10 October 2012 “Turkey Dinner or Best Friend?”

First let me say it felt wonderful to check my blog today (something I have not done for a bit as I said I was rather unplugged for awhile) and see comments. I do miss that and all of you.

A quick response to some questions: I actually still dress vintage inspired most of the time. While working, which is simply slinging coffee at a coffee house, I started wearing skirts but now do wear trousers more. When I am not working I mostly wear dresses and skirts. However, my  return to the “present” has been making me almost hungry to create new vintage inspired ways of dressing. We still do our Sunday outing at our local tea house and I often wear hat and gloves and always dresses of course. I even wear dresses to my art class, though I am thinking of running up a few simple cotton dresses that I won’t mind getting printing ink on. As the class is screen printing I plan on designing and printing some simple cotton fabric to make clothes from. And I have a wallpaper idea I may try this semester and will happily share with all of you.

Now, I am still considering my schedule for writing but I simply felt like writing a little post today so here I am.

This is Alden my turkey. He is an Heritage breed known as a Holland White. How he came into my life is rather a spur of the moment decision. In this photo you see Alden with his best friend, a Polish hen named Beatrix.

Alden is named after my hubby’s Mayflower descendant, John Alden. I felt a turkey meant for the Thanksgiving table should have a good old-stock Pilgrim name. His little friend, Beatrix, is named after Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Polish hens are actually not from Poland but from the Netherlands.

As some of you know we had our home on sale this year. Because of that I sent my lovely chicken flock to a local educational farm and they now all live happily on many acres on the ocean. When I began waffling about the sale of our house this summer I happened to be at our local grain and feed store. They had just got in a small batch of rare white Holland's. This is an Heritage breed that is on the endangered list. They are a very old breed that started in South America in the 1500’s were brought to Europe by the Spaniards and returned to North America with the colonists. They were prized for their white color for both show (originally brought to ornament lawns as do peacocks) and then for their desirable white flesh as a meat bird.

This breed was crossed with the broad-breasted bronze in the early 1900’s to create the super hybrid white broad breasted used commercially today. The modern hybridized version are such a sad tale, as they grow insanely quick often snapping their own legs due to their weight and are unable to breed naturally and thus are only breed through artificial means. That is the type of turkey one finds in the grocery store. If they are allowed to live they eventually die by being crushed by their own weight.

So, these heritage Holland White’s are quite rare and a local man wanted to start and maintain a flock (as the heritage happily breed amongst themselves and are a very tame bird). You can see in the photo how long and strong Alden’s legs are. His sad modern hybrid relatives ride so low to the ground their legs bend with their own weight. Rather a sad commentary on today’s food and how distanced we are from the humanity and reality of what food what meant to people.

Here are more shots of my handsome lad:

  The darling little chicken looking up at the camera is Heloise. My current chicks/hens are not as friendly as my last batch but this little darling always comes up to me with Alden when I go to their pen in the morning. She is a Favorelle, a breed of chicken that has feathered legs and a big feathery neck piece that rather looks like an Edwardian ladies opera cape of feathers. They also have an extra toe that makes them look rather silly, but adorable none the less.

After deciding to get Alden (I had not chickens at that time having got rid of mine due to the house being for sale) I felt bad his being a small little downy turkey chick. All lone in a big chicken house. So, I bought him Beatrix as a friend. They were close in size as chicks and obviously now are miles apart. But, they have remained friends and Beatrix sleeps not on the roosts with the other hens, but cuddled on the floor of the coop with Alden under a heat lamp I had in their for chicks. They love it so I simply left it for them.

So, now I have 7 hens in total (they won’t begin laying for another month or so) our turkey and a fun little mini flock of miniature show chickens. I will share those with you on another post. My current hens do include two Americaunas for blue eggs and two French Cuckoo Marans for the chocolate brown eggs. I simply have to have a colorful group of eggs. They just look so good in my wire chicken holder in my kitchen. I like my farming to have a little style.

So the long and short of it is, Alden was purchased to be part of my grow at home Thanksgiving. I have a lovely large bucket of potatoes I dug that I planted this summer. Some acorn squash packed in my cellar from my garden. My big fat pumpkin is still happily on the vine at present and will make a wonderful pie and by Brussels sprouts are still fattening on the stalk as we speak. All of these will play a role on this year’s Thanksgiving table, but I fear the only way Alden may appear at the table is in tie and tails as a guest of honor. He has remained so sweet and beautiful I am not sure we can eat him. We shall see come November. I know it is hard to raise and kill your own food, but it has a dignity in it and a pure quality of life that I rather long for. But, we must take baby steps and this first attempt may simply remain to remind us to not ‘name our dinner’ as it were.

So, from Alden and myself, happy dreaming on Thanksgiving treats to come. And as always, Happy Homemaking.

9 October 2012 “A Quiet Return and Thinking of You”

I have been unplugged and absent for two months. The rest was needed for many reasons but I am finding my way back. I hope some of you have remained and are looking forward to my tentative return.

I have photos of my garden over the past few months as well as my growing chicken yard. My life has changed to the modern world but with a strong hold in the past. I am now working outside of the home 2-3 days a week at a cafe. I am taking an art class this semester and considering more schooling in my future. I find myself dressing more modern. Yet, with all these changes, the skills of the past and the general outlook on life as frugal and well planned could not serve me better than in the present.

I find that I miss this portion of my project; the writing and hearing from all of you. My life is moving more towards the arts and with the skills of the home and the immense study of the past, it cannot but help color my art. I want the site to move in that direction but to also maintain the importance of history. And I would like to begin sharing my life, my projects, and what I learn and garner from all of that with all of you.

I hope all are well and I look forward to hearing from you. My hubby and I find that the past will never leave us completely. We both are history lovers at heart and our home is still TV free. He enjoys his typewriters and I my antique appliances. In many ways we consider more ways to bring the past into our daily lives and to better arrange our futures.

I hope you will enjoy the changes that I will be sharing in the months ahead and look with excitement at the coming new year. I’d like to work towards our making a meeting place of creativity and old skills to better our lives. To share one another’s stories, answer questions about how to use the past to better the present and a great place to document the adventures of my odd little life.

I also plan on making a set writing schedule for the blog and to try and update and bring in more interactive aspects. I am currently fighting a cold (a consequence of working outside of the home I fear) and plan on next week beginning to write every Tuesday and Thursday. I also plan a way to have an easy but fun way to share daily. I have let the last forum subside due to the problem (as we had with our original old forum back in 1956) of spam. A move to Wordpress may be in the future as well, as it might better allow apps and add-ons to improve our enjoyment of our online history loving community.

So, to all of you out there, you have all been in my thoughts and I hope you will continue to be in my on-line life. Until I write again, remember to learn from the past to enjoy the present and improve the future.

50s gal

19 July “The Joy of Unplugging and My Hopes for the Future”

I believe I am well past apologies at this point. Here it has been well over a month since my last post. As many discovered through my posts that the Depression was far too near to our actual times for comfort. The increasing discoveries of our past through politics and how they shadow and color today began to be overwhelming. It was not unlike an extensive art renovation peeling back the layers of a loved old painting to realize that the foundation of a lovely bucolic scene had been built upon the mad renderings of a Hieronymus Bosch depiction of Hell.

I hadn’t any original intentions to unplug as I have done. It simply happened. One day, guilt free, away from the computer. Another day came and went with meals and cleaning and gardening but no computer. Their were mornings spent watching my new chickens, afternoons weeding the garden and occasional breaks in the days with bike rides to the shore with hubby and friends. It began to feel almost like a delicious decadence, these blog-less days. My chores done and the day stretched before me with no need to touch a key nor sit in front a screen. The earth called and my nails grew rich with dark soil.  There were trips to local garden centers with friends; happily choosing flowers. Dinner parties under the trees lit with candles, our laughter, and the late night crickets. And still no computer. I reveled in a world in which the most advanced technology I needed was my old stove and pad and paper.

So, to say the least, I have used the computer very little. There were very few reasons to touch it. I have taken my break from writing. I have no interest in TV and any movies I wished to indulge in I could do so on our old set rigged to play dvd’s with the black and white feel of the past. What are my plans for the future with this site? I am not sure.

I do know that I love to write and wish to do so again. With the missing part of my day being the discipline of desk/computer/writing/research time, I have looked more to my studio. Dreaming up art projects.

The main thing I seemed to have learned during these past three years of time travel is that if one learns skills one can manage more things. I find having more to do each day makes the day more enjoyable and gives me a better feeling about myself and my own accomplishments.

I think my posts may begin to return to one day a week to get me back into the swing of the things. I have so many things growing in my garden that would be fun to share. And various things I am I always doing or trying that would be good as well. Like my good ole’ fashioned homemaker blogs. I think that might be of interest to all. I shall still touch on the past, of course, in context of that post. And all the while begin compiling my book of my experience.

Well, for those of you out there that have stuck around I hope you continue to do so. For any new followers, simply click the link to start at my 1955 year to see the insanity that has brought me to where I am. And, as always, Happy Homemaking.

17 June 1955 “Touching Base”

Just checking with all of you. You have all been on my mind, but busy gardening and just enjoying the Summer really. I shall post soon. I hope all are enjoying their Summer.

5 June 1948 “Your Thrift Habits, In the Garden, and How to Make Short Pastry”

I may have shared this film with you before, but come along and learn how Ralph can teach Jack (and us) some common sense saving tips. In the modern world, unfortunately, the 0% interest rates do not encourage savings. One finds now it costs more to keep one’s money in the bank. But, we should learn from the smart aspects of the past and forgo the bad behavior our modern Federal Reserve and Spend Thrift government demonstrates to us.

I call this my ‘edible bouquet’. You can see a cluster of broccoli, little radish seedling leaves, and the flowers from my arugula. This looks lovely and I keep it in water in the kitchen and cut off it for my meals. Why not enjoy your garden produce as art as well as food.

My little garden is coming along nicely this year. I downsized as we have the house on the market. I am now farming four 4 x 4 raised beds. One row of the picket fence around my veg garden also has some fennel, rhubarb, chives and onions. And my tomatoes and herbs are in pots on the terrace. If we decide not to sell or it doesn’t sell, next summer my garden will double, that’s for sure.

Here I caught this little insect pollinating my arugula flowers. You are not meant to let them flower, but they grow so fast and I simply hack them down and put them in my ‘bouquets’. They are edible and look lovely in salads. As long as I don’t let them go to seed.

Arugula is a wonderful salad green. It has an almost savory quality to it, rather like meat or slightly peppery. It is a treat fresh or also quickly pan seared with served with meat.

Radishes are the easiest thing to grow. From seed to food is mere days! The seeds are fine you simply sprinkle them close together and then as they sprout you want to thin them. And don’t they look wonderful all lined up in their loamy beds. Next to them are sprouting two rows of carrots.

 These thinned sprouts here, demonstrating they are radish by their lovely red and white roots, are delicious. They are milder than when they are full grown and go straight into salads. What doesn’t end up in my mouth of course. Even if you only have a pot on a window sill in the city, you could grow radish non stop for your summer eating.

I just loves the up close images of these so had to share a closer photograph. Aren’t they beaufitful?

  My broccoli is growing like a weed! In fact I let these bunches go a bet too far, as they are about to flower, but I rather like them this way. Again, salads or steamed or simply dropped on top of your grilled chicken for the last minute of cooking and its a dream. Fresh garden veg will always outside the Styrofoam over grown varieties at most major Super Markets.

Snow peas, or sugar snap peas, are another easy to grow crop. You start them early in the ground, they like a little cold. And while these are producing I have my lima beans starting on the same structure. When these are gone the limas will be going nicely and I will plant a second crop of snap peas in another spot this year. They are eat of the vine wonderful.

Some of the other fun plants in my garden this year include this Tesal plant (medicinal) the beautiful artichoke (the fern like one in front) and fever few and dill. The fever few is both medicinal and good in herbal teas. And we love artichokes here, so good and fun to eat, sucking each yummy morsel out of their little shells. Rather like the Lobsters of the Garden, really.

My blueberry bushes are brimming with a nice little harvest. And my graps are beginning their budding. The little flower clusters look like mini bunches of grapes. These are a small seeded old variety, but the taste. When you eat these and compare them to the plum-sized hard and firm seedless market variety, you can really taste the difference. These old small seeded grapes taste like heaven and are as sweet as candy. Of course, I have to fight the birds for them, but enough make it to my kitchen to make me happy and every year the vine grows bigger leaving a bigger share for both of us.

As we are in the 1940’s today, I though I’d share this fun scan of making short pastry from the war time ministry of foods in Britain. Short Pastry, of course, is simply flour and fat. It is used for both sweet and savory.

I realize I am still rather lax in my posting. And as I said last post have begun to simply live more and research less. I still research, though, its simply part of my life now, but much more focusing on doing. I think I see myself and this blog moving in a new direction but still keeping the old values. I believe what I have done thus far has been a solid base and that I in no way see me abandoning it. My new project might be more focused on an outside source, such as an artwork project that goes for a year, that I can share but with still sharing my daily living and usual tips on living vintage.

The old ways are now simply My ways. I no longer see a differentiation between what I am trying to do and what is modern to do. I see the vast crevasse between how we live now and how we used to and I simply try to do more of the old ways, as they have become more normal to me. Though I am daily reminded (well not daily, many days I am happily at home blissfully ignorant of the changing world out there) of how much harder it is to simply be frugal.

As an example I was going to sell some homemade things this summer at my local farmers market. Now there are SO many laws set up to ‘protect’ us that the homemaker and small business starter has little chance to make it against the big guys. After I would get my kitchen inspected ($70 every year), pay to take a two day Serve Safe class (around $400), buy Liability Insurance (insurance the scourge of the modern man and the road block to cheaper prices for all and more money for the little man!)which is $550 a year, plus the food license for my town also required, another $60. All that before I even pay for the table at the Farmers Market or buy the ingredients.

At least in the Depression one could put out a sign and sell things no problem. Today the road blocks to self-sufficient money making are immense. And many of these ‘health precautions’ mean little to the large factories where chickens float in vats of bleach. Yet, if I wanted to slaughter my own home raised chicken and sell it to my neighbor I could literally go to jail for it.

It is hard, sometimes, living in the past when the present slaps one in the face at every turn. But, I try and shall endure as I hope all of you shall as well. We can do it, we past loving home bodies, but we must be craftier in how it is done.

Happy Homemaking.

 

29 May 1956 “Living My Life and Father Knows Best: Don’t Wear Your Pants So Low”

I have no real reason for my long 13 day absence from my blog. I have to admit to not even using the computer for the past few days. At my last check in I saw that our good follower/friend Sanne noted that we are having Spam on our new Forum. As I am paying monthly to have that forum so as NOT to have spam you can see that is rather frustrating. It was sort of another ‘straw breaking camel’s back’ for me.

I have been, then, simply living my life. Each day has not been any particular year but my own now certain form of timeless living. I still watch no modern media and only read vintage magazines, but most of the day is filled with gardening, planning out a new project for my barn/studio and biking and walking.

Where I live is certainly a Summer Season destination, so you can imagine this time of year it is lovely. The days are warmer but still with a hint of cool sea air. The wooded path where we walk and bike down to the sea is alive with blooming wild jasmine and roses right now. I feel rather transported back in time when wheeling down that lane, my skirts flying and the fragrance of the wild flowers begin to mingle with sharp notes of the sea.

Have I seen to the problem with the forum? No. Have I bothered to research a particular moment and compare and contrast with today? No. I have simply and happily swirled through these days with mornings punctuated by my old percolator popping as I stand on the terrace of the kitchen and dream up my next garden. Or laugh with friends on the rolling lawn of our local tea house, watching the birds play on the waters of the old Mill Pond downtown. An afternoon spent poking around the antique shop, trying on Victorian rings and helping friends try on 1800’s silk bonnets.

I seem to be coming to a point in which I have begun to see the world as it truly is. I can see the funny old professor behind the curtain pulling the strings that manipulate the great and powerful OZ that is our modern world and while it first scared me, it has now brought me to a place of complete neutrality. I feel I have no real power to change the vastness of our world. I, much like many of the masses during the hard times of the past, simply must wait to be swept up into whatever the puppet master chooses to be our next production. In the meantime I want to live.

And the things I am doing and have been learning since 1955 seem to be quite helpful in the changing times. Gardening, cooking, mending, de-cluttering. Even things as simple as selling and donating things once bought at big box stores for the look of it with China stamped on the bottom for one small item that is truly old and has true value. It needn’t be expensive, but whole shelves of cheap knock offs can be worth nothing and can quickly be yard-saled and one nice piece of sterling silver, a pair of sugar tongs say, can replace them. They take up less space. They hold a store of value (as they are sterling and mostly silver) and are also useful. And what fun to polish them and be proud when serving guests tea and asking “One lump or Two” to which the little clawed pincers goes into the sugar bowl and presents the cleverest little claw of sugar.

Yesterday, Hubby had the day off and we worked in the yard. We trimmed out some more trees, though it is rather late to do it, but we have fun. And I finally decided the old lilac, which has been rather sick and gets worse for the wear every year, should go. Its sacrifce gave me not only a flood of light in my little kitchen but literally another sunny area to expand my vegetable/fruit garden. I was excited at the prospect.

“Aren’t you moving?” you might ask, Well we do have our house on the market. But, I am also realizing that we are no where near the bottom of the housing market, despite what is said in the press. (again the professor happily presses the button and the Great Oz Speaks!) and see that what we would want for our home means it might sit here for some time. And that realization also makes me wonder if my future plans should not involve keeping our lovely old home after all. Again, acceptance, realization, prepare, then move on to living and enjoying each day.

I have decided this summer to do some fun art courses. I am going to learn some wheel throwing in ceramic/pottery. This week I will also be going to learn more about encaustic, a very ancient art form where one paints with layers of wax and colors. Again, living my life today as well as appreciating the past.

I am not sure how my posts will change. I do know that I shall be trying to ease back into more daily posting, but I need to emerge from this cocoon of strict past rules and spread my wings of joy and living.

I will close now with this link. I was unable to find a YouTube version but was able to find it on Hulu. It is free, but you will need to watch commercials. I luckily have these shows and many others on old dvds my hubby made for me back in 1955 to ‘watch tv’ as it were then without any modern things breaking in. This episode I found funny and topical as in the late 50’s the fashion of teen boys (not girls though) wearing their dungarees or (Levi’s as they say here, branding) was becoming popular. As was a more casual look for girls when not in school. This episode compares the parents 1920’s youth to the current 1957. It is a good episode and I hope you enjoy it. HERE is the link.

Have a lovely day all and Happy Homemaking.

16 May 1931 “Women in the Workforce and Austria’s Largest Bank Collapses”

After WWI, the idea of women working was more the norm. Prior to that, of course, the working and servant class always had working women. Domestics were often female, male servants being rather expensive and usually only afforded to the upper classes.

Women in Factories had been happening since prior to the WWI, even in Victorian times, in the working class. Many young girls chose the hard labor over becoming a domestic and thus left the remaining domestics receiving higher wages.

By the end of WWI, women of all class working began to be seen as normal and progress. Though, prior to the 1950’s, most women usually worked until marriage, then giving it up to remain home and raise children. Though many poorer families would still have seen a mother working out of the home when she could, as a domestic or in laundry services and the like. Often the close knit and close quarter living of the time afforded free child care amongst the lower class working mothers. That disappeared after the Suburban exodus of the 1950’s. Women in the workforce was not as focuses upon until the later 60’s and by the 1980’s there was more of the need of economy than any real women’s liberation behind the two working income families.

“According to the 1930 census almost eleven million women, or 24.3 percent of all women in the country, were gainfully employed. Three out of every ten of these working women were in domestic or personal service. Of professional women three-quarters were schoolteachers or nurses.”

Here is an interesting from from the 1930’s showing women in the workforce in New York city. I like this quote from the narrator:

“Unless you have enough money to support yourself the full year, Stay Home,” is the guide for these “Coal town Cinderellas”.

This silent film from 1931 was shown to girls in High Schools at the time. Again, the idea of women working becoming more the norm and even having rather high numbers prior to WWII.

I want to start looking more at working women to compare with today’s mothers and homemakers who are usually forced to work due to the high costs of living we modern people must face.

On May 11 of this year, 1931, The Creditanstalt (Austria's largest bank) goes bankrupt, beginning the banking collapse in Central Europe that causes a worldwide financial meltdown.

This bank was based in Vienna and founded in 1855 by the Rothschild Family, a banking family that is still very strong and powerful today. And though it was very successful it declared bankruptcy on May 11 1931 which resulted in a Global financial crisis. This lead to the bank failures of the Great Depression and was, in fact, a major player in the speculation and misuse in Wall St. in the USA.

Following this bankruptcy the bank was saved both by the Rothschild's (who originally owned it and filed for the bankruptcy) and the The Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) which became the central bank of Austria today, an integral part of both the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the Eurozone. Today the banks capital is 12 million Euros. Previously half this money was held by employer and employee organizations and also other banks and insurance corporations. But, since May 2010, all this capital is currently held by the State of Austria.

The more I hop about the past decades the more I see of the little thin almost invisible string that binds the past financial woes with today's. They say as much as some things change so do they stay the same. It seems with the financial troubles and subtle under play of what is really going on behind the scenes, little has changed over the past 100 years. Parties and presidents come and go and arguments and hatred by dividing camps of the masses seem to be the distraction to the reality behind it all, unchanging except by growing in strength and power.

The current ‘dilemma’ or ‘hot topic media story’ happily distracting one from real problems. And reality tv also does the job nicely. I hope we can all begin to look more closely and turn off the media and read a bit of history. The more we divide the more we are conquered. Perhaps we should think of our towns, states, and countries as larger homes we must care for. And in so doing, be the homemakers of the world. And every homemaker knows that we don’t like mud tracked through our clean homes or dirty smoke spoiling the furniture. And we especially don’t like secrets and whispering, for it is very rude, nor do we condone name calling and childish behavior. We need to be the grownups for the new generations, as I feel they haven’t any to look to for guidance.

I hope all have a lovely day and Happy Homemaking.

8 May 1941 “The Victory Garden”

I thought today, still poking about the 1940’s, we should look at Victory Gardens. In England Victory Gardens had been going for some time, their entrance into war in 1939, and were quite a serious matter. With much of their food being imported prior to the war, the importance of food was tantamount to everyone planting. And women were even drafted into the Women’s Land Army. Labor being of short supply during war times, many girls, the “land girls” as they came to be known, were sent off to help on the rural farms and estates.

The U.S. had its its own Victory Gardens. Though the threat of actual invasion was never really plausible here and with more than enough farmland to go around, we still needed to provide more food for home so the rest could go overseas with our boys.

Here is a wonderful and fun 20 minute film from 1941 America showing a local family and their change to a Victory Farm.

Though we currently are at war in 2012, we seem to not really speak about it in the same way. In fact, our country is involved in many wars and skirmishes and occupations all over the world, yet for some reason the press and Government has not seen fit to rally our country to a war time status of community and self-reliance. In fact, with the growing climate of increased food costs, loss in jobs and a very shaky economic climate, we are almost an odd amalgam of both the Depression and the War Time years. Now, more than ever, would we all benefit from such government advertising of self reliance and gardening and make do and mend. However, being a complete consumer culture now more than ever, this would not sit well with the major large corporate chains and big box stores and groceries.

However, those of us who do care to pay attention or simply look carefully at our current world, can see a very real need to learn to do more and to grow your own. So, there is much to take to heart today from our WWII homemaking sisters who, much as today’s mothers, had to go out to work as well as run a home, care for children and work to earn.

The main difference, as was seen in the movie above, is that many homes had elder relatives in who could help with day care. We are pre 1950’s mass building and the concept of the new Middle class set out in isolation from the extended family into neat little rows has not as yet happened. So the concept of extended family and more general knowledge in cooking, gardening, and even sewing was already part of the WWII women’s arsenal. And there were many Government printed booklets to help any new to it. There was a general overall support that does not exist today.

And today the working mother has much  more to spend to drive places, while pre 1950’s neighborhoods and towns were much more walking biking friendly. So when there was no petrol for the cars due to the war, it mattered little. Today, however, when one has to work  just to pay the debt on credit cards ,but the shops and the work is at least 20 minutes away, then one HAS to pay the $4 a gallon of gas. We seem to be rather trapped in a way that our Wartime sisters weren’t. They had it bad, for sure, but in many ways they had each other and their community in a way that we no longer even understand. That will hopefully be rectified as more and more people realize that we are not enemies of each other but that to combat high prices and changing environments of economy and such, we need to help each other despite our differences and realize that the camaraderie of failing economy is a great equalizer for us all.

If you haven’t room for a plot of land, there are many veg and even soft fruit you can grow in containers on balconies or even in window boxes. I came across a miniature tomato the other day that stays small enough to be in a window box, but bears cherry sized tomatoes all summer. So, don’t plant flowers in those boxes, plant herbs and tomatoes!

And some veg, like my onions here, can do double duty. As we had such a mild winter, my yellow onions wintered over so nicely, that I simply moved them to the border of my little garden where I will have edible flowers and herbs.

While the onion flowers are not as bright and purple pink as a chive flower, they are still none the less quite lovely. They will be a wonderful white and chartreuse. And, as a perennial now along the border of my veg beds, will be a showy and edible plant. Though the bulbs will not be large and worth digging up, as the energy is going into the seeds rather than the bulb, the stems and flowers are still edible like a chive. And I rather like them in arrangements and in salads both. Now that is Victory garden double duty, a bit of brightness at dreary times and then, plop, onto the dinner plate to eat right up!

Pots on roof decks or balconies in cities can certainly grow many food items and I even recall sharing this idea with an apartment dwelling follower a few years ago. HERE is the site where this family did just that. One could easily do this on the railings of a deck in an apartment or the walls on the deck. A kind landlord might even allow them along the outer walls of a south facing apartment building. Say you will share your harvest with the Super and you might get a green light on the idea! Again, community sharing and coming together, we can’t all do it alone. Our War time sisters knew this and they worked together helping neighbors and friends out as they could.

Of course, keeping chickens became more important during the War years. Not only did it provide eggs and meat, but much needed manure for compost for the veg garden. The cycle of growth and the importance of living within the cycle of nature was right at your doorstep, even in cities.

Here you can see one of my new veg beds this year. I did four. I took some old 2 x 8’s I had lying about and made four beds. Here it is just sitting atop last years garden. The weeds are happily enjoying last years rich soil, but this year I of course dug up inside the bed nice and loose. Then I added a wheel barrel full of chicken manure from my chickens compost and then some top soil from my compost pile to make a nice rich loose soil to plant. I did my potatoes here. I sprouted my spuds in my pantry in a wire basket while we were away on our week in Maine. I was happy to find them thus on our return. They are now happily nestled in their new rich organic beds.

And around the beds I will plant step able herbs like thyme and chamomile, that acts as an edible lawn. And will border them with basil and coriander.

You can also add to your flower beds things like asparagus, rhubarb, blueberries and such. They are perennials that give more and more each year and are still pretty additions to your landscape. Why not have something to look at and eat?

Here are my snow peas, happily growing towards their bamboo supports. They were started in the ground in mid April as were my Swiss Chard and Arugula. Salad greens and some peas, such as these, like the cold and can be sewn outside as the early crop before you get to the more tender summer crops of tomatoes and peppers.

Here are my arugula, chard, and lettuce mid April before we went on our holiday. Luckily the rain we had while we were gone made them happy and they have grown twice as big. Here is a close up of the chard, which is such a beautiful plant. This could make a lovely border for the early flower bed. Again, grow pretty AND edible. And things like beets are pretty and you eat the root AND the leaves are lovely in salads. I have a pretty purple leaved variety growing this year in my little beds and they will make a salad pretty as well as tasty. Beet root also preserves or can be canned very well too.

We have much we can learn from our 1940’s sisters and brothers. The least of which is to depend upon family and friends and not feel we must go it all alone. I abhor the increases amount of old people in nursing homes. We lock away those with the last bit of working knowledge away from our younger generations. Look out the young kids in the 1941 Victory garden film learn from Grandpa. Today he might very well be in an nursing home rarely seeing his grandchildren. We need to begin to restructure our lives upon the good bits of the old days, as I fear much of today seems to take us further and further from one another and more and more dependent upon technology that is often merely a time waster. We can do it. I know we can!

Happy Homemaking.

4 May 1947 “Budgeting Our Time the 1940’s Way and a Need for Home Economics Today”

I know I have shared this little checklist with you before. It is from my 1947 America’s Housekeeping Book.  It is a handy little book and this is a good layout of a possible weeks work.

You will notice the little addendum on the bottom that tells one Saturday can be planned in advance as a rest day. This is certainly true if you plan the meals ahead of time and set in the ice box to simply cook that day.

It also mentions wash and marketing. I do my laundry on Monday, ironing is Tuesday and my Marketing is done on Friday as there are often sales then. But there is a list of reasons you may not be able to maintain your schedule outlined in the book and here it follows. (Simply click on any image to read full-size of course).

 Some of these things refer you to other pages in the book, but most are simply an ‘ask yourself, test your common sense’. And some things, like the reference to the ‘one handed kitchen set up on pg. 20’ simply tells how modern cabinets are often too deep. Try to arrange like things with like such as bowls of same size together not nest larger and smaller together, as you would need two hands to get at it. Also it points out how shelves made or adjusted to simply hold one row of things, such as canned goods, make more efficiency as well as do not lead to clutter or digging to find things and lets one know what is on hand and what is needed when making next weeks marketing list.

Such films as this from 1950 on simply buying foods would not only be helpful today but would point out what I have learned. That inflation is currently rampant. Many shop haphazard and with no list or particular pattern. I have been with friends when they have shopped thus. This way many do not see the changes in prices. Because many prices are hidden cleverly today. For instance ice cream has reduced its packaging. It deceptive is the same height and width along the front of the packaging but it is narrower now. So, even when the price stays the same you are literally buying less, thus that means you are paying more per weight of item.

This has been true with tuna as well which has shrunk from 10 oz down to currently 5 oz. Just since I started my 1955 project tuna has gone from 7.5 oz. 5 oz for same brands. And though it might sometimes be on sale, even then the price over all is higher.

To have the ability to plan and look and watch what you are spending both for meal planning and money planning is almost unheard of today. My friend who is 28 told me she had ‘Life Skills’ courses in High School not Home Economics. And in that class they taught them how to make packaged macaroni and cheese as well as packaged cake mixes! And the school had to buy these pre packaged national brand packages as well! Wouldn’t you think one who can simply read could make mac n cheese on their own?

When I told her about the 50’s Home Economics teaching about weights and qualities and how different cuts of meat are created and used. How leftovers can be used and even understanding different fabrics to see what clothing lasts longer and how to prepare it, she said how much that would have actually helped her. So, it isn’t that today’s youth don’t want to know or understand such things.

Here is the film on buying food:

And for those who may have  been worried of the ‘Rock n Roll’ set or even if young men in the 50’s took Home Ec., here you can see this short film about young teens going to a local grocer as part of the training in their Home Economics class room.

These young people even visit the butcher while there to see the different cuts of meat and how they are used. Many people today buy premade or simply ground beef. When there is so much more economy, taste, and really quality if full meat. Though much of the meat is still full of hormones and antibiotics and the cows themselves are poorly fed on corn (not their natural diet) at least buying actual cuts of meat lets you know what you have. While pre-packaged fish fingers, chick patties and the like are mostly made of who knows what.

I heard something about some sort of ‘pink slime’ that is now used in ground beef and was only last year labeled only fit for animal foods. Another way, by the bye, that the increase in food costs are hidden, by decreasing the quality product to include ‘filler’. In a world where little is prepared but comes prepared, it is easy to slip in such false economies.

Enjoy the teens and their class at the supermarket:

I am going to close with this darling photo, also from my ‘47 Homemakers book. Here we see the good idea of allowing the young child to emulate and learn at an early age how to cook and bake. Of course, one must have a family member with such skills in order to pass this on to children. I fear this might be also vanishing. Today children may simply learn how to press the buttons on the microwave and how to toss out their paper plate rather than ‘cleaning up’ afterwards.

In many ways most of we modern people are like the child and do need more lessons. I have certainly given myself a thorough training session in Home Ec over the past three years. But, I am always learning and with still so much to understand. And with every day I feel a bit more in control of my small part of life. I only wish we had more control over our lives on the grander scale concerning laws, rights and such. So, the haven of the home shall have to be all the better equipped to handle the ups and downs of the economy and a better refuge from the turbulent modern world.

Happy Homemaking.

3 May 1943 “Thrift, Wartime, New Kitchens and What it Meant in Advertising”

During the War years Thrift and Conservation became words used often. The idea of it being an ‘Old Fashioned’ value is present in this ad. That Grandmother’s generation, or that of the last century, valued savings and conservation. In many ways the actual amount of available products just weren’t there in her time. What is interesting in this ad is that advertising is using the idea of Patriotism and saving for the war effort as a way to sell the homefront homemaker new towels. Not thrifty at all, in fact.

Here is an article from this same 1943 magazine which opens with tugging at one’s heart strings for what the soldier longs for home. In his desires for the wing chair by the hearth and that ‘old bed’ to sleep in, really we see a complete doing over of the house. New things bought, post war, with War bonds bought now. Or to do so now would be, in a way, Patriotic. When in fact, the returning soldier would most likely want to see the old things as he left them and as he recalled them. The comfort of home is constancy not change.

  I look at such war time ads with different eyes than I did when I started my 1955 project. Then I was keen to see what we had and what was new in the post war years. Now, I see us beginning to be told how we, as Americans, define ourselves through our things rather than our deeds. The idea that the old kitchen wasn’t good enough and that such luxury is not considered so or that our freedom is somehow tied to purchase rather frightens me now.

In some ways it makes me shutter for those older people during those years, the grandmothers, that wondered at their own value system dying away. I am sure, much as we see today with older people to today’s youth with constant need of new phones/computers etc, the same thing. Yet, that idea of flux and constant change. The very business model of constant growth was rather foreign in 1900 yet by WWII we really see that changing.

The idea of saving, though here in war bonds for future use, is already changing. The setting aside for a rainy day is beginning to blue a bit. And today savings is an almost unheard of concept. Add to that the 0% interest rates, which are meant to somehow help the failing economy, actually punishes saving. With no interest on money set aside, there almost seems little reason or incentive to do so. And many young people today most likely live only on debt from credit cards.

There is most likely not one element that has lead to the rapid change in our concept of who we are as American’s, but one has simply to step back one decade at a time to the turn of the last century to get a feel for how it has been greatly affected.

Though we had concepts of thrift as a national idea during the last World War, we today, though the US is involved in many wars, have no such national idea. We are told to spend to be American. I feel for our soldiers today and those left at home. And I feel for all of us, homemakers alike, who live in a world of flux, constant change, and continual disparaging and contradictory news and realities as espoused by whatever channel we are tuned into. When really, is any of it actual reality? We get our reality through programming while our own lives go unlived in ways unthinkable hundreds of years ago. In many ways I feel like that mythical soldier in the article above who simply wants to leave it all come home to a comfortable bed and feel safe in the constancy and comfort of home. Have we all, as a nation and a world, lost our home? Is the concept of Home even alive anymore for us to get to or is it just a marketing idea only achieved through discount shopping? I hope not.

Let’s not let Home be a product to be bought but lets make home a place of frugal savings and comfort of love not things. The comfort that comes from less and easy living because of camaraderie and not picking sides of being part of a clique is Home. Let there not be Them and Us, but let our homes be We. Let’s not be branded like cattle into our little pigeonholes, lets be happy industrious home loving families who revel in knowledge and skill. Who look at challenges as tasks to be overcome with grace and study and not to ease or overstressed life with ‘shop therapy’ or to ‘get away from it all’. A new kitchen won’t bring as much feeling of safety and home as will some savings and a meal made through thrift and skill. Getting more and getting it cheaper isn’t always the answer. Having less and caring for it and ourselves is.

Happy Homemaking.

30 April 1941 “The Spirit of Self-Sufficiency, America First Rally in NYC, and a Free War Time Recipe Booklet”

Its unfortunate that while we were happy to remember the atrocities of war to try and not fight again (though that seems a failed attempt today) we were happy to let go of the camaraderie, and self sufficiency. Had we remembered what it was we could do without, how little we really needed to survive and be happy, and that people and not things were important; perhaps we would not have been swept up in the ensuing commercialism of the following decades.

Certainly, we were happy to have things again. Safety and a new world seemed to make us willing to build more houses, buy more things and pave over our lands to allow easy travel by automobile. Yet, I wonder, how many homemakers of the war years, though happy to have the war over, sometimes thought, “Gee, we were fine without all these things before the war, now we have so much to pay for and care for”.

It would have been the homemaker who would have noticed such things. And happy though she was to have an easier time of it, one wonders if the TV and the need for cars ever made them think of life during the war and before with less cars and less things. Or had thoughts of how her new flower borders might be better used to grow vegetables for her family as they once did during the war. She might even have missed the scratch and peck of her chickens to the sound of endless lawnmowers trimming the sea of new postage stamp lawns. The good, in even the bad times, can always be paid forward. I hope that is a lesson we can still learn today.

With the fear for loved ones, the scarcity and uncertainty of the future came a self-sufficiency and a brotherhood unlike times before. It was really more akin to say the late 19th century and pre WWI. And the realization of how little “things” were so important. Today we fight wars over “things” at the expense of people. We are always concerned with how can we get more and if we run low on things we must have more at any cost. Not, how can we simply live differently to spare those future lives fought at an expense far too great for any to pay. The concept of living differently rather than fighting for cheaper and more of what we think we need seems never to cross our minds. It wouldn’t be easy, but mightn’t it be fun and possibly better for our communities and the lower classes? But, I digress, on with some news.

On 23 April 1941, the first major Rally of the The America First Committee (AFC) was held. This organization was the foremost “ non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II. Peaking at 800,000 paid members in 650 chapters, it was one of the largest anti-war organizations in American history. Started in 1940, it shut down after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.”

There were no such things as ‘hippies’ yet and this anti war organization held many prominent people as well as business men, such as a future president Gerald Ford. Many felt that the only way to keep American sovereignty and protect its own borders was to stay out of the war in Europe.

Charles Lindbergh, the famous aviator, air force Colonel, and son of the famous senator, Charles Lindbergh Sr.,  spoke at this rally and urged listeners “to look beyond the speeches and propaganda they were being fed (about the need for USA to go into the War) and instead look at who was writing the speeches and reports, who owned the papers and who influenced the speakers.” This was later seen as an anti-Semitic  feeling as most of these were controlled by Jewish individuals. Yet, he felt their religion was not the point but that their actions, despite their religion, must be watched. But it was easier to spin the idea that he simply was a Nazi sympathizer. This was untrue and he went on to be quite a war hero.

Though Charles Lindbergh had resigned his Air Force Colonel pilots commission as part of his feelings against the US going into the War, he later ( after Pearl Harbor)  strongly supported the war effort after Pearl Harbor and flew many combat missions in the Pacific Theater of World War II as a civilian consultant even though President Franklin D. Roosevelt had refused to reinstate his Army Air Corps colonel's commission that he had resigned in April 1941.

On 11 December 1941, after Pearl Harbor and the USA was in the war, the American First Committee disbanded and made the following formal statement:

“Our principles were right. Had they been followed, war could have been avoided. No good purpose can now be served by considering what might have been, had our objectives been attained.
We are at war. Today, though there may be many important subsidiary considerations, the primary objective is not difficult to state. It can be completely defined in one word: Victory”

HERE is the speech, which is both cheered and booed, by Lindbergh on the reasons behind the coming of America’s involvement in WWII. (I cannot embed the video as it is not allowed, but you can follow the link to watch it on YouTube if you like.)  His father, a state senator from Minnesota, had been against the US in WWI and also strongly opposed the formation of the Federal Reserve. Lindbergh's son, Charles III was kidnapped famously in 1932. One wonders, with his father’s involvement against the Federal Reserve and the general move towards the increase in Banking Power and reformation of American money and Business interest, was there a tie or connection? What I have continued to learn about history, with its odd little “coincidences” I honestly don’t rule anything out any more.

Now, for some fun Wartime Recipes:

Here is a free online Recipe book of the time. You can read it online or print it out. The link is HERE.

Here are a few of the recipes from the book that sound rather fun:

Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake (Fruit Cake)
1 cup brown sugar                                  1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups water                                      1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup seeded raisins                              1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 ounces citron, cut fine                          1 cup corn or wheat flour 
1/3 cup shortening                                   1 cup rye or barley flour
               5 teaspoons Royal Baking Powder
Boil sugar, water, fruit, shortening, salt and spices together in saucepan 3 minutes. When cool, add flour and baking powder which have been sifted together. Mix well; bake in loaf pan in moderate oven about 45 minutes.

 

Cheese Pudding
3/4 cup yellow corn meal                       1/4 teaspoon paprika
3 cups boiling water                               1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups grated cheese                      1 cup milk
Few grains cayenne                               1 egg
3 teaspoons Royal Baking Powder
Pour corn meal slowly into boiling water, stirring constantly, and allow to boil about ten minutes. Add cheese, seasoning, milk and beaten egg yolk and cook until well blended. Remove from fire, and when cold add baking powder and fold in the beaten egg white. Bake in greased dish in moderate oven about 30 minutes. Serve immediately. When cold, it can be sliced and fried for either luncheon or supper.

 

I believe I will do more War time posts this week. My week on holiday has left me contemplating my life and future changes all the more. And my family, on this trip, has felt closer and more inclined to want to make more changes to our lives. The future is uncertain and might even be bleak. But, if we choose now to make choices that will help in hard times yet fun in the doing, we shall not be sad for the changes no matter the outcome of tomorrow.

I hope all have a lovely day and Happy Homemaking.

29 April 1933 “Sorry I was gone So Long”

I have been on holiday this past week in Maine. Hubby, Niece, Sister-in-law and myself took a house in Bar Harbor and had some much needed rest. We had a lovely time. My finger and my spirit was able to heal.

I shall return tomorrow with more posts. I hope all have a lovely Sunday. Here is some fun film shot of a family in the 1930’s enjoying a holiday in the North east. We hopefully had as much fun as they seemed to have.

Happy Homemaking.

20 April 1942 “Victory Garden & Finger Pain”

By 1942 the USA was officially in the war. Victory Gardening was becoming important here as it had been since 39 for UK.

Someone mentioned doing a 1940’s post and I think I will start researching to do a few.  However, today and the next few days, I will be absent again, as I have hurt my finger on my right hand. It is very hard to type and really do much. It is funny how a little thing becomes so large. My right hand is a very important part of my day, so now I have to really take my time to get things done.

However, it would be a good talking point for all of us: Victory Gardens, cooking with less and homemaking while also having a job (as many rosy the riveters had to do).

Happy Homemaking.

14 April 1908 “New Old Fashion, The London Olympics, and Leftover Recipes”

Paul Poirot was an innovative and forward thinking designer. In 1903, in the height of the S curve fashion of the Gibson Girl era, he introduced the controversial Kimono coat. It was loose and flat compared to the tight corseted styles of the day as seen here. His kimono coat drew attention away from the waist. Another style he will introduce more heavily in 1914 prior to the flapper look of the 1920’s, often associated with Chanel.

But, fashion is fickle in its ‘originality’. For it seems it always draws from the past. These drastic changes Poirot introduced in 1908 as seen here and the first image. These raised the scooped waistline of the S curve into an Empire waistline. And look rather familiar when we travel 100 years back from him to 1808 to Regency times. And, of course, these fashions during The English Prince Regent and introduced by Napoleonic reign  harkens back to old Greece, the Republic Napoleon was trying to emulate.

Therefore it seems we have today the right without fear to happily borrow and adjust from the past. It has always been done. Any of you afraid of dressing vintage, then, could easily take modern looks, find their historic partners, and make a mix of modern and old and feel quite comfortable, I feel.

Now, although Poirot was cutting edge in 1908 his raised waistline was becoming the direction of most fashion houses. Here we see a 1908 Paquin gown. These two were rivals and the inspiration of the raised waist, shorter shirt, flatter look and less corseted appearance is even visible here.

The S curve corset, however, would have still been the daily wear of most women. Here we can see how it gives a ballooned chest, a lowered waist in front and a natural waist in back and the dresses worn over this undergarment still had this sort of look. But, then even dresses from places such as the house of Worth, while using the S curve silhouette, were starting to raise the waistline. And upper class women of fashion would have most certainly worn this more than Poirot. Only the younger more adventurous set would have embraced Poirot’s look until WWI changes women’s fashion drastically.

So, I have been toying with some fun summer dress idea’s along the lines of this time period going into the 19teens. The higher waist, floor and angle-length skirts look quite similar to the popular Maxi dresses of today, as I mentioned last post.

Like this later Poirot and making the Tunic dress, like this 1912 version the new look. This, to me, would easily translate into the fun sheers or lighter fabrics as the over top/jacket and the underskirt/dress could simply be jersey or cotton. One could even make the over dress and wear over a store bought jersey Maxi dress available at any store. I think this is such a good way to use modern looks to dress vintage.

Here you can see a top to a 1950’s halter dress I have cut out and pinned to my dress form. I had intended to make another simply zipped knee length later 50’s summer dress. But now and considering elasticing the teal center waistline area, so it slips on. And then using a jersey in the same teal as a long skirt and more of the flowered cotton as an overskirt. Here is a rough sketch of what I mean.It could easily be worn with my 30’s vintage shoes and opaque stockings or some 50’s sandals or espadrilles with laced legs. And the big floppy hats out in stores now for beach wear would look stunning with such a look, I think.

Here is some wonderful brown linen I have with lace tracery on it. I simply pinned it to the top to show, but would most likely make the dress all of this fabric. A simple maxi dress of this with an empire waist elasticized would not only be comfortable but also make a wonderful look. I am going to cut and make this one floor length, I think. Because the flow of the linen with the lace on is very lovely. I may even make it into a high waisted skirt with a bit of a train in back. I can picture it trailing in the grass on a picnic afternoon this summer with a simple sleeveless white cotton top and big floppy hat. Well, enough about fashion ideas.

   In 1908 we also will be having the Summer Olympics in London just as they shall be in 2012. They were originally to be held in Naples Italy, but in 7 April 1906 Mt. Vesuvius erupted and the city was still rebuilding from the devastation.

Here is a photo from the 1908 games and one can see a woman in long dress competing in Archery.

For the 1908 Olympics the White City Stadium was built in White City, London. It is often seen as the precursor to the modern stadium and “noted for hosting the finish of the first modern distance marathon. It also hosted greyhound racing, speedway and a match at the 1966 World Cup, before the stadium was demolished in 1985. It was the first Olympic Stadium in the UK.”

It cost 60,000 pounds and was opened by Kind Edward VII on 27 April this year, 1908. The current costs for the 2012 Olympics are near 12 Billion pounds and could reach 23 billion. The original estimate was 9.3. This certainly shows how inflated our money today has come since 1908. And the tax burden today to UK residents shall be very high. If anyone would like to see a breakdown of the costs thus far, here is a LINK.

With today’s date being 1908 I also wanted to share a couple of lovely recipes in my Household Discoveries and Mrs. Curtis’ Cook Book from 1908. I have mentioned this book in the past and how it was simply a part of our family library. I often wonder what ancestor gleaned its pages. Was it a wedding present for a happy middle class wife, sharing the directions with her one live in, or was it for a housekeeper to lead her in her direction for staff? Either way, it is a great book full of so much information. It is very detailed as a homemaker in 1908 had to even be nurse and chemist and in many ways a scientist.

The last half of the book is the cookery bit and I noticed that each section, such as fish or beef, is always followed by a chapter on leftover fish or beet etc. It was normal to use leftovers and tossing away food, despite your cooking or having a cook in, would have been unheard of. And with no real refrigeration, one took the leftovers and made do right away.

Here are two recipes, one for lamb and one for beef. They sound quite good and I will be trying them.

This would be easy to make and anyone too busy to make your own stock could certainly used store bought canned stock. And a great use of old bread or crumbs rather than tossing it away.

This recipe using leftover beef sounds rather good. And to make it more to modern healthy tastes, I think it would be lovely served over fresh mixed greens. I love a warm salad.

I hope all will be happy with my new Time Hopping. You will simply see where I am that day by the posts date. This, I feel, will allow me more freedom and fun to pop about history. And anyone could even suggest a year to me, if they like. That would be fun as well. I honestly think the more we learn of our past the better off we all are. And in that past are almost always good bits to carry forward. The constant flux of buying new is a modern normality. Why not take that attitude and use it in a more economical way of re using the past and living frugally but with the joy of discovery that past lends to us.

Now, I am off to my garden. My new raised beds need tending and I am putting in some kale and Brussel sprouts today. Happy Homemaking.