As I was sitting in the kitchen of a cousin I met yesterday she remarked that there are no children left in the area all the young people are leaving. Well this is the same in most rural areas of out country I am afraid. Most if it is economic but some of it is because our culture teaches the young people that they need to have lots of money to be considered successful. I do not think this is true. There is more to life than money. Friends, family, culture, and of course religion all play in our life and we need to return to a simpler way of life. With the economy going south we are going to need to change the way we do most things. In a discussion this morning with my mother we were talking about hanging clothes on the line and how people don’t do that any more. Well I think we will start to see more and more of that sort of thing. Most people here have large piles of wood for the winter, that will become common place as well.
People are leaving and trying to find the promise land, the cycle continues.
in some areas where people live there are associations that will not allow people to have clothes lines,we are truly a spoiled nation. now that times are harder i have started to think about all the things my grandparents used to do and how we have become so germ phobic that we would not even think of doing these things . i can remeber a friend of mine telling me her grandmother had a rain barrel and used to use the water from it rinse her laundry so they would come out soft. i doubt any one would even consider doing this today. anne
We can pile wood all we want but, where are we going to burn it? Hanging clothes indoors I remember, but not only to they take time to dry, they dry wrinkled. It takes energy to iron those clothes so they are fit to wear. Works when you have less laundry as well. Large familys with mom working forget it. It sounds depressing to me.
To those living the simplier way now, theres no where to go. We are no longer able to live life like the village days and are totally dependent on others for our needs. Maybe some can walk more, if they live close enough to where they are going, are fit or young enough to, and don’t have to carry items. We cannot rely on publick transit here, except the elderly. Most are forced to work out of town, with no way out./Marie
We’re going to have to rely on older folks to remember how they survived. Talking to my mother-in-law, who is nearing 90, said she clearly remembers that people were looking for 2 deckers, and those who lived on the second floor hardly had to heat. The wood and coal driven appliances made the house so hot, they slept with their windows cracked open at night. Lines criss-crossed in the kitchen to dry clothes, did so in order to humidfy along with pans of water on the stoves. Drying in a hot area, rather than cold rooms.