Like Mother Wilder
'Mother pushed back her chair and said,"Mercy on us! Eight o'clock! I must fly!"
Mother always flew. Her feet went pattering, her hands moved so fast you could hardly watch them. She never sat down in the daytime, except at her spinning-wheel or loom, and then her hands flew, her feet tapped... and on Sunday morning she made everybody else hurry, too.'
From "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I think often about Mother Wilder. We live in an age when people, particularly mothers, are constantly on the move. There is so much to do and so much to see to. We are always "flying."
Hers was the time of spinning, weaving, horse and ox farming, butter churning, sausage making, and milking cows by hand. Yet she always cooked: baked beans, potatoes and gravy, fresh bread, pies of every kind, homemade butter and cheese.
Ours is the age of technology: cell phones, internet, global transportation, modern careers, and all the responsibilities and demands that come with them. Ours is also the age of industrial food. The food industry is amazing in its size, efficiency, and convenience, but it has compromised our health. Many of us seek to return to producing and preparing our own food, but we have relied on the food industry for years and our only connection to Mother Wilder and those like her is memories of grandmothers and great-aunts. We have forgotten how to feed ourselves.
Not only that, the food industry has trained us to think short and cheap. We can pick up ready-made meals and snacks at Walmart or grab a drive-through meal at McDonalds for a few bucks. Raw vegetables, fruits, and meats are expensive and it is hard to find quality. Mother Wilder had to plan for hog slaughtering in the fall to feed her family all year; her homemade cheese probably lasted for months; the butter she churned might top her fresh bread for a week, the sweet potatoes and turnips had to last all winter, and she somehow had all those resources at her fingertips. Is it possible to cook like Mother Wilder? Is it possible to eat real food despite habits, customs, and systems to the contrary? With some practice and some knowledge, yes.
I am only 20 years old and I ate from the food industry during my early childhood. Our farm started as a small garden in hard, red soil and a handful of chickens. After a mere ten years of research, practice, work, and patience, my family and I now grow much of what we eat, and we cook three scrumptious meals a day for seven people. We want to share the good food we produce and the knowledge we have gained. Over the next months, we will do that here on the blog. It is possible to eat the marvelous fare that the Wilders enjoyed, and we want to make it possible for you, too.
Starting next week, I will tell you about the many things we and others like us have learned to produce, and the many ways those things can be used to feed you and your family. It is not difficult, it is simply different. But it was done in years past, and you can do it, too.
Anne Marie Greene
Mother always flew. Her feet went pattering, her hands moved so fast you could hardly watch them. She never sat down in the daytime, except at her spinning-wheel or loom, and then her hands flew, her feet tapped... and on Sunday morning she made everybody else hurry, too.'
From "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I think often about Mother Wilder. We live in an age when people, particularly mothers, are constantly on the move. There is so much to do and so much to see to. We are always "flying."
Hers was the time of spinning, weaving, horse and ox farming, butter churning, sausage making, and milking cows by hand. Yet she always cooked: baked beans, potatoes and gravy, fresh bread, pies of every kind, homemade butter and cheese.
Ours is the age of technology: cell phones, internet, global transportation, modern careers, and all the responsibilities and demands that come with them. Ours is also the age of industrial food. The food industry is amazing in its size, efficiency, and convenience, but it has compromised our health. Many of us seek to return to producing and preparing our own food, but we have relied on the food industry for years and our only connection to Mother Wilder and those like her is memories of grandmothers and great-aunts. We have forgotten how to feed ourselves.
Not only that, the food industry has trained us to think short and cheap. We can pick up ready-made meals and snacks at Walmart or grab a drive-through meal at McDonalds for a few bucks. Raw vegetables, fruits, and meats are expensive and it is hard to find quality. Mother Wilder had to plan for hog slaughtering in the fall to feed her family all year; her homemade cheese probably lasted for months; the butter she churned might top her fresh bread for a week, the sweet potatoes and turnips had to last all winter, and she somehow had all those resources at her fingertips. Is it possible to cook like Mother Wilder? Is it possible to eat real food despite habits, customs, and systems to the contrary? With some practice and some knowledge, yes.
I am only 20 years old and I ate from the food industry during my early childhood. Our farm started as a small garden in hard, red soil and a handful of chickens. After a mere ten years of research, practice, work, and patience, my family and I now grow much of what we eat, and we cook three scrumptious meals a day for seven people. We want to share the good food we produce and the knowledge we have gained. Over the next months, we will do that here on the blog. It is possible to eat the marvelous fare that the Wilders enjoyed, and we want to make it possible for you, too.
Starting next week, I will tell you about the many things we and others like us have learned to produce, and the many ways those things can be used to feed you and your family. It is not difficult, it is simply different. But it was done in years past, and you can do it, too.
Anne Marie Greene
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