This multigenerational family of pioneers has settled in at their campsite. The horses are left to graze after another day’s journey in their covered wagon. The trees are changing – reds, oranges, browns, and some with barely any leaves. Autumn has overtaken this eastern woodland scene and, with any luck, this pioneer family is nearing the end of their Ohio River Valley exploration. Who knows? Maybe the engaging meadow in this scene’s foreground will offer the fertile soil for farming in their new home. Winter is coming and the background timber stand ready for the construction of a lean-to or cabin. Meanwhile, the day’s central task begins. Grandma turns the gamebird over the open fire pit, one Dutch oven already simmering, another dish among her spread of iron-cast cookery. Her young grandson mock plays the feast’s preparation. Ma cuts up more greens on her cutting board, a blue cover protecting the bread’s rising dough. Pa inspects his son’s foraging efforts with his special wagon. The firewood, forever essential to the pioneer’s hearth, home, and heart, feeds the fundamental need of this American scene of “home cooking.”
