back to my roots?

First, a little explanation - I grew up quite poor, altho I didn't really know it or think about it much when I was young. I do remember a few things that were funny now, but maybe not so funny then to my parents. Like my mom putting fluffo shortening (which is a yellow color in case you didn't know) on our toast and trying to make us think it was butter. After a bite tho we did not believe her. Her credibility as a cook went down sharply after that (just kidding). We never went hungry but lots of meals were beans and fried potatoes and that was it. I was 'lucky' as far as clothes because my aunt - who was only 5 yrs older than I was - handed down her clothes to me. But I can still remember the thrill of going school clothes shopping and being excited over having something new to wear. I was thrilled to have 3-4 dresses and my new pair of shoes that I got right before school started had to last the entire school year.

But I digress....basically when I was about 10, things changed. Not that the $$ situation got that much better but we moved onto our own place - almost 10A with an old two story house built in the early 1900's, with 4 bedrooms, an old barn, and outbuildings. The place had been empty for years so it needed a whole lot of cleaning and repair but all I really remember about that first summer up there was the fun of having all that room to play and explore. We were the last house on the road and there was nothing but some cattle in pastures around us - the rest was all forest land with wild critters everywhere.

But after the house became liveable, mom and dad started in 'growing' our own food - putting in a huge garden, we had a milk cow, raised pigs and chickens....it was wonderful! I really didn't like weeding the garden but feeding the critters was fun. I learned early that if you want to eat well during the winter, then you worked hard during the summer, put up everything you could get your hands on and tada! Food for most of the winter. With the cow came fresh milk and cream and homemade butter. She was bred to a hereford bull each time and so each spring she provided us with a young calf that would grow up to be our meat for the next year. We bought piglets and raised them til of a size to butcher and of course the chickens provided us with some meat but mostly eggs. The entire family would plan for a buying trip to Eastern WA to the orchards in late summer/early fall to pick and bring home fruit to put up for the winter. I loved those trips and the resulting boxes of fresh fruit.....yum, apples, pears, peaches etc. We had our own cherry trees and actually some apple trees but the poor trees had been neglected for so long they needed a lot of pruning and cleaning up before they would return to producing. Actually they were so very old that they never did do much good - just the cherry trees did.

One of the best things about having those acres was I could have a horse! It was always a 'hand me down' horse from my aunt who, with several other gals her age, had a team that went around the area competing in play days. I ended up with a pretty bay called Ricky T, half arab, half quarterhorse, who didn't like to be caught but once caught, was fine and was the best ride in the world. He would let me stand on his back and pick cherries as long as I gave him one every so often. Solid as a rock, that horse was - I miss him to this day.

The point of all this is that I was raised to grow and preserve my own food - a way of life that only a small percentage of people still embrace. Even after I was married and had kids - I still canned and preserved stuff, made my own bread etc. I can remember my son telling friends that he didn't even know about store bought bread until he was 7 and in school LOL

After the kids were grown and gone, I fell into the trap that so many do - 'instant' type food and very little that didn't come from the grocery store. Shame on me. With all the information out there regarding the dangers of pesticides, and additives to our food, it's not a healthy way of life - so hence the desire to return to my roots and grow/raise whatever foods I can. One other reason is that I am over 60, disabled and on SSD - which sure as heck does not leave a lot of $$ to buy foodstuffs if you want to keep a roof over your head. So time to rethink my priorities and get back to basics.

Right now I'm living in Arkansas, but planning to return to WA state before the end of the year and hopefully will be able to find a place where I can put in a decent sized garden and hopefully keep some chickens. Western WA is a pretty good place to live - except for the constant rain - and it's got a great attitude toward 'green' living too. Really looking forward to returning to my roots both in where I was raised and how I was raised!!