Wednesday, April 22, 2009

William Baffin Rose and Maggie



This was one of my very first posts. I've always liked it...so here it is again!

The Cistern!!


In an earlier post, I spoke of the details in our home and how much I enjoy them. I am constantly amazed at how things were done by the first owners. No detail was too small, no short cuts were taken.

Well...we recently discovered a detail from the early history of our house that we didn't know existed! On the Saturday before Easter, my husband went outside to run new wiring out to the garage...and he uncovered a mystery space right along the foundation of the house in the back yard. He came across a couple of bricks as he was working with his shovel, and when he removed them he found a 6-inch hole...an entrance into an empty space that, when lit by a flashlight, we could see was enclosed by four poured concrete walls! More digging revealed that the dimensions of the concrete "room" was about 3 feet by 9 feet, though a wall prevented us from seeing what was beyond the 3 foot square chamber that we were looking into.

A mystery!! We immediately began looking much more closely at our basement walls, and discovered that we have an old cistern in the corner of the cellar, though we've always referred to it as "the coal room". At some point a door was cut into one of the walls and coal was stored there for many years. We still find bits of coal in all the crevices. It is a great storage space! Well, it just so happens that this cistern is on the opposite side of the wall from our concrete box!!

Last weekend, my husband rented a jack hammer and broke open the hole to reveal what was inside. What we have is a three-chamber filtration system for the cistern in the basement. Water was collected from the roof. The gutter pipe entered the first chamber where it would fill up, allowing dirt and debris to sink. From there the water would flow to the next chamber, where more dirt and debris would settle. Then, it would flow into the third chamber...again allowing dirt to fall away until it finally flowed though a pipe into the main cistern where it would be used by the family for cleaning. We also have a hand-pumped well by the back door, so it is unlikely that the family used the cistern for drinking water....I know I wouldn't!! It is a system that is similar to that used today in places where a cistern is necessary.

The open chamber is nearly filled in now. We will seal it off and a planting area will cover it after we install a new patio and seating area back there. And I don't think we'll be digging anymore holes anytime soon....after all, we don't know where the septic tank is!!

Take a look at the following photos:
Here is the hole that was originally discovered. Just imagine how surprised we were when we stuck a flashlight in and found a poured concrete wall extended out away from the house!

This photo was taken looking through the hole in the first chamber to the second chamber. You can see the hole in the second chamber leading into the third one. Pretty neat!!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

It's All In The Details...

I just love old houses!! Especially the one we are lucky enough to live in! Our home contains many beautiful features that I enjoy living with everyday, but my favorite detail put in by the original owner is the leaded glass window shown above.

The first time we walked through this house that would one day be ours, the windows in the dining room were covered by curtains. On the day we moved in we were so surprised to find this beautiful feature...and even more surprised when the sun began to dip down in the western sky that evening. As the late-day sun shown through the window, little rainbows reflected onto the walls through the prismatic bevels of the glass diamonds. You can measure the seasons by their height and the time of day they appear.

Details matter! Look around the site for other photos from the house.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Bring Back the Victory Garden!!

My grand-parents planted a Victory Garden in their back yard. During the World Wars the goverment encouraged citizens to grow and preserve their own food...a lesson in self-sufficiency that they passed on to my mother, who spent many days throughout the summer canning the bounty of our huge vegetable garden.

With our economy in the state it is in, I think the Victory Garden should be revived!! Learn to grow your own foods... to create better quality products for your family. Take pride in your ability to be a little more self-sufficient! Gardening can not only help save on your grocery bill, but it can also be very relaxing and fun.

Visit the following website for more information on creating your own Victory Garden.

http://www.revivevictorygarden.org/

I can't wait to buy seeds!!
A Quote From My Latest Recommended Read:

"When my generation of women walked away from the kitchen we were escorted down that path by a profiteering industry that knew a tired, vulnerable marketing target when they saw it. "Hey ladies," it said to us, "go ahead, get liberated.
We'll take care of dinner." They threw open the door and we walked into a nutritional crisis and genuinely toxic food supply......We came a long way, baby, into bad eating habits and collaterally impaired family dynamics. No matter what else we do or believe, food remains at the center of every culture. Ours now runs on empty calories."

- Barbara Kingsolver
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle