The Lost Code

The Seasons of the Habitant: Spring

Sap House

Musée de la civilisation, Séminaire de Québec collection. Les sucres. Edmond-Joseph Massicotte. 1918. N° 1993.36701

Planting

Musée de la civilisation, bibliothèque du Séminaire de Québec.
« Sans titre » in : Roy, Joseph-Edmond. Guillaume Couture, premier colon de la Pointe-Lévy (Lauzon). Québec : Tremblay & Dion, [1947?]. Couv. Loc. 365.7 (temp.)

Working the Land

Musée de la civilisation, bibliothèque du Séminaire de Québec.
Duquet, Georges-Henry. « Et cela dura trente ans » in : Desrosiers, Adélard. Petite histoire du Canada. Québec : Librairie Garneau, 1933. P. 66. Loc. 295.5.20

Soap Brewing

Rodolphe Duguay, 1934, Musée de la civilisation, Séminaire de Québec collection, 1993.15008

With spring came nine months of uninterrupted work. Farm animals gave birth and enlarged habitants' herds. Any colts and calves not kept for food were sold. Spring was also the time to prepare the land for farming. After removing stones from the land, the habitants plowed. In May, they planted wheat, hay, rye, barley, oats, and buckwheat. They split firewood, made maple syrup and sugar, and sheared the sheep.

Vegetable gardens were the responsibility of the women and children, and they planted the vegetables and herbs they needed to feed the family. The wife also made soap and detergent using pork and beef fat, bones and table scraps saved in winter, ash, and salt.