food/psy prepping crossover

[diamond lil]

Was just thinking today that we hadn't touched on another psy (not typing that out again noway!) subject. That of how hard everything is to do when we have to do it Old Style. Usually its not a problem, but if you hit a day when you're tired/ill/down/out of sorts - then having to go outside, pull tatties out of the ground, wash peel and cook them, plus at same time dig out carrots & onions and bake a sponge (and breathe...) then sometimes you will long for the days when you bunged a frozen chip into the deep fat fryer or some Birds Eye into the oven !! For some people that woud become a real drag. Any thoughts on this?

[Carrot Cruncher]

A interesting subject Lil. Looking back to when the majority of the population were just trying to grow enough food to eat themselves the likes of us would have spent virtually every hour of daylight just trying to grow crops and look after the odd cow, make clothes, repair / maintain tools and houses etc. Not much time left over for anything else at all....and they were used to it and knew what they were doing, unlike the vast majority of people today (including most of us preppers).

[diamond lil]

I hadn't even thought of that ! Was reading a book on wartime Britain and realising the long time it took them to do everything and how tired they always were... we would really be in for a shock if things changed too fast.

[counsellor]

hi DL You’re so right, life was a lot harder
I think that an acre of land was the area that one man could plough with a horse
And in some parts (Norfolk) the land was split up into 2 acre plots, which was just enough to support a family Where I grew up the whole lane was divided up in that way
However compared with these days when a man in a john deere can work 10s of acres

But in one way we do work just as hard today but just in a different way
We are far more productive in northern Europe and maybe that is our expectation, I’m sure that when we go aboard (along way south) we often see people moving at a lesser pace but still getting along

[counsellor]

Also I admit I don’t know how to move stuff around on the site. in fact I’m a bit useless at all this, I don’t understand what all the icons means
So perhaps someone else could help out (what I really mean is, sort out)

[diamond lil]

If you move faster then you keep warm - If the weather is hot then maybe moving slower is a good idea re energy and dehydration levels ?
We can discuss this in this thread here though.

[Red Doe]

I was lucky enough to be able to listen to my grandparents, who went through two wars, about how life was for them then. Absolute hard graft, but like you said, they knew how to do it. Really it feels like this generation is having to learn a lot of the old skills from scratch...we don`t have the confidence our grandparents had in doing any of it, really. That should change as time goes on and we see the good results of our learning and work.
One thing that`s rarely spoken of though in terms of prepping or even Old Style, is how some struggle on a daily basis, due to reduced health, age, or whatever it is that means they don`t have the same energy as a younger, fitter person. I`m fairly sure there were such folks `way back when` but I do remember asking Gran what happened if she got sick and work needed done, and she would say "If there was nobody there to help, it didn`t get done, or I got up out of bed and did the bloody work anyway!" (she was always blunt and to the point, my Gran )

[diamond lil]

My god -was she Irish ? Maybe we're related ! My gran was sooo tough hard, but I have such a lot to thank her for.

[Red Doe]

She was part Irish, sadly I have inherited her mindset and bluntness, it`s always getting me into trouble

[diamond lil]

Mine was a Cassidy from Galway . But I myself am the epitome of sweetness and light. Ladylike and shy.
Just ask anybody in here , they will tell you this !