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A very encouraging post! I've given up on modern nutritional information too. I follow the Seven Food Groups guidelines. They weren't introduced until 1943, so I'm a little early. I like the way fruits and vegetables are separated into vitamin c and vitamin a groups. I think that's more helpful than lumping them all together. 

After posting that I wouldn't give up my smartphone, I am getting rid of it! On my brief internet break recently, I noticed I sleep better and even eat less when I'm not using my phone. I finally found a flip phone that has no internet at all. Whew! I've been trying for years to come up with a way to have a phone that is just a phone, and I've finally got one! My husband decided he needs a new desktop so he can do projections, so I'll do my shopping on the desktop. The Good News Network shared about an annual bird count in February, and I looked at the apps designed by Cornell University being used for the count. There's the eBird app for the counting and the Merlin app for identification. They look really nice, so I asked my son if he would mind having them on his smartphone so we could share our bird count through the year, not just for the event, and he thought that would be great. My new phone arrives today, and I'll get to be old-fashioned! :) 

Everyone that comes to my home always remarks that it feels cozy. That makes me happy to hear as I have a lot of antiques and don't want it to come across as a museum. I use what I have it is not for show, it has to have a useable purpose for me.

It is still bitterly cold and we have about 8 inches of snow that is now blowing around. I can't get out of my lane, but really have no reason to leave anyway. I did start my car this morning and let it run for15 minutes.

I do love the diary entries. 

I follow my own rules and tastes for eating, I am not big on meat but love fruits and veggies and I have never met a pastry or bread that I didn't love. Lactose sensitive so can't drink milk but make a gallon of whole milk into yogurt every week. As much as I would prefer the organic fruits and veggies I have been priced out of buying them. Pivot and adapt seems to be the way to go for me.

Getting ready to make some soft pretzels to snack on, will probably make some semi-spicy cheese sauce to dip them into. I don't buy chips or snacks, don't like them and prefer homemade.

I'm still working in the computer world, so I'm doing a very "minimalist" version of the study.  

I find it interesting that this study is about 1942, since my daughter lives in a house built in 1941.  I envision the original house (it's been added onto by a previous owner) and what it must have been like for them to live there in the early 40's. Even though the house was later enlarged, a great deal of the original home's features remain. It helps me think about what it was like, living then.

I agree with the see-saw of "Eat this" and "Don't eat this" and back.  It's been ridiculous. I remember when we were supposed to count every gram of fat but the "healthy" fat-free treats were just loaded with sugar.  I remember butter was demonized, then we found out margarine was full of trans-fats.  I decided I will eat real food, as unprocessed as possible, and be done with it.

I do keep a journal which usually mentions weather, visits, funny things, shocking things, and, prayers in it.  I have always assumed I would destrpy my journals eventually, but now I am not so sure.  Mine as they are, I think, are too personal because they describe other people's situations in my prayers that I don't feel comfortable leaving for viewing after I'm gone.  Maybe I will have two journals - one for prayers that shall remain private, and one for day to day stuff.  I will strongly consider that in my retirement.  The day to day writing could be very interesting to a descendent or just to a person who loves history, a la Charles and GDonna.

Good morning Donna ( NZ time) It never ceases to amaze me to find others are doing the same things as me. Making changes to feel more comfortable and at peace in everyday life. Between chores handcraft is happening here..more than it used to and I feel so happy regardless of world or national happenings. Not getting caught up in the "News" has been a game changer. I go to a knitting group once a week. It's is so lovely. All the ladies get on with each other and there's much laughter and chat... My " social" tank gets filled up there and then the rest of the week I'm content at home.

Food.. We've become more basic. I have felt for a long time that we're all brainwashed by "experts" of what to eat and how much etc. And to eat what you feel like. Who cares if you want to have oatmeal for dinner hahaha.

You are so right about thinking sensibly for ourselves. I've gone back to things like making bread ( bread maker on as I write) and will make laundry powder soon. Later I need to make homemade pastry for a chicken pie for dinner.

This year I will be looking at OpShops ( Thrift) for good books. Thank you for telling us how you sanitized the musty book.

Dried beans... Cannot get them in supermarkets where we live now so have to order on line. Our daughter went to a bulk food place by her home.. no dried beans!!! 

Sincerely

Karen (NZ)

I’ve kept a journal for decades and they are stored in boxes in the attic. I keep all kinds of things on them: news, family, personal thoughts, and so forth. I also have a calendar by my kitchen rocking chair where I keep up with chores, baking, weather, and gardening — planting, maintenance, yield, and canning.

This year I am engaged in a use it up project inspired by the 1942 spirit of conservation. We’ve only bought milk and some fresh vegs this past month ($80 total!) and we are using all the canned food I’ve put by. In my sewing room I am working on scrap quilts to use up fabric. I am keeping a monthly tally of how much fabric I use. By my rocking chair I have a basket for cotton yarn being knit into dishcloths. I’m trying to be mindful and, hopefully, use a lot of what is here, clear space, and save some money! 

I keep a daily agenda and diary in a reusable journal cover by a Japanese company called a “Traveler’s journal.” It is a leather bound cover with elastics that permits me to hold multiple notebooks and refill as needed. Everyday, I track family meals, my work/deadlines/ schedule meetings (I am a professor), my weight and my cycle, and my daughter’s schedule (if she has sports practice or a tutor). I keep another notebook in the leather journal system that contains quotes, more personal thoughts, and often a list of worries that I write down before bedtime so I don’t keep them in my head.

Monday, Jan. 26 Dear Diary, it's cold. I didn't do very much today because we're supposed to be conserving energy to take pressure off of the grid during the cold. I cooked some dry beans to go with the tortillas I made yesterday, and I roasted some vegetables for a frittata for dinner. I exercised. Since I need external boundaries and my new internetless phone didn't arrive on Sunday because of the storm, I ignored my growing pile of mending to look at things on the internet on my phone. I did make sure the house stayed in order, though. The birds are hungry since their birdseed is late arriving. 

Tuesday, Jan. 27 Dear Diary, it's a little warmer today. D went out to shovel snow. The birds are still hungry. I don't know when the birdseed will arrive. I needed some laundry washed, so grid or no grid, I washed it. I finally started on my mending pile by putting new netting on my reusable kitchen scrubbies. 

It doesn't sound very old-fashioned yet. :) I don't think it's ready for posterity to read. :)

In my diary, I could write for this week: Snow in southwestern Germany and quite a bit of chaos on the roads and railways. Some schools closed. No power outages.
I used the time to cook for my food supply and tomorrow, when everything is ready, I can put some jars of prepared food on the shelf in the cellar. 

I've been eating from my pantry for the last couple of months.  In December I spent $4.99 on groceries.  January total $132.77 which is under my $140 per month budget. 

I don't keep a diary.  I think mostly because I did as a pre-teen and was made fun of for the things I wrote.  When I cleared my late d-i-l's apartment, I found several notebook diaries that she had started at various times.  I read them hoping to find something to share at her memorial service.  I did not, they were very dark and sad.  After much consideration, I destroyed them.  I did not think she would have wanted them shared.

I have a lot of sewing notions I've picked up in auction boxes one of which is a wooden darning egg.  I've used it a couple times but using an old light bulb works better for me.  Also, found a wooden hand carved crochet hook and wooden knitting needles that I donated.  Those items made me think about who might have made and used them.

Another auction find was a large sized apron made of feed sack fabric.  It was mended in several places which told me how the owner took care of what she had.  I've kept that apron although it has no use other than to serve as a lesson for me on frugality.  I have an apron I made from a thrifted denim jumper many years ago.  Recently it got so thin across the middle that it no longer served its purpose.  I took a square of bandana printed fabric and made large pocket to cover the worn area and am continuing to use it.

Monday - Very cold. Below zero.  Husband had a snow day and spent 2 hours shoveling the driveway and front walk.  We turned down the house thermostat and spent the day in front of the fireplace reading and doing crossword puzzles.  Felt like a Florida iguana that fell out of a tree from the cold!

Tuesday - Feels much colder inside without the fireplace, despite the furnace being on.  I fell asleep under my sofa blanket this morning while trying to warm up!  Thankfully, my friend called and woke me!  Now to accomplish something...

I function okay until the temperatures dip below 30° and the sun goes behind the clouds.  I feel like someone unplugged me!!  I always think of The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder in this weather.

I'm reorganizing my linen chest.  No matter how careful I try to be, I need to do this once a year.  I spent an hour looking everywhere for my favorite Christmas placemat, one in a set.  I found it on top of our radio.  I probably walked by it a hundred times.  I suspect those types of things will happen more often as I age!!  On the bright side, I used this opportunity to move some gingerbread towels to the rag bin.  I love gingerbread decor in my kitchen at Christmas, but those gbread characters had the eyes of a mad man and I never liked them!!  Not sure why I didn't put them in the rag bag sooner.

Keep warm, all!  Or cool to our friends in the southern hemisphere!

Everyone seems to be trying to tighten the budget these days.  I wanted to share that I have Alpha Gal which the short description is an allergy to manual meats and their products cause by a tick bite.  This is very common in my area.  So instead of beef I will eat chicken or turkey.  Jeno and Butterball both have chubs (tubes) of ground chicken or turkey which cost less than hamburger although it doesn't taste the same and doesn't make a good burger.  I do find that the ground turkey Italian spiced is very good in spaghetti.  The directions say to cook as crumbs so not a Pattie, but if you want them for breakfast you can mix some crumbs in with the eggs.  I use ground turkey to make tacos.  It is a different taste, but if you and your family like it it will save you money.

My diary would read we had snow topped with sleet and we can't get out of our driveway.  There is a possible snow storm this coming Saturday.  Today's high is to be 35F and same for tomorrow and then temperatures will not get over freezing until next week.  Working on decluttering and doing a little sewing.

I am not living in a 1940's home, but have been trying to use less technology, but hard since I have another account that is going completely online. and I have to make an online account for that.

All of us in the northern hemisphere that can should start thinking of a garden this year.

Grandma Donna wrote,

To all, 

Wonderful comments coming in, I just love this participation! Grandma Donna

And from the southern hemisphere - 

"Monday 27 January - woke to more heat, temperature reached 41.1C here to-day and the humidity was off the charts.  Australia Day, (a public holiday), and the protestors are out as usual, we avoid going anywhere as traffic is chaotic, being also the end of school holidays.  Spent the morning cleaning out cupboards as we are getting rid of everything we don't need/use, and will take it to the trash and treasure markets to donate tomorrow.  It feels good to purge the household of excess 'stuff' and only have the basics we need as we age."

I put more in my diary than this as I record what medication I may or may not have taken, whether I had aches and pains from various things, what appliances I've bought, whether family called or phoned, meals and so on.  I have destroyed all my old diaries as keeping them takes a lot of space and virtually comes down to being cockroach fodder so I painstakingly went through every entry, entered into a word programme (yes, I know - computers again), and saved it - my entries start from when my eldest granddaughter was born in 1990.  I did have earlier ones but had destroyed them.  These diary entries are saved on a hard drive and a USB drive as well as on the computer itself - and going back it tells me a lot about things I've done, bought, suffered and so on in the past.

I agree the control is crazy! From too much health info that competes with itself, to people telling you what you should or need to do or believe, to online algorithms stealing my time - everything!  I've never been much of a conformer, which makes me wholely unpopular.  My husband wasn't happy that I wasn't on social media because my daughter is on it. I could feel the tension, so I just went back on it to avoid harassment.  

Stephanie G Good for you on your phone change and removing the techie garbage!!  I loved October's no techie month.  I don't use my phone for most of what people do, yet it's still too much.  I would rather do without it as I enjoy going to my computer to read interesting things, not wasting time on social media nonsense.

Joyce C I would love to see a pic of your home, because I absolutely love cozy homes that utilize vintage items.  They are so homey! (Like Grandma Donna's!) It's what I always try to achieve, but yet I come up empty.

I think my diary would just say what I did all day and maybe for me when I feel tired and feel like I didn't do anything, yet if I wrote it down, I would find did a lot!

It would be:  Had a doctor's appt - long drive. Returned some items to Home Depot. Completed a load of laundry from start to finish. It's trash day; looked for things to declutter, empty the room's garbage cans and took it down.  Journaled my Bible scripture, (more like copywork).  Played with the dogs...That would be it.  Kind of a lot of nothing. 

I actually am afraid to truly journal.  There's the "Morning Pages" if anyone is familiar with that artistic journaling type thing and I just am not comfortable having it get into the wrong hands or being read so I stopped doing that and shredded it. Even my scripture copywork; since I'm not much of an artist makes me nervous. I can just see someone talking about it and its purpose to keep those journals. I've actually considered tossing them.  I don't know.... it just scares me.  I suppose I shouldn't care what anyone thinks, but yet I do at 65. (eye roll).

The older we get the more we see the food guidelines change and change and change again!  I don’t trust any of them, not even this new upside down pyramid that is lacking a base and looks like it might fall over at any time.  I’d love to believe in impartial guidelines, but I don’t.  I think they are always about what needs to be sold and makes money for big agriculture (meat/dairy/grain/produce).  Who had the most money to spend to influence the policymakers?  Which politicians have the most to gain by recommending a certain way of eating?  (Which could depend on which party the voters are in, their age demographics, where they live in the country, etc.)

If they can keep us in fear, they can sell to us.  It’s as simple as that.  Not only can they sell us what they are saying will take away risk and make us healthier, but at the same time they can sell us all the junk because we want to feel better and self soothe with food.  I don’t wonder that people are confused and looking to older foods, because we were sold a bed of lies regarding margarine and other hydrogenated fats when we should have been looking at the those trans fats and the other trans fats that form with repeated high heat deep frying.

I try to stick to common sense these days when it comes to choosing foods.  I ask if someone from 500 years ago would recognize the ingredients (and you may be surprised to know they would recognize almond milk, soy milk, tofu, etc.).  I ask if I could make the ingredient myself if I could grow the food, which means I could make olive oil and sunflower oil (a traditional fat for the native peoples in the United States).  I could grow wheat, thresh it, mill it, and even sift out some of the bran (which they were also doing 500 years ago).  I could keep a dairy cow and make butter, cheese, and fermented milk products.  I could theoretically grow sugar cane, press it, and dehydrate the juice (which is Sucanat, rapadura, piloncillo, panela, etc.)  As a side note, honey, maple syrup, sorghum syrup, and evaporated cane juice that hasn’t had anything taken out of it are all very similar in terms of their processing — we all just think of honey as unrefined because the bees take care of evaporating flower nectar for us.

To that, I add moderation and realistic expectations.  I would love to be able to always buy heavy cream with zero additives — that is my goal.  My reality is that sometimes I have to buy it with gellan gum.  I never buy it with carrageenan or other additives.  We love tapioca pudding and I buy Kraft Minute Tapioca without hesitation.  I make mayonnaise at home *and* I buy Best Foods mayonnaise and I ignore the ingredient list because we don’t use that much of it.  I bake our everyday foods with sucanat, honey, maple syrup, and dates, *and* I use white and brown sugar in my cookies and pies.  I buy commercial peanut butter and it will have either palm shortening or a small amount of hydrogenated shortening, depending on what was on sale.  My son and husband don’t love peanut butter made from peanuts only, and that costs more anyway.

I’ve never bought skim or reduced fat milk in my life, not because of any dietary recommendations but just because when I started buying milk my child needed the calories.  But even whole milk has the cream separated from it, we all know that.  We all know that the vast majority of people can’t afford high animal protein intake, and that high animal protein intake isn’t sustainable without factory farming of animals, so it isn’t all that natural.  Early humans ate tons of plants — they gathered a lot more than they were able to hunt.  We know we need plants and protein, we know we need fiber, we know we colorful produce for their nutrients.

Like many of you, I’ve given up following government food recommendations.  Sometimes breakfast is an egg and a muffin.  Sometimes it’s a cup of hot chocolate.  Sometimes it’s sourdough pancakes from batter I fully fermented overnight.  Occasionally it’s a bowl of cereal and milk.  I’ve learned that I need more calcium in my diet, so I am eating more dairy foods.  I am taking fear off my plate, whether that is the fear of not enough protein, not enough fiber, not enough balance, etc.  I am practicing radical gratitude for every morsel of food on my plate — how fortunate I am to have enough to eat!

The older we get, the more we return to some of how we ate as children.  Not the incredibly processed foods — we are Gen X so those were a huge part of our childhood diets — but just the basic form.  A sandwich at lunch, for example, usually egg salad, tuna salad, or cheese, or peanut butter for my husband.  He likes a few chips with his sandwich.  Soup and bread for dinner a couple of nights a week.  Corn tortilla tacos with the tortillas briefly fried in oil, something we both grew up eating.  A small piece of fish with a good sized potato and cooked vegetables.  I’ve stopped looking at a potato as something we need to limit and perhaps replace with rice or quinoa, and instead I make them as the center of the meal.

Even though I’m not officially doing the 1942 study, I think it is with food that I most fit in with it.  I read that fresh fish wasn’t rationed, and canned fish wasn’t rationed until March 1943.  I eat fish about 3 times per week, usually fresh (frozen) but I do make a soup from canned tuna sometimes, and make tuna salad once or twice a month.  I eat tilapia every wee, which I used to choose not to eat but I can’t afford to only eat wild fish and I’ve decided that I won’t let perfection be the enemy of good.  I imagine that I would have been raising my own chickens in 1942, just based on who I am as a person, so I would have had eggs and also been able to make broth.  I bake our bread and other baked goods, and really make most of our food from scratch.  As the rest of you do the 1942 study, I join you in spirit as I am pushing myself to make more and more of things we might otherwise buy already made.  Sometimes I am just coming up with alternatives — homemade tapioca pudding uses less sugar than ice cream and costs a lot less than ice cream.  Popcorn costs less to make (both in ingredients and electricity) than crackers.  I did the math and told my husband that peanut butter bought on sale and spread on celery is a cheaper snack than buying peanuts.  I am baking more cookies now because I want to stock my freezer with ready to bake dough balls, but usually sugar or oatmeal cookies and not cookies that have chocolate in them because chocolate is expensive.

Monday: Coolest day this week.  Inventoried the chest freezer and made a rough meal plan for the next two months, taking into account various travel days (we take food with us).  Tofu inadvertently froze solid in the back of the fridge so I pivoted and defrosted tilapia instead because it would be faster.  Baked cookies, froze some, and froze 4 dozen dough balls.  Goal is to have plenty of ready to bake cookies on hand so I can easily bring contributions to church functions.

Tuesday: Picked up the dog from the emergency vet where he stayed the night after a suspected bloat situation — vet says we saved his life getting him there at the first symptoms, before the stomach could full twist.  Thanked God that being frugal in many areas meant we could afford the vet bill.  Good drying weather, washed and hung the weekly towel load, our sheets, and all of the bedding from T’s bed.  Tidied and dusted.  Cleaned the little bathroom.  Sewed ties into T’s duvet cover and duvet so the duvet will stop sliding around inside the cover.  M trimmed a tree, mowed the back lawn, and started pulling out weeds

We've been making good use of our homemade sourdough. It seems to be easier to digest. A toasted slice with avocado or cheese and tomato, eggs or tuna mornay has been making a great meal. We are also having slightly smaller portions which is better on the waistline and budget. 

I'm slowly upping my grocery buying from monthly to six weekly, in the hopes of getting to quarterly eventually. Now that our children are out of the house, it is easier to run a smaller number of items in bulk.

We are also working towards our fresh food resilience. For us  that means bananas, mangoes, papaya, passionfruit, lychees, figs, and citrus for fruit. For vegetables silverbeet, radish, green onions, capsicum, beetroot, lettuce, cucumber, pumpkins and tomatoes. I have been saving seeds from the vegetables so they are climate adapted to my region. 

We can feel the impacts of world events here in Australia even though we are far away. I think the way our ancestors lived has a lot to teach us. 

My neighbour brought over some green beans this morning and I showed him this goldfinger banana bunch I have growing. I counted between 180-190 large bananas on it. It's covered by a banana bag to protect the bunch from fruit bats and possums.

I stumbled across this poem in a wonderful article which also had "The Unseen Bridge" prayer mentioned in the previous post and thought I would share it with you all xx

Michelle K, those bananas look amazing!  I think I can grow bananas, my brother-in-law used to although at 30 miles farther inland I do risk a brief freeze a couple of times a year.

We are starting to have real conversations about growing food.  It’s something we did for a few years back in the mid 2000s, but not very seriously and we found the water usage pushed the food growing into an unsustainable place financially.  One option we are exploring is getting a community garden plot.  But I do want to grow food at home as well, so I am researching what grows best where I am, during which months.  I know for us that thirsty crops aren’t going to do well July - September, when it is always over 95°F and often over 100°F or even 105°F.  But we can plant many seeds soon, and have lettuces and greens into June, plus tomatoes and zucchini most of summer, before going back to greens in winter.

My thought is to put in one or two raised beds and grow some of the basics we eat every week — green onions, zucchini, lettuce, tomatoes, greens, etc.  I also want us to clean up the side yard, level it with sand, put down pavers, and use it as an area for citrus trees in planters in addition to planting other fruit trees in the ground.  Where we are citrus grows beautifully, as do figs.  Even stone fruit does alright, and a peach tree or a nice Santa Rosa plum tree would wonderful to have.  I’d even love to try Bartlett pears, but that might be pushing i.  And I want a good boysenberry patch, too, and perhaps some grapes if we put up a trellis.  We can’t do it all this year, but my motto lately has been that some is better than none, whether that applies to growing food or dusting!

Kimberly F, bananas may be worth a try. 25 years ago we were growing apples. Now we are finding tropical fruits do better. The weather has changed so much in that time. 

We have four raised beds which is enough to keep us in most vegetables over autumn, winter and spring. I don't grow potatoes, onions or cabbage as they are difficult in our climate and cheap to buy. I rest the beds in January and February to avoid the worst of the heat and pests. Even with the recent heatwave, we are still picking enough silverbeet and green onions to make a large spanokopita or spinach rice dish once a week. 

I had a diary as a teen. I still have it. For some reason it captured my imagination and so I diligently wrote in it for several years. Since I've never been interested in journaling or keeping a diary. I do debate with myself over destroying my old one. 

Good evening to all of you! I have enjoyed this post GDonna, as it helps me to refocus on my household and our needs, and to not get wrapped up in all of the “noise” from outside world. I am continuing to try to focus on home cooking and using resources wisely. The older I get the more I realize as so many on here that it is more important to use common sense regarding dietary needs than getting wrapped up in the current trending guidelines. My young adult children are so focused on what they eat that I fear it has become an idol for them. Regarding diaries, I journal daily, in both a planner and a separate journal. I usually end up destroying my personal journal, as it does have prayers and other information too personal to have others read, although like someone else mentioned, I did start an additional journal to keep record of daily living, that I will keep for myself to read in the future and for future generations. I have just received a bunch of family journals that have been passed down from my parents, and I am enjoying reading entries written by my great great grandmother and others. I’m so lucky to have these, as I know so many people do not have such things. It is amazing how connected I feel to my ancestors. 

Joanna B~ I love the poem you posted, thank you for sharing!

Greetings,

Praying for all those affected by last weekend's storms. I did watch Ryan Hall for several hours on Sunday. I think I saw tornadoes warnings were near Dothan? Other than bitterly cold winds and temps we did not have any significant precip.

I have kept a diary for years.  I use a notebook I buy during the August school sales or ones I buy at garage sales. Usual entries include weather, some news, what I did the day before and family news. Once I fill the notebook I re-read the entries then shred.  None of my blatherings are worth keeping, but I find it is a good check on whether or not I am being productive. 

I have many non-fiction books about housekeeping and cookbooks from the turn of the century and several autobiographical books from women in that time period.  I am revisiting them now for the study. The old ways had a rhythm to the days based on sunrise, sunset, the seasons, etc.  Not a strict schedule of 9 am iron, 10 am wash windows kind of life.  You are always behind in that situation because something unexpected arises.  

Joyce C. I too would enjoy pics of your cozy home. - those are my favorite homes.

Planning to garden this year, have not the last few years because of health reasons. However, the price of food is prompting me to rethink - perhaps a small victory garden. I gave up on fancy menu plans and recipes.  Have gone back to the basics.  Meat, starch, veggie, salad or casseroles  or soups.  Want to resume making homemade bread and desserts. No longer following any low-fat, low calorie food choices. I do so enjoy butter, whole milk, etc. 

Thankful for the posts and wisdom by GDonna and in the forum here.  While we may never meet, this is such an interesting and caring community with a common goal - encouraging each other to continue with what we each are striving to do.

Blessings to all.

Kimberly F If you're concerned about water for your garden, I would look at growing in the ground instead of a raised bed, and using a good, thick mulch like straw to hold in the moisture. A raised bed is like growing in a pot. You have a very light medium that dries out very quickly. If you do grow in raised beds, you can still mulch but the decomposition of the mulch will be different because you don't have all of the helpful soil organisms you find in natural dirt. You'll want something looser than straw, and you lose much of the enrichment of the soil that you get with mulch on dirt. Just something to think about. I learned about Charles Dowding from one of Grandma Donna's posts, and found him very helpful. He's on YouTube, if you wanted to take a look. You could look into getting a rain barrel too. When I had a community garden plot, people kept taking my vegetables. :(

You can grow so many things in southern California! Good luck! :)

Hello everyone and thank you, Grandma Donna, for a post that clearly resonated with many. I felt like you read my mind as you wrote. I too am tired of all the noise - politics, social issues, unrest, confusing and contradicting advice...it's just too much! Last night I pulled out Rhonda Hetzel's Simple Life book and plan to begin anew. Enough of this nonsense.

I have been tuning into what others say I should have or need and not looking internally. This is expensive and confusing. I feel like a ping-pong ball. I know what I need and quite frankly, I have most everything here already. I do not need to be more or have more.

I was gifted a Singer Featherweight over the holidays and plan to get that out today and play. I have another Singer machine and while it's wonderful and I use it all the time, the quality just isn't the same. The Featherweight, while in need of sprucing, still has that solid, last for a lifetime feel of a good machine. Using this feels grounding.

My post here is a bit tangential but it helps me to focus my thoughts. Thank you for this forum and this community. There is strength in numbers.

Just for other options for raised beds I thought I would send this.  We have raised beds and the reason we built these beds was that we were starting to have some disability.  These are wooden so we can sit on the sides.  I watch joegardenerTV and he redid his beds about a month ago and he has a YouTube video on building and then he has another video answering questions people have on the build.  One big things to us was he said to put hardware cloth on the bottom on his beds because the ones he had got moles.  We have mice so I would have known this the first time we did this.

Good luck to all of us gardening either now in the southern hemisphere now or in the spring for the northern hemisphere.

Margaret, I burned all my teen and young adult diaries.  I kept them from 12-28 yrs. Old or so.  I was far too honest in them lol.  I had planned to read them all first.  Randomly.  I pulled one out and read a bit.  Read a really fun memory and laughed.  But then I read something that I'd forgotten... for good reason.  I felt like I'd ripped open a long healed wound.  And then they all met with the fire!  

First, I really loved this post as it resonated with me.  I tend to look to the future, rather than the here and now, so that's going to be my focus from now on.  The emergency food supply list made me laugh, especially the chocolate bars.  Today that would cost me about $32 (!) for 4 people, a little bit less on sale ($21).  About $24 at another store.  Unless I bought a bag of miniature bars and used some restraint.  LOL!  Love the picture with the fabric, especially the green print.  Did you make the tote?

If I kept a diary...

Monday, 1/26:  Cold, cold, cold!  Called the fuel oil company again, asked if the fuel delivery for my mother's house had been scheduled yet.  No.  They are swamped and have been dealing with snow covered roads.  Reminded them that tank was very low and was concerned with even colder temperatures this week.  Will schedule ASAP.  Got out my FoodSaver and made 3 packages of the chicken thighs I bought and froze.  Took remaining 4 thighs and cooked for chicken soup for supper.  Had enough leftover for another meal.   Worked on organizing paperwork.  Started new book from library, "Our Mothers' War".   Talked with my son.

Tuesday, 1/27:  Colder!  Dogs being supper fussy about going out and consequently spending extra time cleaning up after them.  Chihuahuas!  Called oil company- delivery is scheduled for this afternoon!  Picked up Deb O. and met up with friends for our weekly "coffee klatch" Roads were clear.  Went to bank to renew CD.  Deb K. called at night with an update about her SIL and husband.  Traveling through the south, experiencing bad weather and traffic.  On route to Big Springs, TX, stuck on  highway I-20 across Louisiana at a standstill for 4+ hours due to ice and freezing rain.  They are from PA, where driving was much better.  Who would have thought!  Talked with my daughter to see how she and her partner were doing.  Sounds like well!

Regarding the study--It's been interesting reading the local papers online.  I was stuck by how the local towns really swung into action creating air wardens and getting to work making bandages.  Your report of businesses looking to utilize horse and wagon for delivery was new information.  On the down side, I am surprised by how much crime was occurring.  In Monday's news, from a small town, a man who was an egg route operator was ambushed at an intersection, beaten over the head and robbed of $20 while driving home at 9:00 at night; a local home was robbed of $600 and some jewelry;  another home robbery of $60.  On the positive side, there seems to be a lot of community based charity happening as well.

I love everyone's comments and I always have ideas from what is written. Thank you all for the comments and gDonna for the wonderful posts.

Our home is full of antiques. I have always much preferred anything that was old. We inherited from my husbands parents and from my grandparents. Plus, my husband's parents loved to go to antique auctions and we have many of the pieces they found. I never felt comfortable in the modern homes. Unfortunately, those are our only option here, but then I turn them into old homes inside.

When my husbands parents passed (both in 2013), my MIL had about nine old sewing cabinets. Small ones, large display cabinets for thread and some with beautiful drawers for supplies. I displayed them for a few years and truly loved them, but I wanted to insure that my daughter had them if she wanted them and she did. So, they live with her now.

I had an 1898 beautiful upright piano that my grandfather purchased from the organ company where he worked in Lawrence, Kansas. It sat in their house for decades, then came to mine. It was so large and heavy that my children didn't want it, so we donated it to an organization that sells used items to feed the homeless. We are too old to clean under items that weigh as much as it did. In the long past, what people constructed was of solid wood and high quality.

I hope all are well and came through the storms in good shape.

I use the Merlin app, and it's been so much fun.  That's how I identified birds new to my area - with Merlin.  These birds have extended their breeding range recently, it seems.  I'd never seen or heard them until last year - none of us here had.  They are black-bellied whistling ducks, which sound nothing like a duck.

Stephanie, I appreciate your input about growing straight in the ground, and thought I would explain why we don’t plan to go with that method.  First, we have extremely clay soil, so it would need a lot of amending.  Also, everywhere we could plant in the ground used to have Bermuda grass and we still fight the runners.  But the main reason is thinking about longevity and disability.  Already, I have difficulty getting up off the ground.  I’m working on improving that, but I’m also getting older.  My plan is for good wooden boxes like Heather at North Ridge Farm built, with wide enough rails for sitting on.

We talked again today about gardening, and my husband wants to wait until we have a better handle on the yard work

If you use raised beds, consider drip irrigation under a heavy mulch.  Drip irrigation with a mulch uses much less water than other methods of irrigation.

Grandma Donna Wrote,

Debbie in PA, I did not make the tote, Charles bought it for me from Hobby Lobby.  I needed a particular yarn and so Charles drove me there and when we got ready to leave he had placed this tote in the buggy when I returned back down the isle and he said, "I am buying that for you". (Heart) 

He has never done something spontaneous like that before, we usually talk things over before we purchase something. It is possibly because I started crochet samplers and had projects out of place all over the house, or he thought it was something I would like and fit my personality which it is.  

Now I have the perfect tote I can take with me and it will have my yarn projects and hooks and knitting needles.  While I was there at hobby lobby they had flannel on sale and so I purchased some flannel because I am getting low on my flannel stash.  It was a fun and rare outing for us.  

The tote is very cute!

Ann W, we will do drip irrigation.  When we redid the landscaping in the backyard a decade ago, we had the basics for the drip irrigation set up.  Right now it only waters the pomegranate tree, but we can add lines to water other trees or garden beds.  Where we live we can get free mulch from the city a couple of times a year.

There is the concern that the cost of building sturdy beds, plus the soil, and the water needed to grow produce, might never work out in our favor.  The beds we built 20 years ago didn’t last, probably because we chose inexpensive wood.  They were also very short and not good for anything that needed deep roots.  That time around we learned that we need sturdy mesh for the bottoms of the beds, plus weed barrier cloth to help control the grass runners that still dominate the whole yard no matter how often we pull them out.  I do have 200 yards of barrier cloth I received free from Buy Nothing, so that is covered.  I am pretty determined to start growing more food, however, so I will be looking for less expensive options.

Today my diary would say I washed and hung our clothing, and also one of the dog blankets because it got missed last time.  Today is our “town day”, so we bought groceries, got a quote for tires and a battery because we are comparison shopping, and stopped by a produce stand for local oranges at 60¢ per pound. This afternoon I spent over an hour learning about my new sewing machine using a detailed YouTube video, with more to learn.  Potatoes are cooking for dinner, which we will eat with tofu, cabbage (have to use it soon), and zucchini.  Potatoes have been 38¢ per pound.  The tofu was $3.50 for 2 pounds, which is 81 grams of protein total, so priced pretty well for protein.  Not as well as the eggs I bought today for $1.75 per dozen — I can hardly believe that is a price to feel good about, but it is.  Altogether this meal will cost $9 to make and will serve 3 of us for dinner + lunch for my son tomorrow, so $2.25 per serving.  I’m going to put an egg casserole into the oven as soon as the tofu finishes roasting, to make use of having used stored electricity to get the oven to temperature, which I’ve learned uses the most electricity when we are baking.  I’ll probably bake a few cookies too, since the dough balls have already been made and frozen.

Kimberly F That was so nice of you to respond. :) Grandma Donna and others use the raised beds like you plan to, and it's very helpful for that. Some people have poor soil, and raised beds are often prettier than gardens. I think raised beds get a little too much attention sometimes and people don't realize that you can get inferior results with them, so I always put in a good word for dirt when I get a chance! :)

Joan S I'd like to see the black-bellied whistling ducks! I'll look for them in the app. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I love my new phone. I no longer feel chained to the internet. I feel free. :)

Stephanie, I totally understand advocating for gardening straight into the soil if it works.  At the house my husband lived in during high school, they had a good area for a garden but didn’t grow much, but later his sister lived in the house and made a big garden, I think it was at least 25 x 100 feet.  Her husband planted a lot of fruit trees, too.  I didn’t grow up with gardening at all, my mom couldn’t even keep a houseplant alive, lol.  But we had a plum tree because someone else had planted it, and they were the best plums!  Funny story, after they moved in my mom’s friend pointed out the plums and my mom was very suspicious that they would be safe to eat, so her friend pulled a plum off the tree and ate it.

I am so happy for you with your new phone!  I am planning to get a Light Phone III after my current phone stops working.

Donna,

             I had to laugh when you talked about people, even doctors, telling you what to eat. It is so true. I remember the 1970s Incredible Edible Egg commercials touting the benefits of eating eggs. You can see the commercial on YouTube. Then shortly thereafter, we were told to stay away from eggs. The thing that gets me is that there are doctors and scientists on both sides of any issue, and each has convincing studies to back up their claims. I think each person has to figure out for themselves what works for them and their family. My parents each lived to about 90, and I know they weren't raised on all the health foods people believe are so necessary now. My mother said they survived the Great Depression on pancakes and whatever meat her brothers hunted. I don't know whether her mother gardened. I sort of doubt it, as the only vegetables I saw growing up were canned corn, peas, green beans, tomatoes, and mixed vegetables. Part of my father's childhood was spent on a farm, so I guess they ate better. No one worried about fat or cholesterol. Who knows if some day they might find out that cholesterol isn't important after all. Maybe it is all just a scheme to get people buying more drugs since they do profit mightily from it. When you look back in history, people once thought it was bad to eat tomatoes and watermelons. I think in one of the "Little House" books, Ma didn't want the girls to eat watermelons because there was supposed to be some health risk. But now we know differently. Imagine 200 years from now, scientists might debunk a lot of what scientists swear by now. They might think that our modern day scientists were very primitive.

Have A Great Day Y'All

Becky Sue

When it comes to diet, I believe all things in moderation is the best policy.  I have two diet lists for two medical issues plus numerous food allergies which taken as a whole include almost everything eatable.  So, I go for all things in moderation with the exception of the things on both bad lists that actually double me over in pain.  I'm fortunate that the foods I'm allergic to can be eaten in moderation.

I'm old and I've been around for eat it, don't eat it, eat it, don't eat it rinse and repeat numerous times.  After the Covid fiasco I don't think any of us put much faith in government health suggestions. 

I enjoyed reading my father’s journals from when they retired back to Wales, to a 300 year old, stone and slate cottage with a large garden in need of much restoring. He would mention the weather of course, and if, for once, he had won their after breakfast game of Scrabble, a tasty meal they had cooked, and who had visited them. 

He wrote about their latest project in the house or garden, their craftwork, wool spinning, dyeing and weaving, and courses they taught and attended, anything from dry stone walling to mole catching, basket weaving, rag rug making, and water-colour painting. There was always an activity or an outing planned when we visited, like collecting buckets of young oak leaves to make wine, or the visit to a woollen mill or Portmeirion village for lunch.

I started writing a journal when I retired. I was learning all I could about self sufficiency and Britain in 1940s and 50s. We were quietly busy, we kept hens, ducks and quail, bred meat rabbits, worked in the small garden and on the allotment. We took up beekeeping, working at the association teaching apiary, doing courses and exams. We went to Smallholders’ Association meetings and I joined the Women’s Institute. It is good to remember what we achieved. 

I write with my old fountain pen, a good mental exercise, like the crossword and number puzzles. There is less to write about, but I record the weather, what we have done, boring things like hospital appointments, the dinner, books read, plays seen at the amateur theatre, the seniors’ afternoon film club. 

This was yesterday.

-3°C first thing this morning, frost.
DH made a small loaf 50% wholemeal. 
I washed the bedding and tumble dried that and did a second load, which is hung on hangers and the airer to dry. 

DH went to indoor bowls and I went to get another blood test at the hospital. I parked by the tennis courts in the park, watching the clock because the gates are locked at three-thirty, and for once there was no queue for Haematology bloods. My results were better now the sore throat has gone. 

I shopped at Aldi in town on the way home, getting some cooked beetroot, sweet potatoes and mixed peppers for more colourful vegetables. 

I mended the strip across the bottom of the kitchen door which DH had kicked off with his heel as he went out. A fiddly job tapping it so it slid across three fixing points. He broke another le Creuset mug this week, so I wonder what will be next. 

I cut my hair and clippered his, another job done. 

Leftovers for dinner.

I took a photo of the shopping, £22.08 spent. We have portions of meat, fish, and cheese in the freezer.  I used WW2 ration quantities of those. We have a few eggs from our old hens. The pantry and store cupboards are well stocked with basic ingredients. We try to avoid UPF, and cook and bake from scratch. 

The 40s and 50s British diet may have been bland and a bit boring, but it gave us good health, people coped with increased work and stress, children grew and thrived, infant mortality rates fell. We had whole food, cooked from basic ingredients, just enough meat, fat, and dairy, fish when available, limited sugar and sweets, seasonal and preserved fruit, and lots of seasonal, fresh vegetables. Work canteens, British Restaurants and school meals all helped to provide cheap nourishing meals away from home. 

The purpose of the Ministry of Food, and their education campaign was to keep us all well and active with the limited resources available. Prices were controlled even subsidised, and rationing ensured that everyone got a fair share.  

The Food, Tobacco and Drug Industry cannot be said to have the welfare of the people as its priority. 

Good Morning.  Thanks for such a great post. I enjoy all the tips you share about the past. Keep sharing your Grandma wisdom with us.I  look forward to your writing and pictures.

I have been using this (pictured below) for 3.5 years now.  It’s one line a day for 5 years. I don’t really put a lot of feelings into it more just simple happenings and the weather. Nothing so personal that I wouldn’t want others to read. I write in it right before bed and don’t worry about it being perfect. 

My husband and I recently had a discussion about all of the different ways of so-called “perfect” eating methods. At one end of the spectrum is vegan and at the other is carnivore. My husband said something that I thought really nailed it: he said what do both methods of eating have in common? The answer we concluded was little to no processed food. Someone else in the comments mentioned that and I think that is what is the key, eating whole foods. Like Jane Bennett said to Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice: “Not everyone is the same Lizzie!” Some people do better with more meat. Some people do better with more vegetables. We can choose what is best for us, our family and our budget with the main parameter being real, whole food. 

Grandma Donna,

The talk about the gardens, if I had my choice and the land I would plant a full garden with rows like we used to do long ago.  I miss the big garden areas from the past where we would hoe the weeds as we moved down the row and having real dirt as it was back then.  Those were the days for sure. 

As we are getting older and lack of garden space we have the raised beds and tanks with easier access but watering is for sure the issues with raised beds.  The lease expensive garden is a full garden with rows, at least that has been for us.  :)

Wed. Hazy sun and still very cold.  Laundry hanging inside is taking a long time to dry.  My friend, Kay is enjoying the birthday gift I sent her.  I chopped up onions, carrots, and celery to freeze in bags.  The bagged veggies are my soup trifecta and are ready for most crockpot soups I make.  I also started a veggie and roast soup for dinner tonight.  Still organizing linen chest. 

Thu. A little warmer, but very little snow melt. Temp reached 30°.   Doctor check ups today.  Trips to appliance store, library, and bank in between. Appointment times inconvenient and no time to accomplish much of anything.  Leftover veggie beef soup for dinner.  Tired, so bedtime will be a little earlier.  

Janet W., thanks for the picture of your market basket.   I love seeing how other countries do things.  I'm not a traveler, but I love the peeks!   Our produce is about half packaged.  I think they do it to move the older stuff first!  A man will almost certainly grab a bag of apples over choosing them each himself.  My friends and I have discussed this about our husbands.  One husband that cooks is super fussy about his choices!

My follow-up diary would read as follows - 

Tuesday 27th - visit to my doctor for two biopsies for skin cancers (unavoidable in this climate particularly as I was raised near the Great Barrier Reef and spent all my time at the beach or the islands - also because I was a '60's "babe" and we had to be suntanned at all costs for which I am now paying dearly!).  We both had the latest covid jabs.  We did a planned trip to the dump (tip, refuse facility, transfer station - call it what you will, it's still a dump), followed by another planned trip to the Trash 'n' Treasure market to drop off a load of unwanted/unneeded items.  From there, it was back to the local scene for me to go into Radiology Clinic for a CT scan on my sinus.  Home to cook lunch which is our main meal and then relax for the afternoon.

Wednesday 28th - time for some relaxation after yesterday's busy day, so a long drive out in the country to-day with lunch at the country pub before coming back via the dam and then side-tracking to a little known drive before getting home via the motorway.  All in all, a nice relaxing day.

Thursday 29th - a busy morning catching up with the washing, all of which was dry before 10.30am and brought in, folded and put away.  I vacuumed the floors, and husband mowed the yard so all is neat and tidy.  Had an offer for a very good price on a stick vacuum cleaner and I needed a new one as the other is on its last legs so went out and bought it on the spot.    An easy afternoon after cooking lunch and putting the dishwasher on, unloading it later.

Friday 30th - most of the day has gone already here and we decided another nice drive would be nice so headed off - as we left I noticed that our favourite prawn trawler was selling last night's catch so we side-tracked out there first and bought 5kg of lovely fresh prawns from the trawler.  Then on for a drive up to a close by island, and then back again by a different route - all very relaxing.  I cooked lunch and now the dishwasher is on, which I will unload later in the afternoon.  I'm going to sit back and do some jigsaws now and then read my book.

Unreal that it's the end of the month of January already.

Thursday:  Baked bread, half fresh whole wheat, half white flour — this ratio seems to be working well for my gut.  I got started mid-morning and the house was so cold that the loaves weren’t finished until 6 PM.  Made another batch of pan release (I use it in the cast iron bread pans).  Soaked soy beans for Friday.  Practiced buttonholes on the new sewing machine.  Made two soups for dinner, split pea for the guys and tuna cheddar chowder for me.  Wrapped two loaves of bread for the freezer.

Friday: Made soymilk, made lemonade, sliced a loaf of homemade bread.  We tackled zone cleaning in the living room today. Dusted and polished wood furniture and trim, washed windows inside and out, cleaned mirrors, picture glass, and glass doors on hutch.  Took down winter and birthday decorations and put up Valentine’s Day decorations (just using what I’ve had for decades).  Vacuumed upholstery and did a deep vacuuming under and behind furniture.  Also cleaned the dining room fan and light completely, plus one dining room window, and dusted in there again even though I dusted Tuesday.  Washed and hung my son’s laundry, as he was out early and didn’t get it done.  Also washed and hung the living room cushion covers, the blanket for the couch, and the dogs’ living room blankets.  Now it’s time to start dinner, which is rice, beans, and TVP

This past two weeks I’ve been revisiting cookie recipes, to gather together my favorites and see which could be converted to using palm shortening.  Today I did peanut butter cookies from an old KitchenAid mixer cookbook.  The cookies were fantastic, but the dough is a little crumbly so I had to bake all of it and not freeze some as dough balls.  That means in January I did butter vanilla sugar cookies (haven’t converted yet), chocolate chip cookies in both dairy and non dairy versions (palm shortening), oatmeal cookies made with palm shortening, and now the peanut butter cookies with palm shortening.  For the longest time I defaulted to chocolate chip cookies because they are so popular with everyone and I became known for my “famous” chocolate chip cookies, but chocolate is so expensive now and I want to be able to make less expensive cookies.  This batch of 3 dozen cookies cost about $2.50  to make, tops.  Tomorrow is my last official day of cookie testing, and I will probably make a double batch of non dairy oatmeal cookie dough and then put raisins in half of them (my husband’s request).  Honestly, raisins aren’t all that much cheaper than chocolate chips, they were 17¢ per ounce from Costco and Tollhouse chocolate chips are 22¢ per ounce from Costco.  But I want to make him something he wants.  And I might convert the sugar cookie recipe, or try a different one.

Also, I think the palm shortening could make a really great pie crust.  I default to oil crust when I need a dairy free crust, but I am looking to buy the palm shortening in bulk from Azure, so I need to have plenty of uses for it.

Grandma Donna wrote, “The talk about the gardens, if I had my choice and the land I would plant a full garden with rows like we used to do long ago.”

The Allotment was 100ft x 20ft with some space by the perimeter fence for a beehive, shed, water butt and compost bins. We were quite near one of the taps on the 7 acres site. For that we paid £24 a year, including 3rd party insurance, and National Allotment Society membership. The committee had a portocabin shop on the site and ordered seeds and gardening supplies in bulk. 

I grew some flowers for cutting under the pear trees at one end of the plot, then some summer raspberries, damson, quince, medlar, apple and plum trees with more flowers for the bees, and fruit bushes, Tayberries and autumn raspberries, then 20ft rows of rhubarb, (we forced one large plant a year for tender stems,) and several varieties of globe artichokes, and then 20 ft rows of seasonal vegetables.

The allotments have been there for nearly 140 years and the invasive couch grass has still not been eradicated. It was a very windy site, clay soil, the ground wet at the bottom of the hill and dry at the top. 

That's a nice sized garden plot, Janet W.  

This time of year I always get itchy to garden, but without having a fenced area, it is a waste of time and money.  The displaced deer (from the gradual disappearance of open area and woods and farms) prowl the suburban, now densely developed towns around us and eat everything.  Then there are the bunnies and ground hogs and squirrels to contend with.   It's hard to even find "pick-your-own" places or the roadside produce booths with local growers excess for sale with reasonable prices.  And there is no place to scavenge for berries or apples, etc, because the farm land that stuff used to grow on is long gone. 

It's not a total lost cause.  I am good at finding marked down meats and produce at a couple of grocery stores I frequent, and I enjoy "the hunt"  so to speak.  :)  My favorite find in January was a spiral cut uncured bone-in cooked ham (half), marked down to $1/lb.   It was all I could do to just get one!  I took the ham off the bone, used my Food Saver to vacuum seal and freeze portions for two people, and will be cooking up the bone to make soup.  I am still feeling pretty good about that!  LOL!