Several demonstrators were on hand Saturday to give the crowd at New Bethel School's Old-Time Craft Festival a glimpse into the past.
Karen Almeter, director of the New Bethel School Preservation Association, said the event was partly a fundraiser, because money was being raised to replace the school's porch and steps. However, she said, the event was primarily educational.
"Primarily it's to teach people how we lived 100 years ago, before electricity," she said.
Almeter was putting on a spinning demonstration. She used a spinning wheel to spin wool into yarn. She said she took a couple of classes to learn how to do it, one through Fiber Daze at Crowder College.
"It was just something I was always fascinated by," she said. "I have sheep, and so I spin my own wool."
She said sheep have to be sheared once a year, then debris has to be picked out of the wool by hand. The cleaned wool has to be washed and air dried and carded (brushed).
"It's a lot of work, but it's enjoyable," she said.
Robert Bechdolt of Neosho, owner of The Blacksmith Shop, was doing a blacksmithing demonstration, along with a few other blacksmiths. He said he has been a blacksmith his whole life.
"My father was a horseshoer in the Army, and I grew up with it. I'm ninth generation. I'm 63 years old now, and I've been doing it ever since I was seven or eight years old. All these folks here, I got them started blacksmithing."
Bechdolt drives for Nutrablend out of Neosho, but when he turns 65 in 2018 he will be doing nothing but blacksmithing, he said. He worked at Silver Dollar City for six months, he said. He makes decorative items, knives, horseshoes and doorknockers.
"We do use basic tools -- forge and anvil. Most of our tools we make ourselves because that's what a blacksmith does," he said.
Rebecca Fritzler of Anderson was working a butter churn. She let passers-by try some of the butter from the churn.
"It's hard," she said. "You've got to have air circulation and rapid movement."
Tonja Schlessman added, "The stuff left over is buttermilk."
Ginger Hayes of Goodman was doing a washboard laundry demonstration.
"In a setup like this you figure out you need a lot of water," she said. "The pump is over there. It took four buckets of water to fill up the wash tubs. Washing on the washboard is the best way ever to get jeans clean. These jeans were really impacted dirty on the knees and they're not anymore."
She found a dirty spot, rubbed some soap on and scrubbed it on the washboard. When she was satisfied the jeans were clean. She got Leanna Schlessman to help her wring them out and hang them on a clothes line from a nearby tree.
"If you were in the prairie and you didn't have a tree, you'd just lay them out in the grass to dry," she said.
Erlene Gideon of Stella demonstrated quilt making and let children try their hand at stitching a quilt top. Some of her quilts were on display.
"I started at a very young age. My mother taught me. Then I didn't quilt while I was raising my family," she said. "Then I started again about 20 years ago. It's a quiet time. A time to think of all my blessings. It's just a relaxing time for me. I love to do this kind of thing."
General News on 10/19/2017