Firewood Processor Forum

They didn't get to 'run to town' and buy stuff.
They had to provide for their LARGE families
the entire year without a Kroger or a Walmart.
And NO electricity or running water!

Can you describe these farms,
if you remember seeing one?

My grandparents had everything
covered, milk, tobacco, fruit,
vegetables, game meat, lumber,
firewood, eggs, beef, pork, chicken,
cold water from the well and
their wellhouse was their cold
storage, sauerkraut, smoked
stuff from the 'smokehouse.'
A root cellar. It was not fancy,
but it was complete.
Could we live like that now?
Indeed, before long we may HAVE to!!

I can as I am working and living in a community that does not have a doctor nor a fire engine. There is no Walmart or Kroger here- nor computer stores etc. In my backyard we have clusters of tomatoes, big-head cabbages,peas, beans,peppers- hot and sweet-,dill, parsley,basil,corn, broccoli, carrot, spinach, cantaloupe,watermelon,passion fruit,aloes,prickly pear etc.The nextdoor neighbour has chickens and ducks as well as naseberries,noni,fever[lemon] grass,limes etc. Another neighbour has carrots, grapefruits,oranges,sour[sweet]sop,sugar apples,Jamaican apples etc. When we want fish, we go to the dock or fish off a rock.Those who own boats go out to sea for conch, crawfish,jacks, grouper,tahlee[tally] etc. Yes, I have digital photos and I can remember those good ole days.I am a vegetarian so I stick with fruits and vegetables mostly.

Finally! A question I am not old enough to remember! Thanks. I come from a city backround (but have a country heart) and only have extended family memories of farm living but my ex husbands family was from the rural south and lived the way you describe. When I first married we moved to the south and lived in a house that had electrictiy but no running water. It was culture shock for me! But I think I adapted well and won the respect of my husband's family and still have it today.

not sure. I know my grandparents came from the old country and at one point had 17 kids living in their house (none had separate bedrooms like the county today requires for each kid), no phone, outhouse, a small farm, fruit trees, vineyard, chickens, a couple of cows, couple ducks, and he rented a place and had a grocery store. Everyone worked either on the farm or the store, did carpentry work, worked in the coal mines, was in the military, they also made their own butter, grandma and the girls sewed (clothes and comforters), had pillows with feather down in them, and on the land grandpap eventually owned all three houses (his cousins and their families lived in the other two homes).

At my parents' home they had lots of peach trees and a garden. Back then the neighbors were friendly and exchanged the food they grew with us, so we always had tomatoes, peppers, beans, figs, cherries, plumbs, raspberries, onions, beets, raddishes, peas, etc.

I remember and I could live like that again !!! What I don't know how to do I can learn !! I still remember how to share too !!! I live on a farm. I have done my share of raising our own food !!! I still have all my canning equipment, butcher's knives, meat grinder, lard press, big black kettles, pressure canner, hot water bath, scales, jars, strainers, food mills, sieves, etc.

We spent our summers at a 'farm' house in the mountains of NC...our real home was in Miami FL, but our neighbors in NC were 'real' farm folks... their lives were really quite different from ours, but in so many ways - simpler - and more gratifying, I thawt.
Could we live like that now?
I doubt it . . . the success of that 'lifestyle' was an art form, perfected thru many trials and errors, and the winning combinations were then passed on from the generation(s) before . . .
we are now too 'domesticated' to suddenly return to the days and ways of yesteryear, and succeed immediately!

All of the above were true of My Grampies too, I lived with them during my school years, and loved every minute collecting eggs, feeding the animals etc, I never thought any of it to be work, just a pleasure.I sure miss all that

One of my daughters still lives off the land. They hunt and fish and rarely purchase meat unless the freezers are empty.
Mother still has all the hardware to can and freeze. But it was a daylight to dark existence and would still be that way. It takes a large family to live off the land. More people want to use use their brain rather their brawn today. Me included.

i sure do remember, I was raised without Wall-mart, we raise & Canned all our vegetables, we pick berries and canned them , we gathered nuts in the fall we, raise our own meat, and had chicken so we had fresh eggs. We had a root cellar where we put potatoes and onions, ,turnips, apples to last us through the winter

My ad still has a "small self sufficient farm" ... raises his own garden and rabbits, hunts, fishes, whatever it takes.