The Old Ways

[Beekissed]

My grandma and also my parents always enjoyed tomatoes sliced with mayo, salt and pepper on them. That was their fave way to eat a mater. Though I like it that way, my favorite way involves bread and onions too.

My grandma used to wash her chicken carcass' skin with Cheer. Yep, the laundry detergent. She'd get that bird in the sink, sprinkle some of that on there and wash the bird all over, rinsing well before proceeding further in turning it into a meal. Guess she figured that skin was pretty dirty and could use an extra scrubbing prior to eating.

She used to wash her dishes in lye soap, then would use that soapy dishwater to slop the hogs..said the dishwater kept them healthy. She didn't know about the soap acting as a surfactant to the oils on a parasite's skin, allowing the soap to dissolve their protective oil layers, thereby letting the digestive acids kill them~an effective dewormer~but she knew it helped keep the hogs healthy. There's all kinds of smart and folks back then had a lot of common sense learned through experience.

 

[CrealCritter]

I really wished I knew more tried and true ways of old. It's unfortunate that both my wife's and my parents are more "modernized" than my wife and I are.

Expecially when it comes to food - both my wife's parents nor mine will eat anything I raise or hunt including chicken eggs, let alone any meat I butchered and yes even deer.

It's very odd but they have to buy their meat from the grocery store. Even though I've explained to them all about factory farming - I just don't get it... I was even told my chicken eggs are not natural by my FIL once. I have to be nice to him because he is my FIL after all,the but I tell you that kind of got under my skin... So I thought of the nicest thing I could muster up and said to him. "Yeah? Well opinions are like armpits. Everybody has one and sometimes they really stink" He laughed so maybe I got through to him but I'm not holding my breath either.

I guess a lot of my "old" ways come from reading the Bible & storey's.

 

[Mini Horses]

When I was a kid there were no McDonalds. That's right!! I was about 10 when first one opened here. TV was black & white, phones were party lines and the actual phone was NOT portable. Gasoline was under 25 cents (!!) a gallon. There were drive-in movie theatres...$1 a carload. You were lucky to have even one car.

LOL most people don't even know that there used to be "cup & saucers" instead of mugs and throw aways. Coffee was made in a perculator & a thermos used to keep it hot. No microwaves.

Aprons. One of my grandmas almost always had one on. Grab it & use to move a hot pan if no pot holder was in reach. Dry a wet hand on it. LOL useful item. More of a tie on towel than a protection for clothing. Holes in blue jeans were mended, never bought that way.

Life was different then.

 

[Hinotori]

I have two aprons I use a lot. I will admit I'm fat so finding ones that fit right was great. I took my best one down to mom since she wants to make a few of them. They will fit other family members.

Sewing seems to be something that only a few do anymore. I know people who cant fix a button or hem pants. Heck, hubby has a favorite belt he's worn for 20+ years. The threads holding the buckle on gave out so he asked me to fix it. Trip to the store for proper thread and I saddle stitched it back together.

 

[baymule]

I used to do lots of needlepoint and embroidery. I gave it all away. I got a few needlepoint pillows back when the recipients died. LOL

I used to sew a lot. I made lots of stuff. A friend asked me to make her wedding dress and I was thrilled. Finally! I was going to go all out and make it a beautiful frothy white dress. Then she told me she wanted it in Mossy Oak camouflage. We got the pattern and the fabric and I made the dress. It had poofy short sleeves that attached to long bell shaped sleeves. I lined them with a cream colored fabric. I told her it was her white-tailed deer flag in case she cut for the woods. LOL The wedding was held in a cow pasture, the guests wore camo and it was one of the most original weddings I have ever seen.

 

[Beekissed]

I seriously enjoy reading rather than watching tv, and I like a real book with real pages rather than a tablet or computer or other electronic device. I enjoy listening to a baseball game on the radio when I am outside working,

Same here...got a floor to ceiling book case that's about 6 ft. wide, used to be an entertainment center but the TV, VCR, DVR is all gone and that space is filled with books. I broke down and bought another book shelf for another part of the house for our overflow, as we have books stacked two deep on all the shelves on the big unit.

I too like to listen to something as I chore, most often it's sermons from my favorite preachers or bluegrass gospel music. It helps me work better if I'm listening to something or singing along.

Another old way's thing...I actually LIKE to work. I know that's a dirty word in today's society, but I view work as a blessing rather than a curse. I love working hard all day, coming in tired and extremely dirty, taking a wonderful hot shower and falling into my soft bed to sleep. Sure, I hurt like the dickens nowadays when I do that, but it's still worth it.

Another thing I like to do is to make things out of scraps to improve my ergonomics or homestead life. It's fun to use ingenuity to create a solution to a problem and even better if it didn't cost you anything. It's become a sort of game of mine to see what I can come up with, using my available materials, to solve a particular problem.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Corn on the cob. Cut off the stem end so the shuck is unattached and microwave for a couple minutes. Grab with a towel and squeeze the cob out of the shuck. Steams it perfect and usually no silk. It's quicker and doesn't require a huge pot of water to do it.

I have used it for corn on the cob - but it's been so long since I've eaten corn that I totally forgot. It's really good that way!

My uncle helped put himself through college back in 1975 with a microwave. He took his savings and bought one for his dorm room and then charged people to reheat their food. The thing paid for itself in a couple months.

That's ingenuity right there!

 

[CrealCritter]

We still do all our veggies on the stove top. But only just a little bit of water in the bottom of the pan. Veggies go in a steamer basket and never touch the water. They taste better, cook really well this way and quick too.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

I have two aprons I use a lot. I will admit I'm fat so finding ones that fit right was great. I took my best one down to mom since she wants to make a few of them. They will fit other family members.

Sewing seems to be something that only a few do anymore. I know people who cant fix a button or hem pants. Heck, hubby has a favorite belt he's worn for 20+ years. The threads holding the buckle on gave out so he asked me to fix it. Trip to the store for proper thread and I saddle stitched it back together.

Oh I love sewing aprons!! I have sewn most of my life....52 of my 55 years. I like to make aprons because you can create them any way that makes you happy.

Some places have home ec, but it's a bit out of favor these days. I think the high school here has it though.

My daughter likes wearing aprons, lol, but I don't have any adult sized ones!

I need to post pics of my latest aprons....child and adult sizes.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Just chiming in...
I also salt my watermelon and cantaloupe. My mom always salted and peppered her tomatoes, dad sprinkled sugar on top instead of salt. My husband adds salt and pepper to his; I still sprinkle sugar.
I really like aprons but so often don't put on on. But I'll often tuck a towel in my waistline to have it handy. The kids know when we pull out the aprons, we're cooking up something good.
As far as the microwave, we have one but don't use it often. It's handy for small amounts of food. We also use an electric water kettle, and like @Hinotori, it's probably one of the most used items in my kitchen. As far as whether or not the microwave is safe, I don't worry about it. We are sooo surrounded with things that are "bad" for us that I quit even reading the warnings. What's going to get us first? Exposure to chicken poop, DE, and salmonella? A scratch from a rusty fence or nail? Plastic, coffee, chocolate, sugar, salt, fat, glutton, genetically modified foods, hybrid plants, car exhaust, stress, meat, no meat, the water we drink, or the water we dont, fluorescent lights, UFO's??? The thing is, EVERYTHING is "dangerous" these days. It just depends on what you read. Everything can kill us or shorten our lives. The Bible says all things in moderation. I just thank the Lord for what we have, and eat it without worrying one bit.
@CrealCritter, that's fabulous news on your checkup! I'd second the opinion of keeping up with what you're doing.
One thing I still do that I learned from my dad when I was a kid... When I am scrubbing, or washing the floor, or cleaning windows, I clean in a circular pattern to avoid streaks. My dad was a milkman with a shiny clean truck. I was very often in charge of washing those stainless steel (?) sides. (The inside was cleaned with a machine to sterilize it.) If I washed it side to side, streaks would always show up once it dried, and dad would gently point it out.
An exception to that from my grandmother. When I am doing house windows, ammonia and wadded up newspaper still works much better than paper towels. And on the inside we'd wipe horizontally, and on the outside we'd wipe vertically. If there was a streak, it was immediately evident which side of the window it was on.