LHF Blog

June 18, 2019 What’s Cooking at Living History Farms? Quite a lot, actually! Throughout the summer, our museum demonstrates food traditions, cooking techniques, and the use of historic ingredients at many of our historic farms,…

August 10, 2018 At the height of the summer in Iowa, one of our greatest simple pleasures is seasonal eating. Lettuces, strawberries, summer squash, cherries, cucumbers, sweet corn, good tomatoes—it boggles the mind and fills…

January 11, 2016 Hi! I’m Lucy, the Historic Dinner Program Coordinator at Living History Farms. I wanted to share a few behind the scenes tidbits about our winter historic dinners. One of the unintentionally best-kept…

November 23, 2015 Thanksgiving is one of America’s favorite holidays. Generally filled with food and family, and often football, it is a time to reflect on the blessings of the year and share our table…

September 30, 2015 Fall is sports season in Iowa. Football, volleyball, and cross country running are all big high school and college sports. The fall puts us all in the spirit for a little friendly…

June 8, 2015 Over one million people visit Washington, D.C. every spring to celebrate the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The festival celebrates friendship between the USA and Japan, and an initial gift of 3,000 cherry…

September 2, 2014 It’s been a busy summer here on the farm. Mild weather has meant many visitors from nearby and faraway places. It’s meant taking a break from posting things on the blog, but…

In January of this year, I had the opportunity to attend the Practical Farmers of Iowa annual conference in Ames, Iowa. While the focus of most of the workshops was decidedly modern, one of the…

When planning a menu for dinner, there are several choices to be made. Generally speaking, a menu consists of a protein, a starch of some sort, and at least one vegetable. Menu planning in 1900…

July 18, 2013 This week’s recipe sounded very appealing when the wood-burning cookstove was heating up the house this morning! Courtesy of Mrs. Curtis’s Cookbook, this salad would have been a great way to utilize…