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26 Nov ’15
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I am glad to see that this area of the forum has many mentions for pressure cooker use. Mainly for canning, but some basic cooking too. I grew up with my mother using one of these time saving appliances and have several at home for different uses. A large canning cooker for sure, but a couple stainless steel ones and one older 2 1/2 qt. darling that I picked up for $2 at a garage sale.
It amazes me how afraid of these most women are! I guess they never had to deal with food that otherwise would require long cooking times. I used to take 45 mins. to cook brown rice. The pressure cooker does it in 20 mins. Dry beans can take 3 hours to cook to tender, but the pressure cooker only takes 30 mins. And old traditional dishes like saurbraten where one would marinate for days and slow cook for hours can be done in 30+ mins.
Not only is this a time saver that I have come to rely on, it also helps me to cook potatoes in 10 mins. and enough so that I not only have some for a meal, but also precooked potatoes for hash browns, potato salad, scalloped potatoes and even a potato & egg scramble that ha become a breakfast standard for us too.
And the bonus is that this works fine on our wood stove top so that we get dinner as well as heat. Hard to beat what I affectionately call the original stove top 'microwave' 
.
My personal motto - The Home, a peace worth fighting for.
6 Oct ’15
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We Can a lot of produce here. We like it because we get our own organically grown vegetables and fruit the way we like it, it adds to the pantry stock, makes more complete use of the harvest.
Somewhere here I posted pix of our set up.
We get a lot of people that are fascinated by caning. Most of them are upper class people. My wife and I are going to offer small classes on how to can next year. We have about 5 people lined up. It will be interesting if we can make this a small operation of sorts.
Good to see people showing an interest in the 'old ways' and actually wanting to learn a skill set.
The other thing that has been very surprising is the amount of people that have no clue how to garden. We tell them to throw some seeds in the ground or a pot and have fun with it. I have actually shown people how to put in a raised bed and make a compost pile...seems simple to us, but if you weren't brought up that way it seems to be amazing.
15 Feb ’12
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sad how much knowledge has been lost in just one generation
26 Nov ’15
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KVR said
sad how much knowledge has been lost in just one generation
That is why the original The Mother Earth News was started, to gather and offer such 'old' knowledge for use by any who wanted to get their hands dirty.
What most people don't think about is how the 1930s Depression was different from the one we are in now. In the 1920s the greatest % of people had a farming/rural background. They knew what it was like to live very basic (no electricity, flush toilet or running water) so when they had to take a 'step backwards', they had the knowledge and even had practiced those ways before. I know that even in my life time (in 60s) camping is not now what it was in the 1950s. Same too with daily life and work. An 'attitude adjustment' needs to happen first and then learning how to do and practicing practicing practicing until its second nature to one.
My personal motto - The Home, a peace worth fighting for.
6 Oct ’15
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My Dad grew up in the 20's 10 siblings on the family dairy, then he was in WW II where he went through 18 countries during which he went down with engine trouble twice (one of the times was in open sea) then he was shot down and became POW of the German's..tough as nails kind of a Man.
I learned a lot growing up from him: how to make do with what you had and how to make it last, and not to gripe about things you don't have - instead do what you can. Almost every day he would make a reference to how there was nothing to be had when he was growing up and that I should appreciate what I had and learn to make do with what I could.
Times and people have changed...
15 Feb ’12
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Jain said
What most people don't think about is how the 1930s Depression was different from the one we are in now. In the 1920s the greatest % of people had a farming/rural background. They knew what it was like to live very basic (no electricity, flush toilet or running water) so when they had to take a 'step backwards', they had the knowledge and even had practiced those ways before.
spot on assessment, back then people had the knowledge and the tools passed down from the generations before while sadly today that is not the case, I think that is what scares a lot of people from trying to be self-sufficient, it takes time and/or money to acquire those back and a lot of people don't have that in today's world, or at least they think they don't
26 Nov ’15
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KVR said
Jain said
What most people don't think about is how the 1930s Depression was different from the one we are in now. In the 1920s the greatest % of people had a farming/rural background. They knew what it was like to live very basic (no electricity, flush toilet or running water) so when they had to take a 'step backwards', they had the knowledge and even had practiced those ways before.
spot on assessment, back then people had the knowledge and the tools passed down from the generations before while sadly today that is not the case, I think that is what scares a lot of people from trying to be self-sufficient, it takes time and/or money to acquire those back and a lot of people don't have that in today's world, or at least they think they don't
Your last sentence is also spot on. The biggest challenge I feel faces younger people considering a homestead option is an ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT. What have you got to lose?!? A little ego? Some time? And consider the benefits - exercise without 'gym' costs AND instead of repeating movements, you get a wider range of movement AND 'produce' resulting from that!
One of the things I often reminded myself was that is another human could do something (especially less technical tasks), why couldn't I? It just takes a bit of reading up on that subject/under taking and applying one's self in a conscious manner. My husband had no previous experience and I only a DIY attitude and some basic (mechanical) skills. I have kid that we had a book in one hand and an adobe brick in the other. In such a manner we built a house that will stand for many years - all by ourselves! (The only outside help being backhoe for foundation and cement truck for footing)
A few 'rules of gardening' served us well in this effort -
1) start small. 2) don't place the kitchen garden further than you can throw the kitchen sink. 3) plant what you eat, eat what you plant.
The more one can discover their own real and true needs, the less the 'American DREAM' will beckon and MISdirect one's efforts.
My personal motto - The Home, a peace worth fighting for.
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