Guy Fawkes, hand turkeys, and sheep

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot.

That's right, Guy Fawkes Day was this week.  As crazy Anglophiles we dressed Bennett in his Spurs shirt and Union Flag arm/leg warmers.  Bennett apparently liked the arm warmers so much that he wanted to wear them again on Friday.

Saturday was the first skating class of the session but we missed it for our weekly OSV trip.  Yeah, I know what you're thinking, but we really wanted to be there on Saturday right when they opened.

The reason?  They were butchering a sheep and it had been suggested to us that we should plan to get there right when they opened.  More on this later, after the warning.

Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry came along as well.  This worked out well to have a couple of extra people to help keep an eye on Bennett, especially when things were going kind of slowly.

Since things were going a little slowly we went back and forth from the farm a few times.  Plus it was cold so we needed mulled cider to warm up.

When we stopped in the tin shop we were talking with Phil about how almost daily Bennett shoots his "musket" and how the other day he was saying that he'd forgotten his powder and his earplugs.  When we asked him where they were, he said they were in the tinshop.  Phil also gave Bennett a  musket ball.

Another fun moment was when Dave started to fill the woodbin.  Bennett asked if he could help.  Sure! Dave then had to go and do something else, but when he got back Bennett made sure to tell him that he's filled the woodbin.

On Sunday we went to Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry's house for a brunch and hand turkey craft party.  Bennett had so much fun cutting paper that he wanted to do more after his nap.

His finished hand turkey.

In other news, here's a friendly reminder (and doing my wifely duty) to remind you of Chris' Etsy shop.
Now is the time of year where he sells lots and lots of his Nativity Advent Calendars.  I know, it's crazy early to be thinking about Christmas, but if Santa can be at the mall already I guess it's not too early.

In years past he hasn't been able to keep up with the demand for them.  This year he worked a bit harder to have more of an inventory.  Only time will tell if it's enough.  What I find exciting is that I've been able to find lots of these pinned on Pinterest!

If this particular puzzle isn't of interest to you, he has lots of other designs available in his shop, plus even more that aren't listed.  And if you are local, his work (including puzzles, ornaments, and pens) is available for purchase at Sign of the Dove Gallery in Newton at The Mall at Chestnut Hill.

In other shopping news, I’m having a thirty-one catalog party, open until the 22nd.  If interested, you can peruse and order online at https://www.mythirtyone.com/beckythackston.  Go to “My Parties” and then select my name. 

The special for November is a limited edition Medium Utility Tote for only $7 (with $35 purchase).  It’s also available at the regular price for $30.

There are lots of great items for organizing your home, car, etc or plenty of items that would be great hostess/teacher/whomever gifts.

Also, if you would be so inclined to click on the ads on this site it would earn me a few pennies.  Not a lot, but every little bit helps, right?  And I'm not kidding about it only being a little.  Last month there were 6 clicks which earned a whopping $2.05.  Only you have to earn $100 before they will send you a check.  Hmm, this could take a while.  :)

And now for pictures of the sheep.

Here's my warning for Mel and other people who are squeamish that you may want to stop reading.  These are a bit more gruesome than last week's turkey photos.
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THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING!
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Sturbridge opens at 9:30.  Just before they opened they shot the sheep.  We were there right when they opened and headed straight back to the farm.  When we got there the sheep was lying on the table.  They then sliced the skin on one of the legs and hung the sheep up to better be able to work on it.  

We were the only ones there (other than the interpreters) for at least a half hour, but it was nice because Bennett was able to run around a bit to check on the other animals, see what was going on inside the farmhouse (not much), etc.  Lots of back and forth running.  Also most of the people working know us as regulars so they knew that Bennett would be ok.  Plus if he went into the farmhouse we were usually right behind him.

As you can see below, Dave is taking some notes about the process.  Since this type of event doesn't happen very often it becomes an educational experience for all of the staff as well.

It was taking a while to remove the skin so we went to get warm drinks and visit some of the other buildings.  When we came back it had been skinned and the organs had been removed.  Victoria asked Bennett if he wanted to see the organs, mentioning that they were similar to the turkey he'd seen the week before.  Dave is working here on the heart and lights (lungs).  The other useful organs are in the pan.

Here it is about to be brought inside. 

Inside Victoria starts by removing the "hams".  Apparently this is the name of this cut of meat- the legs.  She had to ask one of the guys to come in with an axe to help break it apart.

And that's all the butchering pictures I've got.  We went away for lunch and when we came back it was pretty much all cut apart.  They cooked up the loins right then, but the rest was going to be saved for other cooking presentations.

Ultimately a sheep is pretty small.  The amount of meat would only be enough for 3-4 meals.

It was interesting being there for so long and hearing different parts of the process and also learning about Victoria's transformation from a vegan PETA member to the head of the butchering program.

Pumpkins, Halloween, turkeys, and Marlborough Pudding

In preparation for Halloween we carved a pumpkin.  Bennett had absolutely no squeamishness about sticking his hand in to remove the pumpkin guts.

And here's the final pumpkin. Despite what you might think, that's not a raised eyebrow.  That's an eye and what's under it is a nose.

On Halloween we went to Nana's.  After dinner Bennett got into his costume and helped pass out a couple of pieced of candy before we went out.

Most people didn't know what he was (numerous cow and dog guesses) but they all thought he was cute- especially when he turned around and they saw his tail.  He also had a bit of trouble with walking up and down steps and was a bit overwhelmed when there were lots of crowds of other kids.  But overall he did great and Mummy and Daddy got lots of good candy.  :)

The big excitement for the weekend was our weekly trip to OSV on Sunday.

A few weeks ago we had asked what the butchering schedule was and Sunday it was going to be a turkey.  I'll go into more detail about this later so you can skip it if you wish.

Other things that happened:

• Dave mentioned that he liked Bennett's costume
• As we were leaving the Farmhouse we overheard one interpreter (Rob?) asked Victoria, "was that the boy who dressed up as Doc?"  Which then led us to wonder, when she shared the picture with people, how did she preface it?  "You know that crazy family who comes here every week?"  What adjective did she use to describe us?
• I mentioned to Victoria that we were planning to do a Thanksgiving meal of just pies.  (For all extended family members reading this, we will be in NJ on the 28th, but doing Piesgiving [the name Chris and I have now come up with for a Thanksgiving of Pies] on the 30th.)  She said we should do pork and apple pie, to which I responded that I would be having my brother make that one.  And then she said I should make Marlborough Pudding.  I asked for the recipe.  She had Dave get the receipt for her and then I had her translate it for me.  At the end, she asked, "you have my contact information, right?"  Um, nope.  So now I have her email address for any culinary questions.
• We learned some interesting Turkey trivia.  For starters, there's no such thing as a "wild" turkey.  They were all hunted to the point of extinction.  So in the 50s or 60s domesticated turkeys were introduced back into the wild.  So any turkey you see is a descendent of those.  Also, historic breeds don't have much breast meat.  To get the large turkeys that you find at the grocery store, they have so much breast meat that they are unable to mate.  So all of those birds are the result of artificial insemination.
• After we finished up at the Farm we stopped at the blacksmith shop where Chris taught the smith about sap wood.  
• One of our final stops of the day was at the tinshop.  Phil invited Bennett back to get a better look at what he was doing, and then he had Bennett help pull the lever to crimp the edge of the tin for the lantern.

And that pretty much wraps up what happened at Sturbridge, except for the details on the turkey which are below.

But Bennett must have had a good time, because that evening he started playing "Sturbridge".  First he got in his "car" and drove there.  Then he shot a musket and baked a pie.

Daddy: What are you making?
Bennett:  Apple pie.  Not apple sauce.
Daddy: What did you put in it?
Bennett: Cookies

And speaking of pies and Marlborough Pudding, I decided to give it a whirl.  It needs some tweaking, but it was very yummy.  I later found the recipe on OSV's site, which includes some changes I was thinking were needed.  Chris even liked it so much that he said I should make it for real Thanksgiving in addition to Piesgiving.  One of the ingredients in Marlborough Pudding is applesauce, which is likely why Bennett mentioned it for the pie that he was making.

Now I'm going to warn Mel and other people who are squeamish that you may want to stop reading.   The pictures really aren't that bad, but there is a video that might freak you out.  We personally found it highly entertaining, but we're a little strange.
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THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING!
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The first thing we saw as we approached the barnyard was Victoria walking up the road carrying the turkey.  She had the job of holding the turkey while Dave wielded the axe, so she ended up with some blood on her apron and dress while the turkey had flailed a bit. 

The turkey got to "take a bath".  About a minute in the warm water loosens up the pores which allows the feathers to come out more easily.  The water was too warm at first and would have started to cook the bird, so she removed some and added some cold water.  Eventually it was the right temperature.

Then came the task of removing the feathers.  They were separated into two baskets- wing feathers and all the rest.  The good wing feathers would be saved for quills and the other feathers would be washed and used for mattress stuffing, etc.

After all of the feathers had been removed, the turkey was brought inside to be gutted.  First they removed the feet, and then Victoria removed the organs.  As you can see, Bennett wasn't the least bit disturbed by any of this.

I don't have a picture of it, but when she was done Victoria had laid out all of the organs.  She also cut open the stomach so that we could see inside.  It was full of grass, rocks, and even a bug.

And remember that video I mentioned?  She had a little too much fun (especially considering she's a self proclaimed former PETA kid who cried when the turkey was killed) pulling on the tendon to make it wave/dance.  She also allowed the kids to do this if they wanted.  Bennett declined.

So that sums up our visit.  She kept hinting that we would be doing this to our own turkey.  I think I would be ok with some parts of the process but not others.  Next week they butcher a sheep!

The non-Halloween parts of our week

Most of last week was prep for Halloween, and as you may have seen, there was a separtate post about that.  But this is the rest of what happened last week.

One morning Bennett and I had a conversation in the car about whether or not Doc and Blue (and Lance and Henry) eat manglewurzels.  I was pretty impressed because he picked up this new word on the first try.

And continuing with Bennett in the car, here's a couple of pictures of him looking extremely grown up this week.  Maybe it's the longer hair and the sweaters, but he just looks so much older to us all of a sudden.

 

And then on Sunday we went to Secret Lake to celebrate the various fall birthdays.

The first thing Bennett did when we got there was climb on Rosalind.  (Named after the Rosalind mentioned in Romeo and Juliet.)

Then we went outside for a walk and Grandpa had Bennett climb a big rock.

We later went for another walk and encountered a tree that had been partially cut down by a beaver.  We tried to get Bennett to pretend to be a beaver, but he wasn't interested.

Here we are enjoying our Fall birthday pumpkin cinnamon rolls.  (There were 5 of us with birthdays in Sep-Nov.)

And that sums up the rest of our week.

Evolution of a Halloween Costume

This past week was pretty much all about getting ready for Halloween.

Here's what I was making.  Meet Doc (and his teammate, Blue).

Cutting out the fabric took longer than anticipated so at first I was feeling a little stressed about getting the costume done in time.  But once I got sewing, it went together pretty quickly.

SUNDAY
Realized that for the suggested layout of the pattern pieces, I couldn't have the fabric folded in half.  Ugh.  Cutting out fabric is tedious!

MONDAY
Finished cutting everything out, and after night one of sewing I had this:

TUESDAY
The next night, after we got home from work/school, I had Bennett try it on so that I could mark the hems.  He was so excited that there was a tail!

That same evening, while Chris worked on making dinner, I started working on the head covering.  It's a good thing that I did this while Bennett was awake, because I had to do a couple of adjustments to get it to fit right.  After he went to bed, I finished putting it together and got this:

At which point, I figured I might as well try putting some paint on it.

WEDNESDAY

The  next evening I had Bennett try the whole thing on, including the mittens and foot coverings.  He was excited to see that his head covering (hood? hat?) had "corns".

And then Daddy did a test fit of the yoke. (One must be on all fours like an ox for this part, right?)

After Bennett went to bed I stuffed the costume with bubble wrap and taped it to the drop cloth on my floor so that I could better visualize how it would stand on all fours so that I could get the rest of the paint done. And then every time I walked past my craft room I thought there was something in there. 

I also decided to give my old stage makeup a try.   It didn't go as well as I would have liked.  Maybe because it's about 17 years old?  I also didn't have the best of luck taking it off, so decided it wouldn't work for Bennett.  Instead I turned to Amazon and ordered some face paint.  Yay for Prime shipping!

THURSDAY
Not too much left to do.  I had decided that the mittens I made probably wouldn't be the best, so ran to Target in search of black mittens.  Easier said than done.  So many black mittens have other color on them as well.  I did find some "ski mittens" which have the long arm gaiters.  Tried them on Bennett and he declared them "too big".  Checked at home and found that we did in fact have a couple of other pairs that might work, but Bennett wasn't a big fan of either of them.  Maybe if he's cold enough he'll give in and wear them?

After Bennett went to bed I added some velcro to the hood to keep it on and Chris also did a little more work on the yoke.

FRIDAY
Face paint arrived!  I had it shipped to my work address and the box was sitting on my desk when I walked in.

And then after work/school, we went to Sturbridge for their "Treats & Tricks" event.  Unfortunately we weren't able to attend.  (Hurumph.)  It was a free eent this year and there were too many people trying to attend.  We had left work early to try to beat some of the traffic, but we ended up spending over an hour and a half to drive two miles.  We arrived right at 8 when the event ended.  What was frustrating about it was that the way the roads are in that area, there's really no way to give up and turn around- we were stuck.

SATURDAY
We decided that Bennett should go in costume for our weekly visit.

I'm inclined to say that most people didn't recognize him at first.  Maybe some did?  But after hearing that he was Doc, they then agreed that yes, he did look like Doc.  One of the interpreters was very excited to see that his back was in fact painted like a Randall Lineback. 

Here's mini Doc with the real Doc and Blue behind him.

We tried to get him to work at the cider mill, but he knew Henry was supposed to do it.  (You can see Henry waiting to get hooked up in the next picture.)  Daddy tried to show Bennett how it was done, but he wanted nothing to do with it.

We made our way down to the farm and Victoria loved the costume.  Bennett walked in first and I could tell that she was looking at him trying to figure it out.  And she did!  (Maybe it helped that last week I had mentioned he would be either Doc or Blue?)  But what was even better was when she pulled out her phone and handed it to me so that we could get a picture of him for her so that she could share it with Dave. 

If Dave had been working we likely would have asked him if it would be possible to get a picture of Bennett with the real Doc, but we didn't feel comfortable asking that of any of the others.  Instead we lifted Bennett over a fence to get pictures of him in a field.  We asked him to get down on all fours, but he didn't want to do that.

And here are a couple other pictures from our visit.

And where's the yoke, you ask?  Since it was made from a garden hose Chris tried painting it.  But the paint remained tacky, so we had to skip using it.  Maybe we'll have it ready for Halloween?