Homestead mailing list

["Lisa K.V. Perry" <lisakvperry AT gmail.com>]

On 11/14/06, Marie McHarry <mmcharry AT gmail.com> wrote:
> Rob's point about the changes in his lifetime are thought provoking,
> but the changes in my grandparents' lifetimes were even more profound.


At my Grandfather's 90th bday party in 1998 (he passed last year at age 97),
my Dad asked my Grandpa about the changes he'd experienced in his lifetime.
He had similar experiences to Marie's grandparent's--using a horse for
transportation until they bought their first car, etc.  Granpa was a farmer
all his life in SE Indiana, he bought the farm from his father who had
farmed the same piece for thirty years. Unfortunately, when my Grandpa was
done farming at age 88 (after renting the land for 5 years), my father his
siblings didn't want it and so it was sold out of the family. But that's
another story. When my Grandmother passed in 1987 and Grandpa began going to
the grocery store occasionally, he discovered in his later years that you
could buy soup in a can. Being farmers, they always grew most of their own
food; and being frugal, they made meals from scratch. He always thought soup
in a can--and being able to buy ice cream!--was the neatest thing.

We have lost the skills to manage in the event of interruptions.
> And that will likely cause a lot of pain in the future.


Boy that's the truth. Look out.

Lisa