So, hi.
This blog has been trapped in my imagination for the past year or so. I have had this nagging desire to write some of this "so called wisdom" of all matters home ec.
The first couple pangs of this blog came to me about a year ago when I was gathering up as many berries, peaches and other misc produce I could get my hands on for my annual canning sessions. My mom came over as she often does and helped me. Because really this is a 2 woman job. Especially if there are small kids under foot. So anyway, my mom and I got to talking and came to the realization that "we had been doing this sort of thing for so long and were so efficient at it, that maybe we could teach a community ed course on it or something." Just after talking to many of my friends and taking a bit of an informal survey, I came to the conclusion than very few girls in my generation , the generation X (Birth dates vary, but an average definition would be from 1968 to 1979.) did not know how to do many of the basic household skills that most girls learned only a generation ago (my mother's generation also known as the baby boomers). Such as canning and making most anything from scratch.
It seems that one of the casualties of the women's lib movement was the profession of the "Homemaker" . Not that I don't enjoy voting and many aspects of the movement, but it sort of messed with some social aspects with gender role expectations. Many girls my age just didn't see the need to learn how to cook, sew and take care of babies. Maybe they had plans of having a career and thought they would just figure it out along the way or would live off of prepared food for the rest of their life. I am not sure what the motivation was exactly. Now don't be confused here and think I am on a high horse about this either. I just knew this was what I wanted to be when I grew up and I made a choice to pay close attention in Home ec.
Which brings me to my next point. I loved Home ec in school. I took it all through middle school and then on through High school. I found something that I did well and liked at the same time. I also took 4-H and did sewing. This is something that just came fairly naturally to me. Also my mom was completely of the homespun background. She would cook and sew and in turn she felt these were important skills for a girl to know . So she saw to it that I would shadow her in the kitchen so that I could see what she was doing and why at a very early age. Whenever she would "can up" something she would give me a job to get me to be a part of the process. This is how I learned to do most things.
So as I have laid out, I have quite a domestic background. Although you probably would not know to look at me. I am sort of an unlikely housewife. I had a bit of a torrid youth, married a guy that has been in and out of punk bands and am pierced and tattooed myself. Not a likely candidate for a spot on Martha Stewart. But I have my own way of doing most things that usually has the same end result as traditional methods. My thought with this whole experiment is to show people that there is more than one way to skin a cat. I will try to find the easiest way to do most things and try to teach you how to maintain a meal menu, organize most anything including your schedule and cleaning regimen.
So check back as I am sort of making this up as I go, but I am hoping this is helpful to someone.
