No Thanks to Fat Back | 18TH CENTURY COOKING | FLINTLOCK HUNTING | BIRCH BARK CANOE BUILD | PIONEER
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- Peter experiments with 18’th century cooking. He cooks fat back, eggs and onions on a trivet in his open hearth rumford fireplace. He then makes and fries bannock while discussing its history as a food source across cultures and as a staple of the pioneers in the 18'th century. The bannock is much preferred over the saltiness of the fat back!
While scouting out new hunting grounds, he discovers a well in the middle of the forest. It is presumed to be from an original homestead and would have been hand dug. The stones are dry laid. Peter discusses the hazards of such an endeavour and the necessity of having a reliable water source.
He then begins splitting out cedar for the ribs and sheeting for the birch bark canoe, he will be building in the spring.
Tags: 18’th century cooking, pioneer living, flintlock hunting, birch bark canoe build,
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Featuring - Peter Kelly
Cinematography - Catherine Wolfe
Producer & Editor - Shane Kelly
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MUSIC
The amazing music in this episode is graciously provided by our friends - Richard Fortier and Al MacDonald
#bushcraft #18thcenturypioneer #logcabinbuild #selfreliance #outhousebuild #northamericanhistory #longhunter #1700spioneerlife #18thcenturycooking #flintlockhunting #pioneerlife #birchbarkcanoe
Great video again ! We had cooking history, well digging, deer hunt scouting, tree specie information, wood craftsmanship, birchbark canoe building, log splitting. You are our Wise Oldtimer !
And here I thought I split a log and talked about water … your list sounds impressive, lol. As far as being an old timer, I love it!
species not specie. Species is both singular and plural.
This fella sure is an incredible outstanding human being. Thanks for your channel for the folks like myself who don't get the opportunity to do these kinds of things.
My grandmother was a french Canadian who's parents immigrated to the U.S. when she was a baby. She always fried biscuits for us Grand children similar in this video. She called them dough gods and they were delicious.
My Passamaquody grandmother made something similar, called them tomassis!
Gowing up in these mountains, almost every older home had split rail fences. Normally they were made of Black Locust, because we had such an abundance of it and because it could potentially last a hundred years without decaying. If you tried splitting from the top down, most of the time the split would run off to one side or the other. Incidentally, most woods were allowed to cure before splitting. Locust was the exception to that. If you let a locust log dry for a month or two, you could not drive a wedge in it, so they were usually split within a few days of sawing. Sawmills around here would hit a locust log with a hammer and if it echoed or "sang" as they said, they would refuse to saw it. Once a locust had cured, it would knock the teeth off of their blades. I have a black locust bow that is at least seventy or eighty years old. It is slightly over 1/4 inch thick and still has a draw weight of about eighty five pounds. Sorry, I actually just intended to acknowledge your comment on splitting from the bottom up, but it turned into more of a comment on locust. I have a tendency to wander off the trail occasionally.
I’m glad you did wonder off. I’ve not worked with black locust much , but what little I have does rings true to your comments . Appreciate your interest.
You sir amaze me , I grew up in northern Vermont. A lot of the things you show remind me of growing up there . I would so enjoy meeting you . I have many memories of the many things you show. Thank you for showing all the ways of old .
Glad you enjoyed it. If you ever find yourself in Eastern Ontario please make arrangements to drop in and share a fire.
Ah, the fatback brings back memories when I was 5-10 years old on the farm with my greatgrand parents . They were born in the 1880's , getting up going over to scratch the Frost off the windows " the bedrooms didn't have a wood stove or fireplace" to see if it had snowed over night then hot biscuits and fat back for breakfast !!! Miss those days !!!!
Sounds like my childhood. Our old farm house had no heat in the upstairs. I would wake up, reach over and scratch the ice off the inside to have a peek outside and determine how to dress for the day.
Many farmhouses were like that, including one wing of ours. We used more bedding, dressed quickly in the mornings, and scooted downstairs to warm our stocking feet and shoes over the main register.
Here in the south Fatback was a common food for all, before refrigeration it was one of only a few meets that would keep for long periods of time. Fresh meat would only keep for a very few days. My grandfather had a smoke house and that is where his meat was kept. It wasn't until 1950 that electricity was available to him on his farm here in Georgia. When I visited him I often had fat back for both breakfast and more often for supper. Fresh meat usually was small game or fish caught or killed the day it was eaten. I still love salt cured country ham.
Thanks for the story, Cecil. Folks today can’t imagine life before power … it weren’t all that bad.
I have read of instants of well dig with bad air, so they would send down a bucket with a candle. If the candle stayed lit it was safe to go down. Recently replaced some handles, so I got it. Making do. The deer have their favorites and it pays to know them. HOLD FAST and GOD BLESS.
People have been killed apparently from bad gases, so the candle is a great idea.
One of the few great channels on You Tube.
Well now, that is about the most flattering comment we have yet to receive, thank you.
@@TheWoodlandEscape You are most welcome , good Sir.
The beautiful music is icing on the cake for these delightful videos. Many thanks for posting them!
Glad you like our step back in time endeavor.
Interesting find on the well. I grew up on a farm with a natural spring that was at a higher elevation than the house and about the same elevation as the barn. Nothing like the taste of that fresh flowing spring water which is still in use at my parents farm today. my brothers and i are looking forward to the deer season hunt there right after out Thanksgiving here in NE PA. My interest in this time period came from visits as a young lad to Ft. Delaware just across the border from our county into NY. I have taken my children there and plan on taking the grandchildren there nest summer when they are open for the season. Great video as always! Thank you for sharing!
We once had a similar spring on our property and the best water ever! Good luck on your hunt.
I have a well story to share. We had a hand dug well on a farm we bought in Ohio. It was maybe 40 feet deep. One spring my Dad cleaned it out. He pumped all the water out put a ladder down it and went down in and scrubbed the walls down and cleaned out the bottom to try and get more water flow. When he was done a cousin and I asked if we could go down and check it out. Well what a perspective I can give to people about well digging. Down about 3 or 4 feet these guys that had dug this well ran into solid rock. You could see the pickax marks though about 4ft of solid rock. Given it was sandstone but still 4ft across and 4ft down though solid rock and they didn't quit. That wouldn't be done today.
The determination of our ancestors never ceases to amaze me … most people give up while they did not have an option but to continue.
So MUCH one can do with the basic bannock recipe. Being partly of Scots Irish ancestry, I'm very familiar with it, and actually quite fond of it, at home, or on the trail.
I’m also a huge fan … i like them with raisins, cranberries or blue berries and dipped in maple syrup. Oh my, I might have to have some for breakfast.
@@TheWoodlandEscape 👍😁
Your breakfast was very reminiscent of the breakfast my parents would have had in the depression southern US. Salt pork was practically the only store bought meat they could afford. Fried like bacon it would be eaten along with buttermilk biscuits and white gravy. My mother would occasionally make this for us when I was growing up in the 70's.
Even if one could afford pork chops, salt pork, and white gravy with biscuits or mashed potatoes was good eating! Of course, salt pork and the 'pork barrel' stored meat before refrigeration was possible.
I remember my father sitting at the kitchen table eating biscuits and fatback with grease dripping down his chin. Food is good when you're hungry after working hard all day!
You brought back memories of going with my dad looking for the right birch tree to make snowshoes,(rackets) we would call them, & they were a racket from time you put them on until you took them off when working with them anyway lol, But like you were doing looking at the grain to know if it could be steamed into shape to bend without breaking to be placed into the mold for couple weeks & would keep it"s shape when took out, I do regret never learning how to fill them, i remember him telling me to take one & go step by step with him while he fillrd the other one, i remember doing it couple times but not enough to remember how to do it on my own, i remember wnen just a kid back in the 60s he would fill them with sealskin strips maybe about 1/4" width, 3 or 4feet length, & would have to join them, so each snowshoe had few knots , Then when it got wet it would become slack so at night you bring them inside & let them dry slowly overnight & they would go tight again, But main thing was always keep them out of the reach of your dog team they loved to chew on them lol, many trapper made the mistake of forgetting & has to fill them while trapping or came home with just the snowshoe frame lol & maybe with a dog less in the team even if it was their mistake
They probably didn’t make that mistake twice. It is funny how we often wish we had paid more attention to our parents and grandparents.
I make breakfasts like these on our wood stove every morning - bacon, onion, potatoes, eggs, leftover vegetables like cabbage or Brussels sprouts. We use corn masa, oats, rye, etc. to make breads. We have plenty of our own maple syrup here too in NE VT. I usually salt ferment these for several days then cook in the wood stove. Eventually we plan to have some kind of small heritage pigs and we will be salt curing too - rinsing well is indeed necessary before use. I loved learning about the proper direction to split wood.. Hubby concurred then explained to me why. Ah haaaa. Good luck with your muzzle loading hunt.
Your living the good life! Thanks for your interest.
Growing up, I was 4th
Inline for the bath in the thought! Indoor plumbing in 9th. Grade. We hauled water from a community well 15 mi. Away! Eventually, dug a well n septic. Never had a furnace. Chopped lots of firewood in my life. Rabbit, squirrel and deer. The lord blessed me..to bad very few have that blessing today!
Wow, can’t imagine a 15 mile walk for water. Sounds like you and I grew up on a very similar diet. If I shot it, my mom cooked it?
@@TheWoodlandEscape most people don't know that most of the world has this scenario as real in their life...even still in the US. We had as transportation a cow or horse and finally a olde ww2 willys to haul. But our communities would get together at certain times to pool resources, like a butcher party in the spring, a harvest party in the fall. No one ever went hungry or lost their ranch or farm due to debt. Even now where I live we just had our community dinner. 2 tables stretched for 10 blocks down main street with @2200 people . Our county has a population of @4700. Mostly elderly as myself. Ie. 2 liquor stores, 1 grocery store, 3 pizza/restraunt/bars and 30 churches. A big Amish community as well. Just had a community chicken dinner benefit for a newly wed couple so they would be debt free into the marriage. "The olde ways RULES" lol. I appreciate you commenting for the young to learn from the old! Well, gotta go back to splitting fire wood. I so enjoy your videos.
By the way, I live in the high Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Come visit next time your in the hood!
My 2nd GGF was an officer in the American Army in the War of 1812, LT Melancton Thigpen, probably of Irish descent. His family had migrated to GA from Pitt County, NC.
Our elder advice is somewhat different. Yes, like you we strip bark top down except cheebaygop (leatherwood) which can be stripped out bottom up all the way to its smallest branches. Before cable snares, this bark was strong enough to be used for bear snares. Regarding wood we split top down including firewood, except for black spruce were the branches inside the trunk point sharply downwards.
Great information, Doris, thanks for sharing. So much to learn, so little time!
Bannock is from Scotland. It is basically fried bread. Basic ingredients are flour, salt and water. My mother made it. She called it a “hoe cake”. She cooked it in a cast iron frying pan, about 3/4” thick and 8-10 inches in diameter. She added Crisco and used self rising flour and milk instead of water. It was good, really good.😅
Sounds great!
@@TheWoodlandEscape it was Pete. I really loved it when we went camping with fried ham and grits.
Great Episode Peter 🦌🙏🛶
I have been looking forward to the birch bark canoe series since you mentioned it many moons ago. I am very excited to follow the journey and I sure hope that you will document it in great detail and teaching with your fine knowledge of old timer skills and crafts. Have a blessed week.
That is our plan Christiaan however, the actual assembly is some time off.
Here in Oklahoma the tribes still today make Indian fry bread and make Indian tacos out of the bread. Very similar to your bannock. The Cherokee used to use bear fat as lard.
I'm enjoying your videos.
I love a lot of the native recipes. Glad you’re enjoying our endevour.
Love it no hat.
And all this time I thought those fireplace shovels were for ashes. I learn something new every time I watch you. Have to go over the splitting top to bottom thing in my head another couple of times. Thanks again
Bushcraft guru, Mors Kochanski, observed from long experience that logs split more easily from crown to butt.
Looking forward to hearing and seeing more about how your flintlock hunt goes. Your hunting footage got me so enthused about shooting my front-stuffer again that it sent me to the shop to make a powder horn from an old bison horn I've had for years. Now I might just have to build that 54 cal full stock Hawken I once dreamt about.
Doing a musket build is a great way to spend one’s evenings in the winter. An hour or so at night and before you know it, your smelling burnt black powder.
Greetings from Poland.
"Sly"
Hello Sly and greetings from Canada.
I watch George Washington talks with a very good actor. This is mindful of those. New viewer here.
Thanks Shirley and we appreciate your interest and support.
Excellent video, sir.
looking forward to the canoe build. very interesting from scratch! great!
It will spring before all my parts get put together but, it is my intent to show the whole process.
I agree looking forward to the build. What wood are you using for the ribs and stays? Is that ironwood like the
Mallet you were showing?
I've found a man named Jean Baptiste Dupus in the logs of the NW Trading Company in the late 1700s, in 1805 his name appears in the Louisiana census. I'm not 100% sure he's my ancestor, but the odds are fairly good he's a relative of some sort.
He appears to have been a voyageur, at least I fancy him as one. All the best.
I suspect he would have been an interesting character with a wealth of stories. Heck, even if he isn’t related, adopt him!
Love the fire place attachments, that's cool having an arm swing out an hang stuff, and cooking off the coils. That is so neetoe. But I wouldn't eat pork fat back eather, see from the beginning, God said not eat it, or touch its dead carcus, because it is an unclean animal, not kosher, so I wouldn't eat it. Love your videos , your an awesome carrecter.
Thanks Paul.
Wow very cool brother thank you for sharing your knowledge and time travel adventure with us 👍 hello from Detroit Michigan USA Great video
Hi from Syracuse NY brother and thank you for sharing your thoughts and adventures and everyone else
These videos are THE BEST... They take us back to a kinder, gentler time...
Thank you Chester, we kinda like it,both kinder and simpler.
Love this channel, learning something new all the time and the music at the end was incredible.
Awesome, thank you!
Another great video! Can't tell you how much I enjoy watching these. Thank you.
So glad you like them, James.
As a retired mason an now a trucker, raised on cattle ranch, I could spend a week with you an learn alot...nice video Ameigo!🎄🙂
And I’m sure I would learn an equal amount from you sir!
Food for the soul. Oxygen for the lungs. Joy for the eyes. Top! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you.
The music is just lovely. Wish I could find more! Thanks for a wonderful escape from my desk!
Well done sir. I like the life you lead.............from greece.........
From Canada, thank you sir for your interest.
You and Cathy are truly living the dream . May I also say that sleeveless coat that you wore while hunting is amazing .
Thanks Harper, we’re glad you’re enjoying.
Deepest hand dug well I’ve seen was in Texas, it was in the foothill of a small mountain, and the opening was 8 feet across. You could see the water at the bottom, and it looked like a silver dime down by your foot. A friend of mine had a house about 200 feet lower, with a drilled well that hit water at 18 feet, so that hand dug well was likely 218 feet deep, in limestone. It was scary to look down, I can’t imagine going down that hole to dig with a pick and hammer and chisel.
Nor can I imagine it. It is quite probable that a life or two were lost in this project. Thanks for sharing the story.
You should try one of them fancy powdered wigs.... Just kidding man I love your videos thank you.
That might be fun. Glad you’re enjoying Graham.
I am only 56 and I have help to clean out and restore a hand dug well. I live in upstate South Carolina. We used a windlass. The well was about 35’ deep.
Sounds like a fascinating project.
Hello I am from Russia. Sir, your country has a very beautiful nature. The nature of Canada is similar to the nature of Russia. The image of a hunter-gatherer suits you very well. You are like a father-pilgrim who has come to a new land to found a nation of free, good and loving people. You may be Canadian, but still. Nature gives a person peace of mind and some kind of peace.
Nature, indeed, does that!
Excellent - as always. You do a great presentation. Thanks.
I don't know why,but i watch your videos and i feel happy. I feel at home. Maybe i'm in the wrong century,in the wrong country ?
I’m am very flattered your kind words.
I can't wait to see this birch bark canoe project, Peter.
It will be While off for the assembly process but, I plan to demonstrate and discuss each step.
Thanks again for a trip back in time, a time I think I would love to be living in. But one would have to be awfully tough and strong to live the life that they live the background.
Like to thank you and Teresa for another wonderful video.
Thanks Richard.
A great episode as always.
You are a pleasure to listen to Peter. Please keep the deer hunting video going, I know what it's like to chase the mature bucks.
Just does and fawns so far but, I still have 3 days left in the muzzleloader season.
Great video 👍👍👍🇵🇭
Fat back, pinto beans and greens. Had them at least once a week while I was at home.
Those buck scrapes lead to the bucks day time area. Good luck hunting!
Hi thanks for another interesting video, the meal looked very good, I've baked bannock loaves in a frying pan whith success, and in a small loaf tin, it's not bad bread, a bit solid ,buts fills you up, it's work in progress as you might say,lol. The talk on the timber processing was good too, overall excellent filming, and narrative, I will be watching more episodes, stay safe mate, best wishe's to you and your's, Stuart UK.
Thanks Stuart. Try your next batch of bannock dipped in maple syrup.
@@TheWoodlandEscape Hi ,thanks for the reply, I'll give maple syrup a try, if the breads no good I can always pig out on the syrup, ha, ha, kind regards Stuart Uk.
As always enjoyed your talks regarding our history, I came to Reenacting late in life and have been doing it for the last 16 years doing 1750’s, 1770’s and 1812 eras
Thanks Greg and always a pleasure to meet another avid historian.
Wow, what a find! Thank you CZcams algorithm(cant believe I am saying that). No really, thank you Peter. Awesome historical information. I feel blessed to get to know what you have to say about "this & that".
Thanks Douglas for your interest and support.
I really enjoy your lifestyle I live very rural in South Central Indiana , have some property would like to build a small log cabin in the woods by my pond , But it's just a dream I'm an Old Man in my 70s and don't have it in me anymore . But I can live the Dream Though Your Show . Just the best for a guy like me.
Glad you enjoy our endeavours. How about contracting out a wee cabin. Great place to enjoy your retirement … sitting on a veranda in a rocking chair.
In the southern US we make a crackling cornbread made from fatback.
Got a recipe to share?
Yes I do agree old people teaches a lot of new things I got teach from a timer who made brooms and my grandfather was a Shoemaker I learnt off two nice people I'm learning from old-time guy who is Tim Smith all these traits I love it looks great to make a canoe would love to try it well thank you for the video keep well my friend
I love to watch your downhearth cooking! I really miss doing this.
Kinda spoils one that is used to cooking out side on a fire. The crane is an amazing advantage.
Great video.😀 at least the hammer head came off in front of yourself and not above your head.🤔🥴😀ouch
Sometimes you just get lucky. However, on my head might make for more interesting viewing!
Looks like all you hard work is paying off. Dry warm cabin cooking. Nice video thank you for the efforts.
It has indeed. It has been my experience, hat hard work is always rewarded.
Looking forward to the build. Have only ever owned modern canoes. But seems worthwhile knowing how the originals were put together
The best part about an authentic birch bark is the way they handle on the water. Unlike any other material.
@@TheWoodlandEscape I have heard this . My main canoe is UL kevlar . A bob special from nova craft
Great videos! Wholesome, educational, and entertaining.
A very flattering compliment, Shanna. Thank you.
It would be wonderfull if you could put all of your recipes in a blog or another way to share them.
Great idea, see what we can do.
Another great one! We always learn so much. Good luck with that hunt and stay well and healthy. I need my weekly dose of Woodland Escape!.
Luv it! Hope when it comes time to build the boat you include the grandkids. Fascinating.
That would be wonderful!
That well needs to be covered with logs to prevent animals from falling in and drowning.
I lan on doing just that Linda.
You have to thin of a dough. Add some more flour to it until you can form it into a flat loaf. Momma called them hoe cakes and they are nutritious. She would cook them on low to medium heat in a butter coated skillet. Your bread was more like pan cakes than bannock.
Eggs and bannock over the fire. Looks good.
Food always tastes better when prepared over an open fire.
As late as the early 1950s, my father still dug trenches for foundations and water lines by hand. We also had old dug wells for livestock and for the house. In our area, the danger from being 'down in the hole' was natural gas seepage leading to oxygen deprivation, loss of consciousness, and death. My mother checked on him frequently when he was trenching.
Thank you so much for sharing your story … smart mom! We appreciate and enjoy the stories people have shared.
your videos are inspiring and lightweght, like nice talk near the fire after a long day
thank you!
Hog Jowl, a favorite smoking meat.
It’s far better than bacon in my humble opinion.
banic and beaver lol pete keep um comin
Well worth the watch.
sure glad i found your channel, very enjoyable thank you.
We are glad you did as well . Glad you’re enjoying.
thanks Pete ,you and yours have some good holidays ,take care be safe and thanks for the films
And you Bob. We appreciate your interest.
Thanks for another great video! I really love watching and learning the way people lived in the past, which is kind of funny because when I was in school, the only thing that was worse than history, was english. I think that a lot of that is the way is was taught, just sitting in a classroom reading it because when I joined the Army and started traveling and seeing the places that history happened is when I started loving it.
I think it all boils down to the quality of the teachers.
@@TheWoodlandEscape That and the fact that I learn better by doing and seeing than listening to lectures and reading.
Thanks, I love your videos.
Peter, are you falling in that elder knowledge category? :-). I've noticed the same thing about wood - easier to debark from the top and split from the bottom. On the splitting, I think it all has to do with the way the grain runs and the force applied to the grain.
Sounds like a good theory to me Josh.
Great video! Surprised you didn’t use wooden gluts in combination with your steel wedges.
I do, sometimes.
Talking about hand digging a well. On a deep well they would lower a lite candle in a bucket down before starting to dig. This was to check for oxygen.
Indeed Larry. There are accounts of people getting gas coming into the opening.
Larry, I knew 3 people, from one family in Italy, who died going down into a wine press to save the other. What a tragedy, no oxygen.
Mr. Pete....another great lesson! Thank you & take care!
Another relaxing & informative episode.
With regards the water/ well segment & the preciousness of water in the frontiers over the centuries, it bemuses me that we now buy small bottles of very expensive water as a drink. It's almost a social badge!!
Sad indeed Stephen. My parents would be rolling over in their graves to think people are buying water. And, one of my pet peeves, those silly plastic bottles take 2000 plus years to break down. SAD!
I fill my old bottles at home from our filtered water system. I bought bottled water once - for the bottle!
My life has returned to the 19th century. I depend totally on rain water. I bath from a bucket into a hip bath, and I wash the clothes with the bath water.. This is out of necessity, not preference. lol
Well now that is certainly hard core but, I’m sure a great feeling of accomplishment.
Very informative on how to split the wood(although I will definitely not be doing any myself).
Great video thank you for sharing. Blessings to you and your family and friends
Thanks Rick.
As always appreciate your efforts and dedication. Truly enjoy your channel! You bring such valuable information to your viewers. Looking forward to muzzle loader season myself with the new smooth bore!
Let me know how you fair with your smoke poll.
@@TheWoodlandEscape I will be sure give you an update. Keep your powder dry!!
I love these videos they are relaxing and you learn a lot I like the 17th-19th. century lifestyle of more natural living . Thank You Sir for making these enjoyable videos.
Glad you’re enjoying, Mark.
Thank you Sir, your channel has become my favorite. Very interesting and educational.
Very flattered Kirk, thank you.
Wow
Good video thanks. We simmer our home cured meats a few times pouring off the water till it's not to salty. I save the straightest grained wood from prepping fire wood all year for garden tools, axes, hammers and even buck saw handles. I have a pile of good stuff ready to go. I hate spending time building a handle with a second rate piece cause I need it now.
Very wise Terry. That is why when I build birch bark canoe I do not settle for inferior bark. No sense spending 600 to 700 hours on a project using poor materials.
I enjoyed how you split those logs. I need to make some wedges like that
They are a pretty handy tool .
Wow, that's great, thank you for the insight!!
Great, as always. Thanks.
Thank you for sharing your time and effort, but I really appreciate your knowledge.
And we appreciate your interest and support Tom.
Смотрю, и восхищаюсь! С нетерпением жду новых видео.
Mesmo não entendendo o seu idiomas,eu gosto de ver este tipos de vídeos me encanto com essas lindas imagens acho lindas as casas ,e já até me inscrevi parabéns 👏👏 e muitos sucessos pra vc 😃