What Next?

Not such a  long time ago, women were championed as managers of their homes. To be called a housewife wasn't an insult, it was something to take pride in. It meant you worked hard to keep your family clean, fed, safe, nurtured, warm, clothed, and happy. Sure it was a lot of work without such modern conveniences and technology as we have today, but I would bet those women felt good about doing it, because they loved their families.

I think that for all the "progress" of the Womens' Rights Movement, we as the heirs of the generations of women who balked at wearing an apron over a dress, or "sacrificing" a career to stay home have really missed out on a whole way of life you just can't find in 9-5 job or in the aisles of any supermarket.

Did you know that when housewives were first introduced to Betty Crocker's line of boxed cake mixes (that were the "just add water" variety) they wouldn't buy them because they felt like they were cheating their families out of a home-baked dessert? So the company decided to produce mixes that needed an egg, and then housewives didn't feel so guilty about the convenience of using them.

Now everything is about convenience. Not that its always a bad thing, but what is it costing us in money, nutrition, and knowledge? And what is filling up that time we are supposedly saving? There are a lot of things I don't know how to do because they weren't ever necessary to learn. I always counted on someone else, in a factory or warehouse, or someplace far away to do them for me, and it was so easy just to pay for that so I didn't have to do it. But I've kind of grown tired of not knowing how to pronounce what is in the food we eat or not knowing where our clothes and toys come from and who made them.

That's really my hope ( one anyway) for this year- just to learn how to do the things my grandmothers did, and their mothers before them. I have learned so far that I love kneading dough by hand, and I like the feeling I get when I see my kids in clothes that I have made for them. I like sitting down to eat with my family and knowing I made something that didn't come from the freezer section, although it still happens occasionally). I love the history of my cast iron,  canning is fun and not so scary after all, and I am excited to learn how to garden and actually grow things we need.

There are so many things new things I want to learn this year- how to knit, make soap, sew by hand, make cheese, make clothes for boys, bake a white bread we can use all the time, make a quilt, save seeds.. I'm really excited about it all. January's almost over, I will keep adding things I learn to make at home instead of store-bought, but what should February's main topic be? Any suggestions?