Love Is Patient… Especially on the Frontier

By Kimberly Grist

Love Is Patient… Especially on the Frontier

Romance on the frontier didn’t begin with flowers and poetry. It began with endurance—long winters, hard work, and uncertain days. This unwavering commitment not only shapes a truly meaningful life but also serves as a powerful source of inspiration for us today.

Many frontier marriages began not with romance but with necessity. Yet in the doing of life together—through work, hardship, laughter, and prayer—tenderness took root. Love wasn’t always spoken, but it was evident in every act of staying.

February may call to mind Valentine’s Day, roses, and sweet words. But frontier love offers another picture: steady, faithful, enduring—the kind of commitment that doesn’t simply mark a moment… it builds a life.

How to Cook a Husband

Frontier women knew how to cook most things from scratch- bread, stew, preserves, and coffee strong enough to carry a body through sunrise chores. And if they were lucky, somewhere along the way, they learned another special recipe-  The ingredients that foster love between two people sharing a life.

More than a century ago, a homemaking column offered this playful advice:

“A good many husbands are utterly spoiled in the cooking by mismanagement… Some keep them in hot water, others let them freeze by indifference… but they are really delicious when properly treated.”

The Ingredients:
• Patience
• Kindness
• Humility
• Faith
• Forgiveness
• Time

Love on the frontier

Love wasn’t made in a moment. It was formed slowly, plank by plank, like a cabin raised against the wind.

Not in grand gestures, but in small mercies—coffee poured before dawn, boots drying by the fire, a shawl tucked around weary shoulders, and the quiet decision to stay when leaving would be easier.

On the frontier, supporting one another wasn’t a suggestion; it was a necessity. There, love was shaped by patience, sustained by faith, and strengthened through the shared work of living side by side.

Perhaps that is why Western historical romance resonates so deeply with me—it beautifully illustrates a timeless kind of love that continues to inspire, encourage, and guide us today.

Photo credit: Library of Congress (Public Domain)

Love, Luxury, and Chocolate in the Old West

 When we think of Valentine’s Day today, it’s hard not to picture heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, ribbons, and handwritten love notes. But long before candy aisles and convenience stores, romance on the American frontier looked very different—and chocolate was considered a rare and treasured luxury.

In the Old West, chocolate wasn’t something you picked up on a

whim. It arrived by wagon, steamboat, or rail, often imported from faraway places and sold at a price that made it a special indulgence. For settlers, miners, and families carving out lives on the frontier, chocolate was reserved for meaningful occasions.

During the 1800s, chocolate most often came in solid blocks or as cocoa powder rather than molded candies. It was commonly used for drinking chocolate that was rich, warming, and sometimes lightly spiced. Or it was grated into baked goods for holidays and celebrations.

General stores might carry only a small supply, and availability depended entirely on shipments arriving safely and on time. If a delivery was delayed or missed, chocolate simply wasn’t available. That scarcity made it all the more precious.

While Valentine’s Day wasn’t widely celebrated in the Old West the way it is today, romance was very much alive. Sweethearts exchanged handwritten letters, poems, or small keepsakes. When chocolate entered the picture, it sent a powerful message: you are worth the extra effort and expense.

A tin of cocoa, a carefully wrapped piece of chocolate, or a homemade treat made from saved ingredients could speak volumes. On the frontier, love wasn’t about extravagance. It was about intention.Chocolate also offered comfort. Life in the Old West could be demanding and uncertain, and small pleasures helped soften hard days. Sharing a warm cup of chocolate by lamplight or gifting a rare sweet treat was a reminder of home, tenderness, and hope for gentler days ahead.

Whether in a bustling modern town or a quiet frontier settlement, the meaning remains the same. Love has always been shown through thoughtful gestures, especially those that require care, patience, and sacrifice.

So this Valentine’s Day, as you enjoy a favorite chocolate treat, remember you’re partaking in a tradition that stretches back to wagon trails, general stores, and heartfelt moments of affection in the Old West.

Some things—like love and chocolate—never go out of style.

Until Next Time, Kit.

SO YOU WANT A LIP-SMACKING HAM by Marisa Masterson

Fall on the farm. The harvest is in. The weather has taken a turn, with mornings growing cold. It's time. Time? To do what? 

In my next new release, The Stranded Rancher, a farm becomes the setting for my book. For my characters, fall means butchering. It was time to prepare meat for the winter. With no freezers, two things became essential—as I discovered in my research. The family needed a smokehouse and a pork barrel. Both allowed for the preservation of fresh pork.

I was especially interested in the steps my character would follow to make hams. As I read on it, a discovered a type of sugar that was new to me. Muscovado. The clumpy sugar-making byproduct was cheaper, though harder to work with since it had to be separated to use. Cooks needed hammers to break it apart!

From The Stranded Rancher:

She had placed large covered crocks in the root cellar behind the house. Jack even shoveled a path to that cellar. After she washed the hams, she headed to the kitchen. 

The cellar stayed cool. Meat would not spoil there, and the hams would soak in the brine for a week, covered to stay clean and free from worms or bugs. Next, she worked with the pork belly. This, she washed, and then she rubbed pepper and muscovado into meat that would become bacon. 

Since it was the least expensive sugar, she had urged Caroline to buy muscovado rather than the more refined brown sugar. Both sugars contained molasses. Muscovado was a by-product of the sugar process. It was clumpy, which forced her to knead it with her hands before she rubbed it into the washed pork belly. Sybil’s shoulders ached by the time the meat rested inside the small barrels. 

Prior to hammering the lid onto the barrel, she poured salt over the dry rub already coating the meat. She moved the containers onto the porch. Gus would carry them to the cellar. At least, she did not have to do that step. In a few days, they would open the barrels. Jack planned to light a fire in the smokehouse and hang the bacon above it.

So, the secret to the hams? Sugar, time, and patience while the ham rested in a brine. I am glad I can head to the store to get my hams and not do the butchering!

Click the image to reserve your copy!

Jack and Caroline Poston are stranded. Her pregnancy makes trailing to Texas impossible. Instead, they head to her hometown to claim the farm left to her. A horrible surprise waits for them.

Jack can't help but wonder why such a pleasant man would cheat his child out of her property as he tours the farm with him. Caroline’s father legally claims her inheritance. He makes it clear that he does not intend to return it to her.

In a short amount of time, Jack realizes the true problem lies with Caroline’s stepmother. The scheming woman controls the farm. She refuses to leave and does not offer a place for them to stay. And as mysterious accidents begin occurring. Jack realizes that more than land is at stake.

Amidst the turmoil, Jack must turn to his estranged brother for help. To uncover the true villain threatening his wife, he must mend the rift between them.

Will Jack be able to keep Caroline and their patchwork family safe? Can he gain control of their new home, or will they be forced to leave once again?

Read the book's first chapter for free--https://dl.bookfunnel.com/ay4p1x9zo6