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I have that same tin that you show between the oil lamp and the salt and pepper on your table!  My late mother-in-law had kept it, but there was nothing in it when I found it in her things.  I put it in the kids', now guest, bathroom drawer, filled with cotton balls.  I also have her little pressed glass sugar bowl that had lost its lid, holding cotton swabs, the kind with wooden or paper sticks instead of plastic.  Her USA Pottery water pitcher holds my cooking utensils and a hand-painted china creamer decorates a counter.  My grandmother's glass pitcher is used for special dinners.  I think they are so pretty, and they are not plastic!

I am curious to see what is upcoming in your posts!  

I'm so happy I found your site! So interesting and I love to see what your doing! 

Grandma Donna Wrote, Joan S, We have twin Tins!  I just had to say that. Lol  I just love using family items in the home because they always remind me of my family.  

Alicia P, I am happy that you found my blog and to have  you are here in the forum. :)  Donna

Your water glasses look very much like the glasses I saved from Mom’s collection.  I remember she always saved these for “good.”  However, I use them for every day.  They’re perfect for my small, slightly disabled hands, and I’ve always loved their “old-fashioned” look.

Absolutely lovely! I would love to live like this but my husband isn't quite on board.:) 

We did just put up a clothesline and are enjoying it so much. Perhaps I'll lure him into it bit by bit. I just love your blog so much ???? 

I look forward to your budgeting information and strategies!

I have my new apartment set up 1940's style for the most part.  I'm using the dryer just until I find the dryer rack that I like and am willing to pay the price.  I do run the AC on the hot days and I turn it off at night and on cool days.  I don't use the dishwasher.  You're right, Donna, it just feels right.  

I am anxious to see the budget post and to learn about electricity then as opposed to now.  

I have a question for anyone who knits using 1940's patterns.  Over the years I have picked up some vintage magazines.  Last night I pulled out the McCall Needlework Knitting  Crocheting magazine from winter 1943-44.  There are many nice patterns in there that I would like to try but there are a couple of things I'm uncertain about even though I've been knitting for years.  The adult women's patterns are all written for size 16.  Does anyone know how that would compare with sizes of today?  And the patterns call for yarns that are not available now and it doesn't say if the yarn is bulky, fingering, sport or what weight it is.  How do I go about finding that out?  Thanks for any ideas and help.  I've been reading gDonna for years and it just gets better and better.  

Grandma Donna wrote, Kathy D, these glasses are not vintage but the same style as some vintage glasses I saw in the old paper, we do enjoy them and they fit well into the 1940s.

Lisa T, a clothesline is a good step in the right direction, make your moves very slowly, we will all be quiet about it. :)

Susan P & Weaverbird, I had to do some deep thinking on this budget to find out the information I needed and as soon as we have the figures done I will be posting.  I am so excited and cannot wait to talk about it, because this turned into a genealogy strategy as well. I think this is harder on me to not share it right away than you all waiting. It will have a story to go with all of this.  

The best part of this budget is that it opens our eyes to many things and I hope this will help all of us.  The night before last I could not even sleep due to this budget, I went to bed and got back up.  I went back to bed and got up again.  At 1:30 I told myself that I must go to bed.  The next morning after I got morning chores done I was back on it. 

This will take some more time but know that it will be posted as soon as I have it all together.  

About the yarn. I cannot say about the pattern sizes, but I do a little about the yarn.  I have a post but I do not remember which one it is but quite awhile ago where I made a small sewing round case for my measuring tape, it is green. It was a very old patter with the old type yarn.  What I had to do is find some old yarn, I found some on ebay and I make the case so it would be true to size.  I still have some of the yarn left so I need to do some kind of gauge and knit with this yarn and then knit with a modern yarn so I can figure out the type of yarn that would be as close as it can be unless anyone else knows a better way.  Anyone please share your experiences. Donna

First time commenter but long time reader. I LOVE this blog and Grandma Donna'

My whole house is very 1940's and earlier, not because I purposely did this. But because I only buy what "speaks" to me, draws me in....like your sugar and cream set.

My refrigerator is from the middle 40's and is small and with very thick walls. I love it and when I received it in an aunts estate I couldn't wait to use it and pass my modern one on. My stove is from the late 20's early 30's  and works like a dream.

My home is my sanctuary, calm, clean and quiet. A place to be drawn into, to relax and recharge.

I love old tureens and have different sizes and shapes. They remind me of relatives now gone.

I only use my AC when I have to for humidity/health reasons.  I collect and use the old appliances from 30's and 40's such as waffle iron, percolator, and toasters. 

A cup of perked coffee in my grandpa's old cup, set up with a linen napkin and buttered toast made with homemade bread on a tray are a nice little break in the afternoons after doing yard and housework. 

Can someone explain bread sponge they speak about in old recipes?  I make mine a loaf at a time and don't know what sponge means.

I look forward to every blog post.

JC

My goodness, I just beamed when I saw what you did with the silver set.  It's absolutely beautiful!  That was probably donated because somebody couldn't be bothered with polishing it.  Sad!

Your dinner table takes me right back to when I lived with my grandparents.  There IS something so comforting about that era.  My grands were born in the 1910s and your house is so much like theirs was.  The happiest place in my life, ever!

My husband is like Lisa T.'s is.  He'd have to be lured over slowly lol.  Me?  I could throw the TV in the trash tonight.  Fortunately, I have done splendidly at getting him out of his TV addiction.  I've never been a tv person, not even in my younger years.  It serves me on my terms.  Period.

Can't wait to see what you're going to share with us.  Looking forward to seeing it!

Joyce C.,

A bread sponge is like a thick batter which gives the yeast time to fully activate, and begins breaking down the gluten in that portion of the flour.

You would start with however much warm water or milk you need for the loaf, yeast, (unless using your sponge to capture wild yeast for natural sourdough) and only about 1/4 of the flour.  Some recipes also call for adding salt, sugar, or molasses at the sponge stage.  Stir this thick batter together and let it sit in a warm place until bubbly.  This can happen quite quickly - 10 or 20 minutes - if using modern "active dry yeast."  The old fashioned yeast cakes needed more time to activate, but I don't know exactly how long, as that was before my time. It takes about a day to capture wild yeast with a sponge, and a few hours to get a sourdough starter to become good and active in one.

Then you add the rest of the flour to get from sponge to kneadable bread dough.

To clarify, with modern active yeast you can skip the sponge step altogether, but using a sponge anyway influences the texture and crustiness for a more old fashioned bread.

Edit: Sponge can also be used almost like a sourdough starter, so if an old recipe starts with something like "a cup of sponge" they are assuming the baker started a big bowl of sponge earlier in the day, and is now dividing it up for different types of bread.  In that case the liquid and flour would NOT come out of the amounts stated in the rest of the recipe.   You would make a thick batter to use as sponge separately, then still add everything else called for by the recipe.

Hope this helps!

Timely boost for me today… I’ve had to be out in public and couldn’t wait to get home to my haven.

Weaverbird  If you look at the gauge and compare to your measurements you can calculate how to fit the sweater to your body. This video may be helpful

https://youtu.be/2C1qsoZKI_k?si=l1bMlTYeBB5k-fwi

JoyceC Sponge is where you start a bit of flour, yeast, and water the day before to start bread. It isn’t like sourdough as it doesn’t have to be fed. My Grandma always kept a 1/2c aside in her dough board that had a wee covered box on one end to start her bread, but I can’t remember how she did it. I just know her bread was fabulous! 

Oh my goodness, Grandma Donna, I inherited this same sugar and creamer set from my grandmother (my father’s mother, 1910-2006). Perhaps this is “modern” of me, but I don’t mind the patina. :-)

Weaverbird , you might find this website helpful in interpreting older knitting patterns. For myself, I find that I prefer the older patterns, their fit and detail and sizing.  A tip that I’ve found useful is to check the bust / waist dimensions, they are sometimes listed in the pattern details. Most of the older patterns I have are for a 34” bust, tho I’m not sure of the numerical sizing. https://freevintageknitting.com/women.html

Grandma Donna wrote, Oh my aren't we all busy up top of this.  Ruth in NY, not only do I have twin tins from my post I have twin Sugar & Creamer. :) Thank you for sharing the link with Weaverbird.

Joyce C, I am happy that you decided to comment today.  It sounds like you are living a very vintage life at your house, it sounds lovely.  Boy did you ask an interesting question, the great mystery of the sponge in bread making.  :) well it seems that it all depends on where one lives and the way they learned to make bread. Tea and Matty are both right, Tea is explaining an older version where they did in fact let it sit to capture the wild yeast and that takes awhile but I never have been able to do that.  Sourdough is different because it is something that has already been developed into a yeast that has been fed.  To confuse things more, there is even sponge bread which is a lighter spongy bread and popular in the 1930's.  But the sponge in bread making depends on which bread you are making. 

I recently posted a link to Shaye Elliot's recipe for soaked flour bread in which she uses a soaker and a sponge.  In her bread she puts a little bit of yeast in the soaker and more yeast in the sponge.  I have a 1932 diary of Sarah which I have posted part of this diary on my blog and she makes a sponge but never talks about her recipe.

The way I learned is the sponge is the first part of starting the bread with putting part of the flour, a small part of the yeast and water the day or night before making bread was called the sponge and then the next day make the other part of the recipe which includes more yeast, flour salt etc. and add the sponge. 

Oh my we must have you confused by now.  I think that many people skip the overnight soak now and so this is making it confusing to which is the sponge. Overnight soaking helps to develop flavor and texture and makes the bread more digestible. Matty's short and to the point version of this is probably the best to understand, Tea and I are trying to give you the history of bread making. Lol

I am anxious for your post about budgeting. I was trying to figure out how many kilowatt hours of electricity people used on average in the U.S. in 1940. I did a lot of searching and eventually did an image search on Google for a 1940 electric bill. I saw that someone in Philadelphia used between 20 and 22 kilowatt hours a month between 1939 and 1940. I also found that a farmer in Missouri used 171 kilowatt hours. I use about 300 kilowatt hours so I would have a long way to go to even get down to what the farmer used. I would like to find out how much water they used on average in a month.

I always appreciate your posts and look forward to new posts.

Becky Sue

hat is a great $8 find for sure!  It's amazing what a little bit of silver polish or copper cleaner will do for something that looks so dim and dark.  I have a number of copper things that I mostly use as decorations in my kitchen.  Copper does need to be polished probably more often than silver and so mine is usually not as bright and shiny as it might be.  I love the way the light coming in from the window is reflected back into the kitchen.  The ladles next to the fridge don't get much light but love the shapes.  The one at the top is perforated and so was used in some manner to strain something.  They are both large about 6 inches across and the handles as you can see are quite long.

Don't know whether I have loaded this pics or not so I will just go ahead and post.

Well sorry somehow I posted the pics twice, once VERY Large!

This is a link to an easy 2 loaf sponge that sets overnight, and bakes next day. Says it's a Modern Sponge bread, since you can use a mixer...but OLD TIME?, just do it by hand.  I'm starting my loaves after supper.....D

https://redstaryeast.com/recipes/modern-sponge-whi...

Grandma Donna wrote,  Becky Sue K, anytime you need a quick answer for something you are working on in the study just email me and I will try to find your information, I don't mind at all.  That goes for everyone.  

Victoria, I love your copper and especially your wallpaper.  I removed those oversized pictures for you. :) 

Thank you D U for the link. :)

Victoria W., 

I love your copper utensils - beautiful!  

The ladle with the holes is a type of skimmer, they have a lot of uses but mostly I use mine for skimming hardened fat from the top off stock/broth that has cooled, and skimming foam and other impurities off the top of maple sap as it's boiling down.  Also sometimes for lifting veggies out of boiling water.  Sadly mine is plastic because that's all I could find at the time.

I also have a husband not too keen on living in the past! It's funny but I actually think he'd be happier if he could. 

I wish I could swap out my furniture and appliances for 30s & 40s things but that's not realistic so instead I've adopted the approach I know my grandparents had and that is to take care of what I do have and give careful thought to acquiring any thing else.

I have recently been gifted a clothes drying rack so I don't have to use the dryer as often. I'd like a clothes line outside but not sure if that will happen so in the meantime I'll use my new rack. I feel like my grandmother would've done the best she could with what she had or could get.

I do have some vintage glassware and I like the idea of repurposing it for use around the house. I guess I'll be spending a day soon doing that. That'll be fun!

I appreciate each post and the comments.

Roxanne Richardson is a master knitter on YouTube who has experience knitting from the old patterns.

https://www.youtube.com/@RoxanneRichardson

Lovely copper utensils and glasses.

Thank you for the information on bread sponge, I will try that later today as I’m due to bake a loaf for the weekend and will be interested to see what difference it makes to the texture.

As I’m in the UK we don’t tend to have such extreme heat so most houses don’t have AC but we do have a fair bit of rain so I often have to dry clothes inside on airers.

Looking forward to reading all about the budgeting etc

Donna,

            I wondered if you are going to post any more videos on your YouTube channel. Yesterday, I was working outside, and I came in exhausted. I sat and binge-watched your videos before bed. They are so soothing and peaceful. I know that many would appreciate it if you made more of them.

           Becky Sue

Grandma Donna wrote, Thank you Laura for the link, that will be very helpful.   

Margaret P, many years I had a rope from one tree to another for my clothesline, I know you will enjoy your new clothes rack. :)

Lainey T, I hope your bread turned out well, as long as we are trying that is good. :)

Becky Sue T, the program I used to make my slide videos stopped working, I purchased another type but it has been complicated.  I have been trying to find another simple version and if I do then I will start back making them.  I am happy that you enjoy them.  

I know we were not doing rationing in 1940, but I found a podcast that explains rationing, and I found it very informative. It is here if anyone is interested. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-36-f...

Here is a picture of the loaf made with the sponge. It’s a 500g free form loaf, made with white bread flour and a few pumpkin seeds for added crunch.
Not sure I noticed much of a difference with the texture but the first prove was quicker, taking just an hour rather than hour & half.

I was given an old copy of Joy of Cooking (printed in the 70s but not revised since the 50s it seems) which is an absolute treasure.  It's such a fun read;  I'm reading it cover to cover like a novel and have found so many little gems tucked in very innocuous recipes.  

Anyhow, in the bread section she writes about setting the sponge in a recipe for salt rising bread (as part of the directions in the middle of the recipe).  She also has recipes for sourdough but doesn't call the sourdough a sponge, she calls it a starter.  The salt rising bread has no yeast added, and she has two recipes for it, both somewhat complicated.  Here's one I found randomly on the internet: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/7061/salt-rising...

I've never made this bread, or tasted it, or even heard of it till I read about it in this amazing old cookbook.  I wonder if that's the kind of bread Sarah was making when she set her sponge?

I am way too excited to get to the budgeting part, and you sound just like me when I have a new project or something I am excited about! I wake up and keep checking on it or working on it often!!  I just watched a documentary that basically forces us to take a look at what and where we are spending money. It focuses on the fashion industry, but it really applies to products across the board. We are spending too much money on low cost disposable products and when you see the ramifications of our actions, we should all be ashamed and take action, by applying the principles you are showing here on your site. We need to realize this is NOT ONE industry but all consumer goods. We need to do better for ourselves and our fellow humans. Going back to low consumer consumption may force the industries to actually do the right thing if we band together. Maybe we can force change for more durable less human/earth destroying products. One can hope.

I never knew that the pretty dish was called a tureen. There's many dishes I have know learned what they were called. I'm glad I finally learned what a sponge was. Definitely answered a mystery for me for many years. I figured it was similar to a sourdough, but not quite. Many people don't know how to properly polish items is what I've learned over the years and they don't want to take the time to do so. Looks like it will  continue to be happy to be rescued from the store. I can remember polishing my mother's silverware before a holiday. A chore yes, but it was was pretty when done.