Delving Deeper – Gwen Tuinman: Recent Episodes
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Early settlers in Upper Canada, particularly those living in rural areas, sought ways to break the isolation and monotony of long winters and heavy snows. Dog sleds and snow shoes that we regard as entertainment today were common 1800s instruments of travel over frozen lakes and rivers. So what did pioneers do for fun?
Oh my gosh—goats! Since choosing to incorporate a small herd into the novel (in progress), I’ve become completely enamoured with the little scamps. My generous Facebook community has shared anecdotes and facts, many of which will colour the pages of my story. In one of my favourite research outings of all time, my husband Eric and I visited friends Candice and Ken at their farm in Northumberland County. They introduced us to their herd of Lamancha goats and talked about the basics of goat behaviour and care. Enjoy the photo story!
My keen interest in the lives of Canadian women during WW1 stems from the novel I’m currently writing set in that same era. Prior to the war, women of middle- and upper-class families were monitored by chaperones. Working-class women, in whom I’m most interested, were unchaperoned but constrained by what society deemed “good” behaviour. The status quo took a drastic turn starting in 1914. Cue the morality police. Equally fascinating was the weight of social expectation on women mourning their war dead.
In the novel I’m currently writing, one character—a farm wife in the early 1900s—operates a home dairy and sells butter to local families. With an interest in butter-making, I set out to learn the process used in the early days. How delightful to discover a recording of a women’s working song plus a butter-making demonstration video from the 1940s!
In the summer of 1979, I sang along when Dan Fogelberg’s love song Longer played on the radio. He loved the object of his affection ‘deeper than any forest primeval’. What could be more compelling to a fifteen-year-old girl pining for romance. I then equated primeval with a dark European forest, thick with moss and trees old as time. Thirty-nine years later, I travelled to an old growth forest in the Ottawa Valley to research for my novel set in the timber era.
A large part of writing life is spent researching information that, when woven into a story, creates a believable world that readers will enjoy spending time in. This process is immensely enjoyable to me. Currently, I’m writing about characters who are wintering a horse and a few goats in the early 1900s. The livestock will require hay. Since the people have no access to mowing equipment, so I’m learning about how they would have harvested hay by hand. I really enjoyed these videos and I hope you will too.
Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) cultivated an awe-inspiring career that includes anthropological research of African-American culture and folklore; journalistic and novel writing; playwright and directorial work in the live theatre realm; and activism. She was part of the Harlem Renaissance and became a voice for her artistic community.
I’ve nearly worn out my DVD box set of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman from having watched it so often. Dr. Michaela Quinn had the cure for almost everything and often sought the council of her First Nation Cheyenne friends who taught her about medicinal plants growing in the wilds. Episodes often mentioned people suffering a catarrh or ague. These terms appear in a number of pioneer journals as well and I’ve always been curious about their meaning.
In the early 1900s era during which my novel in-progress is set, patriarchal power frustrated women’s need for social change, specifically prohibition and ending domestic violence. We’d yet to attain the right to vote and in Canada, women were disallowed from holding public office because we didn’t qualify as “persons” under the definition set forth in the Constitution. Research deepens my understanding of the characters whose stories I tell. I’m feeling their aggravation.
We're all hearing the volume turn up on the climate change issue. The earth is suffering the effect of trauma. When humans mistreat the environment, consequences of climate change fall squarely on other humans. We’ll find answers to heal what we’ve broken. Have faith. The answer may lay in soil.
Unwed Mothers and Maternity Home History is a research piece I wrote in 2015 as I worked on my recently released novel, The Last Hoffman. A character is in trouble. She is pregnant, young and unmarried. Should she raise the baby? Should she give it up to a childless couple?
I’ve been thinking about how as a writer, I am responsible for laying down a representation of women that reflects our reality. Many scholars recognize that, in historical archives, there is a limited representation of women on the American Frontier... Continue Reading →
I often contemplate the lives of women who lived in the past. Since girlhood, I’ve always been drawn to stories of yesteryear and so it seems fitting that in the novel I’m currently writing, I inhabit the lives of fictional... Continue Reading →
Pioneer settlers worked hard to clear trees from the land so they could grow crops. Logging bees and stumping bees plus fire and blasting powder helped. Read More...
Julie Oakes regails us with bees, marmalade, and her favourite temperance activist from the 1800s.
Julie Oakes, historical culinary expert, discusses the 1800s kitchen hardships and pioneer diet
Upper Canada settlers overcame agricultural woes. Some First Nations' practices were adopted.
How do writers come up with story ideas? There are as many answers to that question as there are writers. Some call upon their muse for sparks of imagination while others attribute their creative flow to a rigid work routine. For... Continue Reading →