Jun. 3, 2009 - ~Me thinking....outloud (and a recipe of sorts)
I've been thinking.... were old timers healthier? You know....the farmers of a hundred years ago. Not the ones of today who farm the land, grow some food, and pick up a Big Mac on the way to market. I'm thinking about the farmers who stayed on their land all week long, tilling, living, and going to town once a week to fellowship and get a few essentials. The very simple.....
There's a book that we read 7 or 8 years ago that has 'stayed' with me/us. We loaned the book out after we read it and it traveled to several families before landing back at our house over 2 years later. The book is called Henry and the Great Society and it's one of the most powerful little books I've ever read.
The first two chapters set the stage, introducing Henry and his family, after that hang on - you're living life through Henry - and more than you know! Henry's days were not like ours - at first anyways. Henry lived in a community. He went to 'town' once a week. Worked on the farm. Ate on the farm. Lived on the farm. Loved on the farm. Raised the children on the farm. You can sense that Henry was happy and healthy, no want for nothing, until progress of course.
So I was out watering the veggies yesterday. While I was at it I enjoyed a few samples, snacking on a little of this and that. Then I thought..... hmm, I wonder how healthy the farmers were before all this 'progress'. I figure they had to eat really well. They definately received enough exercise. And stress..... well I figure a hundred or more years ago was an age where we generally didn't beg for debt like we do today. You worked hard and made due and lived with a general attitude of contentment and thankfulness.
Families worked together, one generation caring for another. The grandparents were never discarded as useless. Everyone had something to offer and EVERYONE contributed. Children, even the very young, had their place, and their place wasn't sitting in front of the big box eating their morning pop-tart.
My daughter and I just returned from a short trip to our Grandmothers a week ago. While on the trip we were discussing my childhood and some of the fond memories I have. Most of my fond memories are when I would visit my grandmother in the middle of nothing ville.
When young, I would have rather stayed home to stroll the mall or eat those pop-tarts in front of the tube, but I HAD to go to Grandmas - where there wasn't even any t.v. reception for goodness sakes! Isn't it strange that most of my favorite memories take place at Grandmas, in the middle of nowhere, with no entertainment and 'nothing' to do (using the word 'nothing' loosely)?
I can't remember what we'd eat for breakfast, but lunchtime I'd BEG for a hash sandwich and we'd unroll the plastic tarp, sprinkle on the detergent, and enjoy the most slippery slip-N-slide ever, or I'd be allowed to head out to the neighbors sink hole for a swim. If it was real hot and the sink hole was dry I'd sit in the church (the only place with a little air conditioning) and read my bible or lead out an imaginary worship service with one of the fifty hymnals. On Sundays I'd teach childrens church to the little ones. And before Sunday, if Grandma had a few extra dollars we'd take an hour trip to the only bible bookstore around and search through the clearance or give-a-way items to use with the children on Sundays. BTW, Grandma lived off 127.00 a month and did just fine without debt.
I was involved. I was engaged. My grandmother was simple and didn't know her 11 year old grand daughter couldn't contribute in such a way. She was all about enjoying Jesus and enjoying the people around her, even the poor ones without any shoes. Everyone had something to contribute. Everyone had high value, young and old.... even the shoeless.
Recipe:
*The soup above will serve the 8 of us for 2-3 meals. In olive oil, we sauteed onions and herbs from the garden (LOTS of herbs...parsley, rosemary, basil, oregano) then we added whatever veggies we had on hand. I was going for an italian style soup, but needed to use the veggies I had as well.....isn't soup grand?! We had some beans and a big fat squash from the garden. Then we added sweet potato, celery, kale, can of diced tomatoes, one pound of turkey meat, and I think that might be all. We ended up cooking some pasta and serving the soup atop the pasta. The herbs made the broth fantastic! Did you know that adding celery cuts back on your need for salt? Neat!
Comments
Jun. 3, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by kyhills
My husband read the Henry book to our family a few years ago.It is one of his favorite books!
