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Good morning Donna....NZ time 6.53 am.

Seasons... This year the change of seasons here was very obvious. February 28th Summer,muggy,hot weather. March 1st..First day of Autumn.. WHAM instantly cold evenings and mornings and lots of strong,cold wind and leaf drop. Usually it doesn't feel like that until May where we live. I read that a fruit growing area even had a smattering of snow already...unheard of!!!

Foods... I make soups that are good for your gut now and my chicken soup has fresh ginger,garlic and tumeric in it. Bone broth is good. Our bodies change as we age. I cannot longer eat butter. It goes straight through me and causes acid reflux. I have eaten butter and  watermelon my whole life. This year the watermelon  made my tummy bloat then my body would pass wind for about 5 hours!! ( I read Watermelon is high in fructose)  A cup of tea before bed also causing my tummy to bloat. A friend visiting told me if she eats ice cream before going to bed she can't sleep!

Bread.... A law  was passed so that All flour that can be used to make bread ( except organic flour) has to have man made folic acid in it. It leaves a revolting taste in ones mouth.  I brought a bread maker and also do a no knead 100% wholemeal loaf by hand.

Weather... Was so wet in NZ over Summer that people had poor crops- peaches got brown rot, tomatoes didn't produce as well from lack if sun. BUT we don't give up and keep looking at different ways of growing vegetables that our ancestors would have done that we may not think about today.

It is so good to glean good information from times past and use it now.

Grandma Donna, regarding your bread, have you tried Einkorn Flour or wheat?  It is an ancient grain that folks who are sensitive to gluten can eat.  There lots of info on line and it can be found in smaller amounts at the super stores or you can order it on line.

From one Grandma to another,

Sara in Tennessee

I just accidentally lost all I typed. I wanted to say I am starting the move to more old fashioned methods now that I’m home. 

I won’t retype all of my original comment but I also wanted to attach this from the Emily Post 1945 edition of her etiquette book. This is for a young woman to go to college.  

I continue to move furniture to find what suits me at this moment in time. I did get my drying rack area set up to suit me and have been working on totes of seasonal decor. My likes have changed and I have decided "less is more" for me at this time. I am not a minimalist at all but am only keeping what speaks to me.  Family gets first pick of the remainder and then it is going to the thrift store as a donation.

I have too many kitchen utensils but didn't know how to sort them out so I decided to see what I use on a monthly basis and after washing it is put in a separate area. Anything left in the drawer is going to be donated. I own 5 pancake turners....and I can only use one at a time.

My foods have changed also, I want plainer, more simple foods as they don't make me ache or have stomach distress. 

I well remember my grandma's kitchen growing up and what I miss most is the peace and calm of that time, both of my grandmas came thru the depression and it made them so strong and yet so gentle. 

Spring is right around the corner for us, I am anxious to be out of the snow and cold weather.

Hey G'Donna!

I haven't finished reading the blog yet, but you mentioned bread and wheat. I read a book called  Wheat belly: lose the wheat, lose the weight, and find your path back to health (William Davis) and I think it's this book that talks about the original wheat grown before WW2, and there is one woman in the US who still grew it (I'm not sure if she or her family still does). But it's the wheat that we can digest because it's not been modified with any other type of grain to have what we do today. I sometimes suffer from belly issues whenever I eat wheat.

In view of recent world events, I was talking to my husband only last evening about this study and how we would feel in this modern world where we have everything at our fingertips, just how we would cope if things go pear-shaped - and it's quite possible they will.  We're already experiencing fuel demands and possible shortages yet the world goes around using fuel - and that fuel is needed to transport food and other necessary items to the various places around the country for its very survival.  We're very aware that times could be coming when we'll have to think outside the square and we are trying to prepare for those times when things aren't at our fingertips anymore and we have to try alternate ways - can it be done in this day and age where we expect everything to be available?  I dread to think.

I hate winter, but now I'm experiencing spring. :) The daffodils and crocuses are up, and many of our pansies survived the winter, so we have a bit of color in the yard. I harvested all of our overwintered cabbages just now, and there are potato onions and Welsh onions for green onions, and that's good because last year's bulb onions are running out! I do have some dehydrated onions left. We planted the onion seedlings yesterday into the garden, for this year's crop. There's spinach and chives ready in the garden too, and I just noticed that the asparagus is coming up. 

It's taken me a long time, but I'm finally having a wardrobe like the old days. I bought a new summer nightgown and a new dress for this year. My worn out summer nightgown will patch my duvet and my wornout dress will become a blouse. I have one new pair of shorts, one old pair, and a pair made out of some wornout sweatpants. I usually wear things three times before washing. I think I have the proper amount of clothes for the thirties, but I don't remember if that changed much by 1942. 

Sara T_2,  yes I have used Einkorn, I just could not get things to turn out like we wanted.  I tried a entire year using Einkorn.  It is expensive and not available without being shipped so I stopped using it.  I have tried many things.  What I am using now is expensive flour and must have it shipped but I do not want to say too much about it until I have used it longer.  I am still learning, but at this time I am not having any issues using it other than learning how to bake with a less glutenous flour.   Thank you for asking about the Einkorn.   There are many factors to what causes some of us to not be able to eat wheat without issues.  I do not have celiac disease, mine is a intolerance issue.   So far I have made pasta, pizza, and bread and have not had any symptoms.  One big part is giving the dough longer to rest and for me using a low gluten flour.  

Stephanie G,  I really like your wardrobe and that you are recycling what is wearing out.  My two summer nightgowns are very similar, white cotton. One is sleeveless and one has sleeves because during parts of the summer the mosquitoes can make their way inside at times and bite my arms at night.  I must mend the neckline of the sleeveless so that the tear does not get worse.  I have potato onions that are doing good and the Egyptian walking onions are much stronger now.  I lost my welch onions but have seeds to plant now.   It sounds like your home is getting that 1930s/40s practical what makes sense stage.  I know it has probably been a lot of work but rewarding.  :)

As a younger woman (maybe? I'm 37!) with 7 children still at home, I am not able to truly participate in the study. Some day! However,even so, many of the old ways are so beneficial. We have been struggling with our steep electricity bill. I am so spoiled and was using the dryer through the winter. When I stopped and began only line drying the laundry for our family (as well as cutting elsewhere, but this was the biggest offender) our electric usage dropped by half! I thought having to dry the laundry inside exclusively was too hard since we live in a 1200 square foot house and homeschool. Like I said, I am spoiled! But, it has worked out okay. And the savings is 100% worth it!

Both my grandmothers prepared simple meals.  My maternal grandmother 's holiday meal was homemade noodles and chicken, (an old hen which she purchased from a farm wife and cleaned herself), mashed potatoes, green beans, pickled beets and maybe a Jello salad.  The only cake I ever recall her making was an applesauce cake that was dense, moist with ground raisins.  I have the recipe but haven't made it in years because dh hated raisins and now it's way too much cake for one person.  My other grandmother seldom cooked for the whole family but if she did it would have been ham, green beans, sweet pickles, mashed potatoes.  She liked fancy desserts so those were unpredictable.  

I try to keep my shopping to basic ingredients and now days I consider meat as an ingredient more than a standalone individual serving on the plate.  

I was raised in Southern Iowa on Missouri border and the two grocery stores in town were simple, an aisle down, meat counter across the back, aisle back up to checkout.  Mom always shopped at the store where her cousin was the butcher.  I was in high school when we moved to the Des Moines area and found supermarkets.  Mom discovered spaghetti and pizza.  I know I never saw or ate pizza or had spaghetti and meatballs before my sophomore year of high school.  The pizza was homemade and it was a couple of years before I ever had restaurant pizza.  We did not eat out.  Instead of pasta (other than elbow macaroni) we mostly we ate potatoes baked, fried, boiled, scalloped and my favorite, new potatoes creamed with new peas (a special in season only treat).   

Sarah L, you must be non stop from the time your feet hit the floor in the morning with 7 children still at home.  This is wonderful that you dropped your electric bill as much as you did.  That dryer does eat up a budget, I found out the hard way, and now it is for emergencies only.  Surprisingly just a computer pulls quite a bit of power when left on or charging.  We plugged it into our solar generators one day and was surprised that it pulled as much as it did because we thought they pulled very little.  What we do is trade off, when we turn something on we turn something else off if other things are being used.  If I have a situation to where I must use a hair dryer, I go around looking to see if there is anything on that I can turn off because the hair dryer pulls so much electricity. In the winter we leave the oven door tilted back after I am finished baking to let the oven warm the kitchen. Those small things add up too.   I am happy that you are reading along the blog because you can pick up many good ideas how to keep costs down and ways to live a more simple life.  I am happy about your electricity savings. :)

Hi Gdonna,

I found you a few years ago through Ronda Hetzel and her Down to Earth blog. I know she has been off and on with her blog and Instagram, but currently I can’t find her online at all!  I thought she was going to leave her blog available even though she was not currently blogging.  Do you have any info about her currently? I love her books and blogs and am sad I cannot find anything! 

Thank you Gdonna.  I look forward to all your articles and blogs.

Rebecca

Rebecca, Rhonda has closed her blog and removed it to prevent AI from taking her information from her blog due to other bloggers having this happen to their blog.  Rhonda has retired from her blog and spending time with Gracie, her family and working in her garden.  Rhonda is well and happy doing the things she loves to do.

All of the information on bread has been very helpful. I really want to be able to eat sandwiches again because they are such a quick, nutritious meal to have. After reading this post, I've decided to try a long-rise bread with some whole wheat einkorn. I've used Ancient Grains einkorn before, and as long as I used less flour than recipes called for, it gave a good result, but I haven't made bread with it. I ordered some just now. I'll see how it goes. I don't remember any older family members saying they could no longer eat bread. I think this intolerance is something new. I think the flour has been changed somehow. 

Grandma Donna, yes, it has taken such a long time, but it feels so good to do things this way now. :) I went to the Vintage Dancer site, and the 1940s did have a little more in the wardrobe than the 1930s' street car wife wardrobe that I've been using as a guideline. What I like about having my wardrobe this way is knowing that I could probably cobble together some kind of outfit from castoffs if I had to. It gives me a feeling of security.  :)

My son keeps telling me how much he likes homemade bread. I need to make some more for him when we finally get home. I was wanting to make Grandma Donnas biscuits during last home visit but we were too busy around the house for that. The comments reminded me of one of my favorite meals....finding a whole chicken on sale for 99 cents a pound (I wonder if I can even find them for that price anymore) and then baking it with carrots,onions,celery, and potatoes along with a little garlic salt and pepper...maybe even a smearing of butter. I'm going to have to make that when I get home too. That's a fairly easy meal to make. If I can manage biscuits with it we'd have an altogether wonderful meal! Vegetable soup and biscuits sounds wonderful too. 

My husband sent me pictures of the garden. He walked through it for the first time this year. The berries we planted last year are thriving. The strawberry patch is so crowded with new plants I don't think we have to worry about grass getting in that bed any time soon. We are likely going to be harvesting buckets of strawberries this year (Lord willing). Our daughter will be old enough this year to come out in the garden and help us pick the strawberries! She'll be two years old at the end of this month. 

Random note: we did just restock our buckets of Jasmine rice and Sugar. We need to restock on flour here soon too and possibly plain oatmeal. 

One 1940ish thing I am doing is listening to audiobooks on our cd player. They are from Focus on the family radio theater so it's got an old time radio show feel to them. While CDs and audiobooks are certainly not 1940's, that radio station program feel is. 

That's about as 1940's as we can get right now. As it is we are working on replacing two windows in what will soon be our son's room, buying a generator because life sustaining equipment must maintain power, and rewiring a breaker box to manage the extra electrical load that all my sons medical equipment will require. Oh and I bought a book on sign language 

Hi, Kieva A! Your life is so full and rich and rewarding, and your little trooper, Jacob, is hanging in there so well. :) 

I can remember the smells of my grandparent's farm house. I know I'll never smell anything like it again. 

I am sad reading today's post.  In 1942 my mom would've been 7 and the youngest of 7. That's the year they built their small house (3 tiny bedrooms!) Mom died 2.5 weeks ago and with her so many memories. She lived longer than any of her siblings. She was the last tie to a time long gone though it lived on in her.  The children & grandchildren of hers and her siblings are scattered. On my grandparents farmland DR Horton is building townhouses. That makes me sad too. 

My mum died at age 76 in 1988 and I still miss her terribly.  Her birthday is coming up soon - the 19th March and we will remember her again then although she is still close in my heart.  My dad died in 2002 aged 93 - seems like yesterday.  I'm in my 80th year, will be celebrating my birthday in November hopefully if I'm still around, and next month we celebrate our diamond anniversary.  Seems no time since we were young marrieds.  I do sometimes long for the much simpler times of growing up on the north coast of Queensland, access to so many wonderful beaches with not a care in the world - my dad worked over at one of the tropical islands on the Great Barrier Reef so we had opportunities to go over to see him and visit with him any time we liked - those were magical times.  I don't like to-day's times, but you can't go back I'm afraid.  

Life is much more simple here anyway, no electrical equipment unless necessary and I don't own a hairdryer for instance, haven't had one for ten or more years and no electric can openers or graters - it's all done by hand manually.  Our power bill at the moment is zilch, zero, nothing - and has been for a year or so, owing to the generous allowance paid to every household here to help with the cost of living.

Such a wonderful and timely blog post as always GDonna! Reading your thoughts and following along with the conversation in the comments has become a highlight of my week!

With the current state of the world (this past week or so especially), 1942 is becoming more relatable by the day, which is spurning me on to simplify my home and budget more in line with the year we are all studying together, to live even more frugally, and continue to prepare for uncertain times. I just filled up my car with petrol today and was shocked (though not surprised) that the price has risen from $1.63/L to $1.99/L in just a few days, and the predictions I've heard are that it may reach $2.50/L in the next couple of months if things do not settle with oil prices. I'm going to need to start rationing my use of the car. I need it to get to work and church in the next town about 30km away, but for shopping etc I'm only 10min walk from home to the shops here, so I must make a concerted effort to walk more for local errands.

Though Australia is not yet involved in the current theatre of war overseas, it has brought back memories of when my (then) husband received a call while we were out purchasing a lounge suite for our home one afternoon, when we'd only been married a year or so. The purchase was cut short as he had to report to his Army unit immediately, without being told the reason. Later that evening, I (and many other wives) were called to the base to farewell our husbands for a deployment for which we were told no details and they were unable to share anything themselves due to the secrecy of the mission. My husband had a loaded pistol strapped to his leg and many other signs that he was actually heading into danger this time, as he (with his helicopter squadron) flew out into the night. Us families didn't hear anything further until we were called in for a briefing some weeks later, once the Army was able to go public with what was happening. Though I'm not in that situation now, I feel for all those military families around the world that are. It's not only troops that need our prayers, but their families too. Even during those times though, we military wives planned, as I'm sure women in 1942 did as well. As morbid as it might sound we all had decided on plans for what to do and where to do, should we get that awful "telegram" announcing our status as widows. We knew that it would be very difficult to make wise decisions when emotions and grief were at the forefront and we were trying to continue to care for our children, so we made decisions ahead of time, so if the worst happened, we would know what to do. I guess this is a little in line with what has been discussed in the forum on recent posts, of making decisions and preparing for the future (though due to aging or disability) before you're in these situations.

Karen S I'd love your no knead 100% wholemeal bread recipe if you're willing to share? I've seen other recipes like this online, but mostly in the US/Canada, who all seem to add sweetener to their bread, whereas in Australia our bread is not sweet, and I'm guessing NZ might be similar to here? My veggie garden has been very slow this year. I've only been getting ripe tomatoes for a month, and not many at all. The weather here in South Gippsland, Victoria has been much cooler this summer and though we had a couple of "heatwave" weeks, it hasn't been enough to ripen anything much. The rains started again last week though, and now the poor garden is full of weeds and the lawn grew 4" in less than a week! It will be a busy weekend for me trying to get caught up on the yard work. I'm thankful we have a public holiday on Monday so I have an extra day to use outside, and the weather forecast looks cooperative.

Kieva A I'm so glad you mentioned the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre! I've just had a look and was so pleased to see the Narnia series and other of the Timeless Classics titles, that I'll enjoy listening to over the cooler months here, as the days shorten and I'm indoors more.

PS - I recently purchased an old vintage mostly blank recipe book that I'm starting to add basic recipes in for myself for now and into the future. I love simple, old-fashioned cooking and baking, and thankfully my 5th child (the last still at home) does too, and isn't fussy like some of my older ones, so I can simplify our meals a lot now too. I'm going to consolidate many of my recipe books (some handwritten, some commercial) into just the recipes we use and love on a daily basis. It will be a helpful reminder to me when I'm looking for meal inspiration, while keeping things frugal and simple.

Rebekah C, The Narnia series is actually the book I'm listening to now. The book is so much different than the movies. I also have Silas Marner, the Hiding Place, Bon Hoffer, and a few others I don't remember at the moment. I do wish they had more to pick from.  But I haven't exhausted their collection yet. 

Jacob woke up at about 4 AM this morning. I was sleeping and I woke thinking I heard the nurse say, "mom" but in an urgent and slightly concerned tone. She didn't! When I woke the nurse wasn't even by our bed and my son was not feeling good. The sounds he made did get the nurse coming pretty quickly though. He was alright but that experience had me praying for my other children because it was so real that it was unsettling.  That's not something that happens to me.

 Anyway, he settled quickly and I put in the second CD to the Narnia series and he and I fell back to sleep listening to it. I'm going to have to relisten to them because I can't turn it up loud enough for me to hear it clearly over the drone of the machines while it's next to my son. I don't want to wake the other patients either. But I got a slight chuckle out of your mentioning the Narnia series. 

Is this what happened to Rhonda's blog? She was back a couple weeks ago, and I started to go back and read really old posts, then it said my access was denied.  Just curious.

Also Gr Donna, not sure if you're trying to remove sugar in all its forms, but a friend told me about Monks sugar which is near the Stevia in the baking isle.  I tried it. Can't really tell the difference.  I've also baked with organic Maple Sugar instead.

I just want to say, I enjoy every post.  I learn so much. 

I have a wheat grinder and grind my own wheat berries and make my baked goods with that.  I use the Palouse brand off of amazon because it is certified chemical free. If I can't get those wheat berries, I run (lol, it is almost 2 hours away from me) up to Bread Beckers in Georgia and get their wheat berries.  I have been grinding my grains since 2000.  If I eat commercial bread/baked goods I have a sick stomach (and so do some of my kiddos.)

I researched back into what my family would have eaten from my roots.  Irish, Scottish, English.  Then began looking at what they would have eaten back before processed foods started being everywhere.  I asked my mama what she ate growing up and she said, "beans and rice and cornbread, rice and beans and cornbread, spam sandwiches, and on very special holidays we would have a chicken or a roast!"  I thought that was interesting!  My grandmama was a single mama to five kids who worked until she retired.

I have started serving less cultures food and more meat, potatoes, vegetables and fruit.  My family is healthier for it.  I remember when my mama would make pizzas with the new chefboyardee pizza kits they sold. Now, she never eats pizza.  LOL!

Random question - Does anyone use a soap cage with bar soap for doing their dishes in the kitchen? If so, how sudsy do you get the sink full of water before you wash? I'm trying to go back to this method, as I remember doing the dishes with Sunlight soap in a cage at my great uncle's when our family lived with him for 6 months when I was a teenager. It always seemed to work well then, from memory, but I'm struggling to have the soap cut through the grease now. Perhaps soap isn't made as it used to be? I'd appreciate any thoughts/advice/suggestions from you all. Thankyou.

Kieva A, I remember listening to Narnia audio books on cassette tape as a child as I drifted off to sleep - they are such a wonderful series. I am always amazed (but not surprised) how we can be woken from sleep just at the right time to help our children when they need us or are unwell. Your precious Jacob's Guardian Angel is certainly on the job while you are resting. Certainly, these experiences can be unsettling, but also reassuring that God is watching over them as He loves them even more than we do. You, Jacob, and your family are in my prayers.

Rebekah C, the soap cage is called a soap saver. This was the name they called it.    When the bar soap starts getting small I put the pieces into the soap cage. I keep it hanging to the right of my sink.  When the soap starts getting small I put the piece in the soap saver and just swish it in the water. It is also good for laundry water or a pail of household cleaning water.  The problem with soap today is finding the best soap to wash dishes with because the bar soap creates glycerin in the water.  During ww2 DUZ powdered soap was one of the favorite soaps to wash dishes.  I have found a coconut based soap like Kirks does better but it too will create glycerin.  I cut netting and make a dish scrub and when I rub the netting on the soap it makes wonderful soap and then I go over the plates and glasses with the soap suds from the netting.  I have many blog posts about soap so if I can help you further just ask. 

Woops edit I meant it is called soap saver.  

Another wonderful post, G Donna!  And I love the comments!  So much good info.  As to wheat : I am gluten -free due to an autoimmune disease so I don't use wheat flour, etc anymore.  My son-in-law ( not born in the US) cannot tolerate American wheat but when the family would travel in Europe he could eat it just fine.  My daughter started ordering flour from France and he has no trouble eating food made with it.  Something is done to the wheat grown here, either in the growing ( fertilizers, pesticides,other additive) or in the processing that makes it unpalatable for a lot of people.  

I'm trying a little experiment - I haven't had or used a clothes dryer for nearly 15 years.  The apartment where I now live has a washer and dryer furnished.  I use the washer but not the dryer.  I wanted to see for myself what the savings is in drying clothes indoors on racks (many of my neighbors think I'm nuts for not using the dryer).  So, at the beginning of the last electric company billing cycle I decided to use my dryer for all of my washing.  That billing cycle ends next Monday (the 9th) and I'm anxious to see how much extra it cost to run the dryer for the month.  

A funny story I'll tell on myself : when I was a young bride in the late 1960's I did not know how to cook much of anything.  My mother loved convenience foods so that is what we ate while I was growing up.  Anyway, as a new bride we went to visit my husband's grandmother.  One day she said that she was going to make noodles.  I was shocked and asked her, "Do you mean you can make noodles yourself?". She looked at me like I'd just fallen off the turnip truck, sat me down and we made noodles.  The easiest thing in the world, and they taste so much better.  I've been making noodles ever since!