A year ago this September our family took a vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Aside from the spectacular views and amazing landscape we were fascinated by the old grist mills we visited in Cades Cove and Mingus Mills. It’s astounding and very humbling to think that there was a time in America’s history when mills and streams were vital to the livelihood and survival of our ancestors. These structures, though hundreds of years old, represent hard work, community, trade, and conservation. Often they were the place for social gatherings and picnics on the lawn.
After our visit last summer it is now hard for me to not look at a mill and be overcome by the story it has to tell. What an important place this must have been to those who came before us.
This month we will be taking a look at some of the aspects of the grist mill and how they operate. Included in this bundle are some video links to working grist mills: one that explains how wheat is transformed to flour and another that looks at the mechanical operation of George Washingtons Mill. I hope you catch the vision for this months focus of study and that through it you are richly rewarded with some wonderful conversations with your family.
Click Here To Download the September 2019 Morning Time Bundle
Music
The musical composition we will be studying this month is called The Watermill by Ronald Binge. The Watermill was composed in 1958. It gained popularity in the 1970’s when it was used as the theme song to the tv adaptation of Frances Hodgeson Burnett’s The Secret Garden.
Ronald Binge was a British composer of light music (music that is a less-serious form of Western classical music). During WWII he served in Royal Air Force, during which time he was relied upon for camp entertainment.
Poetry
While searching for a poem to study in September I never expected to find one I loved so well. The poem this month is called The Watermill and was written by Sarah Doudney who was only 15 years old when she wrote it. Doudney went on to write other poetry and hymns. Her hymn The Christians Good Night was sung at the funeral of Charles Spurgeon.
Listen to the water mill,
Through the livelong day;
How the clicking of the wheel
Wears the hours away.
Languidly the autumn wind
Stirs the withered leaves;
On the field the reapers sing,
Binding up the sheaves;
And a proverb haunts my mind,
And as a spell is cast,
” The mill will never grind
With the water that has passed”.Autumn winds revive no more
Leaves strewn o’er earth and main.
The sickle never more shall reap
The yellow, garnered grain;
And the rippling stream flows on
Tranquil, deep and still,
Never gliding back again
To the water mill.
Truly speaks the proverb old,
With a meaning vast:
” The mill will never grind
With the water that has passed. ”Take the lesson to thyself,
Loving heart and true;
Golden years are fleeting by,
Youth is passing, too.
Learn to make the most of life,
Lose no happy day!
Time will ne’er return again —
Sweet chances thrown away.
Leave no tender word unsaid,
But love while love shall last:
” The mill will never grind
With the water that has passed. ”Work, while yet the sun does shine,
Men of strength and will!
Never does the streamlet glide
Useless by the mill.
Wait not till tomorrow’s sun
Beams brightly on thy way;
All that thou canst call thine own
Lies in this word: ” Today! ”
Power, intellect and health
Will not always last:
” The mill will never grind
With the water that has passed. ” – Sarah Doudney
There are more stanzas to this poem. We are going to focus only on these 4. If you would like to see the remainder you can find it here.
Art
This month we will be studying an art piece by John Constable titled The Wheatfield. John Constable was born in England, in 1776, during the time of the American Revolution. Life was changing for Englishmen during that time period and they no longer wanted to see the world for what it was, but rather what it could be. John Constable was a landscape artist and the people at that time weren’t interested in what he had to offer. They wanted visions of wild landscapes and ruins. Even so Constable continued to press on doing what he loved.
I should paint my own places best. – John Constable
In his lifetime, Constable sold only 20 paintings in England, but in France he sold more than 20 in just a few years.
He loved the area in which he lived and is known principally for painting the area surrounding his home. The picture of this wheat field was chosen to help keep our attention on the grist mill and the wheat and cornmeal it provided.
Scripture
Imagine living in a time when bread was not just another item to add to your cart as you shopped your local market. There was a time when bread was the end product of months of plowing, tilling, sowing, praying, reaping, and milling.
Do we know what it means to hunger? How often do we take scripture for granted? How often is it’s meaning lost on us, because we do not know or have not experienced situations that bring it to life? This month let us truly think about and praise our Father for being the Bread of Life. Not only does he satisfy our material needs, and I believe He does, more importantly He satisfies our spiritual needs. We do not need to worry, we have no need to fear. With Him our hunger and thirst is quenched.
And Jesus said unto them, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” – John 6:35
Science
This month we will be using The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock to help aid us in a study of corn. I have listed a few suggestions for your study on the Science Card and the pages we will be using as a reference. If you have a chance, I also recommend visiting a local grist mill, to see how corn is ground into flour.
Craft
Our activities this month include making a homemade corn bread. To help us in our preparations we are first going to make a new apron. I loosely followed this tutorial, which is meant to be “no sew”, but adapted it to add hems and edges. For fun, we added simple hand stitched wheat embroidery. I drew out a rough draft of what I wanted the grain to look like and then did the embroidery by eye. If you would like a pattern, you can find one here.
These are the supplies I used for the apron:
My son has been very patient with me over the years and has participated in sewing when I have asked, but it isn’t something he is passionate about. One thing he does enjoy is woodworking. Last year we read The Diary of An American Boy: 1805 and ran across this picture of a plumping mill.
This month we are going to make a plumping mill like the one in this picture. This may be an activity your young woodworker may enjoy. I have included the link to the book (which is now one of our favorites) and a video of a plumping mill in action. A search for plumping mill instructions came up empty, but I hope that through hard work and perseverance we can create one that will work as this picture depicts. We will share our progress on Instagram if your would like to follow along.
Civics/ Character Studies
Over the next 12 months we will be using our civics time to study character sketches of our nations presidents. I will be using The Big Book of Presidents by Nancy J. Hajeski as a reference to help guide this study. This month we will be studying the life of George Washington. I have included a list of books in the additional resources section that will be beneficial to your study.
- 1775 – George Washington was elected commander in Chief when the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia. In July of that same year he met his ragged troops for the first time. The ragged troops were barely able to avoid defeat but with the perserverance and leadership of Washington they were finally able to break the British hold.
- 1781 – Lord Cornwallis of Britain surrenders his army to General Washington at Yorktown
- 1789 – After the Constitution was approved, the electoral college unanimously elected Washington first President of the United States.
- 1797 – After his presidency, Washington returned to Mount Vernon. Three years later he suffered a serious throat infection and died.
- 1848 – Construction began on the Washington Monument, a soaring monument to honor the nation’s most cherished founding president.
We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience – George Washington
Additional Resources
If you have extra time and would like to give it a try be sure to try the cornbread recipe included in the downloads. If possible, use cornmeal from a local mill.
Hymn Study with Happy Hymnody
Videos
- How Does a Watermill Work: From Grain to Flour
- George Washington’s Gristmill
- The Ultimate Guide to the Presidents
Books
- Diary of an Early American Boy: 1805
- Mill by David Macaulay
- A Pioneer Sampler: The Daily Life of a Pioneer Family in 1840 (one section focuses on the importance of corn to the pioneer family, I believe you will find the rest of the book very enjoyable, too.)
- The Kids’ Book of Simple Machines: Cool Projects and Activities that Make Science Fun (levers, pulleys, wheels, all simple mechanics that helped the mill work.)
- George Washington and the Founding of a Nation by Dutton Juvenile
- George Washington: Soldier, Hero, President by Justin Fontes
- Meet George Washington by Joan Heilbroner
- George Washington: A Picture Book Biography by James Cross Giblin
- George Washington by Cheryl Harness
Activities
- Visit a local historical or working grist mill.
Thank you all so much for your continued support of these Morning Time Bundles. Happy September!
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