The most important lesson is of course to actually listen. Otherwise, we discover something called appetite fatigue and how tocircumvent it. I know in my own experience that you soon grow tiredof an oft repeated food. This can obviously become life threateningas is demonstrated by POW stories.
What I have been teaching is that this type of intensive agriculturecan be modernized and made once again part of the human life way. Italso needs to happen. The lesson hard learned here is thatindustrial agriculture reduces the farmer to a machine operator muchtoo often and takes the manpower from the land when it is wellneeded.
Yet our own society can be hugely strengthened if we restore themodern agricultural village to the land in condo towers andinternalize the local economy. Communication and rapid transitoptions make this almost part of the urban environment while allowingmanpower to be available to optimize the land itself.
LetterRe: Lessons Learned From My Elders
http://www.survivalblog.com/2012/09/letter-re-lessons-learned-from-my-elders.html James:
As a five year oldI lived with my grandparents in a small isolated village in thefoothills of the Austrian Alps. This was about 1953 until1958. Rural life had its own rhythm which now seemed more akinto the 19th century. Small family fields were plowed with themilk cow which was also used to bring in the hay and the harvest. Everything planted had a use. Each tree on these small familyfarms bore fruits or nuts. Ornamentals were for the well to do-perhaps the village doctor who had a more secure source of income. Each farmstead depended on a variety of fruit and other crops. If one thing did not do well that year, then other harvests such asthe chestnuts or the pears and apples for hard cider might beplentiful.
The grain keepingbody and soul together was polenta, a new world crop, along with thepotato. Corn grew well and would be eaten as mush with porkcracklings, sour milk, or coffee mornings and evenings. Each farmer’swife was also capable of making hearty loaves of bread seasoned withherbs along with the obligatory home churned butter. Besides workingin the fields alongside her husband, the women also had a kitchengarden with vegetables and savory herbs.
The othermainstay was the pumpkin which is still harvested for its seedsand the superb oil the roasted seed produces. Oils andfats are always at a premium and never ever thrown away. Ihave had many a pork fat sandwich with garlic, salt, and pepper.Anything left over was given to the hogs which were slaughtered inthe fall and processed, smoked and hung on rafters in the pantry orpreserved in a tub of lard. The root cellar like thepantry was built of stone, being cool and moist. It held barrels ofsauerkraut, pickles, and perhaps of eggs which had been covered witha solution of lime and water.
In theevenings, kept warm by the ceramic wood & coal stove, storieswere told about surviving WWII and the Russian occupation. Somewere very funny, some not so much.
During the wareverything was rationed. Towards the end of the conflict, people inthe city would get on the train for the country with their fur coatsand oriental rugs and anything else they thought they could trade fora sack of potatoes. Many a farmer’s wife could be found withfinery. If you had extra food you kept a very low profile as not toarouse anger or envy of neighbors.
If you werefortunate enough to live in the country, then hunger was not aproblem because you grew what was needed – most had the skills,experience, and landneeded. Organic methods along with longestablished permaculture were the norm. Small livestocksuch as chickens and sometimes rabbits and doves were part of theliving larder. Everything depended on composting and the farmer withthe biggest manure pile was considered rich. Of course humanurewas part of recycling necessary nutrients for a successful harvestseason.
Several storieswhich contained significant life lessons were told by uncles who hadto serve on the front.
One uncle was amedical doctor and he told of a pampered young man who came in with ashoulder wound and he hysterically thought that he was mortallywounded. The team of doctors assured him that he would do justfine, all to no avail. This young city boy did dieunnecessarily. Later a farm boy came into the medical facilitywith a very serious stomach wound. He walked in carrying hisintestines in a newspaper. He was not expected to live but hehad the right mindset and he recovered.
The secondstory about serving on the front came from a different uncle who wasin a Siberian prison camp for seven years. He was a very tallman and as all those with him lost a tremendous amount of weightbecause of a terrible diet. Every meal consisted of a cabbagesoup with a few chunks of potatoes thrown in. After a time themen were no longer able to eat this soup, and even though they tried,they threw it up. Fortunately there was a doctor in their unit whotold them to take anything of value that they had, cigarettelighters, cigarettes, belt buckles and trade it for hot peppers whenthey went out on work details. Each meal they were to cut alittle of the peppers into their soup so that their gastric juiceswould start up again. This is how I learned about appetitefatigue. My uncle would say that the peasants in Siberiawere as poor as the prisoners and really did not eat much better.
The last storyabout the Siberian camp had to do with going home. The trainswere loaded with prisoners and they were to depart but for somereason the last car was uncoupled and left. This caused suchgreat disappointment and loss of hope that many men in that lastcompartment killed themselves. Without a solid spiritualfoundation our “men’s hearts will fail them” (Luke 21:26)when faced with desperation.
And then there was the thirduncle who was a survivor. His very hard life had honed hisinstincts. Somehow he would have an inkling when the next attack atthe front would occur and he would work his night patrols eitherbefore or after. Several men in his unit caught on to thistalent of being aware and sensitive to his surroundings,they started to stay close to him. Most Austrians wereconscripts that wanted to get home to their families.
Hearing suchstories and more made a great impression on my mind and these storieshave been told to the next generation. Better to learn fromanother’s life lessons, the personal cost is less if one listenswell.
Sincerely, - U.E.
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