From: "Lynn Wigglesworth" <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>
To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [Homestead] Technology, was Tractors was: A homestead plan
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:05:12 -0400
From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
There is always technology. The question is, how much of it do you
choose to use. Do you write with a pen, or a pencil, or do you even
write at all anymore?
I also have a love/hate relationship with technology. Labor/time saving
devices are great...when my washing machine broke down, I lived without one
for several weeks. Laundry became a much larger part of my life...it took a
lot more time and energy to wash clothes in the bathtub. My water heater
died a few weeks ago, and we did without for a week. Washing clothes,
dishes, and ourselves with water we heated on the stove again took an
inordinate amount of time and energy. I COULD live without things like that,
but it would make my life more difficult.
Then there are vehicles....I've never gotten along with things with gas
engines. I fight constantly with my tractor, and if there is a way to do
things manually, I will.. In fact, this year I've been using the scythe to
cut the areas around the house and barn for hay. The plan was to do a half
hour a morning cutting, then a half hour in the evening picking up any dry
hay cut previously. With all the rain, I'm having problems finding the
'window' to get hay cut and dry, and have fallen woefully behind; we haven't
had 3 dry days in a row in at least 2 months. I'll have to get out the brush
hog just to keep all the weeds from going to seed. The brush hog will clean
up in a couple hours what would take me many days with the scythe.
How much technology to use is an interesting question, and I ponder it
often. Doing all the work of the homestead by myself, I often lean on
technology just to get everything done. Oh, and I prefer pen and paper for
writing...I send emails and such, but for a 'real' letter, it's pen and
paper. Backwards kind of person that I am, I consider emails an annoyance,
but a hand-written paper letter is a friendly thing. "Tweets" and
IMs...never.