Here are some views of Malone from about the time Almanzo lived there:
Here is a recipe for pink lemonadethat might have interested Almanzo.
Episode 29
Episode 28
Here are machines used to card wool.
How a carding machine works:
Companion planting benefits both corn and pumpkins when planted in the same place.
Episode 27
Katie McRose can shear a sheep in under 2 minutes.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/laurenstrapagiel/right-choice-shearing-tiktok
Here are pictures of sheep being shorn with electric razors.
Here are some merino sheep. Do you see the wrinkles indicative of their breed?
And here is a picture of Chris the sheep.
Episode 26
James Wilder – and later Almanzo – specialized in raising Morgan horses.
Buyers check the horses’ age by carefully inspecting its teeth.
Here is a sponge starter recipe, not unlike what Angeline Wilder would have used.
Episode 25
Nick Brown discusses horse buyers in Saranac, NY, with Almanzo’s father.
(photo credit: TownOfSaranac.com)
Nick Brown drove a peddler’s cart.
(photo credit: NY Historical Society Museum and Library)
Episode 24
Almanzo only lived about 20 miles from the St. Lawrence River, the “silver streak at the edge of the sky.”
Almanzo was probably chasing a five-lined skink, which lives in upstate New York.
Episode 23
Almanzo ate winterberries that he found on the south side of trees. Alice wanted to eat some too!
The cellar needed to be painted with whitewash as part of spring cleaning.
Episode 22
Father cut some moosewood boughs.
“Gee” and “haw” are important commands to learn when breaking in a team.
Almanzo used an auger to make a hole in his sled’s crossbar.
Episode 21
Father brushed and curried the driving horses.
Father wore a stock tie, like Thomas Jefferson does in this picture:
Uncle Wesley owned a potato starch mill. You can make your own at home.
Episode 20
Almanzo’s mother made donuts that were twisted instead of round and less sweet than their modern equivalents.
Here is a video for making lye soap like Almanzo would have used.