Way back when...................

Do you realize just how much time we waste doing nothing? I was reading an article about Amish girls and what they are expected to know before marriage. Well, it always used to be that way for most girls when I was young. There was no TV for us until 1952. We got our first one to watch the coronation, but it had very limited programming. We listened to the radio for entertainment.

I will always remember "The Hound of the Baskerville's" on the radio. I was terrified. Anyway who had time in those days. I was born in 1946 on the cusp of changes in society. Women had stayed in the work force when the war ended and domesticity changed. Through the years in school we were taught house crafts. Everything was done by hand and so took plenty of time. Kids had so much more freedom though and we were gone all day when we were not in school. We learned to do dishes just as the Amish do. One washed while one wiped. You also rinsed the dishes. The water was boiled on the stove for chores. Also for daily washing and hygiene because we had no hot water. The once a week bath was completed with water heated in a copper. A large gas lit tub. The whites were also boiled in the copper.

My mum didn't can anything. We got all our veggies fresh from the farm or market so I suppose she didn't feel the need. Before that my grandparents both grew thier own and had chickens. It was what people did. I know my Granddad Burt had rabbit's I was not to know they were for food. Poor things. I was unaware when it came to that stuff. I was so naive that when I saw the animals going into the abattoir I never associated it with being killed and sold in the shop. Even though I saw blood running down to the street to the drains. People were I suppose closer to nature back then. I saw the pheasants and chickens hanging in the window of the butcher shops. They used every part of the animals for food. My dad loved Pigs trotters and cows tongue and even brains in some form ewwwwwww. I no longer eat red meat thank goodness.
Anyway, the Amish girls also learn to work in the fields and orchards and vegetable gardens. Children had much to do. We didn't do that much but we did learn HOW. My Dad loved his garden and taught me stuff I have not forgotten. How to graft on a fruit tree and form the tree into an Espalier.

the Amish girls learn to drive a buggy now that's one thing I could not do but it doesn't look too difficult so I am sure I could do it if I had a cooperative horse.
In school we learned to sew and embroider to make clothes and decorate table cloths etc. I can remember a couple of disasters but also some successes. I did make my own clothes for a long time. My friends and I would get together and make us each a dress to go out in at the weekend. My dad bought my mum and me a sewing machine. I made a friend her wedding dress and would make my neighbour a new dress for her to go out in. We learned to cook and clean. I remember being told to never use any dish or cup that was cracked because bacteria would grow in the cracks. Some things you never forget.

In school we also learned to keep a garden, track weather and everything else we needed to know. Although everything I learned I learned from my dad who set aside a little spot in his garden for me. I think he did more of it than me though. Short attention spans and all that.
So what happened? Was it the TV that got more and more intrusive. The Amish do not have TV and so it is so much easier to do those hand crafts. I remember mum and dad sitting by the fire embroidering or my dad making baskets while mum knitted. I have learned all those skills because like my Dad I just wanted to know how. The only thing I have not tackled that I can think of is Tatting. I may yet try but my vision is not what it was and it looks fiddly.
Laundry was done by hand and hung out to dry on the outside line as the Amish does now.


The difference is the Amish in their modesty wear plain clothes that they make themselves, both men and womens clothes. Even their quilts are plain but hand made too. Wow.
Another chore that is now easier due to Windex is window cleaning. Back in the day it was done with a pink "lotion" that dried pink and was rubbed off with newspaper, no paper towels then

Upstairs windows one sat on the sill with window closed over the knees to keep one safe as you did outside as well as inside. I didn't like that job.
So part two of this saga will be herbs and medicines.