Miraya Madhav

The field trip to Peralta Adobe San Jose was the best field trip I’ve ever been to,with fun activities such as candle making, adobe bricks, dolls, and weaving. We learned a lot of things we didn’t know. There were 4 centers and one tour. Here is why you should come.

First, we took turns looking at artifacts. We picked an artifact and guessed what it was. The  teacher gave us cards with what the artifacts really were. I had picked a butter churner and thought it was a blender. After that we took pictures with our artifacts. Then we took a tour inside the Peralta. We saw a rug made of cow skin and a chair from whale bones. This is where the parents slept. We looked at the dining room where the girls slept. The dining room was filled with china plates and glass. California was under Mexican rule so you could trade with anyone. The boys slept outside with the animals. I didn’t know they didn’t sleep together.

After that, we split into 5 groups. My group first made a brand. A brand is a way of claiming an animal. A brand has to include some of the letters of your name. I used the letters M, A, and Y. Each farmer had a different brand. Once finished, we dipped strings in wax to make candles. We only dipped it for a second so the previous wax won’t melt. After being halfway done we waited for the wax to dry. In the meantime we caught bulls with a rope. It takes about two throws to get the rope stuck on the plastic bull’s horn. We dipped our strings a few more times then moved to the next center.

Next, we made adobe bricks. We used 3\4 of dirt and then added around 1 tablespoon of sand. I may have gotten way more sand than expected. We added a pinch of hay and a cup of water. In real adobe bricks you added cow manure but fortunately, we didn’t use it. We mixed it  with sticks but I used my hands. I think my method was more efficient. We slid the mush into rectangular molds that had the length of my hand and the width of my thumb. We washed our hands and tried crushing corn. I was almost the last one done so I couldn’t  crush the corn. Then they made a sound to go to the next center. 

The next center was trying out Californio´s clothes. I picked a green skirt with a beige shawl. The boys wore jackets, t-shirts, and shawls. We did a small photoshoot. After taking the clothes off we tried weaving. It was easy because we learned weaving at art prep. Then we got brushes with sharp bristles. We put cotton on it and scrubbed it. This made a type of fabric. Some people got hurt. We were taught how to weave but we were interrupted by the same sound. We ran off forgetting our jackets and hats.

Finally, we made corn husk dolls. Corn husks are the outer covering of an ear of corn. We got 3 husks all about 6 inches and tied two together at the waist. Then we grabbed the top and tied it to the waist.  We put one corn husk as arms. At the bottom we scrunched up the two husks and tied it for legs. After that we played with Californio toys. I couldn’t play with toys because I was a bit slow.

Now you know why you should come to Peralta Adobe San Jose. It was more fun, amazing, fascinating and more because my friends came. I would recommend not to come alone.  This is why This field trip was the best.