Wooden spoons

I possess several memories of wooden spoons amid my growing up experience.

  I looked forward to licking the ingredients that clung to them.  I learned to use them to create delicious things to eat.  I was threatened a time or two with the wooden spoon;  my brothers actually had close encounters with wooden spoons.  I remember learning to stir the figure eight with precision for what seemed like hours on end; talk about a boring task!

Wooden spoons come in very handy in the kitchen.  They are perhaps my favorite of all utensils now that I am partially grown up.

I volunteered for a couple of summers at the American West Heritage Center where I 'worked' in the wood shop.  We used tools similar to those used in the early 1800's.  My favorite thing to make was, of course, the wooden spoon.  I learned to carve out the spoon with a bent gouge and a wooden mallet.  Shaping the handle and back of the spoon was done by using a spoke shave and a rasp.  Technically, women did not do this type of work in the period we were demonstrating; thus I am grateful for the opportunity provided me to learn this art.

I pulled out a small spoon to work on while enjoying the sunset this evening and was reminiscing.  This is a picture of some spoons in progress; each at a different stage.  They are made of walnut and will be very strong spoons when I am finished.  I pity the poor person on whom this type of spoon may have been used!  

This is a photo of my son and myself while we are standing outside the woodworking shop dressed in period attire.  It was indeed a fun time in our lives.