Prairie Pioneer
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Prairie Pioneer
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About The SiteThis site is intended to bring a little of the past back and share it with others who are interested in (or even remember a bit of) how things were done back in the day. It also may be of interest to people in the real or slow food movements as there are many hearty, make your own comfort food recipes. The recipes are both old and new as are the stories, photos and happenings around where I live. I have been collecting recipes for years from friends, family and newspapers and finally had the idea of what to do with them – compile and share them. Also, I hadn’t realized that I had so many stories, pictures and items around the property that people would be interested in until I started to compile them.
Check out the Recipes sections, you may find an old recipe that your mother or grandmother used to make or you may just find it interesting how food preparation and storage was so hard and time consuming – and there was no daycare or electric washing machines back then either!
Also check out the Scratch / Make Your Own section - you may find the odd helpful hint, get an idea of how to save a bit on your own food bill or just find out how to make food that doesn’t come out of a box or plastic package. Check out what’s on the Back ’40 to find out about the happenings around my place and the surrounding area. There’s always something happening - whether it be another moose sighting, a pair of crazy mallard ducks moving into my yard or just a picture of something old or interesting that I’ve discovered on a trek around the countryside or even in my basement or backyard. As for the ducks, there are other places for them to be - I have a large slough close by and there is a Ducks Unlimited habitat area /pond only a mile away.
This site reflects my lifestyle, a DIY (as I found out recently, this means do-it-yourself) / make-my-own almost anything or I’ll-try-it type of existence on the prairie in central Saskatchewan. I enjoy knowing what is in most of the food I eat and how it was grown or raised. It also saves me a lot of money at the grocery store. I garden, buy local ingredients, hunt, fish, cook, make my own preserves, have 3 deep freezers and bake. I love foraging for wild fruit and mushrooms in season, which are getting scarce but still exist if you know where to look. This site also incorporates recipes and stories from my grandparents and friends including an old cowboy friend of mine and his ancestors from the U.S.A., a hunter / trapper friend who is always entertaining as well as other interesting characters I have come across in my lifetime.
My heritage is, well let’s just say I am a true “Heinz 57”. My ancestors were from Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, English, Irish, Doukhobour, and who knows where else. And I live in a predominantly Ukrainian area, thus obviously know how to make cabbage rolls and can make a pretty mean pyrohy (perogie). Let’s just say I’m a true Canadian.
So, join me on this new venture. I have never had a website and can obviously use a computer but would not even be on the net if it wasn’t for a computer whiz in a neighboring town, so thanks Gary. And keep checking back because I have lots more recipes and stories to share with you. See you again soon! LifestyleWelcome! I am so excited to share my website with you. It’s about old-style, real, homemade food. It reflects the days when people raised, grew or made nearly everything they ate except for sugar, coffee, tobacco and other staples. You knew what was in the food you ate and how it was grown or raised. You could pronounce every ingredient but it may have taken you all day to prepare it. Preserving food meant you wouldn’t go hungry in the winter.
Remember when your grandma made a favorite traditional family recipe just for you? My grandparents were pioneers and were born close to the turn of the last century. Both are gone now as are many other old friends. I was determined not to lose their memory or their old recipes, cooking methods, style of preparing and making old fashioned food and some of the old-style ingredients - which are coming back these days promoted as healthy foods - oatmeal, dried fruits, wild berries such as currants, raspberries, saskatoons, etc. By the way, there are fruit growers on the prairies nowadays and many are available year-round.
So, I thought I’d write these old recipes down. Then I thought I might as well share them. So I hope you enjoy this site. Wow, old vs. new - imagine the old timers when they wrote their recipes down (lots of them in their own hand and some even from a back in the 1800’s); could they ever have imagined their recipes being on a website for anyone in the world to see (let alone in their own township)? Back then I’m sure they couldn’t have even imagined computers or a world wide web!
My lifestyle is reflected in this site. I grow, preserve and make a lot of my own food. I’ve grown a large garden for over 20 years so I had to learn how to can to preserve the fruits of my labor. I pick wild berries and mushrooms and sometimes even drink wild tea. I buy local meat, eggs and honey. If you ever try local fresh eggs, honey, meat or produce you won’t go back to the grocery store for them either…. I collected many of these old-style and homemade recipes sometimes just for fun but sometimes out of necessity, as I live in a rural area and can’t imagine driving 10 miles one way for one item. Sometimes I don’t even have a choice if it’s in the evening or on a weekend as the stores aren’t open.
Whether you are into the slow and/or real food movement, have concerns about food safety or what is in the food you eat, have food allergies or sensitivities, just want to save a buck – especially with recent rising food costs or just feel downright nostalgic, then this site is for you!
I’ll continue to update the site with new information on a regular basis so keep checking back! I have lots more recipes, stories and photos to share. Take a look around this site. You’ll find recipes for old-style food, Pioneer / Trail recipes, newer style homemade foods and stories and old photos. You might find an interesting fact or tidbit or find a tip or helpful hint that may save you some time or money. Check out what’s been happening On the back ‘40 (my farmyard and surrounding area) and also check out Bev’s Corner to see what my friend, a wonderful cook and baker has to offer you this week.
If you have feedback about this site, have a question or concern or are looking for a specific recipe that we haven’t shared, feel free to contact me and let me know. Just go to the Contacts or Feedback sections and follow the instructions. Thank you.
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This
is a picture of my grandfather, mother and aunt around 1953 (I guess that's
telling, but oh well).
This
is the old farmhouse I live in. My grandparents lived here most of their life.
Of course, it doesn't look like this now as construction was completed in 1954.
There's always something in need of repair of replacement but it's been a good
sturdy old place, built mainly of fir wood.