Heritage Farmstead

Nicholas and I had a great adventure this morning. We went to Heritage Farmstead in Plano for their Fridays at the Farmstead series which is an educational program for preschoolers. Today's program was about Native American Indians prior to 1900 and it was taught by Lynda Morley. It began with a brief explanation of a Native American Wickiup which was a type of dweilling used by Indians. It was constructed with large sticks pulled together and tied with strands of yucca. The outside of the wickiup was covered with bundles of grass, branches, or leaves. In cold weather an opening was left in the top of the hut so smoke could escape from the fire. The instructor and all the children sat in a circle inside a simulated Wickiup-type structure (made with modern day chicken wire!). The instructor talked about life as an Indian back then. She talked about the way of life, school, the food they ate, etc. She let the children touch a piece of rabbit fur. She also gave each child some seeds to take home of plants that the Indians would have grown.



Nicholas later found some berries on a tree and said, "Look Mommy! These are berries like the Indians ate!" I was glad that he had learned that but I also had to remind him not to eat the berries since we didn't know if they might make us sick.



Next we went over to the Children's Garden. Each child got to pick a pepper (not hot ones!).



Ms. Morley explained that a staple among Indians was what they called the Three Sisters Plants - corn, beans, and squash. They would grow them together in such a way that the corn stalks provided a structure on which the bean vines would grow and the squash planted below would keep weeds from taking over. We got to see the actual Three Sisters plants in the garden. The corn was done for the season so it is the brown leaves you see but the stalks were still stong enough to hold the bean vines and we saw the squash growing on the ground. What an efficient way to grow three types of produce in a small space!



Next the children were taught how to tie down the corn stalks. This is the procedure the Indians would have used at the end of the corn growing season to help prepare the garden for clean up. Nicholas did his part to help. First, he bent the old corn stalk in half. Then he tied the two pieces of stalk together with a strip of fabric.





The next thing I know, Nicholas found a shovel from somewhere and he started digging in the ground. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I'm growing wheat!"



Next we moved into the barn to work on some incredible arts and crafts activites that were planned for us. Our instructor showed us the first craft which was making our own Three Sisters plants from a straw and pieces of construction paper that were already cut out for us. Cool!



Nicholas enjoyed making a vest like the Indians might have worn. It was cut out from a paper bag and he decorated it with crayons, glued feathers on it, and even cut some fringe along the bottom of it.



The next craft was to make an Indian pouch. We started with the main piece of the pouch already cut out from a manilla folder. Nicholas punched holes along the sides of the pouch and decorated it.





Then he used some twine to thread through the holes to hold the sides of the pouch closed and to form the strap to put it on his shoulder.





We had a great time on our first visit to Heritage Farmstead. We're definitely going back!