Old Time Wisdom

We are quickly losing the wisdom of our grandmothers, and it makes me sad :(

I was reading my old Betty Crocker Cookbook recently, and I read this tip: to make peeling boiled eggs easier, roll the egg in your hands a few seconds before peeling.

This past weekend, I seeded about 100 pepper. I read all the warnings in the cookbooks to use gloves to "prevent burning", but I thought it was just scare tactics to keep dummies from getting peppers on their hands and then rubbing their eyes. But guess what? It's REAL. I burned my hands so bad that I couldn't sleep that night. It felt like a chemical burn, and it HURT. I called my incredibly country-wise friend, Leanne, and she told me to wash my hands in Apple Cider Vinegar. The burning stopped IMMEDIATELY, and after 3 washes was gone for good.

But I thought about some of my more "modern" friends. First of all, they wouldn't have been making pepper marmalade in the first place. Most of them have no idea that processed foods are bad for you and hold no value in good, homemade foods. But for the sake of this writing, let's just say that did seed some peppers and get that burn. What would they have done? I suspect they might have spent their $20- $40 insurance co-pay and went to the doctor. And what would the doctor have done? I really don't know, but I suspect they would have written a prescription for something. Then my friend would go to the pharmacy and fill it for $10-$20. All that time and trouble, and they would have never known that they could have solved their burn with $3 and a bottle of ACV.

I think about all the other "home remedies" that have been lost through the ages. All the little tricks and tips that moms used to teach their children and their children taught their children. Those remedies are dying. My friends don't know those remedies anymore.

I read recently in the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollen that we have to turn to our Grandmother and even Great-Grandmothers for the knowledge of real food. That is so true. Most of our mothers (my mother is 68) have lost the old knowledge. They were so seduced by the marketing of processed foods that they don't even have an idea what "real" food is. I know my mom doesn't. She thinks it's just "crazy talk" when I tell her that real butter is better for you than margarine.

So where do we go from here? I encourage all of you with "old time" wisdom to WRITE THAT WISDOM DOWN! Write down your home remedies for medical issues. Write down your recipes for whole, local foods. Write down your tips for natural home cleaning.

I find that usually, the simplest of knowledge is the hardest to find. And yet, the smartest.

Some figures for your Consideration

From the latest 7th Generation newsletter:

• Average number of pounds of paper used annually by every American: 680
• Number of trees required by every American to meet their yearly demand for paper and wood products: 7
• Percent of the U.S. waste stream composed of paper (by weight): 35
• Gallons of petroleum saved by recycling one ton of paper: 380
• Number of trees saved by recycling one ton of household printing paper: 24
• Number of annual pounds of carbon dioxide absorbed by those 24 trees: 353

I choose to use cloth in my kitchen and toss them in the wash with my other laundry. It doesn't take any extra water or energy that I wouldn't normally be using. I have 4 kids... I do a lot of laundry, there's always room to toss in a cleaning cloth or cloth from my bathroom. I buy ONE roll of unbleached 7th Generation paper towels about every 2-3 months. That's it. I can't even imagine how much paper I've saved from our local landfill. Yes, it's biodegradable, but that's not the point. I believe we have a responsibility to conserve our resources and energy. Period.