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Read my poem, Healing on a Prairie, in Words-Myth, an online poetry journal.
Thanks to all who have helped out with my book so far! It's great to have critique partners, experts, and of course supportive family and friends to keep my momentum up.
Part of my research includes interviewing current residents of the Camas Prairie. I'm learning a lot about the old days, and have even started baking sourdough bread. Hey, good bread is expensive! I'm amazed that 19th-century women made it in ovens they had to fuel with wood. Hardwood or soft? It depended on what you were baking. When was the oven hot enough? Stick your hand in and count the seconds it takes your hand to feel unbearably hot. It was another world, almost.
My interview with pioneer-descendant Clarice Moody Frostenson will appear in the Camas Courier this Wednesday, after which I'll post it here. Thanks for reading!
2 comments:
Your poem is moving and memory-inducing. Reminds me of my year in Oregon. And hey, where did those pioneer women GET their firewood? I've seen where you live. If they had to haul it down from the mountains, too...well, you know what I'm talking about!
Well, the Ballard ancestors were in the foothills along Soldier Creek at the Ballard Sawmill. It would be easy for Nancy Permelia and her daughters and daughters-in-law to find wood for the bake oven. In town, there were willows along the creek at least. Maybe some people made a living selling firewood.
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