What Would Granny Do?: Reviving the Lost Arts of the Past to Preserve Our Future

Figure 1:  Old Tyme Washing!  I'm not going this far.  But you get the idea.

Forget Jesus or Joan Jett or Scooby Doo. 

When it comes to being green, ask yourself W.hat W.ould G.ranny D.o?

The Daily Green has a great article that will both connect you to your roots and get you thinking sustainably, called 7 Lost Household Arts.  I'm somewhat of a hater when it comes to facile articles full of "tips" but this one was very well done.

Doing it granny style has been on my mind since my boyfriend Micheal Pollan advised in The Omnivore's Dilemma:

"Don't eat anything that your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." 

In my case, it would be my great-grandmother.  My grandmother was a candy freak who couldn't boil water and who regularly bought us cupboards full of sugar cereal and shopped for groceries at Wal-Greens.

I'm happy to say that I scored a book on root cellaring from my library and am going to see if I can manage a plan to save some of my farmer's market bounty this summer.  Aside from the wood stove, I'm smug enough to report that I'm progressing well on the other five (although our rain barrel cracked over the winter - duh - empty it out before it thaws, I'm an idiot).

Grandmotherly inspiration is a good guideline for green living.  Although, I don't plan on wearing dresses, can't sew and feel no affinity for the whole patriarchy thing, I'm rather eager to recover these lost skills, as with food and fuel costs soaring, it feels a bit too close to Civilization Collapse for comfort. 

Image:  Zelina & Florence Richards, 12 and 13 years old doing the family wash. Lewis W. Hine. See 4409. Location: Nicholas County, Kentucky, Library of Congress Digital Collection, LOT 7475, v. 2, no. 4414.