Have you ever wished to go back in time so life would be more simple?
We cannot go back because life is always changing and moving forward but we do have control in the changes we make to create that place that we imagine.
When we start investing our time and talents making items ourselves and using those items every day they take on and importance to which we start taking more care which opens our minds to the understanding of our generations before us. If we could only jump back in time to talk with them and have them to teach us what they knew and understood.
Some people love to restore old cars, to bring back the beauty of these magnificent pieces of the past. Some restore wood furniture or trim work that has been carved with someone's skilled hands. These are pieces of history and now they have been replaced with plastic and chemically made components and products that are not only poor quality but probably emitting something harmful.
It seems the more we go back to old fashioned and simple the further back we want to go. It has taken us awhile but we understand now more than ever the importance of embracing the things of the past.
This includes our soil. Some people including ourselves, are literally digging our way through trying to put back organic matter to improve the depleted soil. People today are sending food scraps and yard waste to the dump when it can be composting on our own property.
Applying chemicals to lawns can be toxic to many living things that we need to exist so life can continue. If we all could do our part we would not have to worry about what government is doing, even if it is a small part and you live in an apartment you could keep a five gallon worm bin to put your vegetable scraps, newspaper, tea and coffee grounds and let the worms turn these scraps into wonderful castings to be spread out around flowers, vegetables or trees. You can give the castings to someone with a yard or spread them around the flowers, trees and plants in the city. Is it gross and dirty, yes of course but is it necessary? Yes it is.
We must put our organic soil back and we can if we all pull together and just do it.
Some people that understand the importance of preserving the past are trying to keep skills alive by teaching quilting, canning & preserving, sewing, knitting, cooking, woodworking and gardening. The problem is there are less and less interested in learning and more and more chance that some of these skill we be more important in our future.
I am a constant, learning apprentice at everything I do and I will keep trying to achieve skilled level.
If your feelings, your gut is telling you something that you are not happy with how things are and you are being pulled to a more sensible and simple life then listen to that voice. If you wonder if you can live a simple life of long ago the answer is yes.
We are the only ones that are keeping ourselves from taking the steps to make a life of a more sensible and sustainable existence. When you experience the joy that comes from knowing you are making the right decisions and watching your debt decrease and your savings increase, when you experience the joy that comes from shopping from your grocery list that has been written after menu and budget planning, when you experience the joy cleaning your home because there is less clutter then you know you have made that change that you are not blindly spending nor wasting valuable time doing things that are not in the interest of your mission to make your way to that more simple life.
My regrets are that we did not start sooner but I am happy that we did start and that we have not wavered. We do not know where our journey will take us, none of us do but I was once at a point in my life where I felt I was just existing, working coming home, spending and felt in a trap.
We can still be working outside our homes and live a simple and old fashioned life. By the way this is in no way a boring life.
When the old fashioned simple life is not working it is because there is still too much clutter. Something is still too modern. Once that is fixed things will start to fall into place. It also means that no routine has been established. We all have times in our lives when things get out of kilter for various reasons but can go back to running smooth quicker than if the simple life had never existed.
Many of you may think that we have it all figured out and that we are here living this simple old fashioned life. We are not, we are still slowly taking steps to balance this life it Is not something that just happens. We still have too many clothes, we still need to go back through the kitchen cabinets. We have a small storage room that still needs sorting and cleaning. It stores old camping equipment and assorted things.
It is getting easier to clean the house now because there is less in the way to clean around. but there is still sorting and our home will always need cleaning, repairs and sorting and arranging.
I am to the point that small things bring me pleasure. I like to keep some special soap to bathe with when I just want to smell pretty. I am sensitive to strong smells but every once in awhile something that is an old fashioned smell will not bother me such as this rose soap.
People go too far with things of pleasure, it causes debt or it reduces the money that could be put away for a time when it might be needed.
I hope that this post helps you in some way.
Grandma Donna
