We finally finished watching Frontier House, a PBS six hour presentation that we got at the library. It was about three modern day families (2001) who ‘went back in time’ to 1883, to live in a way that would have been authentic for that time period. They had a two week period of training to learn how to take care of animals, use period appropriate tools, etc, and then as closely as possible, they duplicated the homesteading experience of that time.
Our family enjoyed this so much! It was definitely entertaining, but was also very thought provoking, and has already led to a number of family discussions. (Warning – there are about ten minutes in the first session that discuss menstruation and birth control at the time – I keep the remote in my hand constantly whenever I watch anything with my kids, just in case, and this was something I fast forwarded. There are a couple of other references to intimacy later on, but after the first thing came up, I previewed everything else before watching it with my kids to se where the issues would be. Very easy to preempt everything by doing this.) Seeing how difficult life was at that time makes you think how you would have fared, if you could make it. And it makes me think about all the things we’ve gotten used to having, that we consider necessitites, that are really luxuries.
When I got rid of my window air conditioning units, most people were appalled that I could give that up. Around here, a/c is considered an absolute necessity. But surprise! – it really wasn’t a big deal. Yes, sometimes we were hot, but our bodies adapted, and we were able to be comfortable at temperatures that others would consider way too hot.
So we got to talking about how many things there are like this in our daily lives – washing machines, mixers, electric lights, grain grinders, even running water – believe me, I’m glad to live at a time when we have all of these modern conveniences that make our lives so much easier. But I don’t want to become so dependent on them that I can’t imagine living otherwise, or would feel totally incapacitated by their loss. So we’ve started brainstorming how a family could manage without these things.
It’s been an interesting mental exercise, and I’m interested in exploring more of those options some to see if any of our ideas can be integrated smoothly into our life. When I started talking to my kids about it and discussing some of the ideas (and there are SO many!), they were really excited about it. I had hardly mentioned at dinner that thinking about our energy usage is an important first step, before one child had turned off all the lights and lit tea lights to eat dinner by. 🙂 Right now I’m looking at a wringer washing machine; I have to do some more research and talk to dh about it. He doesn’t get too excited about all my ideas, though he’s a good sport about going along with them. 🙂
Avivah
