Blog COMMENTS RE: Moving Forward to the Old Ways?
Did your grandmother clean with vinegar? If not, I bet your great-grandmother did. Also, how did they clean tubs and sinks? Maybe one generation back, Grandma used Bon Ami or Baking Soda. But, before that? I bet no one cared what their tubs and sinks looked like. My mom came over one day and saw that I was drying clothes on a clothes line and said, “Wow, you are really going back to the old ways with this green living!” Yes, that is true. When we try to simplify and green our lives, it does feels like we are going back to the old ways. Is that so bad? Most of the time not, but sometimes it can be time consuming.
How do I feel like I am going back in time to practice the old ways of living? I don’t use any modern cleaning products in my house. I am trying to learn how to grow most of our own food and support local food sources. I compost almost all of our kitchen scraps. On warm days, I hang my laundry on a clothes line or in the house to dry. I don’t use any chemicals in my yards. We pull or clip weeds by hand. I use old towels and rags to wipe up kitchen spills or kitchen counters instead of paper towels. I am starting to use handmade handkerchiefs to blow my nose. And, grossest of all…..almost like an outhouse, I let it mellow when it’s yellow. Come on people! I am not the only one here doing that…. right? Don’t forget, we are in a drought in California.
Yes, some of these green tactics are time consuming. It takes organizational patience to figure out how to disperse your vinegar containers in the house and where to place your clean and dirty kitchen towels. You have to make time to hang up wet laundry. There is a time and energy commitment in learning how to get compost going well and how to contain kitchen scraps in your house. But, when you make a commitment to yourself to live green, it becomes a way of life and not a burden. Once you have greener processes in place in your house, it becomes just like any other daily or weekly routine. And, it feels really good to be making a difference in your own home!
There is much to be said for going back to the old ways. People used far fewer resources and many fewer chemicals 100 years ago. The environment was not being as devastated by household energy and chemical use as it is today. So, if you are having trouble getting these green processes going in your house, don’t give up and seek out support from other GreenMoms. Maybe check out some of our easy cleaning recipes on the Cleaning Resources page. Once begun, you’re almost done…..
Having trouble implementing some green living habits? Let’s share ideas and see if we can learn from each other how to simplify things in our Discussion Forum.
-- Melinda
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I'm glad someone finally wrote about this. As one of your "more mature" green moms, I've been thinking that my grandmother (born in 1896) was a great model for what we are now going to. We used to laugh that she washed her dishes in a tea cup. Well, not really, but she would always draw a BOWL full of hot water (yes, that's for a family plus dinner) and drop a tiny bit of soap in it. Then she would draw another BOWL full of hot water and that was the rinsing water. We always started with the glasses since they weren't greasy. A glass went into the hot wash water, then the water used for that glass went into the next glass, then that same water went into the next glass, and so on until the glasses were washed and rinsed. The rinse "cycle" was a repeat of how they were washed - each glass using the water from the previous glass. Then cups, then dessert plates, then dinner plates. About the time we were half-way through the dinner plates, the wash bowl was a bit dirty, so we put the silver in it to soak for a couple of minutes while we turned the rinse water into wash water with a bit of soap. By that time the silver was ready to shed it's food, so it was "wadded up" into a "clump" and given a very quick rinse under the faucet. Then into the new wash water (which was really the recycled rinse water) to soak more while we drew a fresh bowl of rinse water.
The rest of the plates came after the silver had been washed and rinsed, then the serving dishes were washed according to how dirty they were. Of course, they had all been scraped into the "scrap bucket" - a tall sided crock whose contents were used in the garden or fed to chickens. The "cleanest of the serving dishes went first with it's water being dumped into the next one and so on until the kitchen was empty of dirty dishes and pots and pans. The most times I ever recall adding new water was three and that was for a big meal with cousins. Must have done the dishes in about a gallon of water. My, how I sometimes forget and think each piece needs to have the fresh, precious water run over it. I've challenged myself to wash my dishes in my grandmother's teacup - it's a challenge - how did she know how to do that and why can't I do it now when I did it then? I'll keep on it.
As for the "mellow yellow", when most of you were elementary age (in the early 70's) we were in a drought condition here in Calif. At my kids school, they had a "mellow yellow" rule (it was a small rural school) and to this day, they are MOST happy to let it mellow. Just to let you know, it sticks as a habit once started. Just be sure and use TP that is the thinner kind so you don't overload the system. Not only is it good for the drought, it's pretty easy. If it's brown, well........ flush it down. LOL
Re: Blog COMMENTS RE: Moving Forward to the Old Ways?
That is just an amazing recount of how your grandmother washed dishes! Thank you for that. It is incredible how much people used to conserve and re-use everything in the old days. Why did they do that? They must have known that resources were precious. Just reading 'Little House on the Prairie' astounds me with the history of how everything was re-used. They did not have trash in those days. No plastic bags flying round the planet or choking up the ocean....back in the day.
And see! I knew I wasn't the only one comfortable with the mellow yellow thing! So glad to hear that.
Re: Blog COMMENTS RE: Moving Forward to the Old Ways?
I would guess they did what they did in the old days because (a) it was expensive (b) they didn't have easy access to most things (c) it was literally a pain - think of having to carry the water from the well! I think of when I've been camping or backpacking - this is very similar to how we clean dishes - except with one even more water saving step ... the first step is to "scrub" the dishes with dirt (after they've been scraped). I don't think I'll implement that step at our house though!
As for mellow yellow - count me in. I've been doing that since the '70s too - I grew up in S. California. But, um, there IS a limit to the extent of the mellowing...
Mellow Yellow
Oh yah! yellowing can get stinky. I can only do it for so long.
Yes! And as for "organic food" - before WWII, they simply called it "food"! (insert rant regarding "conventional" label euphemistically applied to chemical agriculture!)
Yep, you're at the cutting edge of an ancient technology.
I wonder about diapers: a doc at the local clinic remarked on our cloth diapers - "how do you like these old fashioned diapers?" - these were fancy organic side-snappers with breathable covers: how DID they diaper in The Old Days?
-rene
Re: Blog COMMENTS RE: Moving Forward to the Old Ways?
Great point about "food" v. "organic food" v. "conventional food" v. "chemically supported food" or whatever we'd call it. My husband commented that at that time there was the general feeling that science would make all of life better (hmmm, some yes, some no, eh?). That coupled with a huge growth in population there was a need for much better yield to keep up with the food needs. I expect there's a middle ground - a way to feed the world's population while reducing the chemical methods (etc.) and increasing a healthier way to live?
That said, not all new ways are bad and old ways better. The "new" realization about germs, bacteria, washing hands, brushing teeth is okay by me!
