Room 15 ~ Winona

We cooked in an 1860’s log cabin built by the Stong family.

The cabin had a wood burning stove for cooking and heat.

We learned how to make butter in an old butter churn.

Danielle lifted the lid and dasher.

Then she poured the cream into the churn.

We took turns churning the butter.

Here is a children’s churning chant:
Come butter come,
Johnny’s waiting at the gate,
Waiting for a butter cake,
Come butter come!

It took a long time for the cream to turn into butter.

When the cream separated into butter and buttermilk, Danielle scooped the butter into a bowl.

Next she pressed the buttermilk out of the butter.

She washed the butter with cold water.

Then she pressed out all of the water.

We made a pumpkin loaf…

and cornmeal muffins.

We measured ingredients into the bowl.

We used a tool called a spurtle to stir the batter.

Instead of cooking on a hearth, we baked in the oven of a wood burning stove.

Things we learned:
It took a long time to make butter and it was hard work. Once you start, you can’t stop until the cream turns to butter. Butter was one of the first products sold by pioneer families. The 1860’s house was heated by the wood stove, not by a fireplace. Cooking was easier with a wood stove.

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