WHY are you old style?......

Gothicfairy

There is a group...https://www.justfortheloveofit.org that have some skill sharing events listed ( for free) that might be worth checking out.

Patchwork_Quilt

As a child, I didn't appreciate how useful all these skills were. Although my Mum is a good old-fashioned cook and taught me to knit and sew, these things don't have any real meaning until you would like a nice bedspread or need to whip up a meal but have a restricted income.

Therefore, I do agree that we should be taught these things at home but we do need to pass them on to adults in the community too.

I loved Little House on the Prairie but in fact, am aiming more towards the Good Life. My main influences have been my parents and grandparents but it's amazing, once you start talking to people, how many are growing their own etc and are prepared to share advice, take you round the garden, save scraps of fabric for you and so on.

Our time has come!

rosieben

Lovely thread, thanks Angel!

I started out with OS because of financial problems but quickly became converted to the simple-life philosophy. I'm fascinated by the wartime lifestyle as they had so much more to deal with than just food shortages, I'm amazed when I read those diaries at just how resourceful people can be.

halight

Gothicfairy wrote: »

There is a group...www.justfortheloveofit.org that have some skill sharing events listed ( for free) that might be worth checking out.

Thanks for that link iv had a quick look, Will have a better look later on. I might join, as it looks like a good idea

Penelope_Penguin

Angel_Jenny wrote: »

It is a shame that the older style skills aren't taught any more. Sewing, baking and basic home economics weren't taught at my school but I would have loved to have learnt them. I think it would have been easier to learn when I was young!

It makes me wonder what it will be like for the next generation as everyone seems to want brand new stuff so heirlooms and family treasures don't seem as important. Also if children aren't taught the skills they don't always realise what they are missing.

Perhaps in a couple of generations no children will wear jumpers knitted by Granny and that seems like such a shame!

Sorry if I'm speaking out of turn - but IMHO these skills should be taught in the home, not at schools. You say you didn;t learn these things when you were young - were your parents and grandparents not able to teach you?

I learnt to knit, sew, cook with my mother and grandmother. My dad taught me to garden, home maintenance and basic car stuff No-one taught me housework :rotfl:

I've picked up crochet, quilting, needlepoint and tapestry from books and the internet.

My children both love to create, as do their friends. I see no reason to worry about the next generation.

Not everyone wants new - see the popularity of shabby chic, and Kirstie Allsop.

I suspect you have no children of your own Apologies if I've got this wrong

rosieben

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

... were your parents and grandparents not able to teach you? ...

that's the ideal Pen Pen but my grandmothers both died when I was very young and as I came at the bottom end of a big family, my mother had no patience left to teach me anything; a friend's mother taught me some sewing, buttons etc and the rest I learned at school or by reading/watching and asking

Angel_Jenny

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Sorry if I'm speaking out of turn - but IMHO these skills should be taught in the home, not at schools. You say you didn;t learn these things when you were young - were your parents and grandparents not able to teach you?

I learnt to knit, sew, cook with my mother and grandmother. My dad taught me to garden, home maintenance and basic car stuff No-one taught me housework :rotfl:

My grandparents were old when I was born and while my Gran used to love to bake and knit her arthritis was too bad for her to continue by the time I was old enough to learn. My Mum can cook and sew but it was quicker to do those things herself rather than teaching me. It would have been nice to learn when I was younger but there were other priorities.

I have a couple of books on sewing and am learning to use the sewing machine (slowly!) and I have been playing around with different recipes. I have a lot of work to do to learn all the things I want to know!

Angel Jenny :A

ceridwen

Angel_Jenny wrote: »

It is a shame that the older style skills aren't taught any more. Sewing, baking and basic home economics weren't taught at my school but I would have loved to have learnt them. I think it would have been easier to learn when I was young!

Hopefully I could learn some of this at the WI!

I have been reading a book called "The Hope Chest - A Legacy of Love" which covers all sorts of things that would go into a hope chest. I am finding it really interesting as I had not heard of the hope chest tradition. It covers physical things to put in as well as skills to learn. Even the most basic items like plates and cups are meaningful because of the love they are given with.

/QUOTE]

Actually re Penelope Penguin's point subsequently about learning these at home - rather than at school.

Actually - i think both are beneficial in different ways BUT I think its very important for schools to teach them - as that was the only place I learnt them myself. I cannot recall learning anything from my mother - even basic cookery. I learnt all these things at school or taught myself/went on courses.

Some of us dont have mothers who do these sort of skills/are good cooks/etc - so school IS the only way we will learn...

I didnt learn how to cook ANYTHING at all from my mother. My sewing skills are...errr...rather limited...but I can manage things like sewing on a button/taking up a basic hem sort of level and I believe I must have learnt that at school. When it came to things like basics of making crumble toppings/pastry/etc - I realised I had some idea how to do that initially - and would have learnt that in cookery lessons at school.

It will be even more the case for generations after mine that school is the place they have to learn these things - because their mothers dont know how to do these things and/or don't have the time to..

Grandparents arent necessarily available either - both my grandmothers died whilst I was a very young child and one of them didnt live nearby anyway.

[Deleted User]

what a nice opening post. Welcome

I am one of those born just after the war to parents who had been through the whole war, my dad having fought from 1939 and leaving the army a year after I was born. People like me had no choice but to learn the skills of surviving on very very little and those skills don`t go away so I am not inspired but it is an ingrained way of life, although tempered as times got (relatively) easier. Those skills got me and dh and our 3 small children through some awfully tough times and through recessions to a point where we are now retired and living comfortably but still with an eye on staying solvent and having a cash safety net for whatever the future brings. Mindful also of how tough it is for our 3 nowadays as they bring up young children and always with a weather eye open in case they need our help in whatever way

My os life has been satisfying and I am never bored and almost always happy with my lot. All my skills came from my parents

foxgloves

Enjoying a simpler more ethical & fulfilling life consuming less of the nasty cheap plastic tat that is destined to sit in landfill for generations.