Thank you, thank you. I'm working on fleshing out the family tree and ran across my grandfather's picture. I always thought it spoke volumes. He was only in his 30's in that picture. Him and his siblings had quite a rebellious streak if the family stories are true.
Thanks to my parents, all of our basic needs were always met. We didn't have a lot of extras but I'm so happy we didn't because we know what it's like to survive on and be happy with very little. I too think this will be a useful skill to have in the coming years. Honestly, I'd be perfectly happy living in a cabin in the woods like Thoreau did at this stage of my life.
Your mother must've lived through the Depression? There's this YouTube channel that I just love. Clara lived through that same time period and shared stories of how they had to survive while she cooks dishes from the era. It's wonderful.
I'm glad you connected with this one. Thanks for letting me know how it made you feel.
I LOVE HER!!!
My mom was born in 1928. The only foraging stories she told were of dandelion greens and black walnuts. But she lived on a farm with my great uncle Myron, who was as hardscrabble as they come until the day he died. I wish I had spent more time with him, although he didn't speak all that much and seemed rather grumpy so I was probably afraid of him. I do know that he brought his extended family through two world wars by raising, processing, and selling chickens. The farm at that time had lots of fruit trees and berry bushes. Canning food was a given. My mother did a fair bit of that, but my Aunt Jane, Myron's niece, grew and preserved most of her own food until her death, at 90, just a few years ago. She also swam in the lake every single day all summer long until very shortly before she died. You've made me want to know more about them all! Fortunately, I am still part owner of the house, and there's a fair amount of interesting memorabilia in it. The old bibles are the coolest of these things. People used to record births, deaths, marriages and other tidbits in their bibles. I have two of these from the 1800's. Lots of the last names in those bibles are "Freeman" which suggests the house may have been on the underground railroad.
People were so interesting then! Now many of us are happy just to be like everyone else.
Clara was the best. I've watched most of her videos but, sadly, discovered her channel after she passed.
It sounds like your uncle Myron was much like my great uncles. The times had changed so quickly during their lifetimes they seemed like walking history lessons. One of them still believed that bathing every day made you weak. Lol. I suspect the world will change even more drastically during GenX'ers lifetimes and we'll be the walking history lessons.
Very cool that you have those bibles! The Underground Railroad was really prevalent in Columbus Ohio too.
People were much more interesting back then. I used to love the long, drawn out conversations we with the older relatives. It was a totally different world. My uncle lived right on Main Street in downtown Columbus and would sit at his window and watch people on the street, that was his entertainment when there wasn't a baseball game on.
Now it seems we don't converse at all. We sit around and agree. Anyone who does not agree had better remain silent or, in my circles at least, will be called a far-right Trump-loving, public enemy. I now choose my friends for their values. Maybe I always should have done that. But there's not much I can do about family.
The powers that be have successfully segregated everyone into their own bubbles of like-minded people. I miss the days that you could agree to disagree and not hate everyone else who thinks differently. Hate is born of fear, after all. Both sides are instilling fear then deceiving and taking advantage of their followers.
I think we're in a time of great transition. I only hope whatever is on the other side is better.
Yes, and this is my guiding priciple - if something encourages me to fear my fellow human beings (leaving out all those I think are actually cyborgs or aliens), I will not live by it. When I do this, life is much easier.
I like that guiding principal! That's a good way to live. I was listening to Machio Kaku on the JRE podcast and he said something interesting. If he were to seed alien clones from another planet that appear to be human here on Earth he would make sure they didn't even know they were aliens.
Here's the link --