What did they do before ... ?

[Farmfresh]

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.

Me too! Spending all the time I did with Grandma Nettie was probably MY inoculation into the world of self sufficiency. I grew up in big city the late 60's and there was Grandma Nettie making her own lye soap, sausages, cleaning birds and beasts that Grandpa had hunted and doing endless loads of laundry on her Maytag wringer washer. (Which I got to keep as my own last year. ) My mom was more interested in shopping, smoking and friends than the wholesome life her mom had. I learned early on that I was most happy watching Grandma Nettie and her simple chores.

 

[moolie]

My Oma just turned 96 last Tuesday and has seen so many "modern conveniences" come into being, but until she moved into a nursing home 10 years ago she still took care of a huge backyard garden, a yard with peach, cherry, apple and hazelnut trees, blackberry and raspberry bushes. She canned and preserved everything to keep in her basement "cold room" (bare cement walls, insulated from the rest of the house to stay cool year-round) and was very thrifty in so many ways. When I was a child she made a footstool out of the big tall juice cans like what tomato juice come in--arranged into a flower shape with a fabric cover. We loved that footstool!

When Opa got sick and they moved off the farm and into town in 1970 Opa built their 2-story house to have an upstairs laundry room for the wringer washer, big deep laundry sink and folding table. He put in a small door to the outside through which ran the clothesline out to a pole at the end of the back yard. If it was raining, they had clothesline the length of the laundry room to hang things on, if not they opened the door and hung everything on the line and wheeled it out. Super convenient to hang and take in the laundry from inside the house!

She did everything by hand, baked the best bread, buns, cakes, and cookies! She was always trying new things and once made lasagne with ground leftover turkey once when I was very young (seemed weird at the time but was very delicious and now people use ground turkey in all kinds of traditional "beef" dishes so I figure she was ahead of her time).

She never threw anything out if she could avoid it and reused things like crazy. When everyone else had piles of black garbage bags out at the curb on garbage pick-up day, she had a small white bag maybe very two weeks or so, sometimes less frequently. I'm still trying to figure out how she did it in the era of no recycling--we recycle and compost most of our waste but still have the one small bag from the kitchen each week.

Until Oma went into the care home, she still sewed with a Singer treadle sewing machine, could knit anything to fit anyone without any sort of pattern (I had the most beautiful sweaters growing up, always with fancy patterned stitches), and she made the most glorious whole-cloth hand-quilted wool-stuffed comforters for everyone in the family. I had a single one growing up, then she gave us a full-sized one when we got married, and she even made a tiny one for our first baby--all matching in the same fabric with beautiful quilting all over (our oldest uses my old single and the baby quilt is put away for the next generation).

I cherish the "recipes" I managed to write down as Oma taught me how to cook some of her dishes. She just knew how much to put in, and I've come to cook in much the same way unless I'm trying something new. I don't think her life was easy, because she did everything the "hard" or "old-fashioned" way, but I think she enjoyed her work and she's an inspiration to me to not rely so much on modern technology. I know I would miss my electric mixer and washer/dryer, freezer, and electric stove/oven if I couldn't have them anymore, but I know how to cope because of all that Oma taught me.

Oma's memory is slipping away fast now and she doesn't always remember who people are (she often calls me my Mom's name now and doesn't always know my girls) but I hope her legacy lives on in her grand-daughter who is trying to live as frugally yet as abundantly as she did.

 

[dragonlaurel]

I would love to get to know somebody like Oma or Grandma Nettie. Really, lots of people used to normally do really cool stuff and I don't want those skills to go away.

It's a different way of thinking too. They naturally look at stuff to see what it could be- instead of making more landfills and buying everything new.

 

[Farmfresh]

I never appreciated the experience until I was much older.

I just assumed all people were like Grandma Nettie. It would be a better world if they were.

 

[2dream]

When I was a child she made a footstool out of the big tall juice cans like what tomato juice come in--arranged into a flower shape with a fabric cover. We loved that footstool!

My grandmother made me one of those. I don't know what ever happened to it but a few years ago I found one at a flea market and......yep, you guessed it. I bought it. Unlike your Oma, I needed a pattern and a good refresher on exactly how it was put together.

I have not made my granddaughter one yet but hope to have the time to do so very soon.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

When I was a child she made a footstool out of the big tall juice cans like what tomato juice come in--arranged into a flower shape with a fabric cover. We loved that footstool!

My grandmother made me one of those. I don't know what ever happened to it but a few years ago I found one at a flea market and......yep, you guessed it. I bought it. Unlike your Oma, I needed a pattern and a good refresher on exactly how it was put together.

I have not made my granddaughter one yet but hope to have the time to do so very soon.

I was just telling a friend of mine the other day about those footstools. I used to love the sound they made when you moved them too. Wish I could find or make one. I'll have to look for a pattern for a refresher too.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

I just assumed all people were like Grandma Nettie. It would be a better world if they were.

aint that right! my grandma minnie started teaching me to cook when i was 6 (or younger). i feel very bad for the kids now who's grandma's only know how to use the microwave or get food from a drive thru.

the best thing about my grandma minnie was that she loved all us kids - 7 if her own kids, i think there were 28 grand's and now who knows how many great-grands.. she never wanted "me" time, she always took the chipped plate, she always ate the "worst" piece of chicken, and never sat down until everyone else was taken care of.

 

[freemotion]

And sadly, Grandma Nettie and Grandma Minnie would be severely criticized by the modern feminist.....

 

[Blackbird]

Let's not start on that term again.

 

[valmom]

I would love to get to know somebody like Oma or Grandma Nettie. Really, lots of people used to normally do really cool stuff and I don't want those skills to go away.
.

That is why I want to learn absolutely EVERYTHING I can! I want to know how things used to be done- I think it is a legacy that should not be lost to the fast modern world. Yes, modern things are easier (washing machines! and cars) but there is a whole millenia of knowledge of the world and how humans fit into it that is being lost simply because no one cares to learn.