I feel like I'm a dying breed

[Wolfwoman]

Quote:
Yup we have a 5 gallon bucket with a camp seat on it

If it worked before there was running water it can dang sure work now...lol

What districts don't allow animals? That's INSANE!! Everyone has critters here!

Most districts don't allow animals if you live in the teacher housing. If you live on the economy you can have them. If I did go up there I'd have to find a place to live, I'm too animal oriented.

Ah. That makes more sense... and you'd probably want to find a place anyways I'm sure!

 

[Miltonchix]

Quote:
How dare you teach our daughter/granddaughters such menial mundane things!!

GOOD ON YOU!!

 

[australorpchick]

I grew up in the suburbs of San Diego. Most of my family and friends consider me to be an oddity, since I can cook, bake, can, sew, crochet, knit, garden, dance, use power tools to build things, raise chickens, raise kids, be married for almost 15 years and work outside the home. I don't think I'm all that unusual, or at least, I shouldn't be. A lot of what I do was lost for the past generation or two. I feel that it's important to bring back some of the "traditional" skills and recipes and pass those along to my kids. BYC has opened the door for me to get interested in more things. Since coming across BYC, I've acquired chickens, built 3 coops, started canning, made butter and now I'm going to make some vanilla extract. Reading about what other members do, introduces me to new things I might want to try.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Do you care to share what bothers you? Now's a good time to correct 'mis-information'.

Lisa

I usually do if I happen to read a thread where the info is bogus and the writers misinformed. I can only hope the writers see it and doesn't think is just the work of some old coot trying to correct everyone.

BTW, I'm not advocating we go back, that would be silly and, in all probability, I would have died from polio, measles or cholera by this time, but we still need people that know basic life stuff. Because once it is gone, it is gone for good.

We all don't have the luxury of Michelle Obama where we can hire a consultant to help plant a garden.

 

[scbatz33]

This is funny, I was just in Wal-Mart yesterday behind a gal, probably in her mid-thirties with a baby, and of her $200 + in groceries, not one item wasn't prefab, heat and eat. And, as I'm standing there I thought to myself, doesn't anyone know how to cook anymore? It also reminded me of a gal I went to high school with who by our freshman year of college still had no idea how to iron her clothes.

I did not grow up on a farm, but when I was a kid I would spend summers with my grandparents. My grandfather always had a huge garden and he raised milk goats. I learned how to tend them and process the milk. I learned how to plant and weed and grow food. He also taught me to fish.

My grandmother taught me how to needlework. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried, I never caught on to crochet or knitting. But She and I spent many hours doing needlepoint and crossstitch.

My mother taught me the basics of cooking, cleaning, sewing. I made both of my prom dresses as well as other clothing. I was in girl scouts where we learned to do things like basic car maintenance and how to survive in the wilderness.

I currently live on 200+ acres in nothing but an 18' camper. We have running water but no electricity. I have no cable, no tv, no a/c, no "luxuries" of modern life. It's like Gilligan's Island with out the annoying side kick. And you know what - we're still alive. The world hasn't ended.

Sure, things aren't as convenient. I have to go to the laundry mat now. I have to cook on a grill. And we have to go to the store all the time or eat fast food(which totally blows, btw). I do miss fresh veg with dinner!

What I have noticed is that because of the way we have chosen to live, and since we are no where near close to the "norm", our life is harder because grocery stores don't readily stock the fresh food we would need to make meals. Everything is "micro wave ready" or frozen or has to be refrigerated. And don't even try to get much more than iceburg lettuce and carrot sticks at the wal-mart. Since when does that constitute "fresh produce"???

There are plenty of people in this country who just aren't gonna make it when the infrastructure breaks down. People will be rendered helpless when the power goes out for good.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

I have went through and read almost all of everyone's stories and knowledgable experience so far, and I am amazed and in wonder at you guys. I myself am 22 years old, and while I live in a small country area - the older generation's ways are dying out, and many farms only grow tobacco if not standing vacant. It saddens me to know that TRUE farming isn't going to be around much longer it seems, and that too many people never get to or want to learn about the heritage of our country and parents/grandparents. I was raised in the country when I was little, we had plenty of animals for pets and raised chickens and ducks for eggs and meat, as well as to sell for the same. I grew up with a farmer as a neighbor across the road who had corn fields and a huge garden he would share with the neighbors for very cheap, and he had horses, and cows. I learned early how to milk a cow - out of a child's innocent curiosity and from then on my love of animals and fascination of being able to be independant was born. If the SHTF - I know how to : milk cows and goats, kill, clean, dress, and store meat, hunt (started @ 5 by hanging out on the deerstand in the woods with my dad and watching him hunt and then help dress down and package the deers...then when I was teenager actually hunting myself) I know how to fish, how to garden, how to cook on a stove or on open fire, I LOVE to camp and can be self sufficient as well as any person.

I now have a DD who is going on 6 and she is the mini- version of me - I have exposed her to every animal I can and am slowly involving her in what my neighbor (who is very old school self sufficient) does, and she understands where he food comes from. I am planning to raise quail next year for food, and me and my neighbor are going to go in and buy another cow next year to raise and butcher (he's done this every year and goes in 1/2 with atleast 1 person), and I've just started taking her fishing. My DD does love her movies (no Television shows - disney classic movies, learning series only) and to play the learning video games, but given a choice she'd rather be out romping and roaring outside, getting filthy, chasing the chickens, and helping the neighbor's garden and pick fruit/veggies.

It saddens me beyond belief to know that so many kids and younger adults (0-30) have never, and probably will never know how to be self reliant. The ignorance of some people astound me, but I see it so often it doesn't surprise me anymore and thats sad as well.

I agree with someone else earlier that it seems men are intimidated by a woman who is exceptionally self reliant, and especially one who is strong willed and strong armed. I know self defense, I took classes after starting to get taught by a boyfriend once...I know how to shoot a gun, I own a shotgun, 2 rifles, and 3 handguns, and I tend to go target practicing or skeet shooting every week for relaxation and keeping my aim sharp. I know how to do anything minor on my car from changing the tire, oil, other fluids, spark plugs, etc. and MOST men not all find this exceptionally intimidating that a woman doesn't 'need them'. *shrugs* I'd rather know I can take care of myself than EVER want to rely on someone else to do the 'hard stuff' for me. I am stronger than many men my age and thats sad. I worked as at a farm last summer for part time, and I hauled 50+ pounds of grain and large square bales of hay everyday and stayed longer than ANY of the guys under 22 who needed a summer job - because they couldn't cut it.

I agree that most people in the U.S. wouldn't survive without the amenities of our current era has created, and too many folks rely upon the creature comforts and having everything readily and easily available that they'd never make the cut to survive if they had to sustain themselves. - But many of us on BYC don't have to worry about that do we?

 

[CityClucks]

Quote:
Does this mean the good-looking cowboy in your avatar isn't you...?

 

[scbatz33]

Quote:
Does this mean the good-looking cowboy in your avatar isn't you...?

no, that is my Hunkband - Jeff

 

[gallinamama]

I can relate to what Scbatz33 said, I was asked by a neighbor if I could take care of her two parents because the both of them had cancer and her sister and her worked full time jobs... So since I have done this kind of thing all my life I said sure why not... I went to their home... and God bless the two of them because it is hard when one person has that but the two of them??? Any way.. I went in their refrigerator , then in the pantry and cupboards... not one thing in their whole house was fresh or frozen real food... it was all processed food!!! I thought to myself, no wonder they are not healthy, smoking and stuff and eating the way they do... so I brought the next day food from my home and made them lunch and dinner... the next day she asked what i put in the food to make it taste so good...

Seasonings and herbs... she said she had never cooked that way!!

Unbelieveable...

Now I am not going to kid you.. I am no where near as self reliant as some of you here... but given the circumstance I could hold my own... I am not a health nut, or anything like that... but I use common sense in what I want to put into my body.... Short cuts are fine, once in a while... but for everyday!! I think your asking for a lot of trouble down the road.... The two elderly people I watched. Died with in a week of one another together in the same room in the hospital... I thought it was so nice of the hospital to do that..

I do think there are a lot of people on here with creative minds that give me the incentive to push myself.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Like another said, I know how to knit, sew, can, etc but I don't really enjoy it. I do garden, and if I lived in the country I might raise my own meat....but my husband and I have had this discussion as well.

Too many people never see food that isn't on their plate. They don't know how to cook, where their food comes from, and what makes things taste good. I have a neighbor with three kids, and no one in that house would know what a fresh cooked meal was. They also have about 5 times as much garbage as my family of four does. This neighbor regards me as a gourmet cook, I see myself as a decent home cook. My husband said his family didn't farm or anything, but I pointed out that they had a veggie garden and fruit trees and that his grandma had her veggie garden well into her nineties. Growing up, everyone I knew had at least a few strawberry plants, rhubarb and raspberries. Almost everyone had a veggie garden. My grandparents had huge gardens. Now suburbs don't allow anything except postcard pretty yards....no veggies, no messy fruit trees, no outside laundry. Our society regards country skills as lower class and lacking value.

I think I had a somewhat different view. I grew up in small town Alaska, and even today this is not far removed from a hunter/gatherer society. Almost everyone hunts or fishes, gathers berries, and has some type of garden. They are not in general a wasteful society because everything costs so much to begin with. Homes are small, cars are run until they wear out, and people live a lot closer to the land. Alaskan cities, however, are like cities anywhere.