Niles Pioneer challenge Family of 6 lives, eats like it's 1850 for eight months

By Alexandra Kilpatrick The South Bend Tribune (Ind.) NILES, Mich. (AP) -- Kristin Lawrence has always had a passion for historical re-enactment. This year, her entire family of six is living historically, as they partake in a so-called Pioneer Challenge. They plan to store, can, dry and preserve all their food using historical cooking methods. "We have always liked history, and I kind of grew up (doing) Civil War re-enacting in high school," said Lawrence, who lives with her husband, Charles, and four kids in Niles. "I've always been fascinated by Laura Ingalls Wilder and famous pioneers," she said. "And so we decided to see if we could make it work. "We watched some of those reality history shows, 'Frontier House' and things like that, so I guess it was somewhat inspired." The rules of the challenge, which began in April and lasts until December, dictate that everything must be made from scratch, using locally grown ingredients and spices that would have been available in Michigan in 1850. Because the Lawrences live within the city limits and do not own domestic animals, they buy milk, cheese and dairy products from a local farmers market or directly from a farmer. Though the challenge is primarily aimed at pioneer-style cooking, it has extended to other areas of the family's life. "I do a lot of historic sewing, so I've always done that," said Lawrence, "but we haven't started using candlelight or anything like that. "My dishwasher's going now, so I've still been using the dishwasher and things like that. But we have made our own shampoo and we made butter and things like that that are not specific to recipes but mostly the cooking right now." In addition to her lifelong love of history, Lawrence decided to start the challenge for financial reasons. "We wanted to be frugal and see if we could save money, too," she said. "We're hoping that in the winter, we won't have a food bill. And we're curious to see if we ate in the season and everything was local, if it may cost more in the summer, during the harvest season but then it would be cheaper (in the winter). "So far, it's been the same as our regular grocery bill. We're still putting things away for winter, so it hasn't really gone up at all. Actually, it may be cheaper to buy and preserve your own things." Lawrence did not need to purchase any new cooking tools for the project because of her family's penchant for camping. "I already had most everything," she said. "We were Civil War re-enactors and so, we camp regularly throughout the summer, so part of the challenge was I got to use some of the stuff that I only use maybe once or twice in the summer. I kind of unpacked it from the basement and brought it all up and put it in my kitchen." The challenge allows the Lawrences to not only practice historical cooking methods and live frugally but also preserve the environment. "I have less trash," said Lawrence, "because everything I buy is from the local farmers market and so I don't have a lot of the packaging, which really surprised me." Lawrence has four kids, 6-year-olds Josie and Bujuga, 4-year-old Charlie and 3-year-old Maddie. "Bujuga was born in Ethiopia and he's been home for about a year," said Lawrence. "His name "means 'no worries,' like 'Hakuna Matata.' " Charles Lawrence manages a lead grant for the Berrien County Health Department that serves to improve healthy homes in Benton Harbor and across the county. For six years, he and Kristin Lawrence hosted the Regency Exhibition Ball, which commemorates the English Regency Period of 1800 to 1825 with dancing and refreshments from the era. The last ball took place this spring, as the Lawrences will move to Tunisia at the end of the year. "My husband's job ends at the end of the year," Kristin Lawrence said. "The grant is finished in December, and instead of looking for another job around here, he got an offer to come work in North Africa for health development. So we're going to be headed that way for a little while. "It's a little daunting and part of my reason for doing the challenge is because I love history and I can't take any of my historic stuff with me. We're not planning on shipping anything, so I get to use all the stuff I love using before I put it in storage." Though Lawrence enjoys sharing pioneer-style meals with her family, she is still learning how to prepare the food in true 1850s style. "It's been pretty good, but there (have been some things that I'm not quite adept at doing yet," said Lawrence. "My salt porks went bad, and I was really sad about that. So I'm still learning a lot of things. Some of my cans didn't seal and I didn't notice right away. And so, the learning curve definitely seems to be steep." Lawrence claims that since starting the challenge, she appreciates more the important role land and weather play in growing food. The weather has been turbulent this spring with temperatures in the 80s in late March and a frost in early April. "I've just been talking to the local farmers a lot and they just have no idea what the fruit's going to look like this year," said Lawrence. "We planted our garden and hopefully we'll get stuff out of our garden. I guess I hadn't realized how important the land and the weather would be. For farmers. And for early settlers. And even for farmers now. "It's really interesting that we've come so far away from the land now and we shop at the major stores and things like that, but we don't notice it's devastating to other people in other developing places." Published: Wed, Jul 25, 2012