Monday, May 9, 2011
roo stew, and thoughts on the land
I made roo-stew on the wood-fired heater today. Slow cooking and house heating one. The snow on Mt Wellington is blowing straight to my feet. Winter really has hit, and I am glad not to be diving or fishing today. One has to remember this when talking about self sufficiency in a nice urban home -- it doesn't stop for rain or cold. It must have been even worse for those first settlers, especially ones that came from cities and then found themselves without the skills or background, trying to live off a very very different land. I think those who were clever, and flexible and tough (at least 2 of the 3!) survived. This is quite a kind land compared to Northern Europe or even the desert bits of Australia - but it must have seemed inhospitable if you were hoping for a pub or a shop or even a cultivated field.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Do you or Barb do anything with wool? Think of having to add making clothes (from scratch) to your chores.
ReplyDeleteAs a hobby, spinning gives me a lot of satisfaction; as a profession I doubt I could hack it.
Lisa S. in Seattle (where our spring is not a heck of a lot warmer than your winter, this year)
Barbs knits - we've talked about spinning our own and will get there sometime. But it's on a long list of capital intensive startup projects. Publishing is not having the best time, and authors -especially midlisters and newbies suffer from hind teat. As you know we're trying to break out of this, but in the meanwhile it's slowlee slowlee catchee monkee :-) Beekeeping, soapmaking... have to wait.
ReplyDeleteAh. I sort of missed the point of the comment. Yes, it must have made life slower harder and more complex still. But that was why people had so few clothes compared to now (and they were tougher).
ReplyDeleteI was actually thinking about the time consuming aspect of it all. Toughness gets you through always having too much to do, but it doesn't give you the time you need to get it done.
ReplyDeleteLisa S. in Seattle