Living Like the Past

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 ......

The Camellias are beautiful this time of year, one of our winter blooming shrubs.We got the clothesline moved just in time so the sunshine could dry this weeks Monday wash. As I am posting this it is Tuesday and I did ironing today, among many other things.I have been studying the planting guide for this year and working out the dates on the calendar. The Azaleas are starting to bloom. This is a time they call a fools spring, we still have more winter and cold weather to come so I hope the many buds will wait a little longer.We have been being very careful with our grocery purchases and it is saving us a good bit of money. We have been living frugal but this year we are very ......

I am hoping this will be easier to read the way I have done the diary this time. This is the diary of Theodore and Nellie 1905 that we read last month, the month of January. If you missed January it is at the bottom of this post linked here. http://gdonna.com/living-like-the-past/how-do-we-f...Now to Theodore, February 1, 1905Family, Theodore (writing diary) wife Nellie, daughter Eva, son Gene and his wife Lila and baby Lucille. They drive horses and wagon also have buggy. When Theodore says they drew stone, it is my understanding that he is meaning drove or carried. Imagine hitching the team of horses and wagon loaded with stone or wood and drew (drove/ car ......

I have done a lot of thinking lately about the things we have learned researching back in time. I keep wondering about if things were as difficult as people have said they were long ago, then why are so many of us drawn to the past? We romanticize the past, is it the pretty clothes? Is it the slower pace and how people seem to be more attentive? Work was hard back then and many modern items has made chores less difficult today. But there is something they had that we are missing today and I feel why some of us have this pull to the past.I feel it is the sensibility and I still hold to that.I feel the strength, the sensibility, the determination, the common sense and t ......

I have taken a few days to work through new information from all the research work. This years study is so very different and I will see if I can find a way to tell about the feelings I have about this study.I literally feel a connection as I travel back in time by way of the small bits of history left behind for us to read about. We can see things only in pictures or antique shops, old microfilms and books and those fortunate to remember the stories told to us by our Grands and Great Grands of how it was.What we have learned so far about the great depression, as far as it affected the home?I have had to dig deep to figure out why in the microfilms reading during the times of the gre ......

The oldest journal we have I started wrapping it in flannel to keep it protected. The research is going good but it is taking me awhile to get it to you as we are trying to work on our new things of trying out 1932. We still have damage from hurricane Michael that we are cleaning up.It is a tangled mess in some areas. Charles worked on another corner of the yard this past weekend. We find comfort in our simple meals. Chicken, potatoes and carrots is always good and a dish of stewed apples with brown sugar, cinnamon and a pat of butter is a good side dish.It has been cold here in the deep south. Not as cold as the northern and central part of the U.S. but quite chi ......

So how are we meshing with Now and the Past? The more I research the more I try to resemble how they did things but it is difficult when today looks different.We are a blend of today and yesteryear but I am taking the important things that will help the budget, our health and the things that make more sense to make changes to our home.We have eliminated processed snacks and make homemade but that started when we started the 1940's study. We are human and get off track occasionally but now we are more focused and diligent in what and how we do things.In the 1940's study we made big changes and honestly we started wondering if we would find anything else in ways of saving and l ......

Wash was always done on Monday period. In a very special situation it was acceptable to wash on Tuesday.Clothes washing has been a very interesting study. This history study shows many things. As I looked back to about 1880 to 1900 there was more work to washing laundry because the soap had to be boiled and the clothing people wore was complicated to wash.As I move through time I noticed very early after 1900 Fels-naptha started advertising that there would be no more blue Monday because of this soap that would save them time. Then as time was passing I noticed ads stating that women had more time now since their Monday wash day was taken away by the new servic ......

We talked about the dish scraper last post and now about the soap shaker or soap saver depending on when we are talking. I used to run water over the soap in the shaker but I do not do this after learning more.The good thing about the soap shaker/saver is that the soap that goes into the water is dissolved swishing and there is no need to boil or wait for it to dissolve. Here is a soap saver. Here is a soap saver being used. This photo is an example of how many people dressed in the 30s and 40s. In some of my 1940s posts I post photos of ordinary people that do not necessarily dress the fads. Miss Weedman was the director of a cooking school. Since we mention ......

To understand more I started researching around 1880 to 1900, then 1900 to 1920, then 1920 to 1940. These are some of what I found interesting.I wanted to know more how our ancestors did day to day things. So I started researching basic day to day things we do in our homes most every day, for instance washing dishes.This is already off track a bit because this is how my mind does normally. The more I study the more I feel the eras and some of the arrogance and some snootiness. The newspaper articles give me a sense about the time. Many things start off by complaining of the way someone does things wrong before they tell you how to do it the right way.I wanted to know ......