Looking back to the past
Often through rose coloured glasses but to my mind every day is good even when things are happening that you do not particularly like.
I am a lot luckier than a lot of other people but this year I seem to have been going through a period of "I do not like" for the best part of this year. I am not sure where it is taking me. It is definitely making me a tad nervous but it will I think take me where I need to be. I have an utter conviction that this is the case. Wherever that may be. You have to try and think positive even when things are falling down around you. You have to keep moving always moving to take you somewhere different and it is a learning process.
The lessons do not always come easily or sit easily or happen in the way that you perhaps think they should. Letting go of control and going with the journey is sometimes a very frightening thing. Not that I am a control freak but I do like to know where I stand without the rug being taken out from underneath my feet. It is a learning process and it scares me but thinking logically one cannot stay stagnant. Things have to move forward. However we all get into our comfortable little ruts and do not want to come out for anything. That is how I have been. Time to get out of the rut and deal with what is happening.
I think life was a lot simpler in the days of my childhood. It was hard, but families nine times out of ten worked together and pulled together. Because there were no supermarkets only small shops or markets people did not have much choice and had to rely on themselves, grow stuff, preserve it in all sorts of different formats to feed their families through the cold months, and their livestock. They had to forward think and take advantage of anything that came their way.
I have mentioned before that my grandmother had a long narrow pantry that was stocked from floor to ceiling with goodies. They kept pigs and cured their own meat. They had bees, they had the apple, pear, and the plum trees (quite a few trees and any excess fruit used to be sold on to the villagers and used to go towards the animal feed bill or household budget) and they got by. They also took advantage of the wild larder as well. They also grew all of their own veggies. The better the food the better health you had. There was always good solid food to eat no matter what. My grandparents were not financially wealthy, they had the land and the food and I think that made them much richer than their peers in many different ways. I am not only talking about the food but about the type of people they were. They always shared with those less well off.
Today I think we have far too much choice and I think we have wandered away from the traditional food that used to be served in kitchens all over the country when I was growing up. Food that in many cases used to get a little over cooked because that was the way that it was done. But substantial food nonetheless to help keep you warm and well during British Winters. But times have changed. Winters have not been as bad for many years like they used to be when I was growing up. Everything has been milder but that does not mean that it is always going to be.
I am thankful for freezers being made available to everyone (these were a rarity when I was growing up - and the first freezer my mum and dad had was an old ice cream freezer one that used to be in a shop but it was functional and did what it said on the label until mum and dad could afford a new one. Since that time a freezer or freezers has been very much part of my families' life. My Nan was the one who first got a freezer in the family to store all those goodies from the garden and to be able to bulk buy from the butcher and have meat there whenever you needed it. Things that are very much taken for granted today. Remember in those days a lot of people also did not have their own transport and buses did not necessarily go out to certain villages so you had to store and stockpile food when you could. If someone was going into town and you could get a lift you would do so and then stock up with what you needed for the next month to six weeks as you could not always guarantee when you were going to be able to get again.
Winters were a lot colder when I was a child and growing up and we used to have ice on the inside of our windows (no central heating or double glazing then). Only one fire in the house as a rule two if you were lucky or like my grandparents had the Rayburn as well. So their house was always a little warmer than our home. In the Council house we had there was only one fire in the front room. You had to chop kindling from logs and lay the fire and make newspaper splints and balls to start the fire off. I wish I had a proper fire or fires in this house. To my mind if you have a proper fire you can always keep yourself warm and potentially also cook yourself a meal if things became difficult.
Villages used to be cut off for days on end because of deep snow drifts. Snow fences used to be put up near roads that were known to drift badly to break up the snow and to stop it drifting so much. The farmers used to put them out each and every year. It was a part of our way of life. You got used to events that happened and pre-planned for them and put stuff up and took responsibility for your own family. Pavements used to be swept of the snow every day, salt put down, vulnerable neighbours helped out, a meal provided if needs be. There was much more of a sense of community. There was always a good broom and spade to hand for the clearing and there would always be a stockpile of coal and wood in the Coal shed to keep us warm. It was collected over weeks and built up because sometimes the coal man could not get through. Any trees or wood that came to hand was always dried and seasoned and then used.
Today on the other hand we have large supermarkets and people panic buy if there is a mere sniff of a problem. Markets are dying out - we rely too much on the supermarkets to provide the stuff we want and how dare they not have it. We each have a responsibility to take care of our own families or traditionally the lady of the house has always done so but through various events happening over the years, Women's lib, burning the bra being equal. People have chosen other ways of doing things. That is their choice however don't moan or complain because you have not taken the necessary steps to provide food for your own, gradually and a little at a time and expect someone to dig you out of it when you are in your neck up to it all the time and not learn a lesson. At the end of the day we are each responsible for our own households and have to get by the best we can. If someone was in dire straits I would help them but the only way to learn is to actually do.
When things are tough I live out of my freezers and my pantries and it is one less thing to worry about living like this. If you have food and water you have the basics along with a roof over your head and heat. The rest can be tackled on a full stomach. Times like this make you think about what you do eat. I always keep a sack of potatoes in, a net of onions, tray of eggs (I am on about large trays of about 30 eggs here), flours in the pantry, butter and cheese in the fridge and milk and there is quite a lot of stuff that you can provide for yourself by way of something to eat. It might not be quite what you fancy but it is something to eat and that is all that matters. For example, omelette, egg and chips, pastry, cakes, pies, tarts, poached eggs, cheese and onion pie, etc. etc.
This year has been an unusual year too hot a summer - a lot of berries in the bushes all came well ahead of time and has thrown the seasons out. I would suggest a six week period further forward than it should have been. Food has had to be watered which has put the price up on a lot of food items. There are rosehips and haws in the bushes as well as Rowan berries to make use of. I believe and feel that this winter is going to be a cold one. I intend to buy wild bird seed in for the birds and to make fat cakes up for them from dripping from the Sunday joint and then mix the seed in and then let it cool and string on balls and hang in the trees. They need to survive too. So slip some bottles of water up and put them in a cupboard out of the way, slip a couple of tins of this and that up as and when you can afford it as you will never know when you will need that. Do not forget to put up animal food as well.
I will make some jellies when I can get out (this rain is bone chilling and damp) and I need a drier day to take advantage of some of the haws and the hips.
So today in many respects we have much more choice. Too much choice. People are not taught to cook like they used to be and waste food by not knowing how to get the best out of the ingredients they do have. When I was growing up a meal would often start with a soup, then be followed by a main meal and then a pudding. The reason for the soup was that it was a filler so if you did not have much meat, you did not need it because you were partially full anyway. The pudding was just often a little bit of something just to lighten the meal up and sweeten the palate.
However even in this day and age the choices are still the basic ones, roof over head, food in stomach and a bit of heat. It is just that the majority of people do not know what to do to make the most of what they actually have. So I think today we have too many choices for what we actually need which muddles things up in the longer term. There used to be cooking classes, going on at evening class with various other subjects at the schools of an evening when I was growing up. People need to know how to care for themselves and their own as that knowledge is being lost and too much reliance is put on Local Authorities providing this or than when really it is down to you - but if you do not have the knowledge it becomes a vicious circle.
Your thoughts please would be appreciated.
Catch you soon.
Pattypan
x
I am a lot luckier than a lot of other people but this year I seem to have been going through a period of "I do not like" for the best part of this year. I am not sure where it is taking me. It is definitely making me a tad nervous but it will I think take me where I need to be. I have an utter conviction that this is the case. Wherever that may be. You have to try and think positive even when things are falling down around you. You have to keep moving always moving to take you somewhere different and it is a learning process.
The lessons do not always come easily or sit easily or happen in the way that you perhaps think they should. Letting go of control and going with the journey is sometimes a very frightening thing. Not that I am a control freak but I do like to know where I stand without the rug being taken out from underneath my feet. It is a learning process and it scares me but thinking logically one cannot stay stagnant. Things have to move forward. However we all get into our comfortable little ruts and do not want to come out for anything. That is how I have been. Time to get out of the rut and deal with what is happening.
I think life was a lot simpler in the days of my childhood. It was hard, but families nine times out of ten worked together and pulled together. Because there were no supermarkets only small shops or markets people did not have much choice and had to rely on themselves, grow stuff, preserve it in all sorts of different formats to feed their families through the cold months, and their livestock. They had to forward think and take advantage of anything that came their way.
I have mentioned before that my grandmother had a long narrow pantry that was stocked from floor to ceiling with goodies. They kept pigs and cured their own meat. They had bees, they had the apple, pear, and the plum trees (quite a few trees and any excess fruit used to be sold on to the villagers and used to go towards the animal feed bill or household budget) and they got by. They also took advantage of the wild larder as well. They also grew all of their own veggies. The better the food the better health you had. There was always good solid food to eat no matter what. My grandparents were not financially wealthy, they had the land and the food and I think that made them much richer than their peers in many different ways. I am not only talking about the food but about the type of people they were. They always shared with those less well off.
Today I think we have far too much choice and I think we have wandered away from the traditional food that used to be served in kitchens all over the country when I was growing up. Food that in many cases used to get a little over cooked because that was the way that it was done. But substantial food nonetheless to help keep you warm and well during British Winters. But times have changed. Winters have not been as bad for many years like they used to be when I was growing up. Everything has been milder but that does not mean that it is always going to be.
I am thankful for freezers being made available to everyone (these were a rarity when I was growing up - and the first freezer my mum and dad had was an old ice cream freezer one that used to be in a shop but it was functional and did what it said on the label until mum and dad could afford a new one. Since that time a freezer or freezers has been very much part of my families' life. My Nan was the one who first got a freezer in the family to store all those goodies from the garden and to be able to bulk buy from the butcher and have meat there whenever you needed it. Things that are very much taken for granted today. Remember in those days a lot of people also did not have their own transport and buses did not necessarily go out to certain villages so you had to store and stockpile food when you could. If someone was going into town and you could get a lift you would do so and then stock up with what you needed for the next month to six weeks as you could not always guarantee when you were going to be able to get again.
Winters were a lot colder when I was a child and growing up and we used to have ice on the inside of our windows (no central heating or double glazing then). Only one fire in the house as a rule two if you were lucky or like my grandparents had the Rayburn as well. So their house was always a little warmer than our home. In the Council house we had there was only one fire in the front room. You had to chop kindling from logs and lay the fire and make newspaper splints and balls to start the fire off. I wish I had a proper fire or fires in this house. To my mind if you have a proper fire you can always keep yourself warm and potentially also cook yourself a meal if things became difficult.
Villages used to be cut off for days on end because of deep snow drifts. Snow fences used to be put up near roads that were known to drift badly to break up the snow and to stop it drifting so much. The farmers used to put them out each and every year. It was a part of our way of life. You got used to events that happened and pre-planned for them and put stuff up and took responsibility for your own family. Pavements used to be swept of the snow every day, salt put down, vulnerable neighbours helped out, a meal provided if needs be. There was much more of a sense of community. There was always a good broom and spade to hand for the clearing and there would always be a stockpile of coal and wood in the Coal shed to keep us warm. It was collected over weeks and built up because sometimes the coal man could not get through. Any trees or wood that came to hand was always dried and seasoned and then used.
Today on the other hand we have large supermarkets and people panic buy if there is a mere sniff of a problem. Markets are dying out - we rely too much on the supermarkets to provide the stuff we want and how dare they not have it. We each have a responsibility to take care of our own families or traditionally the lady of the house has always done so but through various events happening over the years, Women's lib, burning the bra being equal. People have chosen other ways of doing things. That is their choice however don't moan or complain because you have not taken the necessary steps to provide food for your own, gradually and a little at a time and expect someone to dig you out of it when you are in your neck up to it all the time and not learn a lesson. At the end of the day we are each responsible for our own households and have to get by the best we can. If someone was in dire straits I would help them but the only way to learn is to actually do.
When things are tough I live out of my freezers and my pantries and it is one less thing to worry about living like this. If you have food and water you have the basics along with a roof over your head and heat. The rest can be tackled on a full stomach. Times like this make you think about what you do eat. I always keep a sack of potatoes in, a net of onions, tray of eggs (I am on about large trays of about 30 eggs here), flours in the pantry, butter and cheese in the fridge and milk and there is quite a lot of stuff that you can provide for yourself by way of something to eat. It might not be quite what you fancy but it is something to eat and that is all that matters. For example, omelette, egg and chips, pastry, cakes, pies, tarts, poached eggs, cheese and onion pie, etc. etc.
This year has been an unusual year too hot a summer - a lot of berries in the bushes all came well ahead of time and has thrown the seasons out. I would suggest a six week period further forward than it should have been. Food has had to be watered which has put the price up on a lot of food items. There are rosehips and haws in the bushes as well as Rowan berries to make use of. I believe and feel that this winter is going to be a cold one. I intend to buy wild bird seed in for the birds and to make fat cakes up for them from dripping from the Sunday joint and then mix the seed in and then let it cool and string on balls and hang in the trees. They need to survive too. So slip some bottles of water up and put them in a cupboard out of the way, slip a couple of tins of this and that up as and when you can afford it as you will never know when you will need that. Do not forget to put up animal food as well.
I will make some jellies when I can get out (this rain is bone chilling and damp) and I need a drier day to take advantage of some of the haws and the hips.
So today in many respects we have much more choice. Too much choice. People are not taught to cook like they used to be and waste food by not knowing how to get the best out of the ingredients they do have. When I was growing up a meal would often start with a soup, then be followed by a main meal and then a pudding. The reason for the soup was that it was a filler so if you did not have much meat, you did not need it because you were partially full anyway. The pudding was just often a little bit of something just to lighten the meal up and sweeten the palate.
However even in this day and age the choices are still the basic ones, roof over head, food in stomach and a bit of heat. It is just that the majority of people do not know what to do to make the most of what they actually have. So I think today we have too many choices for what we actually need which muddles things up in the longer term. There used to be cooking classes, going on at evening class with various other subjects at the schools of an evening when I was growing up. People need to know how to care for themselves and their own as that knowledge is being lost and too much reliance is put on Local Authorities providing this or than when really it is down to you - but if you do not have the knowledge it becomes a vicious circle.
Your thoughts please would be appreciated.
Catch you soon.
Pattypan
x
You could have been writing about my childhood, we lived off our land and bartered what we grew for the things that we couldn't. The range never went out and the.re was an open fire in the "front room". One bedroom had a fireplace in it and anyone who was ill was put in there in the lap of luxury. Nothing was bought ready made, even when some things started to appear in the shops. Bread was made twice a week in the bread oven set into the wall, as it cooled down a rice pudding and a pound cake went in. We were cash poor but rich in everything else, all the things that mattered. None of this is taught today, young mums saw their mum go off to work and it was quick dinners once they got home. It is a widespread problem that will ot be easily, or quickly resolved.
ReplyDeleteHi Pam thank you for your comment. I knew I would not be the only one. The trouble is because of these simple things so much impact has been had elsewhere. Families are no longer as entwined as they were in a lot of cases = not all but in a lot of cases there has been a complete breakdown of family assistance as everyone is too concerned with their own specific problems rather than trying to help each other and improve the family as a whole. My Nan used to do a big bake for the week of puddings, bread, cakes. A lot of hard work but stuff that kept you fed and warm. Each week it would be the same. On a Sunday morning not only would she be making bread buns for Sunday afternoon tea on the Rayburn but also the dinner would be roasting and the lights for the dogs meals used to be cooked up. Looked decidedly dodgy but smelt wonderful. No tinned meat for the animals always obtained from the butcher. Same as the potato peelings and other bits used to be boiled up for the chickens to give them a winter hot mash as well. People have become self=absorbed and to a degree selfish. It is such a shame as so much has been lost. Last week I received a phone call from my Uncle who is in his late eighties. A complete surprise and lovely call. He is my Godfather. I learned all sorts of things during that one call from him about my mum's family that I had not really known of before and some cooking tips on how to make a meat and potato pie. Uncle Jack is the eldest and was a baker by trade early on in life then he ended up changing jobs and doing his back in. Brought me back down to earth as such a lovely simple loving man where things are not complicated and very much falls in with the ethics I have. I think that they have crept through somehow somewhere. He was taken poorly earlier in the year and my cousin stepped in and brought him straight back to her home where he has remained ever since. Another family thing. On my mum's side this is what we do. I am to call him back next time so that he gets to chat as although he has company they are not always there when he needs someone. Was on the phone over an hour to him. If they bought the classes back in and did not charge for them it would help so many people. Surely it is better to have a building in use than constantly under used. Pattypan xx
ReplyDeleteHear hear! I totally agree with you. I brought my sons up to sew clean and cook. One has become the househusband and they are now buying a small holding. I hope that I’ve instilled some idea about priorities of life into them. It’s about happiness and family and no amount of money can give you that warm fuzzy feeling inside that a “ Mum, I love you” at the end of a phone call. We may not see each other as often as we’d like but we’re all there for each other. I feel very blessed. I worry about thre younger generations though. X
ReplyDeleteHi Jennie, it worries me too. I passed on cooking skills to both my step-son and my step-daughter. Both could cook before they left school and indeed my step-son went to work in one of the Asda cafes and was serving up food all day as his job. My step-daughter despite a shaky start where she rebelled on everything she had been taught has now come back full circle and appreciates that cooking from scratch is cheaper in the long run. She has four children at home ranging in ages between 18 and 18 months. She got in a bit of a state a while back and we ended up filling the freezer for her and it proved a point as she was getting good meals for everyone and she saw how much it cost. It was not astronomical. However a point had to be proved and she took it on board. With careful shopping good things can be achieved. Fortunately she now sees why I did what I did and is using it to the full which I am pleased about. I even at Christmas end up baking for my brother and his family with the fruit cakes, puddings etc. as his wife does not do a lot of cooking. My brother does but he has never tackled a fruit cake or a pudding and tends to leave that to me. I pass on a lot of what I have learned wherever I can but I am sad that I did not have any of my own to pass on the full information too. That is just how life has fallen for me. However if anyone is willing to learn I am willing to help. There are a lot of practical skills that need to be brought back into the schools. When I was at school the education system was split twofold. A practical education for those not of an academic nature which included gardening, cooking, sewing for both the girls and the boys. Many kids who did not have the ability for academia were able to get jobs in kitchens or as gardeners, or land workers as a result. A lot of kids are better on a practical basis than they are academically. I have a friend who was Grammar school educated but she was not taught to cook at home as her parents wanted her to concentrate on her exams. When she eventually moved in with her husband to be I ended up going to stay at the weekends for a six week period to sort her out on the kitchen and household front. Needless to say she is an excellent little cook now. I think we are very lucky in the way that we have been raised, and in the subjects that we have been taught but I think our parents' reactions that no problem is insurmountable is perhaps one of the most important lessons that I personally learned. It taught me to have a go and do the best I can. As I have said before aim higher and that will pull you up higher than you would achieve in any event. Catch you soon and thanks for your feedback. Take care. Pattypan xx
ReplyDelete