What did they do before ... ?

[Bubblingbrooks]

Here's a pic of our shower and outside wash station back in the 80s.

I LOVE my "now" shower and never take it for granted....same with the ease and convenience of having indoor plumbing/toilets.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/6459_pics_of_self_growing_up_004.jpg

I would love to have these things, in addition to all the modern stuff. It just makes sense to be prepared.

 

[dragonlaurel]

The flow was always "on", unless we put a stopper in the pipe. It was a seep spring so sometimes it would run faster than other days. At least we always had water and it was really good.
The tub kept things from being muddy around the pipe end. We let it drain back into the soil near there so the spring wouldn't get too depleted. We joked that we had almost running water. We "ran down with the bucket but it was walking water on the way back". The hill between the tub and the water was very steep, so I dug stair steps to make it safer.
The spot was gorgeous, but shivering in the tub was normal.

The place I want to build will have an attached greenhouse with a big tub in it. The graywater would be good for the plants and the water would heat up much better.

 

[baymule]

Before mechanical mowers I beleive sheep were used along with manual labor to remove the manure, personally I like geese (taste better than mutton and the manure disappears with a good rain) Nothing looks better to me than to see a line of geese grazing on a field of green kept short and fertilized by their efforts!~gd

JRmom - We had one of the reel mowers, back in Suburbia; I agree about the exercise, but the noise was pretty loud! No gas fumes though
I like the idea of geese, or even sheep, but don't see that happening anytime soon. I've read that the great expanses of lawn around Grand English Houses (and possibly around Grand American Houses as well) was mowed using large reel mowers pulled by ponies, with their hooves covered in sacking so as not to mar the grass. That was probably in the 19th century.

The reel type mower is hard to manufacture as well as hard to sharpen and adjust to get the clipping action right. I suspect a more practical mower was the siscal (can't spell) bar type used for cutting hay behind horses when I was a lad. the cutting bar moves back and forth through guides that direct the grass and the cutting blades can be removed from the bar to be sharpened or replaced if damaged. I am not saying that you are wrong, just that the cutting bar type is more practical. It really takes a lot of fiddling around to keep a reel type mower working right and they are a bear to push or pull when they are not adjusted right.~gd

I have a reel mower and I get a kick out of pushing it around out small yard. I got it from my Mom, she got it at Sears and paid about $60 for it. Similar ones are now $100. I had no idea those things were so expensive. I looked online and found them averaging about $200-$250. A reel mower is great entertainment for kids as long as you don't mind your yard looking like it was cut by rabid guinea pigs with broken teeth.

 

[FarmerDenise]

i have those aha moments a lot when baking. like what exactly did people do before baking soda? apparently ash water!

And that reminds me of Hartshorn salt, also called Bakers' Ammonia. Never heard of it until I moved to Germany, but they still use it there sometimes - apparently makes really crisp cookies. I just looked it up, and it was originally made from antlers, horns, and hooves of animals like deer, cows, goats. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/bakers-ammonia-ammonium-carbonate-27-oz

I am so glad you posted that. I was wondering what "Hirschhorn Salz" was. My monther has her old German Recipe book and there are a few things I would love to try and make sometime. Goodies I remember getting at the bakery....

I have plenty of ah ha moments. Just can't think of any right now. But then I spend a lot of time doing things the old way.

Guess BBH and I must be kin. I was the same as a kid. I have a beautiful indian costume my family made. My brother and I always played Indians, mostly trying do do things the way we thought indians had done them. When we moved to upstate New York, we learned so much more about the native culture and all of us played at being Indians or pilgrims or pioneers.

I think my most recent "Ah ha" moment has to do with curing my deer hide. So I am trying to do it without storebought chemicals. Looks like I'll be making buckskin as best I can, I don't get to use the deer brain, since SO is saving the head for his trophy.

Having a grandmother and grandfather, who lived the old way in Poland and had to make do without a lot that even my mother took for granted, I learned a lot from them. I loved hearing their stories. Both my maternal grandparents were jack-of-all trades. They had to be.

 

[Farmfresh]

We have a tiny yard and used to have a reel mower to mow it with. I abandoned mine. It cut the grass very short about 1 1/2 to 2 inches and you could not adjust it higher. In our Missouri summers the grass would die. Plus those things are HARD work.

IMO if I had to do a non power method again I would go with a scythe.

 

[Ohioann]

I've read that the great expanses of lawn around Grand English Houses (and possibly around Grand American Houses as well) was mowed using large reel mowers pulled by ponies, with their hooves covered in sacking so as not to mar the grass. That was probably in the 19th century.

This method is still uses (minus the sacking) in some Amish communities here in Ohio. I have seen single, double and triple reels hooked together and pulled by a single pony or horse. Push reel mowers are also in use. Other communities use power mowers.

 

[Wifezilla]

We use a reel mower. It can be a bit of a work out, but our yard is small and we have a lot of garden beds

 

[Denim Deb]

I've read that the great expanses of lawn around Grand English Houses (and possibly around Grand American Houses as well) was mowed using large reel mowers pulled by ponies, with their hooves covered in sacking so as not to mar the grass. That was probably in the 19th century.

This method is still uses (minus the sacking) in some Amish communities here in Ohio. I have seen single, double and triple reels hooked together and pulled by a single pony or horse. Push reel mowers are also in use. Other communities use power mowers.

I saw a double being pulled by a mini in Lancaster County, PA a couple of years ago. I thought it was pretty neat looking.

 

[eggs4sale]

Whatever did they do before the quesadilla maker was invented?

(note sarcasm)

 

[valmom]

Love these sorts of things too. My paternal grandparents were dirt poor and did things so "old fashioned" that it appalled my mother when we visited. I loved it! The woodburning cook stove, the hand made bread daily (OK, not the hand-rolled cigarettes my grandfather made and smoked and killed himself with). Teeny house, lots of uncles, lots of cool stuff, primitive "bathroom" (that appalled my mother, too). I think I inherited the gut-level knowlege that things don't have to be done in the modern style from my grandmother.