Living Like the Past

Can we really go back to a better place, a better time? We cannot go back in time but we can change our life to resemble the past. We do not have to live like others, we choose to live like others. If we want a more simple life, we start right where we are, right now, and we remove the clutter and the things that are standing in our way that drain our energy, rob us of precious time. We do not have to change an era to live a more simple life, we just live a more simple life.Today's world is complicated, irritable and fast and looking into how things were for our generations before us gives us some surprising answers. We found that we just wanted to live more like they live ......

We have been in the 90 degree temperatures and this is only May. Also it is very dry here which is requiring us to hand water our vegetables.We finally finished harvesting the cattle trough that held the garlic. I planted them last fall around October. Some of them split so we probably should have pulled them up several weeks earlier but they are still good. The bulbs we grow are smaller than the garlic grown in the north.But it is still garlic. :)We finally have bees coming to pollinate. We are so happy about this. It was such a worry to not have bees and it took a bit of thinking to get the bees to come to our garden and I don't know where they came from but I am so happy they ......

I took a chance and got a very early start with planting this year. There was a lot of covering and uncovering but worth it because I just do not do well with the heat and I wanted to get the planting and heavy work done before it became too hot.Just today we reached 90 degrees and it is spring so we may be in for a very hot summer.We put in several cattle panel trellises this spring. To me the trellis is land since we are short on that. If we cannot spread out we can try growing up.This is cantaloupe that I am training to grow up.A basil has planted itself in a begonia. Baby cucumber.Our first zucchini and it was very good. The over crowded herb, pepper, cilantro tank.The be ......

Note* I am typing this out 11/27 2022. If you are reading back over my old posts and have gotten to this point, I want to say that I have removed several diaries, I may mention the diaries in some of these posts. I had started posting diaries and posted too many and could not keep up. I was new at posting diaries and did not realize how much work it would be. So after about 4 to 6 months I got behind.I learned a new way of posting diaries in 2022 and so with the new 2023 history study I wanted to use these diaries and post them in a more organized way. I am sorry for the confusion. Down below now is the original post written 5/1 2019. You may e ......

The Walking Iris is blooming. Tomorrow this bloom should be fully open. I love to watch the different stages of the flowers.It has been mostly dry recently with a few rains here and there but under what we normally get this time of year.With all the gardening everything needs water. We have tried many different ways of watering our garden over the years. For many years we just used the water hose with a sprayer attachment, we tried drip irrigation which actually used more water than we expected. We have collected rain water whenever we can but we need rain to have rainwater and we fill watering cans and use those but it takes a good while to fill the cans. When it is so very hot outsid ......

There is much to do most all year around here at our small place but spring is especially busy. Since our 2019 history project is to study the years 1900 to 1939 concentrating on the great depression, we have had much reading to do. It has been more difficult to live in today's technology world and study and try to resemble the 1930's than it was the 1940's. I am not sure why other than this study is so much deeper. We are trying to live as an adult in 1930's so we had to study much further back to understand the things an adult has gone through to get to the 1930s. This years study has far exceeded what we thought we could learn. I am hoping when we get to the end of the year we can s ......

Spring is such a beautiful time. We are enjoying our yard and frequent visitors and residents. After being indoors during winter we just want to hang outdoors all the time.I mentioned one time before that a man in our town was torn with grief after the loss of his wife. He then started growing Camellias for therapy and found beauty and interest in the Camellias. He began grafting and expanding his garden and it became a good kind of addiction. Distraction can be a very good thing for us and in today's world especially. These are not Camellias, they are Coneflowers, one of my favorite flowers/herbs.We have many interest, it takes us away from the things in life that make us tense and dr ......

We now continue the diary of Theodore and Nellie. Theodore is the writer of this dairy and we started in January and have read January, February and March, 1905. Now we continue with April.You can find the January, February and March in the diary section on my blog in the upper right side that say's Donna's Diary Posts. Saturday April 1, 1905We gathered and boiled this P.M. Sap runs good today.Sunday April 2It was a fine day. Allie stayed here last night. We all went to S.S. Bro Miller preached. We met at Mr Sanford and talked about paying the ministers Deaded to give Mr. M. $50. and Mr Carm and Williams $2.00 a trip. Miller 17 times Carm 9 Williams 3.00Monday April 3We gathered a ......

This post was done on August of 1915 about laundry, blueing and ironing like the past. I am bringing it forward to answer some questions and also since we are living like the 1930's, this is an appropriate post. This is part one and I will post the other two post connected to this one. I have many many older post you can review by clicking on living like the past, scroll to the bottom of the page and go back. When you advance to 12 click the arrow and give it a little time and it will reload further back.In this article I will be discussing laundry the old fashioned way and there will be three web pages, see this article then Starching Laundry the old fashioned way part two, then Ironing the ......

Page two laundry the old fashioned way, see page one first, it is called Laundry the old fashioned way part one.You start with clean, wet and unfolded items to be starched. If the clean item is dry then place it in a pan or sink and wet the garment. Or remove it directly from the wash to the starch. Wet, wring it out and loosen it and set it aside.This starch will be a boiled starch. First 1/2 cup powdered starch to one cup of water. Whisk it around in a bowl or directly into a dutch oven (very large pot).Add the mixture to the pot then add 2 quarts of water and mix well with whisk. At first I was going to make half a batch but decided to make the full batch for this article.So I moved it th ......

Laundry the old fashioned way has three parts, this is part three and to see the first part go to Laundry the old fashioned way part one.Ironing the Old Fashioned Way part three.... First sprinkling the clothes.Place a towel on the counter, table or ironing board and sprinkle the towel until it is damp.We are now sprinkling items that have been previously starched and dried items. We must get them damp for ironing.Sprinkle and fold, sprinkle and fold then roll...When I was a child my mother taught me to sprinkle and roll the clothes to be ironed at a very young age. We used small coke bottle with the sprinkler on top.Place it to the side or in a pan...And do each item....We are going to let ......

A home does not just happen by itself, it takes planning and work and the people that reside in the home need to take care of the home. To make a comfortable home is how each of us use our own skills and thoughts of what a home should look like, we are all different. Everything needs care and tending, our bodies, our children, our pets and our home so we have to settle our mind and know that certain things need to be done daily, weekly, monthly and there is no sense in dreading or putting it off. We might as well make our home interesting while we are at it.Our home and yard did not look as it did today, it was practically a clean slate. We have worked our way to having a home that prov ......

It has been a very busy time here at our home. We have been working more outside due to the warm up.Most days lately I don't come back in until the sun starts setting.But there is still much to do inside such as laundry, cooking and keeping things clean.I added a curtain over the yarn shelves to keep dust from settling on the yarn and thread.I still move things around a bit as this is home, it is our space to make interesting or more manageable.I have been cooking easy meals since I have been spending so much time outside. A quick peach cobbler is a very easy dessert/snack food to have around.The center of this peach cobbler has some extra special buttery peaches.The mornings hav ......

There has been a lot of concern for Charles and I after yesterday's deadly tornadoes in Southeast Alabama. Charles and I have no damage here. There were tornadoes all around and the city tornado siren's went off several times and it was most concerning knowing several tornadoes were near.It is a very sad situation with so many fatalities and still missing family members in the large tornado that went through Lee county. There is not a lot being mentioned of the other tornadoes that hit small towns and communities around us so we need to keep those people in our prayers as well.I am so thankful that we did not get a direct hit here and each time we have these situations it r ......

We return to the diary of Lena a school teacher that writes mostly about her activities after school and some about her school activities. Lena has a very busy life. You can go back to the Diary of Lena, a school teacher January through March to find more about Lena or to catch up if you have not read that post. I try my best to understand what Lena is writing but it is difficult so I am sure there are some mistakes. If you find something that needs changing please send me an email. She abbreviates quite a bit due to lack of space in her diary.It is amazing to me to read such a busy diary from the year of 1927. This was the last page we read in the last posting of Lena so this page is a ......

We continue the diary of Theodore and Nellie, son Gene and daughter Eva. Gene is married and lives close by in another house. The family information is in the January post. I will link it here. There is a short post above the diary for January.January https://gdonna.com/living-like-the-past/how-do-we...February https://gdonna.com/living-like-the-past/new-diary/Theodore is writing this diaryFebruary 28th Aunt Jane was 85 years old Feb 5th. Gene drew stone today. I did chores, split wood and Nell and I went up to Dan's. Aunt Jane is sick, don't believe she will get up. J D Lewis was here and I ordered 10# Wellington late potatoes and 5 bushels T.C. oats H E recommends sowing n ......

It does not look like winter where I live but I know our family to the North have been having extreme weather. Either flooding or blizzards depending which states while we reached 86 degrees this past week, a beautiful weekend and then back to the 40s this morning. It is all over the place. The trees are leafing out, the flowers are blooming, the birds are nesting and it is difficult to tell the season.Now I am concerned because our local weather is talking about possible very cold weather for March.We have seasons in the home no matter what is going on outside. In the winter we are eating root crops and and those canned goods we put up last year. Or at least this is the way it wa ......

There are other things going on around the house other than scanning and typing out diaries and journals and organizing research information. We don't know if the groundhog was right and there is an early spring here for us but the birds and frogs, weeds and trees are saying there is going to be an early spring. The Tuesday tank that is growing turnips has done well all winter.This turnip will be added to some soup this week.The mulberry tree is putting out leaves and so pretty at this time.We lost one of our peach trees so we went to the nursery to purchase another since the peach tree needs a mate. We picked out a Georgia peach known to grow well in our area. The trees do not have t ......

Getting started on so many diaries may seem confusing but as we start learning who they are and their routines we will be learning history in a different way. These are real diaries, very old and rare. Theodore our farmer, rock hauler, wood hauler married to Nellie living in 1905. They live in Potsdam New York. They travel by horse and wagon and buggy.Albert and Gladys the couple that writes down all their expenses in a journal during the great depression. The year 1932. They live in ArizonaPhoebe that keeps a diary and lives in a larger duplex type house in the city in 1939 in Pennsylvania. The Griffiths are her neighbors in the adjoining house. Edith that lives in a small town as ......

A snapdragon from the greenhouse makes the house feel like spring. I am happy to have them growing throughout the winter but I know they will be happy as I when we can be outside more.My mind has been wandering despite my efforts to focus more. The diaries have me thinking about how is it that our ancestors had more time for visiting one another when so many of the stories are about how hard this time was. Some things are making sense that there are seasons of more visiting and seasons of more work.This is only some of the diaries I have, some are over by the scanner and two on my nightstand.These diaries are full of history and told in a simple way. I have only begun ......