| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Fiddlehead Farm |
Posted - Mar 23 2011 : 5:28:41 PM
In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic
bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and
explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
That's right, they didn't have the green thing in her day. Back then,
they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the
store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized
and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were
recycled. But they didn't have the green thing back her day.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator
in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and
didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two
blocks. But she's right. They didn't have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the
throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling
machine burning up 220 volts "wind and solar power" really did dry the
clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters,
not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right, they didn't
have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house not a TV in every
room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a
screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended
and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do
everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the
mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or
plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut
the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised
by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on
treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right, they didn't
have the green thing back then.
They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a
cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They
refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced
the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor
just because the blade got dull.. But they didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school
or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour
taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire
bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn't need a computerized
gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in
space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But that old lady is right. They didn't have the green thing back in her
day.
OMG...that was MY day too!
http://studiodiphotosite.shutterfly.com/
farmgirl sister #922
Happy to be a "Raggedy Ann" in a Barbie World!
I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.
- E. B. White |
| 17 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Tammyb |
Posted - Mar 29 2011 : 06:54:23 AM
Great post ... loved it.
Thanks for sharing.
Tammyb
Live to leave a legacy
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| Bonnie Ellis |
Posted - Mar 26 2011 : 11:24:17 PM
Diane: I lived this too until all those things came into being. In the early 70ies there was a green movement when much of the stuff we call green just made sense. Still doing it today. Now I nope there are a lot more people joining me. Woo Hoo sisters!
grandmother and orphan farmgirl |
| Fiddlehead Farm |
Posted - Mar 25 2011 : 06:49:51 AM
Violet, funny. No, I did not write this. I just wanted to share it.
http://studiodiphotosite.shutterfly.com/
farmgirl sister #922
Happy to be a "Raggedy Ann" in a Barbie World!
I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.
- E. B. White |
| Violets November |
Posted - Mar 25 2011 : 06:00:55 AM
I love that poem, thanks so much for sharing it! Did you write this?
The whole green thing drives me nuts also.
I was having a conversation with one of my DD's yesterday. She was asking if I could help her stock her pantry.
I was about to say something like, "yeah, I just got a 25 lb bag of *organic* whole wheat flour" Stopped myself. I've been buying good quality and organic food from a *whole foods* coop that I've been a member of for the last 30 years. I've never made a point of saying organic, it just came with the territory. It was how I raised my family.
I know it's weird, buy I sorta feel like I'm betraying myself and who I am when I let these commercial buzz words slip into my vocabulary. Why? To impress someone that I'm with the times?
I don't know, haven't thought it all out yet. I grew up in the Bay Area in the sixties, was a young adult in the 70's.
I wasn't the hippie chick who spent her money in the cutest hippie boutique, on concert tickets and Panama Red. I was one of those who sewed my own cute hippie clothes, learned the guitar and had my hands in the soil growing stuff and learning how to put it on the table!
So I don't know. Anyone else get bothered by this? I guess I bother myself over it.
I agree with everything above.
And again, I just LOVE the poem.
I'm rambling. It's early. I left my coffee in the kitchen. I left my *organic coffee* in the kitchen. I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I can't afford organic coffee! LOL!
~Violet~
Farmgirl Sister #1669
My blog, http://hiddenacre.blogspot.com/
Our Organic Jewelry, http://www.etsy.com/shop/GaelicForge |
| Annab |
Posted - Mar 25 2011 : 03:50:34 AM
I had 3 female cousins who would pass along their hand me downs and I would always look forward to it..........new clothes to me anyway!
My brother does the same thing from his two boys and our godson. BAGS and BAGS of stuff get passed along and in great condition too!
For us it's always been a lifestyle |
| batznthebelfry |
Posted - Mar 24 2011 : 3:12:35 PM
I loved reading the story & it is so true. but I was thinkin...oh my!...that all of us that were born until the 1960's were all raised to use things we had, wore hand me downs if there were alot of kids, maybe had a TV that only got watched by us kids on saturday morning & or maybe if lucky just before heading off to school...loved Captain Kangaroo. We did laundry by hand in the tub & mom hung it out to dry....but I noticed that when I had my son & tried to teach him these things is when the 'old' ways sort of went by the way side....I as did my friends all tried to teach our kids this but they weren't interested....So now I see these 30 somethings saying they are trying to be 'green' but if it was my son I had already given him the information & showed him how to do these things back when he was in my house. its kinda like its the new cool thing to do but to be honest its always been here....like others said before all the fancy things came into our life we did this 'cool' thing as just part of our life & didn't think anything of it. I too, hate the idea of all the books ect out there being bought to be green but if it gets these young people doing it I guess the trees that made them are serving a purpose. but if they had listened a long time ago they won't need these books cause momma, grandma & great grandma knew what they were talking about.....Michele'
Chickens rule!
The Old Batz Farm
Hen #2622 |
| ceejay48 |
Posted - Mar 24 2011 : 11:36:22 AM
Yup . . .been there, done that!!! Yessirree!!!!
Because my dad hauled water to our cistern he was very strict about water usage and he'd scold us seriously if the faucet was left to run . . or drip. My hubby and I hauled water to our house out in the middle of the Arizona desert for several years and my "water conservation" training served us well.
To this day I practice those same habits . . and hearing a faucet run or drip drives me nuts!! You should have seen me when I worked at the middle school and went in the girls restroom when those little cuties were primping . . . and letting the water run like crazy!!!
Yes, grandma's generation (and mine) knew ALL-L-L-L about it and more!!!
Thanks Diane!
CJ
..from the barefoot farmgirl in SW Colorado...sister chick #665
From my Heart - www.fromacelticheart.blogspot.com
From my Hands - www.cjscreations-ceejay.blogspot.com
From my Hubby - www.aspenforge.blogspot.com |
| maggie14 |
Posted - Mar 24 2011 : 09:58:58 AM
Thank you for sharing Diane! I loved it!
Hugs,
Hannah
Farmgirl sister #1219!
"Lifes not about the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away."
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| grace gerber |
Posted - Mar 24 2011 : 07:37:18 AM
I grew up with a mother who went thru the war in Germany and so I was taught skills that even back then was not popular. I started the first eco club in High School which only had three members including myself. I went on weekends and picked up trash along the highways and parks long before it was cool... I had hand canned foods under my bed and we practiced evacuations in my house long before they where taught in school. I remember many weekends working in the our garden smack dap in the middle of town because my mother always said have your own source of food if you can or barter for it with other skills.
Now they have books, classes and even shows to teach these skills but all with expensive price tags and tons of packaging... Madison Avenue is still screwing over the masses with just finding them another way to sell them things they don't need or should not use.
I never want to stop folks from learning and since it seems we have lost so much of the common sense ways of walking in the world I guess we have to take folks where they are and help them find the old ways - Mother Nature is giving us a huge wake up call - let's see who rises and shines....
Blessings to you all and keep those simple ways alive.
Grace Gerber
Larkspur Funny Farm and Fiber Art Studio
Where the spirits are high and the fiber is deep
http://www.larkspurfunnyfarm.etsy.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.blogspot.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.artfire.com
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| FebruaryViolet |
Posted - Mar 24 2011 : 07:17:33 AM
I call it "things our Grandparents knew..." as opposed to being "green" or "earth friendly". I still do a lot of these things, but not because I'm green. It's because I have common sense!!!!
I loved the glass bottles--and returning them! I can remember going to the grocery as a little kid and helping mom put the bottles up on the conveyor. I had such an imagination! I thought that there was some HUGE contraption when they went under the plastic "swishy" thing that took them up a conveyor, filled them, capped them and put them in shiny new carriers--in my head, it was like a machine from the Willy Wonka movie, happily chuging along. It never occurred to me they just sat back there in the warehouse waiting for the Coca Cola man 
Musings from our family in the Bluegrass http://sweetvioletmae.blogspot.com/ |
| Okie Farm Girl |
Posted - Mar 24 2011 : 05:52:59 AM
Whoops. Those were supposed to be musical notes. Use your imagination!! :-)
Mary Beth
www.OklahomaPastryCloth.com
www.Oklahomapastrycloth.com/blog
The Sovereign Lord is my strength - Habakkuk 3:19 |
| farmmilkmama |
Posted - Mar 24 2011 : 05:32:11 AM
Saw this posted on a blog the other day and loved it! Personally the whole "oh, we're being so green" movement drives me nuts. I often think about what my 94 year old great uncle thinks about all this "green stuff". He does a lot of eye rolling. :)
--* FarmMilkMama *--
Be yourself.
Everyone else is already taken.
-Oscar Wilde
www.farmfoodmama.blogspot.com |
| Okie Farm Girl |
Posted - Mar 24 2011 : 05:10:47 AM
I can see a country song in the works!!
" We were green before green was cool "
when we rode bicycles to our school
and hauling water was the rule
'cause that's the way it was"
Mary Beth
www.OklahomaPastryCloth.com
www.Oklahomapastrycloth.com/blog
The Sovereign Lord is my strength - Habakkuk 3:19 |
| Annab |
Posted - Mar 24 2011 : 03:46:46 AM
Some of that was also during my day as well.
I kind of miss the glass soda bottles. I remember knowibng I was a big kid when I could drink the whole thing and not feel sick.
As a child I was in cloth diapers, as was my brother some of the time. And Mom dried most of our clothes on the line and even used drying lines in the basement in the winter.......just b/c she could.
The people of today are "soft" and just don't realize how good thay have it.........intil their technology god fails and they are left tying to deal while most of us can fall back and continue to get on with it |
| knittinchick |
Posted - Mar 23 2011 : 9:18:50 PM
Diane I love this! I hope that my generation can learn a few things from past generations about treating the earth the right way.
God's and Farmgirl's Blessings,
Megan aka Loretta Rae
At heart, I am both a sassy city girl and a down-home country gal.
The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work. |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Mar 23 2011 : 9:13:15 PM
LOVE it, Diane! I'm definitely going to share it, too! Thank you! Hugs - Nini
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
Farmgirl Sister #1974 |
| woolgirl |
Posted - Mar 23 2011 : 5:50:59 PM
That's cute! I will have to send that to my mom, she will love it! :)
Farmgirl #1947 |
