Colonial Longwood Manor

07/19/2026

07/10/2026

Pickled some cucumbers with dill from our herb garden at Longwood today ..🥒🪴Prior to 1817, and even for decades after in American households, "canning" as we know it today was highly uncommon. To survive the winter, colonists relied heavily on other time-tested food preservation methods:
Pickling & Fermentation: Vegetables (like cabbage turning into sauerkraut) were fermented or submerged in vinegar and stored in heavy earthenware crocks.

06/28/2026

Summer solstice celebration at Longwood 2026🌼☀️🍉1st annual maypole dance

04/16/2026

We have a lot of plants native to Maryland growing in our yard this spring. This one is called wooly Ragwort but it goes by a lot of different names. native plants benefit the natural ecosystem. They do not spread diseases. They are beneficial for wildlife,help the soil and are non-invasive . PLANT NATIVES!

03/11/2026

Goodbye winter 2026. Thank you for the beauty . We had a snowfall that lingered from Jan into February. The local ponds froze and the skaters were out .

❄️Winters during colonial times were spent keeping the fireplaces going 24 hours ,tending to farm animals, visiting/ helping close neighbors to sew, quilt, read ,share stories and prepare for the spring planting. Days were short( no daylight savings until 1918)meals were simple with little variety. Ice was cut and stored in ice cellars. Candle making , mending farm equipment and wagons were all daily chores❄️

02/19/2026

Our Manor ghosts make footprints in the snow