B's favorite part was the blacksmith shop. We spent LOTS of time watching the demonstators work. They men, and young men, who were demonstrating were very friendly and welcomed our questions. This was not the first time B had spent time in a black shop. We thought this was pretty modern compared to other demonstrations we've seen. Tillers offers blacksmithing classes and B might be interesting in attending?! For some history on blacksmithing, visit: http://www.appaltree.net/aba/history.htm, http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/trades/tradebla.cfm, http://www.blacksmithsjournal.com/
Fire and coke (fuel, not the soft drink). Suppliers: http://www.fholder.com/Blacksmithing/coal.htm,
Oxen yokes.
You could take a turn plowing the field with this set of oxen.
This set of oxen each weigh about 1800 pounds (which is not large - yikes). The brown one was Herschel and the white/brown one's name is Walker.
Sorghum press. Usually a team of oxen or mules is hooke to the end of the wooden timber. But today the press was set up for people to take a turn (no twist intended) at pressing the sorghum, which is being fed into the press at the right, just above the palate.
Two of our 4H friends help the farm hand turn the timber.
You can see the bucket where the sorghum juice is collected. Then it is dumped into the boiler and cooked down into a molassas type syrup. The smell was DELICIOUS!!!!
Naturally, the draft horse teams that were pulling the wagon rides interested B. His biggest dream right now is to own a team of these horses. I say, as long as you are going to dream, you should dream big!!!
In the woodshop, there was carving demonstrations, hand made brooms on display (wish we'd taken a picture of that), and man running a foot pump operated lathe.
Video of the foot operated lathe. Now B wants to learn to use the lathe too :)In addition to the many demonstrations, there was music, vendors, food, and lectures. We left with belly aches from eating so many tiny plum tomatoes. There were better than candy (okay, in the absence of candy they were better). We also ate organically grown popcorn. Taste tested fresh cranberry orange bread and shares an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie.
With the perfect fall weather, company of good friends, and a little learning in the air, it was a great day!
If you are unfamiliar with Tillers International, but rural education is interesting to you, I encourage you to visit their website: http://www.tillersinternational.org/. This organization offers some wonderful classes, so make sure to check out there class schedule too.
Tillers' mission is: To preserve, study, and exchange low-capital technologies that increase the sustainability and productivity of people in rural communities.
Tillers' Vision is: To create an international learning community in which we seek understanding of local conditions, encourage an attitude of experimentation, and give promise of sustainable productivity for generations to come. We strive to preserve low-cost, historical rural skills; to find contemporary refinements within low-capital constraints; and to share this information with those interested in small farms, both in America and around the globe.
Elements of Tillers' Approach 1. Our principal goal is inspiring rural innovation. 2. Low-capital rural technology is the medium through which we build attitudes of experimentation. 3. Grassroots people-to-people exchange is at the core of Tillers' approach.4. Listening before acting is critical.5. The knowledge and skill base for our work has become scarce.6. Partner organizations support our rural innovators overseas.7. Quality tools and facilities inspire world-class innovation and re-invention.
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