The Lost Code

Self-Sufficiency

Carpenter

Musée de la civilisation, bibliothèque du Séminaire de Québec.
Mangonot, A. « Sans titre » dans : Havard, Henry. La menuiserie. 2e éd. Paris : C. Delagrave, [189-?]. (Les arts de l'ameublement). Couv. Loc. 208.1.5

The Blacksmith

Musée de la civilisation, Séminaire de Québec library
“Ils regardaient d'un oeil émerveillé le forgeron. [There at the door they stood, with wondering eyes to behold him]” in Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, Évangéline. Limoges: E. Ardant, [1911?]. p.26. Loc. 604.3 (temp.)

Colonist's House

Musée de la civilisation, bibliothèque du Séminaire de Québec.
Martin, Thomas Mower. « Settler's farmyard, Muskoka » in : Campbell, Wilfred. Canada. London : A. & C. Black, 1907. P. 8. Loc. 294.3.26

Habitants lived off of their land. As they expanded their cropland, they could sell surpluses and buy goods with their earnings. They produced a good portion of their goods themselves. They built their own homes and outbuildings (barns, cowsheds, etc.) and made their own plowing tools, furniture, and clothing. But they were not entirely self-sufficient. They regularly had to buy fabric, clothing, wine, lamp oil, tea, coffee, salt, pepper, tools, cooking pots, dishes, utensils, stoves, tobacco, and spices. They also relied on the specialized services of craftsmen like blacksmiths, coopers, and carters. On the whole, the average habitants were poor. They had few possessions and their survival year to year was never guaranteed.