Poppies

4. Milk House

Follow the path to your left, through the shade of an old tree-filled stream bank. Take a right to the stone milk house on your right. » Map

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The milk house was a cool place to store dairy products in an era before refrigeration. Thick stone walls helped maintain an even temperature year-round while breezes blowing through wet burlap over the windows provided additional cooling in summer.

Highly perishable milk required immediate storage, but a wide variety of other foods were processed and stored in milk houses as well, increasing year-round access to seasonal foods, such as fruits and vegetables. Bountiful summer harvests from the orchards and gardens were quickly canned, pickled in brine, or dried on a hot tin roof before storing. Which of the foods stored inside look yummiest to you?

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Historical poster - Waste Not Want Not, prepare for winter by making preserves

Next Page: Stop 5: Cook's House »

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