Pilgrim Life with Scholastic News

I'm Isaac Ellerton. Here I am with my parents and my older sister, Sarah. We live in Plymouth. I heard you wanted to see what our lives are like. Come on, I'll show you. It's morning and the chickens are hungry. Let's head over to the hen house. If we're lucky, we might get some eggs. Come on out, chickens. All done. Mother says if we're going to sit, we might as well be helping the family by grinding corn. We pound the corn kernels into powder called cornmeal. We can use the cornmeal to make corn porridge. Sarah! Mother needs help with the laundry. She and Sarah wash it in the stream. Then they lay it out in the sun to dry. Laundry dried in the sun smells really fresh and clean. And it also feels a little crunchy. As the laundry dries, Mother and Sarah walk on over to the woods to pick some juicy berries. I hope they save some for me. Meanwhile, Father needs help getting water from the spring. We fill the buckets up. Father carries the water in a yoke. Don't spill any, Father. We pour the water into a barrel for the goats to drink. Later, we'll milk the goats and make the milk into cheese. Now, we all meet again in the garden. So many vegetables and herbs are ripe and ready to pick. It's great that everything's growing so well. Because if we want to eat, we need a good garden. Here in the cornfield, all of our hard work is paying off. Look at all this corn! We all work together to harvest the crop. Our chores aren't done yet. Sarah and I gather pieces of wood for the fire. I might be annoying Sarah just a little by putting the wood into her apron kind of hard. I may get into trouble later. While I'm off in search of more wood, Sarah heads home. Mother is so happy that we brought in the wood because she needs it to cook. She uses it to make a fire. A crackling fire can make the house pretty hot, especially when it's warm out. But we love all the delicious food that she cooks. Here we are grinding corn again. Sometimes it feels like we are always grinding corn. Oh well, better that than not having any corn to grind. Mother says our chores are done for now and we can take a break. Playtime! First we play I Call. I throw the ball on the roof. Then one of us has to call out the name of who's going to catch it next. What should we play next? Sarah loves nine pin. You throw the ball and try to knock down the pins. Mother's finally done her chores too. She joins us and we all play Making Cheese. We're not really making cheese. It's just what we call spinning around and being silly. Well done. I'm so, so hungry. Good thing Mother made such a big dinner. Look, she made duck with cranberries and onions. Quail with carrots and porridge made with corn. We pick up most of the food with our hands. We have to wipe our hands a lot. The sun is setting. Mother braids Sarah's hair before bed. I'm already in bed because I'm exhausted. Sarah and I share a mattress on the floor. Sarah will sleep on her side of the bed after Mother's done. Our house may be small, but it's perfect for us. Sleep well. Pilgrim Life!