A Day in the Life of... part 2

So we have changed our RVing lifestyle for a slightly less sedentary and more industrious one. 

However, it is not nearly as industrious as the lifestyle followed by the ancients, who lived here in the Americas first.  As previously described, their Puebloan lifestyle might be considered simple compared to ours, but they were none the less highly sophisticated according to their means and time, and the footsteps they left are awe inspiring.  You can read even more here 

Of course, their simple lives changed in the 16^th Century, when those who first conquered the south-west of America, the Spaniards, arrived and eventually forcibly influenced the way of life of the indigenous peoples of the land they called New Mexico.  Some things change, but others don’t.

Richard and I start the day around 8 am, by building the fire, to top up the central heating of the house.  Since moving here 5 weeks ago, we have had three snowfalls, and recently daytime temperatures have been as low as 14 F/ -10 C. We use a wheelbarrow to carry the logs over the 100 yards of snow covered ground between the house and the barn. 

The wood was gathered over the summer from nearby forested land, (with permission from a rancher who is happy to have his land managed), using a chainsaw, and truck, and on arrival at Mark and Jill’s, further cut to size, and stored.

The ancients, like us, collected their firewood on a daily basis, though they foraged and gathered nearer to their homes in ever growing circles, carrying their loads on their backs.  Children would have shared that task, as well as the hauling of water from wells or rivers.   The wheel, the cart, oxen, donkey and horses as modes of transport or work animals were not introduced to the US until the Spaniards arrived around 1532.  

Barter was not new to the Ancient and later Pueblo Indians, who traded across the Americas, and south as far as Peru (from where turkeys originated and were adopted and used as the first domesticated animal).  However, it was probably a Spanish concept to use carts to forage further and transport larger quantities of wood to villages, and barter or even sell the goods at market.  They certainly introduced the concept of money, and the Spanish Dollar was currency used worldwide at that time.

The selling of goods meant the accrual of skills.  You have to be able to produce quality goods to sell them, and the more skilled the craftsman, the better the quality.  Wheelwrights, woodworkers, tanners, carpenters, stone workers, all contributed their skills and earned a living by selling goods or a skill.  Working metal, especially silver and tin, was one of the many new skills that were introduced by the Spaniards, and eventually embraced by the Pueblo Indians, although I think they were more used as slave labor than willing apprentices in the early years.  The Plains Indians, like Commanche and Apache, who were not settled in Pueblos or villages, and roamed the vast land, remained relatively independent of Spanish influence.

Mark and Jill make their living selling wool, in various colors, for felting.  Felted wool might once have been used for warm clothing, nowadays it is an art form.

Ancient Puebloans used fur and turkey feathers woven into blankets with Yucca twine for warmth, and later Plains Indians kept warm with animal furs.  They might have smoked their deerskin hides to change the colour for aesthetic reasons, but it wasn’t until the Spaniards introduced Churro sheep to the Native Americans, 


and shared the art of dying wool and weaving  http://www.straw.com/sig/dyehist.html ,(crafts well established on the other side of the world), that the art of combining warm coverings with color really became established. 

Typical dye house, where spun wool was dyed using common plants for colour 

Four centuries later the resulting Indian blankets are now high dollar items.

Close up of traditional Spanish loom

After showering with preheated water, eating breakfast cooked in the microwave or on Jill’s six burner gas stove (wow, the Jet has a measly 3 ring stove top and a tiny oven),we are ready to begin fulfilling orders for shipment across the US and further afield. 

Mexican natives used the Horno, a clay oven situated outside of buildings to bake their daily bread.

Internal stoves were introduced by the Spanish, and this is what a kitchen from around 1800 might have looked like. 

By the way, thanks are due to El Rancho de las Golondrinas Living History Museum, http://www.golondrinas.org/ for the photos we took on their Harvest Festival weekend, and learning opportunities.

We work until lunch time, make ourselves a quick sandwich, then go back to creating orders on the pc, picking required wool in various colours, formats and batch sizes, 

packing these in boxes and by 3pm we take our packages to the local post office for onward shipment.

With the aid of the Internet small individual businesses can now trade worldwide in a matter of days.

The Mexican Spaniards traded with Spain, but the sea journey took several months in both directions.  Shipping expeditions were carefully planned to ensure the most valuable items were shipped to the mother country, and to obtain the best profits. Cochineal (a red dye made from beetles) was the most highly prized item to be shipped from Mexico and Peru.  Gold and silver were also prized, and the Spaniards were not slow in surveying their newly acquired land, establishing mines aplenty, and using the native Indians for cheap labour. 

Trade goods coming up  El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the Royal Road of the Interior Lands, included sheep, cotton, wool, chickens, horses, wine, crops, weapons and religious icons. This 1500-mile historic trade route extending from Mexico City to San Juan Pueblo near the current State capital of Santa Fe, is one of the oldest trails in the United States.  http://nmmonuments.org/el-camino-real

Unfortunately for the indigenous Pueblo and Native Indian peoples, the trade goods were accompanied by a Spanish culture that believed in the necessity of possession of land and the pursuit of accruing wealth, topped up with religious fervour.  Saving savage souls meant the destruction of the ancient religions.  Nowadays, Catholicism is still the main religion in New Mexico.

Chapel on The Las Golondrinas Ranch, dating middle of 19th Century

By the time The Santa Fe Trail was established in 1821, (the route that would bring American influence and goods from the east), the Mexican and Spanish immigrants had settled the area for some 200 years and assimilated the Pueblo Natives as best as they would let themselves be.  New Mexico was sold to the United States in 1848, after the American-Mexican war, and a new but no less greedy culture began its encroachment.  Some things change, but others don’t.

Now you will be wondering why I keep referring to the history of New Mexico as opposed to Colorado, where we are currently residing.  Well, it’s simply more interesting because of its mix of Spanish and Native American ancestry and culture.  Colorado was only explored by American trappers for its resources and settled from the East as mining opportunities arose once gold and silver were discovered in the mid nineteenth century.  Its settlers were, for the most part, of middle European stock.

So, back to Richard and Saskia’s day.  Once we have finished “trading”, we restock shelves, catch up on emails, or lounge, play word games on our i-phones, relax and heat ourselves up in the hot tub. 

Hot springs exist across the USA and were once also frequented by the indigenous peoples, presumably for warmth and hygienic purposes, and later exploited for reasons of health and tourism in the 19^th century.  I must say, I am very glad to be able to use the hot tub to ease my aching back.  It seems being on my feet for long periods is not helping my tendency for bouts of sciatica!  Of course, I can take a pain pill.  Ancient Puebloan people and Native Americans probably had a better understanding of natural herbs for healing than the Spanish did.

Did Ancient Puebloan society have free time within daylight hours?  I think perhaps more so in the winter, when it would have been impossible to tend their gardens or work into the evening creating tools, or clothing, or weaving yucca baskets.  Once the sun went down, the lack of light would have made industrial pursuits difficult. 

Oil lamps would have been in common use by Spanish settlers, so they would have had relaxation time in the evenings, though it would have been difficult to work by such dim light. 

Around 7pm we settle down to a dinner made of collected items from several fridges and freezers, and an enormous pantry where Jill has stored the proceeds of her summer vegetable garden.

Food storage was practised by the Ancient Puebloans, using baskets and eventually clay pots, placed in the lower floors of adobe houses and back caves in rock dwellings such as those we visited over the summer.  In fact, the hot tub sits atop what was once a root cellar, (a cupboard excavated into a hillside where the temperature remains more constant).  This was a common means of storing root vegetables over the winter. 

Corn and beans were the staple diet for the Ancient Puebloans; the Spaniards introduced tomatoes, squash and peppers, and some root vegetables, with more being introduced by increasing numbers of immigrants from Europe during the nineteenth century. 

Pueblo Indians survived on game – buffalo, deer and smaller mammals, brought down by their spears launched by atlatl spear throwers, and later also with bows and arrows.  Spaniards brought their guns,

which made hunting easier, whether man or animals.  Luckily they also brought the concept of animal husbandry, along with goat, sheep and cows.  The diet became more varied and protein rich.

Richard and I can take our pick from a choice of local produce, as well as from canned, fresh goods and meat emanating from all over the world in the local supermarkets.  However, nowadays with industrialised farming methods, and increased additives to keep food “fresh”, you could say my diet is 100% more healthy, and yet also 100% more unhealthy, depending on how you look at it!

After our dinner, we place our plethora of dishes, pots and ovenware into the dishwasher, and we sit into the evening reading books, perusing Facebook, watching TV or playing computer word games, and go to bed around 11pm.

Puebloan Indians might huddle together in their Kivas and tell stories and sing the old songs.  Plains Indians might sit in their sweat lodges, smoke their pipes, and tell their stories.  Either way, the aim was social bonding and a chance for conviviality, after a hard day’s work.

Richard and I achieve the same using modern technology to communicate with friends and family far away.

Some things change… but there is no doubt the Ancient ones, the Spaniards, the early immigrants, and Richard and I have all risen in the mornings and thanked our various gods for the beautiful land in which we are lucky to live.