addition to working in advertising
production for The Rural Voice, raises two children, and is a
skilled gook and gardener.
26 THE RURAL VOICE