The Old Ways

[kc5tpy]

Well I tried to find Blowing Smoke around the Smoker but no luck so can a Mod please move if necessary.

We just had a Grandmother join who does quilting.  My Grandmother quilted.  What a fine article of TRUE AMERICAN FOLK ART!  ART is the appropriate word if you have ever seen a handmade quilt.  I know we are trying to pass on meat processing skills, canning skills and many other things.

I JUST remember my Grandmother making lye soap ( born 1958 - really young then ).

I am guilty!  As I am sure we all are.  Time is so precious in this day and time.  Retired folks may have more opportunity but get no cooperation from schools and community groups.  We ALL should take responsibility.  DOES anyone volunteer to show school classes or community groups ( scouts ) the old ways?  My father in law ( 84 yrs. old ) instructs a elementary school class a week in baking.  The American schools are far more rigid.  Some elementary schools here plant a small veg garden.  There are many things us old fools could teach the younger generation with 1-2 a week.  Does anyone do this now and if so how did you get it started?  The new generation thinks if their cell phone dies it's a disaster.  Should a large meteorite hit the earth could mankind survive?  

  Us old folks have the skills.  Can we get the kids interested?  Man it would be a shame for the skills to be lost forever!  Once we die it is all gone.  My Great GrandDad smoked sausage, hams, you name it but when he died it went with him.  WHAT A WASTE!

Canning, making soap, pickling, curing, processing animals etc., ect..

Anyone with ideas or working plans in place please let us know how we can get involved.  These are skills our kids should not lose.  Just an idea.  Maybe us old fools can give back.

The flip side of the coin is have some of you tried and been shot down by the schools or community groups?  Do you find it hard to engage the youngsters in your own family?

I just thought I would ask.  Looking to trying to spread the "love".  Curious of others experiences.  Introduced my Grandson to smoking this Christmas.  He is 7.  Grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, took him to the smoker.....  Not really.  He seemed eager for his experience, I want to pass this on to other kids  Could we all not volunteer to teach the youngsters 1-2 hours a week?  What a shame to lose the old skills.

Keep Smokin!

Danny

 

[themule69]

Danny

First I don't want to be included in the old crowd I'm 51. I was a scout leader for a while. Now I do honey bee displays. I did one at the county fair where they would bring bus loads of kids to let them see about farm life. I do other bee displays as well. Then if someone gets me started talking about smoking they better be ready to talk awhile.

Happy smoken.

David

 

[tropics]

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/f/3154/blowing-smoke-around-the-smoker

Danny here is the link

 

[mr t 59874]

Easy money, hand outs and convenience has changed our way of life.  Not many are raised the way some of us were.  My dad would say and I passed it on, " If you can't kill it, you shouldn't eat it ".  Many would be appalled at that thought today. 

We live in a remote rural area where many of the city conveniences are unavailable so many of the things you discuss are still practiced and normal place, but the circle is closing in.

Maybe by just offering your many talents to others, it would spark an interest in someone.  After all, isn't that what we are doing here on the forum?

Tom  

 

[timstalltaletav]

This is an interesting thread. The PA farm show just wrapped up. I go every year to kind of re-center myself and not let the conveniences of modern life get too familiar. I spoke to a person there this year who was showing her cows. She told me she was amazed by the number of kids that came to the show who had never seen a cow?

I do agree a lot of the "old ways" of doing things have died off. Hell... my grandmother cooked on a coal fired stove/oven up until the late 90's. Imagine the planning it takes to make something simple like a pot of coffee when you have to start a fire. I still remember those meals, some of the best food ever.

 

[bluewhisper]

I'm a 1958 as well.I learned as much cooking technique as I could from my parents who grew up in Lithuania in the 1920s, like making a basic soup stock from bones, how to make dough, select and grind meat, grow and prepare vegetables, etc. It's economical, and I'm cheap!.

 

[pc farmer]

Being on a farm we try to grow or make what ever we can.  I have a full time job plus the farm, my wife works full time.

We have a 6 year old son, he love to go farming with me.  He can actually run a skid steer at 6.

So we are trying to pass on what we know to him.

I was lucky, I learned a lot for my grandpap before he passed.  Wish I knew what he forgot.

 

[red dog]

Don't get me started on our school system in the U.S. Danny. Yes we need to pass on our knowledge to our young people. But our school system here is becoming such that they would never allow it. How can you teach a young person how to use a knife if they are banned in the schools? I had a pocket knife in my pocket everyday from the time I was 7 years old. Today they would kick me out and put  my dad in jail. Sorry, just a touchy subject for me. Thank God for organizations like the Boy Scouts. I'll get back into this conversation when I cool down.

 

[timstalltaletav]

Don't get me started on our school system in the U.S. Danny. Yes we need to pass on our knowledge to our young people. But our school system here is becoming such that they would never allow it. How can you teach a young person how to use a knife if they are banned in the schools? I had a pocket knife in my pocket everyday from the time I was 7 years old. Today they would kick me out and put  my dad in jail. Sorry, just a touchy subject for me. Thank God for organizations like the Boy Scouts. I'll get back into this conversation when I cool down.

I still laugh when I think back to school. We had archery class where we actually shot a bow and arrow. Amazingly no one got injured or killed. I'm still amazed that all of the kids in that class just seemed to know not to point the arrow at each other. That is something we'll never see again.

We also had home economics where I learned to sew. I sew clothes and put buttons back on things all the time using those skills. We also learned set up a household budget in this class. Again, things that seem foreign in today's curriculum.

Shop class (industrial arts) actually had us using drill presses, circular saws,and basic welding equipment. No one got hurt there either.

Kids back in my day (early 90's grad) just seemed to know more common sense than kids today.

 

[red dog]

When I was a senior in 1972 we all had easy rider rifle racks and took our deer rifles to school with us so we could go hunting on the way home.

 

[diggingdogfarm]

I've done a lot of teaching...all sorts of homesteading stuff....especially gardening....unfortunately my health isn't all that good now but I'm still willing to help folks learn vital self-sufficiency skills any way I can.

 

[smokesontuesday]

I might be one of the young'ins here at 34 but I grew up with my grandma and grandpa shucking beans and canning corn. Grandpa passed on in '01 but Grandma is still kicking and we still keep a couple acre garden so that we are able to can, pickle, you name it every year. Canned corn, green beans, etc. are so much better than store bought it isn't funny. Lots of people in this world are missing out on some good food.

I wish I knew half the stuff my grandpa forgot about raising cattle. He grew up in Hominy and punched cows on the Drummond ranch here in Oklahoma before he got married and joined the Army.

Grandma had a wood stove until ten years ago or so. There's nothing better than a pot of brown beans and salt pork simmering on that thing all day long.

I was in the last generation that lived with the pocketknife in your pocket/rifle rack in the truck environment. It wasn't shocking to talk guns in class either during a lull. If you did that now you'd be suspended and facing criminal charges.

 

[gary s]

Boy does that bring back memories, Always carried a pocket knife to school, Remember when I was in the 6th or 7th grade I carried 3 sticks and a hunting knife to school so our math teacher could show mw how to make a figure 4 trap.   Long time ago don't think you could do that today unless you loke being on the 6:00 news

Gary

 

[ynot2k]

I was born in 1960 in Ohio.  The "old ways" you are describing were never a part of my early life.  We grew up poor, no extras.  No scouts, pocket knife, bicycle.  Hand-me-down toys from garage sales.  Used clothes from garage sales.  We lived hand to mouth.  My parents did not have the means to own a farm with animals and gardens.  We lived in a small town, in a small house on a small lot.  We did, however, borrow a tiller and turn over a small patch of grass for vegetables in our  back yard.  Squash, tomatoes, carrots, onions.  Mom got a pressure canning set for free from a friend and canned the extras.  We kept them in the root cellar under the house - no refrigeration down there - we could not afford the electricity bill or the refrigerator.  Dad didn't hunt, couldn't afford a gun.  We ate lots of pasta with tomato sauce.  Cheese we got free, so that was always there (if it really was cheese).  We did go fishing.  With cane poles and small plastic bottles for bobbers.  We cleaned and ate what we caught.  A smoker?  Not a chance.  A grill?  Nope.  We were lucky to have a stove and oven.

I never felt the need or inclination to teach any of these things to the younger generation now.  It simply does not apply.  Certainly not to the fortunate who have the opportunities that I never had.

Remember - no matter how bad you've had it - someone has had it worse, and someone has had it a whole lot better.

It's easy to complain in a online forum, over the internet, typing on a device that cost more money than my father made in a month in 1960 about the degradation of society due to losing sight of our pasts.  I think it's more difficult to face that the past is indeed past and deal with the present as we find it.

 

[radioguy]

Mumbly peg ....anyone?

 

[hookedonq]

I think what your wanting to do is great!
Im on the younger side around here at 28 but I was very fortunate to grow up on a small farm that has been in my family for over 100 years.

We farmed raised our own hogs had a large garden my mom was always canning, if something broke we didnt go out and buy new we fixed what we had and made it work, no ac in summer and heated with wood in the winter I absolutely loved the way I was brought up and the old ways of doing things.

my papa passed back In 2000 at the age of 83 and the amount of knowledge that man took away from here is unreal he tought me a lot and I sure wish he was around to teach me more

Those of you older folks on here that are willing please share all the knowledge you can with the younger generation even if you dont think they care our show any interest im betting one day they will remember.

 

[red dog]

 
I was born in 1960 in Ohio.  The "old ways" you are describing were never a part of my early life.  We grew up poor, no extras.  No scouts, pocket knife, bicycle.  Hand-me-down toys from garage sales.  Used clothes from garage sales.  We lived hand to mouth.  My parents did not have the means to own a farm with animals and gardens.  We lived in a small town, in a small house on a small lot.  We did, however, borrow a tiller and turn over a small patch of grass for vegetables in our  back yard.  Squash, tomatoes, carrots, onions.  Mom got a pressure canning set for free from a friend and canned the extras.  We kept them in the root cellar under the house - no refrigeration down there - we could not afford the electricity bill or the refrigerator.  Dad didn't hunt, couldn't afford a gun.  We ate lots of pasta with tomato sauce.  Cheese we got free, so that was always there (if it really was cheese).  We did go fishing.  With cane poles and small plastic bottles for bobbers.  We cleaned and ate what we caught.  A smoker?  Not a chance.  A grill?  Nope.  We were lucky to have a stove and oven.

I never felt the need or inclination to teach any of these things to the younger generation now.  It simply does not apply.  Certainly not to the fortunate who have the opportunities that I never had.

Remember - no matter how bad you've had it - someone has had it worse, and someone has had it a whole lot better.

It's easy to complain in a online forum, over the internet, typing on a device that cost more money than my father made in a month in 1960 about the degradation of society due to losing sight of our pasts.  I think it's more difficult to face that the past is indeed past and deal with the present as we find it.

Sounds like you had a rough go of it growing up as did many people. But you survived. So you do have something to pass on to younger generations. That's what this discussion is all about, survival. I learned something just reading your post. I think you are mistaken if you think your experience has no value. You sell yourself short. I respect you for what you went through just like I do my Mother, Father, and Grandparents before me who had similar childhoods. Complain? Yes I will complain that  I can't give my Great Nephew a pocket knife because he could get kicked out of school. Or he can't tell the story of how his Great Great Grandfather crossed the Rocky Mountains to escape the dust bowl with a wife and five daughters and killed squirrels and rabbits with a 410 shotgun to feed them. Yes I will complain that he can't show his friends a picture of me with a deer I killed. Don't tell me not to complain.

 

[ynot2k]

 
Sounds like you had a rough go of it growing up as did many people. But you survived. So you do have something to pass on to younger generations. That's what this discussion is all about, survival. I learned something just reading your post. I think you are mistaken if you think your experience has no value. You sell yourself short. I respect you for what you went through just like I do my Mother, Father, and Grandparents before me who had similar childhoods. Complain? Yes I will complain that  I can't give my Great Nephew a pocket knife because he could get kicked out of school. Or he can't tell the story of how his Great Great Grandfather crossed the Rocky Mountains to escape the dust bowl with a wife and five daughters and killed squirrels and rabbits with a 410 shotgun to feed them. Yes I will complain that he can't show his friends a picture of me with a deer I killed. Don't tell me not to complain.

Didn't tell you not to complain.  I said it's easy to complain.  If you feel you have a right to air your complaint, let it fly!  But you have the opportunity to consider the readers of your post before you post.  That's all I'm saying.

 

[diggingdogfarm]

Ignore the haters and the whiners.
If you have something to share...share it!!!
There will always be folks who appreciate it!

:smile:

 

[atomicsmoke]

Post removed (by author) - off topic.