This is a demonstration of how farmers made molasses from sorghum cane in the 18th Century at las Golondrinas: 1) They prepared the sorghum cain by cutting the seed heads off the ends of the canes. 2) They harnessed their ass to a long pole connected to a big iron crusher. 3) They walked their ass in circles turning the crusher, while a person fed sorghum cane into the crusher to extract the sugary juice from the cane. 4) They cooked the sorghum extract and reduced it to molasses.
Photos of the interior of the lodge at las Golondrinas.
The Blacksmith at las Golondrinas pumps a giant bellows to stoke the fire. The blacksmithing process involves a lot of back and forth between the tools, the bellows and working the hot iron for it cools and goes back into the fire.
The Penitente Meeting House in Las Golondrinas sits alone on a hill. It’s a long, thin building with a door on either side, one window, a flat roof, and a thin bell tower that juts out of the front of the building. There is an old cemetery that sits off to the side with weathered wood crosses and picket fences marking the graves. Photos were not allowed in the interior. If you are not familiar with the Penitentes, the following wiki has a brief summary of the Penitentes in New Mexico: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penitentes_(New_Mexico).
One of the first buildings you come across at Ranchos de las Golondrinas is the church. The church is the north building of a hacienda that has a central plaza with a well in the center and hornos for baking. Note the church has a pitched, tin roof, but the other buildings have flat roofs. The church originally had a flat roof as well, and the tin roof would have been added after 1850 when New Mexico became a US territory which opened up trade and goods to come in from the Eastern US. The ceiling of the church still has the horizontal vigas (timbers) that supported the original flat, dirt roof.
The interior of the church has simple benches for pews, an artisan crafted retablo at the altar, and hand carved Stations of the Cross (the Stations of the Cross are a modern addition, according to a docent).
Las Golondrinas is a living museum on a 200 acre site a few miles south of Santa Fe. They are having their annual harvest festival this weekend and all the sites and industries, set mostly around the early to mid 19th Century, are operating. We spent most of the day there yesterday, and I have a lot of photos to process, so for today, I have a few abstractly representative photos.
Off Center & Not Even 