I feel like I'm a dying breed

[wegotchickens]

I had a

moment a couple of months ago when DD (14) told me I had 'ruined' her for fast food. On a school field trip they ONLY ate fast food and it started to make her feel ill. We only eat fast food a couple of times a month. Other than that, it's home-cooked & leftovers.

I can't tell you how many kids I have introduced to new veggies. Their parents never cooked them fresh veggies.

There was one little girl that LOVED eating at our house because she loved veggies so much and never got them at home. How sad is that? I got a nice note from another young lady who said I was her second mom because only a mom makes you try new things, in this case zuchini (which she then discovered she loved).

I had your basic farm kid upbringing and wanted to escape it. Now that I'm a parent I'm teaching myself the skills I didn't want to learn back then, like canning, and insisting my daughter helps me. I do it on a small scale, but getting practice to build up to large scale. Many folks think its dumb to can because you can get it cheaper and easier at the store. But you pay a higher price long-term when the additives and such begin to take a toll on you. I was proud of DD when she initiated a discussion on being a 'loca-vore'. We've done an okay job of it, too!

You aren't alone woodmort, not by a longshot. You do it from a practical standpoint. And I'll bet if you offered classes you could make some extra $, sharing what you've learned!

I think there are a lot of folks out there, a 'sleeper' faction of potential survivalists mastering new skills as 'art'.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

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

I see that all the time when we go to the store as well. The only people I see buying "raw materials" are the hispanics in our area. I guess you buy what you know? I was raised in town but used to bug my parents to death to take me out to my grandparents farm every chance I got. I would talk and help them for hours and hours. I don't ever once remember them getting tired of endless questions of how and why, my biggest regret is not taking notes or recording all that hands on info. We have tried to show our kids but you always get the same responce. "it's to hard" "takes to much time" etc etc. and then when they went out on their own they complained about the high cost of food - that would be proccesed, bagged & tagged food. All I could do was laugh.... maybe one day they will figure it out.

Steve​

 

[scbatz33]

Much to my children's chagrin, they know how to cook and clean and raise live stock. And fish and if they had to shoot a gun.

Being "poor" is good in some respects. It means you have to buy the raw stuff to make a meal cause you can't afford the prepackaged garbage! LOL!!!

 

[greeneggsandham]

We are not a dying breed. We will be the survivors. I was raised on a farm, but not a working one. We did have a garden, cut hay, and have horses. Out of 5 kids me being the youngest I am the only one farming. Granted I wish I had more land, but I work with what I have.
One of my oldest sisters comes over every once in a while to help weed so I give her eggs and some veggies, but she is always saying she should do a garden or get chickens, but never acts on it.

I did have FFA at school and graduated with an Agri-Business degree. I learned alot from FFA. One of my nieces is in FFA and she won the champion title at a local fair for the woodmans competion. I am so proud of her she loves farming.

 

[drdoolittle]

Wow, I hope I'm not one of the people asking ignorant questions or passing along bad info.! I grew up on 4 acres with some fruit trees and a huge garden, so I do have a little knowledge about growing my own food. I spent some of my high school summers assisting a vet in a small town in Michigan, where my oldest brother was the choir teacher and band director for the entire K-12 grades (They were ALL in one building!). I always wished I had grown up on a farm----my favorite shows were Little House, and The Waltons-----and one of my sisters called me "WAmish" growing up (Wanna' Be Amish). Well, I now live on 5 acres---not a lot, I know----we have 5 pygmy goats, 20 chickens, 14 ducks, one goose, 4 dogs, 4 cats, a macaw, and a lizard. We plant a garden every summer, and I am off work all summer as I am a school-bus driver. My husband is always saying that I am making too much work for myself by having all these animals, but it's what I love to do! I don't enjoy anything more than feeding and watering the "livestock", and when I'm done, just standing and watching them interact and go about their day! Some co-workers think I'm very strange (call me the "Crazy Animal Lady"), and some just don't get why ANYONE would think the way a chicken moves is a cool thing to watch. But I love my life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything-----what I'm saying is, that you are not a dying breed, we're just spread out all over the place!

I think that when things start going really bad in the world-----which I firmly believe they could any day-----we are the people that aquaintances are going to be turning to for advice and help----------thank God we'll be there.

 

[AKsmama]

I'm lucky- I don't necessarily know how to do a lot of farming things, but some of my family does. My ILs used to raise cattle and pigs and chickens, and with all the, uh, specialized self-defense materials we have between my husband, my FIL, and my BIL, as long as there are deer, turkeys, doves and quail (heck, even squirrels and possums) and our gardens, we will do ok if it all goes down. I live near a dairy (a smallish dairy, compared to most) and the owner there says his ultimate dream is to start a school on the property that teaches people to have small herds of dairy cattle, say maybe 50 head, instead of herds in the 1000s. His management practices have gained national recognition, so I am hoping he can attain that dream one day. I think more and more people are seeing that not only is that way of life desireable, but is becoming necessary.

 

[Royd]

In the year 2525...........

 

[BlackBart]

woodmort, if you feel like a dying breed please take comfort that you are not alone.

This is not a criticism, but common sense seems to be getting bred out of the human and people look, but they don't see.
We had a old sign in the kitchen at the farm I grew up on. It sums up how we were brought up to learn to do things for ourselves.
It said
I hear, I forget
I see, I remember
I do, I understand

 

[heatherindeskies]

well it's a good thing there are friendly people out there who know how to do things properly that can educate us clueless morons then. we need the guidance!

 

[Rozzie]

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