Anyone Can Learn to be Thrifty

Hello dear friends!  I hope you are enjoying this Mother's Day.  Here's a bouquet of daffodils for you!

Ran is making me a gluten-free pizza in honor of the day.  To be honest, I don't much care for these sort of holidays and would just as soon ignore it completely, but I'll take pizza any day!

I'm not a fan of "special" days designated to honor people. Every day should be a day to honor those you love, just as every day should be a day of thanksgiving, a reminder of the resurrection and His birth.   And that is all I'm going to say on the subject

ANYONE CAN TO LEARN TO BE THRIFTY

Many people say to me that I am lucky to have been born with thrifty parents to learn from, this is the furthest thing from the truth.  My parents, having been young during the Great Depression, wanted nothing to do with thrift in their adulthood.  They spent their money as soon as the got it.  My mother bought new furniture for the living room every two years, my dad bought a new car probably every three years.  I remember that  my mother always redecorated her bathroom every season and would throw out all the towels and buy new ones in a seasonal color scheme.  Even as a small child I thought that was a bit wasteful.  When my father died, he was in debt.  So, no, I didn't learn about being thrifty from my parents.  But for some reason, even as a small child, I could see that this way of spending was not the way I wanted to live.  Some day perhaps I will tell you the story of when I was a child (maybe five or six) the Holy Spirit ?, my inner conscience?, my gut?, whatever it was, pulled my ear and said "pay attention"  upon seeing a TV program that was made about serious subjects that would be considered too disturbing for children. Anyway, from that day forward I was fascinated by how people lived through hard times.  When my friends were reading Misty and Flikka and dreaming of ponies and living in castles with a prince, I was reading the Moffats, Little House on the Prairie and other titles I have long forgotten, taking note of the meals (potato pancakes and applesauce) the ways they made do, the ways the entertained themselves without  toys, etc.  I was a weird little kid! I eventually graduated to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Diary of Anne Frank and autobiographies  and biographies of people in poverty,  Then moved on to history books.  

Although my father wasn't thrifty by a long shot, he did love history and I spent many an hour listening to him discuss world events with his friends, relating them to past history.  One of the subjects that made my ears prick up was when he discussed the inflation in Germany after the first world war.  I also had an amazing history teacher in high school, Mrs. Peck, who has lived through many of the major historical events in history, including both world wars, the depression and  the dust bowl.  She didn't  teach the class from our textbooks, she would just get up in front of the class and start telling us stories of her life.  For her, it wasn't important to memorize dates and facts, it was important to learn the causes of events.  That is why I am so passionate (some say too passionate) about what is happening in the world today.  I've seen this cycle in history before and the outcome is not good. Bless Mrs. Peck!  

I'd say I have a PHD in thrift, having studied it  for over half a century. And you can too.  I once heard an interview of a president (I think it was Truman) say that the best way to learn history is by reading the biographies and journals of those that have lived it.  And the best way to learn thrift is by reading and listening to those that have lived through difficult times. We live in a wonderful age, when you can go to YouTube and find old interviews of depression era people. There's wonderful programs like BBC's The War Farm and Tales of the Green Valley.  Watch them and take notes.  Use YouTube for some good instead of for entertainment. You can even learn how to sew and can from some of the videos. Talk to the old folks,  in these days of not valuing our elderly,  which is shameful, you will find a font of wisdom. One of my biggest regrets is that I hadn't paid more attention to the stories an old family friend, Jack Ransom, told of his life at the turn of the last century in Cross Village Michigan.  He lived among  Native Americans and learned many of their herbal remedies. How I wish I had written them down! 

And never stop learning.  We've been watching old episodes of The Amazing Race, and I garnered some tidbits from the Babushkas in Russia this week about how they plant their potatoes that I might implement this week, depending upon our horrible weather.  Just like a magpie, gather a bit of knowledge there and bit here, discard the useless and build up your own treasure of wisdom.

TWO THINGS I LEARNED FROM STUDYING THE PAST

With so much to be done, and so much of it had to be done manually, you'd think people were scurrying around like squirrels in a peanut field back in the pre-industrialization , but no, people took time to enjoy what they had, a lesson I have discovered recently.  I'm sewing a vest, but not being able to avail myself of a fabric store,  I'm learning to make-do and many ways.  I'll write more about it when the project is finished, but the entire time I've been working on the vest, I keep thinking about how the pioneer women didn't have a lot of things and sewing a dress or a blouse was an exciting event for them.  They didn't rush through the project to get it over with but took time to enjoy the process as it was a rare occasion. How they lovingly cut the pieces of their patchwork quilts from the fabric scraps, thinking of the warmth it would give a loved one in the cold, taking their time to construct them as material became available. So many of the hobbies we do are done in a hurry; quilt in a day, weekend knits, no-rise bread, etc. .  I love to knit and people are always asking me "aren't you finished yet? ".  But I only like to knit when I want to knit, seldom am I happy with a project that must be finished on a deadline.  Taking time to do a proper job, something you will be proud to put your name to, may be an old-fashioned conceit, but what joy it is to make something well-crafted. We have too many things. We have too many cheaply made things.  Enjoying  fine craftsmanship is one of the lessons from the past.

The other lesson from the past I've been thinking about this week is " eat what you grow, grow what you eat". It's been a cold spring so far, we had snow on Friday and Saturday, so we are taking our good old time about getting our plants started.  We are expanding our garden so we've had many discussions about what should be planted.  One of the main lessons you  must learn when you garden is to only grow things that you eat.  No use taking up valuable garden space to grow  radishes or eggplant if you only care to eat those once a year. (I'm talking to myself here).  And the other part is to use what you grow.  One of the first things I planted when we bought Sweet Briar Cottage  was two rhubarb plants.  I love rhubarb, not for the flavor, but because it makes you feel like a "real" gardener to see those big beautiful plants pushing themselves up through the snow in March.  But to be honest, two bushes of rhubarb is a lot of rhubarb.  I hate wasting it, but most of my neighbors do not know what  to do with it and it makes me shudder, every time I see it going to waste.  So this year I'm making a concerted effort to use as much of it as I can.  So far I've made stewed rhubarb (now there's something old-fashioned) that we stir into yogurt and oatmeal, canned eight pints of strawberry-rhubarb pie filling (from last year's frozen strawberries)

This will be used to make jam tarts throughout the winter.  I don't really need to make any jams or jellies this year, but perhaps I'll make some and just push eggs and toast for meals.  I also made this Rhubarb Custard Pie:

It's not the prettiest, because I don't have  red stalked rhubarb, but pale greenish ones.  I've often thought of digging up those plants and planting the prettier, redder  plants, however, these plants have been faithful throughout droughts and bitter cold, so I feel they should be rewarded by allowing them to have a long life.  Here's the recipe if you want it (trust me it's tastier than it looks)

Rhubarb Custard Pie

3 C. diced rhubarb

1/2 C. sugar 

2 tbsp. cornstarch

1 egg

1/2 C, cane or corn syrup

1 tbsp. butter, softened

1 pie crust

Put the rhubarb into the pie crust.  Combine the sugar and cornstarch in a bowl.  Add the egg and beat well.  stir in the cane syrup and the egg.  Beat well.  Pour over the rhubarb.  Bake at 450  degrees for 15 minutes.  Turn down the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 40m  minutes or until the rhubarb is tender.

A note on recipes:

I keep a binder with all of my garden recipes.  I start with the first fruits of the season. rhubarb and asparagus. and  continue on as things ripen in the garden, ending with squash and pumpkin recipes.  This makes it easy for me to come up with ideas for whatever is being harvested.  I just merely have to turn to that section and I have an entire collection of ideas for uses for the said fruit or vegetable. Keeping your own recipe books are so important.  Can't tell you how many times I have turned to an old "receipt" book that I made during our lean years.  As a matter of fact, one of our sayings around here when the budget is tight is to say "time to return to the old receipt book". 

Well, that's all for this week at the old Zempel boarding house!  I hope you all have the loveliest week ahead! Oh!  Before I go, I wanted to tell you that I've been enjoying this blog, A Word Fitly Spoken ... Proverbs  25:1.  It is filled with lovely words of encouragement.  Thought you might enjoy it.

Hugs

Jane