Improvements to the Homestead

O.K., not 'our' homestead! Still, we had a beautiful time last week as we took a stroll through one of our area's best attractions... The old Dudley Farm homestead. This farm is a pre-Civil War era farm that acted as a depot of sorts for travelers through the interior of north central Florida in the days when the Seminole tribe was still active in these parts. The heyday of the farm wasn't until much later, but the ground work for it's place in Florida history was laid by the hard work and ingenuity of some real hardscrabble folk who built quite a homestead! This place became the life-line for many people as it was on the 'main road' through the interior. Below is a picture of my wife and some of the children approaching the outskirts of the farm on that 'main road'. On the left you can see the side of the tobacco barn. This, along with sugar cane syrup, was the main cash crop of the time and area. In a later post I will show a few shots of the interior of the barn and some of the implements that they used in the harvesting and storage of the crop.
Following are some random pictures from around the homestead. There was so much to do and see that we are going back for another tour soon. Many great ideas for simple living can be found here. We were struck with the amount of labor that must have gone into the production and maintenance of such a life. Every detail was important for us. For instance, below is a simple photo of a small bird bath that has a little water bucket beside it along with a gourd water dipper. While we are guessing that the bird bath itself may be from a slightly later time, (seems to be concrete), the interior bowl is an old cast iron. And that little bucket and gourd were from the original farm. Imagine the effort that it took to hand cut each board and plane them to the proper thickness, before joining them to form a bucket! Perhaps, you don't have much experience with wood working and can't imagine what this process entails. Let me briefly explain.....h-a-r-d work! While the original bucket maker probably looked on this simple feat as normal and not an entirely extraordinary skill to possess, it is good to remember that this was before the days of 'homestead skills class' and internet portals. I will try and post a few pics of the actual 'machine' that they used to make these little necessities. And that cute little dipper... they have many like it scattered on the ground in the sun next to the garden where that gourd grew. They first turn the soil with a spade and hoe, then plant the little seed and wait. After disease, drought, pests and nature have done their damage, they would collect any left overs and cure them in the sun before carving them into useful implements...like this one. A simple water bucket and dipper= many hours of hard labor, busted knuckles, and sweat. Don't forget that iron band around the bucket. They made that here also!

Here is one of my favorite things on the farm. It is a little garden cellar. Right here in Florida! This is something that used to be common in this area when I was a boy, but now everyone says that it is impossible to root cellar in our climate. They should have told the Dudley family that before they dug up all those rocks and hauled them all the way over to this spot in the front yard. The temp was noticeably cooler inside.

This is a poor shot of one of the bedrooms inside the main house. It is a 2 story place that is packed with a small parlor and five bedrooms like this one. Note the bed in the middle of the room. They raised a family of 14 in this beautiful home. No bathroom, no kitchen, no dining area. Just bedrooms and a small parlor. Very efficient. The kitchen and privy are out back. I imagine that this was a good arrangement come August in Florida.


Here is a simple shot of the front yard and the kitchen garden. This is not the main vegetable garden, but is the spot where sweet smelling roses and herbs are grown and harvested for medicinal and culinary uses. I miss the times of my childhood when I could walk down to one of the neighbors and find this exact same set-up in their yards! You will never see a kitchen garden in Florida now, but I had 3 neighbors within walking distance that had them. Complete with the little stone potting/cooling shed. We hope to pick up this small idea here in our family. Imagine a cup of rose hip tea from just outside your front door!

This is the final shot today. The small parlor. The fireplace is a pass through that opens to the master bedroom ( where all 12 children were born) on the other side. I don't know much about the religious quality of the Dudley family, but one can imagine that there may have been more than a few times when sitting next to the hearth, Father Dudley might have opened a few lines of holy scripture to his family as they faced some trial or obstacle of their day. Or perhaps, they were more consistent than the average 'on fire' family of today and they actually had a daily reading of the Word here in this place as they lived daily life, complete with it's problems and praises. I would like to think that it was a daily part of existence here. I hope it is wherever you are.