After months of sightseeing on the bike, we were finally taking time to visit a a local attraction. We spent the entire day walking around the Living History Farms in Urbandale, just west of Des Moines.
We opted to visit the town first.
View from the church. On the right at the end is the blacksmith shop. At the end around the bend is the schoolhouse. To the left behind the trees is the big manor house.
As we wandered around town we learned some interesting things.
Since Duane used to run a blacksmith shop, w headed there first. There we learned that smiths are always learning new techniques and love to talk. O wait, we already knew that.
In the school we discovered that excellent cursive writing and the rules of life are most important.
In the big house we learned that a family of 12 can live quite comfortably with only 7 bedrooms,
that wedding dresses can be any color you want,
and that there is no such thing as "too much".
At the vet's we learned the purpose of that funnel thingy on the square bit. The bar is a tube with a small hole in it. The funnel delivers medicine through the tube and into the horse's mouth.
In the drug store we found out that the druggist was really a chemist.
In the milliners we finally understood "style".
After lunch at a Crackerbarrel-style restaurant on site, we took the tractor-drawn wagon to the farms area.
The 1700's farm was the product of the early Native Americans called the Ioway. They grew small plots of beans, squash and corn. Their housing combined the woodland culture with part of the Plains culture.
This type of farm consisted of 40 acres of scattered fields of crops and pastures, with animal pens and out buildings close to the one room log house.
Farms of this era were large--up to 160 acres--with large barns and
a large T house.
We had just finished our tour and found the shuttle when the rain started, and on our way home before it got serious.
Time to move again.
Louise and Duane
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