As Wolf and I made steps to green up our lifestyle it came to our attention there were lots of things we took for granted. For instance, we both really like rice but we had no idea where it came from other than “the store.” Same with our clothes.
Whenever something was “used up” we threw it away and bought a new one, like sponges or clothes. Not once did we put any thought into how those clothes were made or where they came from. Sure, we knew about sweat shops in other parts of the world (and here in the US) but we didn’t think those things pertained to us. I’m not sure why we had the mental disconnect, I think it’s something taught to us by the American consumer culture.
Slowly our green consciousnesses began to formulate and speak to our hearts. Our Pagan souls also became more vocal. We started putting together many pieces of the puzzle to form a more complete picture of the waste we were producing and participating in.
Just as slowly we started making changes. Wolf learned to cook so we ate in more often. We bought smaller cars that have better gas mileage. We started grouping errands together so it was one trip in the car instead of many. I taught myself to knit and I taught us both how to can.
At first I asked my grandmother and mother in law to teach me both but neither knew how. I couldn’t figure out why but after many conversations with both matriarchs I realized they didn’t know because to them knowing how to can and make your own clothes was to show poverty. You see, both women are children of immigrants. Both grew up in a time (much like our time) when being American was what immigrants and their children wanted so they rejected everything about their heritages. To can your own food and make your own clothes, well…that’s what poor people did. Rich people, that is Americans, went to the store and bought bread, milk, sugar, and clothes. These women were so bent on being rich Americans they did not want to learn traditional ways of cooking, preserving, and making their own clothes. Nana and my MIL were *horrified* Wolf and I wanted to learn these skills. Now that we do, though, they are quite proud and will praise the things I knit and the food we can to those who will listen.
Teaching myself to knit has been an on going process. I am still not an advanced knitter though I’m more than a basic but less than an intermediate. Laces, mittens, gloves, and socks still confound me. I’ve not yet attempted a sweater but I can do cables and knit in the round (like hats). To teach myself I got a couple books and, of course, YouTube.
Canning wasn’t much different. I didn’t use YouTube at all but I did buy lots of canning books. Of course there were a couple catastrophes in the kitchen but nothing life threatening. I have not poisoned us nor anyone else. My pickles are pretty damned good and so is my spaghetti sauce. As a matter of fact, now that I make my own sauces, stews, soups, pickles, and mayo I can’t eat store bought stuff. Even the organic is pretty gross. All I can taste is the chemicals and processing whereas my food, well… it’s perfect =). Well, next to Wolf’s whose food is always, always outstanding.
Yes it took time to teach ourselves these skills. But they are worth it. Now I look at food on my plate with pride, or the wares in my Etsy shop with a sense of accomplishment (please buy my stuff!). Wolf is the same way when he looks at a blackberry pie he’s made or a chicken he’s killed, skinned, and processed at The Gitch’s or Maggie Mae Farm.
So we’ll continue on our regressive journey to become progressive members of the world community. And we’ll feel dammed good about it.
Isn’t it fascinating how “being green” has all these political implications – especially when it comes to class consciousness! Once upon a time, knowing how to provide these basic necessities like food and clothes for ourselves was taken for granted as something everyone knew; then, it became a sign of poverty and Otherness, a reminder of your status as an immigrant; now, the people I know who do their own sewing, gardening, canning, etc. tend to be educated middle to upper-middle class, while the impoverished today are struggling with holding down multiple jobs and grabbing their meals at McDonalds whenever they can.
This is not meant to be a criticism, either. I actually have some hope in seeing that the privileged are taking advantage of their situation to embody more earth-conscious choices – because it means that one day soon, those earth-friendly choices will be the new standard of what it means to be “wealthy” in our culture. They will become the standards to which people aspire to rise, instead of owning a McMansion and driving a fancy car.
Anyway, that’s what I hope.
In the meantime, I wish the Green Living movement in this country did a little bit more outreach to the impoverished and the marginalized. But we all do what we can, and sometimes just keeping our own heads above water and teaching ourselves those important necessary skills needs to be our first priority.
I learned these skills while I was unemployed. Not only were we sinking financially but I was bored out of my mind (and incredibly lonely).
While I agree it’s the wealthy who are learning these things to green up the planet. But I also think we can learn a lot from the impoverished and marginalized.
My boyfriend and I are doing similar things. Since I do not (yet) have the skills or motivation to learn to sew clothes, we instead thrift a lot, and I accept hand me downs gratefully. I figure that way, my money is not going to the businesses who use unethical labor practices, but to a local shop owner or even a charity (if the shop is charity-owned.) It’s the next best thing. This also saves things from going to the landfill.
I do hand sew, and I make simple bags. Maybe one day I’ll learn to make clothing. I do some mending.
We also cook mostly from scratch, we compost, and we are growing some of our own food. It feels GOOD to live this way, honestly. Our lives are much simpler and relaxed.
Blessed be.
Speaking of thrift, perhaps you would like this blog I stumbled across. http://www.newdressaday.com/ She wanted something to do while she was unemployed, so she spent about one dollar a day to buy something truly ugly and cheap from a thrift store and turn it into something quite lovely. Then she blogged it. It’s pretty inspiring and always gives me good ideas. These days I think she’s accepting gifts and remaking them which is even more fun.
My immigrant family never lost these skills, but that is because we stayed rural. We moved from farming in the UK to farming in Canada.
These skills are also wrapped up in the feminist movement. Many women I have known over the years have been appalled that I can crochet, or sew, cook from scratch, or milk a cow etc. Because they believe that such skills show our domestic servitude.
In reality, I find these skills to be very liberating. Especially since I can CHOOSE to learn them. It also makes me have much greater respect for my foremothers. Learning to hand spin yarn this past year was eye opening. Women had to do this non-stop while raising children and tending crops and all that. What amazing, strong and tireless women they were!
It is confounding to me that the art of cooking would seem to be dying. This, the most basic thing that connects us to the world around us, and yet it is a dying art. To have that feeling of looking at the pie you have made and knowing that all will be well in the world because you have provided for those you love – nothing can beat it. Knitting still perplexes me though…
Juniper I too have been criticized by fellow feminists for the same reasons. My response was: how is it liberating to be dependent on someone else to cook and clean for you? Besides, it’s my responsibility to clean up after myself not someone else’s. And why is it ok to employ someone else whom you’re gonna pay less money to because you don’t value their work? It’s one of my biggest complaints about the feminist movement.
Libby: I’m not much of a cook myself but Wolf is a wonderful one. I don’t think the gender of the cook matters so long as one person in the relationship enjoys doing so.
Yes, yes, yes!
I often hear people saying things like, we can’t change our lives enough to make a difference without people starving in the streets or life becoming intolerable. And, yeah, I’m aware our population is much larger than it was the last time people in our culture tried thrift as a way of living. But, worldwide, we waste between 40% and 50% of our food–for instance.
Waste–something my schoolteacher grandmother and my truckdriver grandfather would never have tolerated. And it turns out that a lot of the skills to create a greener future involve relearning a lot of what our grandparents grew up knowing: how to make a little out of a lot.
Rats. I can’t seem to delete or edit my comment–last line should obviously read, “how to make a lot out of a little.” (The other way around, obviously, our Western culture has completely mastered…)
Isn’t it funny how some of us have come full circle in this? Strangely enough I have yet to hear any criticism from the fact that I can knit or cross stitch, maybe because it’s become hip again. Or the fact that I know how to do basic clothing repair with needle or thread. Surely is a lot cheaper than tossing something otherwise in perfect shape or paying someone else to do it.
Also, given the rise in food prices and the declining quality (as well as questionable ingredients), there IS something liberating about being able to make it yourself. Especially when you make something perceived as fancy, but really cost more in time than money. (She says, eying the duck livers in her freezer which cost less than $4)
Also, thank you for giving me inspiration for the next I Believe in Butter post.
I don’t feel like cooking is dying out, even if the skill is shifting around. There were tons of people over the last century who didn’t cook. A lot of them were men, and many were women whose class meant they didn’t have to do that. Now in many cases a poor woman can get by without cooking and many do…
I guess it does suck that a lot of people who could have learned from their families didn’t, and it’s straight up horrible that so many living spaces are ill-suited to cooking for one’s self or family. Having a nice or even adequate kitchen is kind of becoming a class status marker…
But I don’t feel like anyone who can cook should cook, or that everyone needs to learn how. I think it would be good if everyone had the opportunity… But I also think it’s important that everyone in our society have access to good food from healthy, sustainable sources, and I think it’s counterproductive to shame people who want that but don’t want to devote the effort to cooking, for whatever reason.