Research Is Fun!
Author Update
Researching farming for Heartstrings has been fun this past month. I’m a city girl who’s always dreamed of living on a farm, or at least a little homestead., so I had a lot to learn. First, I listed all the crops a dairy farm would need for their animals: alfalfa, barley, and oats. In 1893, they had horses, not modern tractors, which led to HOW, how often, and when these crops were harvested. Very interesting stuff!
One thing that warmed my heart was the way the community worked together. Because the steam-powered thresher was so expensive, few farmers owned one. Everyone in a small town hired one of them to come by after they’d used the horse-drawn McCormick Reaper to cut it and put it in windrows to dry. I found a short video with some older men who remembered what it was like. Check it out.
They grew other foods to eat, preserve, and sell. That would include garden produce, apples, cherries, walnuts, and maple syrup.
Then I learned about how banks recovered from The Panic of 1893. Not all of them did. There was no federal regulation of banks, at the time. No FDIC to help. But there were key things some banks did to survive. I picked two of them for Heartstrings.
Almost finished with the FIRST DRAFT.
New Release - A Journey (Emeline series, book one) illustrated edition
Softcover copies of A Journey are IN STOCK. If you’d like a copy, please visit My Shop. I would love to have you give it a review on Amazon. I’m working on getting up up there, but it may be another week.
If you’d rather have an ebook, let me know. I’ll be promoting it for free for two weeks. Please share with your friends. Thank you so much.
Chickadee Cheer August Giveaway
Congratulations, Pris! You have won a $15 discount any books (print or digital) in My Shop. I know you’ll find something there you’ll enjoy. Thank you for subscribing and reading Chickadee Cheer.
New Image from my Illustrator: Claudia Gadotti
Buying a cow and two pups.