As The Workhouse Approaches....How To Do Everything To Avoid It, the Old Style Way

Carolyntia

Coal dust being taken away by a dustman? I'm sorry but I don't see why...it was always dug into the garden at my grannys

ceridwen

charlies-aunt wrote: »

On the OS theme of 'waste not, want not' - did anyone see the ”If walls could talk” programme on BBC4 last night ? The series has been looking back on the history and evolution of individual rooms in a house and last night’s programme was on kitchens and how they have progressed from the simple three legged pot seated in a central hearth to todays high tech culinary experiences

One section had them emptying out modern kitchen bin and going through the contents and sorting them as a Victorian housewife would have done.

- Bottle and jars were kept for reuse,

- Meat bones, vegetable peelings and fish scraps were kept for stock.

- Any bones coming out of the stockpot would be given to the dogs and anything left after the dogs had finished with it was hoarded for sale to the rag and bone man. The bits of inedible food from the stockpot or the kitchen were added to the "wash bucket" and sold as pig feed (hence the old term ‘hogwash’)

- Tins would have been resold for recycling

- Cinders from the fireplaces were recycled in the kitchen range and coal dust and wood ash was hoarded in the ‘dust-bin’ and sold to the dust-men.

- Newspapers, books, pamphlets etc were neatly torn up and threaded on a string ready for use in the smallest room

It seems that everything was either recycled or was sold on.....very little actual rubbish - seems like our ancestors were much greener than their modern day counterparts.

We have a very black sky overhead but no rain as yet - fingers crossed for plenty of rain this weekend as watering the lottie takes an hour every night with cans and buckets as hosepipes are banned.

Tiring day at work - it must be full moon again this week - lots of demanding and unreasonable callers. :cool:

Darn - forgot I have a tv now again:rotfl:. Thanks gals for the linkie above to IpLAYER.

Re Full Moon - 'fraid not...the unreasonable callers are due next week according to the "they all go ***** at that time of the month" theory. Its on 17 May.

See:

http://moonphases.info/full_moon_calendar_dates.html#Full-Moon-dates-2011

CRANKY40

Carolyntia wrote: »

Coal dust being taken away by a dustman? I'm sorry but I don't see why...it was always dug into the garden at my grannys

Because not everyone had a garden. My great grandma lived in a terraced house with only a small yard.

Athome1

Morning all, another occasional poster here with a question (sort of old style):o

I am doing a 1930s cookery themed 3 day event for a group of teenagers and I'm trying to be as accurate as possible (thank goodness for grannys old cookbooks). Anyway my question is was peanut butter used here in the UK in 1930s? I've done a Google search and it looks like it was just in the USA and I only remember it from about the 1970s onward.

I'm not suggesting anyone on here is old enough to remember personally:rotfl: but perhaps a mum and gran might remember?

Thanks in advance:beer:

bertiebots

Carolyntia wrote: »

Coal dust being taken away by a dustman? I'm sorry but I don't see why...it was always dug into the garden at my grannys

As the programme explains everything was useful and coal dust was not rubbish, the dust men payed to take it away, so I imagine your granny was after the time period she was talking about?:D


And I loved the 1950's kitchen in the programme btw...I remember my grandma's kenwood mixer was just like the one she had.

GreyQueen

Woe, woe, a thousand time woe (oh get a grip, gal, it could've been worse). Went to the lottie yesterday and saw what the frost did on Tues night. A fleece strip had come off a row of tatties and they were blasted and the ones under the fleeces are a bit crispy where the leaves touch the fleece but all should rally.

It must have been severe as it penetrated into the greenhouse and the first set of true leaves on the courgette seedlings near the door look a bit poorly. A few of the strawbs have a wee bit of frost damage at their hearts where the tenderest new leaves are unfurling and the peas are a bit yellowish.

I was having forty-fits at this and the amount of work there is to do up there but there are rumours that we may have something called "rain" on Sunday. Not sure what this thing is anymore but am very excited at the mere prospect.

:mad: Mole Wars; the little horror(s) have been at it again and one has surfaced, in the pea row, right under one of the milk bottles and forced it out of the soil. I shall be hunting elder leaves this weekend, thanks for the tip, ladies. Dad is still offering the mole trap but I'm not going there. I accidentally speared a toad when I was digging last autumn (it had buried itself to hibernate) and was terribly upset for days, so I can't countenance mole-icide up there (but I make no judgement on what others do in this respect btw).

I have managed to lose 4 lb in 4 days......I am very happy. Don't feel any lighter but it's heading in the right direction.

On the subject of household waste, when my parents were newly-weds, they lived in a little rented cottage with no bathroom and only a cold-water tap in the kitchen. To get more than a kettle-full of hot water, you needed to bucket cold into the "copper" which was built across the corner of the kitchen, light a fire underneath and heat it that way. Mum said there was never any waste which was burnable as it was all used for that.

I guess having "waste" is utlimately a sign of wealth as it is resources which could be better used, like single use plastic trays for foodstuffs, heavy cardboard cartons for takeaway pizza etc. It annoys the heck out of me.

Funniest call yesterday; a bloke who was on foot in a town about 40 miles from Provincial City looking for a polling station and who was furious that I didn't know where it was and suggested he call the council up there. Whatever is the matter with people?!

Pazu

Hi

Sorry I didn't get back to you. I did post and run and have since been away for a few days.

Mardatha and Ceridwin; thankyou for your support. I have had the camera thing done before so thought I knew what to expect. Wont go into details on here,suffice to say its over. Ceridwin I think maybe the camera you are thinking of is less controlable which is why they used the TOE but you are right they will have to do something different next time because I will be unable to co-operate after this last experience. (Hope I am not being to obscure. I just don't want to put anyone else off).

After the hospital experience I walked the 15mile section of the Avebury to Stonehenge marathon with friends. Not bad for someone with a heart condition and only doable because of the cardiac team. Hello to anyone who was there. Wasn't it a glorious day and so well organised? Then off to Centre Parcs Spa for two days lol. Not very MSE but the only holiday I shall have this year. I can't believe this thread has grown so quickly. I will read it all.

LiR Ofcourse you are right about the Big Society and I know from previous posts how much you help, on here and in the real world. I was letting my politics show a little too clearly. Naughty of me.

Hugs to all

Pazu

grandma247

Another tip for weight loss is to eat absolutely everything at the table. Seemingly we do not count as food anything we eat on the run so sitting at the table reminds us we are eating food so it makes it easiet to cut down.
Also eating protien at breakfast is a good idea because it takes longer to get through your system and gives you energy when you cut down on carbs.

Well I did have a few multiquotes to reply to but for some reason they have disappeared. I can't be bothered to go back over all the posts so will have to leave it.

had a very good few days away and feel so much better. Comeing closer to home made me feel a bit down again though. we really need to get away from here. We are going in the right direction but whenever i see headlines that house prices are going down it worries me we will be stuck here.

grandma247

Wow I just watched the couponing video. I knew it went on because I belong to a few Americanfood storage and home ed groups but it was amazing to actually see it in action. That is how I would shop but not buying stuff like 62 bottles of mustard if no one in the house liked it.
I do buy lots of things when they are on offer and store them but lately have run stocks down a bit. I used to have three years worth of washing up liquid,tissues and bathroom products but am down to about a years worth. All that has helped us to pay down the mortgage by two thirds in the last couple of years. it may take longer than I would like to pay off the rest because of all the price rises but we will get there.

valentina

Athome1 wrote: »

Anyway my question is was peanut butter used here in the UK in 1930s? I've done a Google search and it looks like it was just in the USA and I only remember it from about the 1970s onward.

I don't know but I would guess the American GIs over here in WW2 would have had it as part of their rations and that would have popularised it in Britain?