Guest
Talking to atr about Backwoodsman Magazine yesterday and lye soap came up.
By the way atr, I ordered 2 years of the mag AND the 3 volume set of back issues.
Got me all nostalgic. :cry:
I well remember grandma making lye soap. Interesting how we take things for granted now. We just buy the stuff at the grocery.
Granny made it by pouring hot liquid hog fat (lard) into a wooden barrel of hardwood ashes. The stuff would leech out the bung in the bottom and be collected into wooden molds to solidify. That was it.
Soap.
Used to clean everything from cloths, to dishes, the floors, walls, yearly bath and so on.
Strong stuff too. It was very hard on skin and they had no rubber gloves.
Grams and Gramps had a pitcher pump outside in the front yard, no indoor plumbing at all. Granny got her only gas stove in the 60's, free gas don'cha'know.
Granny had 6 strokes, no hospital, no doctors, only country cures, herbs 'n such, had no teeth, died at the age of 99.
Tough old hen she was. Survived a bite from a copperhead by cutting off her own bitten finger with paring knife!
She had 16 kids of which 15 lived past infancy. Pretty outstanding record for those days.
She had a letter from President Roosevelt for having 4 sons in combat during WWII. They all made it home, mostly the worse for wear. All wounded, Dad included, tanker don'cha'know. Got shot up at the "Bulge", light tank took a hit from an 88. He was the only survivor.
Uncle Ray lost a lung in Belgium, Uncle Ernie was blown up by artilery, and Uncle Tom took 7 hits from a Jap machine gun in the guts.
All survived, all nuts, but alive.
When I was a kid we hunted groundhogs for meat. NO GUNS mind you. We'd dig 'em out of the holes with a mattock and shovel. Kept the hides as they made very strong leather lacing for harnesses and shoes.
NO ONE ever bought a whole box of ammo, not even .22's. The little general store was but a 10 mile walk and we'd by ".22 shells" 5 fer a nickle, a whole box of 50 was too much money. Shotgun shells sold by the piece also.
We put up our own food, had a root celler where we stored beets, turnips, cabbages and the like for the winter, apples too.
Granny canned everything including meat and fish.
We smoked our own hams and bacon. I learned to butcher beef and hogs when I was about 6 years old.
I well remember helping Dad and Gramps plow with a team of horses, the land being way to steep for a tractor which no one had anyway.
Gramps would take a couple deer every year for meat, no seasons. Wanna deer? Shoot a couple. He used the .22, all he had, that and a 12 bore M-37 Winchester.
I was maybe 5 when I began to learn to forage with Granny for spring greens. I do it to this day.
Dad made a little cash in the summers bare knuckle boxing at county fairs.
He was 12 when he started driving a truck carrying produce to town to sell for money, but the real money came from the mooshine he was hauling ::
I have 61 1st cousins on my Dad's side alone, those that are leaglly claimed anyay. :crackup: :crackup:
I got my 1st taste of beer at 14, in a cheat spot in W.Va. The local constable bought it fer me.
These things are hard for modern people to believe, making soap, running 'shine, having 15 kids, no doctors, getting snake bit, foraging for food and so on.
Times were hard then, but we didn't know it. After all we had each other.
Maybe I orta write all this stuff down afore it's all lost.
By the way atr, I ordered 2 years of the mag AND the 3 volume set of back issues.
Got me all nostalgic. :cry:
I well remember grandma making lye soap. Interesting how we take things for granted now. We just buy the stuff at the grocery.
Granny made it by pouring hot liquid hog fat (lard) into a wooden barrel of hardwood ashes. The stuff would leech out the bung in the bottom and be collected into wooden molds to solidify. That was it.
Soap.
Used to clean everything from cloths, to dishes, the floors, walls, yearly bath and so on.
Strong stuff too. It was very hard on skin and they had no rubber gloves.
Grams and Gramps had a pitcher pump outside in the front yard, no indoor plumbing at all. Granny got her only gas stove in the 60's, free gas don'cha'know.
Granny had 6 strokes, no hospital, no doctors, only country cures, herbs 'n such, had no teeth, died at the age of 99.
Tough old hen she was. Survived a bite from a copperhead by cutting off her own bitten finger with paring knife!
She had 16 kids of which 15 lived past infancy. Pretty outstanding record for those days.
She had a letter from President Roosevelt for having 4 sons in combat during WWII. They all made it home, mostly the worse for wear. All wounded, Dad included, tanker don'cha'know. Got shot up at the "Bulge", light tank took a hit from an 88. He was the only survivor.
Uncle Ray lost a lung in Belgium, Uncle Ernie was blown up by artilery, and Uncle Tom took 7 hits from a Jap machine gun in the guts.
All survived, all nuts, but alive.
When I was a kid we hunted groundhogs for meat. NO GUNS mind you. We'd dig 'em out of the holes with a mattock and shovel. Kept the hides as they made very strong leather lacing for harnesses and shoes.
NO ONE ever bought a whole box of ammo, not even .22's. The little general store was but a 10 mile walk and we'd by ".22 shells" 5 fer a nickle, a whole box of 50 was too much money. Shotgun shells sold by the piece also.
We put up our own food, had a root celler where we stored beets, turnips, cabbages and the like for the winter, apples too.
Granny canned everything including meat and fish.
We smoked our own hams and bacon. I learned to butcher beef and hogs when I was about 6 years old.
I well remember helping Dad and Gramps plow with a team of horses, the land being way to steep for a tractor which no one had anyway.
Gramps would take a couple deer every year for meat, no seasons. Wanna deer? Shoot a couple. He used the .22, all he had, that and a 12 bore M-37 Winchester.
I was maybe 5 when I began to learn to forage with Granny for spring greens. I do it to this day.
Dad made a little cash in the summers bare knuckle boxing at county fairs.
He was 12 when he started driving a truck carrying produce to town to sell for money, but the real money came from the mooshine he was hauling ::
I have 61 1st cousins on my Dad's side alone, those that are leaglly claimed anyay. :crackup: :crackup:
I got my 1st taste of beer at 14, in a cheat spot in W.Va. The local constable bought it fer me.
These things are hard for modern people to believe, making soap, running 'shine, having 15 kids, no doctors, getting snake bit, foraging for food and so on.
Times were hard then, but we didn't know it. After all we had each other.
Maybe I orta write all this stuff down afore it's all lost.
