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culpepper

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 638
Location: Kent

Posted: Thu May 11, 06 3:21 pm Post subject:

My grandparents(whom I never met) had been self sufficient (grandad mended cars and radios for cash)and my dad did have an allotment when we were small,mum picked fruit in the garden of the house we shared with 4 other families and they all shared the fruit from the trees growing in the back garden.
I loved the Goodlife on TV and the Milly-Molly-Mandy books that my younger sister had (little girl living on a small holding in 1920's).
I've always loved reading about make do and mend and waste not want not etc .
We never had much money when i was a child and never got pocket money so Ive always been a make it myself person.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu May 11, 06 3:48 pm Post subject:
Oh, yeah, and what inspired me to come here was that even with the few members who were already here back then, the combined body of knowledge was awesome.

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Thu May 11, 06 7:37 pm Post subject:

was always interested in recylcling in the 60's when it became fashionaable the first time

when i was married the first time to a police officer, we were mega hard up ( it was before the edmund davies report) and we had a country beat station for several years...being so hard up it was a natural thing to raise our own stuff...then i stopped for a while and then when i changed husbands we discovered that we both felt the same about reuse and recycle and i ahve always liked animals anyway and wanted chickens and then well we sort of just moved on

my mother can't think why we do it our way as of course they spent years trying NOT to have to reuse and recycle, wanted to get out of draughty houses with stone floors and into nice warm centrally heated houses with all mod cons

my brother is much more skilled at all the self reliancy stuff than me having done it all in the 80's so in a way it is in the family - a bit of a disease i guess................

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Thu May 11, 06 7:43 pm Post subject:

Nanny wrote:

when i was married the first time...

...then when i changed husbands

Do you think your current husband views you as a good bit of reuse and recycle?

[running very fast]

Bernie66

Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft

Posted: Thu May 11, 06 7:45 pm Post subject:

nickhowe wrote:

Nanny wrote:

when i was married the first time...

...then when i changed husbands

Do you think your current husband views you as a good bit of reuse and recycle?

[running very fast]

You brave or foolish man

Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Fri May 12, 06 7:01 am Post subject:

Parents imparted a lot of the Reduce Reuse Recycle ideas to me from the earliest age, as a result of thri having been children during WWII

.

Joined the Puffin Book Club at the age of about 8 and bought the whole of the "Little House ..." series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

For those who don't know, they tell the story of a family living alone on the edge of American civilisation in the early 1800s. They were entirely self-sufficient.

(Last week's episode of "It's Not Easy Being Green" brought back strong memories of the pig-slaughtering scene in the first book, Little House In The Big Woods).

Her writing had a huge impact on me.

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Fri May 12, 06 7:24 am Post subject:
I'd forgotton about those books, I loved them as a child. Must re-read them sometime

Andy B

Joined: 12 Jan 2005
Posts: 3920
Location: Brum

Posted: Fri May 12, 06 7:26 am Post subject:

Always enjoyed being outside, like animals, like finding out what makes them tick, then Geoff Hamilton and gardening, that looks like fun, i'll give that a go. River cottage pulled a few threads together, focused the attempts. Finally got the internet and broadband. Rivercottage forum was the only one i bothered with, met you lot, got told about downsizer had a look and didnt really go back. Interesting people, interesting subjects, have a laugh, get told off !! Whats not to enjoy. Everydays a school day !!

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Fri May 12, 06 7:54 am Post subject:

Andy B wrote:

Everydays a school day !!

Yeah, but with Sean, Tahir and Johnnyboy, are the prefects quite as sexy as the ones from 10, 15, 25 years ago? Really?

woodsprite

Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Posts: 2943
Location: North Herefordshire

Posted: Fri May 12, 06 8:16 am Post subject:
I'm country born and bred. Just a simple peasant really, dont know no different.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45683
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri May 12, 06 10:39 am Post subject:

Lozzie wrote:

Joined the Puffin Book Club at the age of about 8 and bought the whole of the "Little House ..." series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

For those who don't know, they tell the story of a family living alone on the edge of American civilisation in the early 1800s. They were entirely self-sufficient.

(Last week's episode of "It's Not Easy Being Green" brought back strong memories of the pig-slaughtering scene in the first book, Little House In The Big Woods).

Her writing had a huge impact on me.

What age would that be for? Just thinking of our 6 year old

Andy B

Joined: 12 Jan 2005
Posts: 3920
Location: Brum

Posted: Fri May 12, 06 11:20 am Post subject:

nickhowe wrote:

Andy B wrote:

Everydays a school day !!

Yeah, but with Sean, Tahir and Johnnyboy, are the prefects quite as sexy as the ones from 10, 15, 25 years ago? Really?

We didnt have prefects, just men with guns !!

Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Fri May 12, 06 5:26 pm Post subject:

tahir wrote:

What age would that be for?

Little House In The Big Woods is probably good for an intelligent 6-year old to have read to her, although the book itself (my 30-year-old-copy!) says "For children of age 8 to 11".

Be aware that it has some scary bits, and the pig butchering chapter, too. But it is so matter-f-fact (just as it should be, really).

I honestly can't recommend the book highly enough for YOURSELF! I've got my copy down from my daughter's bookshelf and I can feel myself wanting to read it again, like Sally said ... there is a whole sequence of "Little House" books, and like Harry Potter, the main character and the style of writing get older as the books (and the readers) progress.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45683
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri May 12, 06 5:30 pm Post subject:
She's a committed carnivore, she'd find any slaughter bits interesting if anything. Might get one of them then.

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Fri May 12, 06 7:55 pm Post subject:

nickhowe wrote:

Nanny wrote:

when i was married the first time...

...then when i changed husbands

Do you think your current husband views you as a good bit of reuse and recycle?

[running very fast]

you got a death wish?

i rmemeber the laura ingles wilder books from my childhood as well
excellent for children, all based on her life experiences, the final one bieing when she meets her husband to be.....

i can think of at least 3....little house in the big woods (the first i think), on the banks of plum creek and little house on the prarie

they follow her families move across the american wilderness

you daughter would love them i am sure tahir

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