Changing necessities

Today I read a report about changing perceptions of necessity versus luxury. A few months ago I posted a blog about how our dryer conked out and I was extolling the virtues of a clothes line in lieu of a dryer. In my blog I stated that 83% of Americans view the dryer as a necessity. Interestingly enough, this Pew report I read indicates that those numbers, in this economy, are now below the opinion levels of those surveyed about the necessity of a clothes dryer in 1983. Now only 66% of people indicate the dryer as a necessity.

I take the time to wash a couple of loads of clothes almost every day and I try to hang all of the clothes on the line. My line is not immense, and about one load at a time fits on it. Yet now that summer time temps are upon us (over 100 this weekend!), I find it takes no more than a couple of hours for the clothes to dry. Utilizing the power of sun and wind makes a difference when you're trying to pinch pennies in this economy!

In addition, I was intrigued by the other "necessities" in this report which are now seeing declining numbers. The microwave (down 21% since 2006), home air conditioning (down 16%), television (down 12%) and cable service (down 10%).

Our microwave is a monster model. It is harvest gold, has a dial rather than push buttons, and we rarely use it. I would venture to guess in three years I have used the microwave maybe a dozen times. I use the stove, bbq grill and the oven rather than the microwave. Partly it's because when I do turn that beast on, I'm a little leery to even be in the house while it's running for fear of radiation! And that fear makes me realize that when I do utilize it, what I'm blasting into my food isn't necessarily something that is good for my body! We don't eat or buy convenience foods--those boxed meals with excess packaging and bland, over processed food just don't appeal to me. I prefer whole foods as much as I can get them. I occasionally use canned foods, but that's about the limit--unless you count boxed crackers! Warming my food is a snap on the stove with the help of a double boiler, though my goal when cooking is try to limit the amount of leftovers.

As for television, well, you know how I feel about that! Since the digital conversion our television has been turned on very little--we have watched a few movies on it. Out of curiosity one day not long after the conversion I thought I'd take a look to see what all static looks like. I was surprised to see the religious channels and Spanish speaking channels still coming through! I haven't missed watching TV, nor do I give it much thought. Actually lately I've been thankful it's a non-entity!

The reality is: we don't really "need" much more than a roof over our head, food to eat, and water to drink. The luxuries that make our life a little less hectic are just that--luxuries. What do most people do with all that extra time the dryer and microwave affords? Watch television! Though, apparently less people see the need for that too.

What in the heck is it?

Several months back, as I was planning my garden, I was very interested in companion planting and learned that borage grows well with tomatoes. I had never heard of borage, but found some seeds at the store, so I decided to go ahead and include them in my garden. Wow! What a plant! Often people ask me "what the heck is it?" when I point it out in my garden. I did a little research and thought I'd share it with you.

First of all, borage is edible--the leaves are most tasty when young. The plant is hairy all over and the consistency is a little strange to get used to, but the leaves taste like cucumber and make a great addition to salads. The flowers are edible too. Second of all, when you plant this in your garden, make sure you leave a lot of room for it to grow. Though the flowers are tiny, the plant itself can grow up to two or three feet tall and just as wide! Bees love the flowers, which is another added bonus if you are growing organically.

Grown as an herb, this plant is popular in Europe, and it is most often used in Germany, Spain, and Italy. In Germany the popular Frankfurter Grüne Soβe (Gruene Sosse) uses borage along with many other herbs.

Perhaps most importantly, at least in my mind, borage grows well with tomatoes. It is said that borage repels the tomato worm and makes tomatoes taste better if grown together. In my garden I have a ring of borage intermixed with nasturtiums, marigolds, and basil (all also make excellent tomato companions) surrounding four tomato plants. Whether they taste better will be the subject for a later post!

Creative Gardening

I guess it's been a while since I posted an update about my garden. Surprisingly it's coming along very well! Already we've enjoyed the bounties of our harvest--plenty of lettuce salads with borage leaves, radishes, and basil tossed in, all courtesy of our garden. We've also enjoyed turnips and beets as well as swiss chard. I went out yesterday to weed a little and as I was readjusting the cucumbers to climb the trellis, I noticed I had several green beans ready to pick! We ate those last night.

I also noticed that my tomato plants are growing so large (remember those tomatoes I was fussing about earlier this spring???) that they're beginning to droop onto the ground. As I don't want to spend money on tomato cages, and because I have a whole pile of dried bamboo laying in the yard, I did a little research to figure out a way to make tomato cages out of bamboo. Already I've poked a stalk of bamboo next to some tomatoes, but it's just not enough to support all the branches. I found an article at e-how about "How to Build a Bamboo Tomato Cage" and adapted it for my tomatoes. As I was building the first cage today I realized there is no magic one size fits all tomato cage since everyone's tomato needs are different. I have some areas where I have two or four tomatoes of varying heights and sizes growing along side one another, and I have other areas where I have a lone tomato plant. They are spread throughout my garden. In order to make most efficient use of the bamboo as well as my space, I built one cage that supports two plants today.

As you can see, it is important to build a tomato cage with the proper supervision. Ami passes by just in time for the camera to go off, on her way to a shady spot where she casually watched my progress.

I planted the three back poles first, and then beginning with the bottom, I added smaller stalks broken from the top of the bamboo poles (some of the poles are well over 10 feet tall!), working from the bottom up. I used zip ties to hold the sides in place. It's not perfect--as I worked along I realized ways I could have built the cage and used less zip ties. Next time I'll run one long pole across all three rather than shorter ones linking each bamboo pole. I did this along the back, but for some reason (maybe the sun was getting to my brain?) I didn't do that on the front. I'm not sure I like the looks of plastic zip ties in my garden, but you do what you gotta do!

Disconnected and loving it

Let me preface this by saying I am not 100% disconnected, but when it comes to television I am. This month my rabbit ears will become an ancient relic, destined for storage in the garage attic, or perhaps the local dump. The television will continue to collect dust, as it has been increasingly in the months past. It will retain its position in the corner because I still use it to view movies on DVD or VHS. But as for network or cable television, it is already defunct.

I read today a piece on NPR's All Tech Considered, entitled "Cutting the Coax: Living without Cable TV." Todd Mundt, the author, speaks to his decision to cut cable and live without it. Yet, what he describes is not living without television; he swaps one medium for several others. His post is full of references to television I have never, nor will probably ever watch.

I moved here three years ago. At the point before I moved I was a cable junky, especially on the weekends when I'd curl up on the couch and get sucked into HGTV, Lifetime, The Food Network, and many other channels. I can't count the number of hours I spent in front of the glowing box. When we got a DVR I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Just before moving to California I moved where I didn't have a DVR and couldn't imagine a life without it. But then I moved to a house where there was no cable at all. Interestingly, the only television show I missed and had issues with missing was "Grey's Anatomy." I have watched that show since the first episode and I admit I'm hooked. I worked my way around that initially by asking a friend of mine who does have a DVR to record it for me. For about a year and a half I would go to her house weekly--sometimes bi-monthly--to watch the show. Then sometime this year I discovered that I could watch current episodes on ABC.com, so my weekly trips to her house stopped. That's the only current show I watch. I do turn the television on for 15 minutes first thing in the morning to get the weather, but more often lately I find I don't even do that.

Here's the problem when you disconnect from television like this: pretty soon you can't stand to watch any of it. Last week, when I was in Nebraska, I turned the television on one day while at the hospital with my mom. I watched all of 10 minutes of it (more than 5 was commercial time) before I had to turn it off. It was simply because I could not stand the constant barrage of commercials. I know I've written about this before, so I won't repeat myself here. It's amazing how invasive commercials are.

So when I read Todd Mundt's experience, at first I was kind of excited to read how someone else has discovered that over time without television you don't want it any more, but I was disappointed to find that all he did was transfer one addiction for another. He claims he is still "getting information" through these different mediums, but I can attest that you can get information by other means. Yes, I'm still hooked up through the Internet (and I do pay the $10 extra a month for high speed cable internet), and I find that it provides me a window to the world of information that television cannot. Through other means I can make up my own mind about the quality of information that I'm presented, rather than believe the crap (or even just be persuaded by it) that's pushed in my face on television.

In this household the switch to digital television won't mean a thing. We don't use the TV now, there's no need for us to use it in the future either.

Spring marches on

I flew back to northern California the other day after a whirlwind trip back to Nebraska. As I exited the airport I was immediately struck by the floral smell in the air. It was humid and sticky in Nebraska, as it always is in the spring and summer, but here the air was crisp, and so fragrant! I looked around but could not see where the smell was coming from. Flowers begin blooming here in March or so and continue on until the heat of summer and dry season. Each bloom marks the seasons for me. The Camellias and Wisteria are the first to bloom sometime in March, then comes the Lemon Bottlebrush tree in April and May. But it is the bloom of the Magnolia tree that amazes me most year after year, and it signals to me the end of the lush spring and an ushering in of the heat of summer.

We have two Magnolia trees in the yard. I was curious and did a little research about them. I am guessing ours are the magnolia grandiflora species--that is, the Southern Magnolia. Magnolia trees are ancient; they have survived ice ages and continental drift, and have been around for over 20 million years! They existed before bees, and the flowers developed to encourage pollination by beetles.

Their flowers are short lived, so I take the time frequently to stand and admire them before they disappear. A couple of weeks ago I noticed one of the two trees in bloom already. It stands near the garden bed, and as I was tending my garden I noticed things were dropping like rain onto the ground around my feet. Curious about this, I glanced up, hoping it was not a bird! I was amazed to discover that the bees were busy around each blossom, and as they dove into the flower, they would throw down the stamen to the ground below. Soon enough the flowers will disappear, their leaves will be all around the ground, and we will once again be cursing their cones all over the place. But for now, for these brief few weeks, I stand in awe of this ancient, magnificent tree species with its flowers that span the size of a small dinner plate.

Eggs-a-plenty!

Lately I've been mulling over the idea of raising chickens. Not so much for eating, but for eggs. We have a chicken coop in the back of the garage already, but it has been abandoned for several years. I've been told that raising chickens is easy, and I know it's not against the law here because people all around the neighborhood have chickens, goats, cows, horses and other farm animals. My friend has chickens, and I hit her up from time to time for eggs. Her hens are allowed to roam her property, so the eggs are free range and absolutely delicious. Their yokes are a much darker yellow than store-bought eggs.

Lately my friend has been telling me that one of her hens must be laying on eggs outside the hen house; she knew this because the hen, when she called for it, would come running from behind the garage when all the other hens were already around her waiting to be fed. Yesterday she went out to the area she suspected the hen was laying and underneath a junk pile she found 60 (yes, that's SIXTY) eggs! Now, you would think that all these eggs must have gone bad because the hen(s?) had been laying there for quite some time. Apparently, however, there is a way to determine whether eggs are bad or good.

To determine whether an egg has gone bad you simply have to follow these steps:

1. Fill a bowl with cool water.


2. Gently place the egg into the water.


3. If it drops quickly to the bottom, and lies on its side, it is fresh.


4. If it drops to the bottom, but stands on end, it's still okay to eat, but it needs to be consumed soon!


5. If it floats to the top of the water, toss it--it's a bad egg!

My friend said out of the 60 eggs, she had to toss only a dozen! I was the happy recipient of two 18-packs of these eggs, so I had to experiment to see for myself. Though many of the eggs pointed upward (still okay to eat, but an indication that they're a few weeks old), several were still fresh. I boiled up a dozen of the pointer eggs--eggs that are a little bit older are easier to peel than fresh ones.

After this experience I'm beginning to eyeball that chicken coop with renewed interest!

Gramma's Recipes

Some years ago I stumbled on an old cookbook among my mother's things. It was tattered, torn, and falling apart. Yet, within the book were pages of recipes, many handwritten and food-stained. The handwriting I recognized from old family letters as that of my great-grandmother's. I instantly latched onto the book and held onto it as a cherished family heirloom. Today I was thumbing through the book, and thought I'd take the time to share one of the recipes with you. It is one which maybe we all need to rely upon in these dark economic times:

Economy Cake

Put 1/2 cup sour milk, yolk of 1 egg, 1/4 cake Baker's chocolate in double boiler. When melted and smooth add 1 tbsp. butter 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup sour milk 1 tsp soda 1 1/2 cups flour. Use white of egg for frosting.


That's it. No directions necessary as any good housewife worth her weight knew how to process this recipe!

If you try this recipe, could you please comment and let me know how it went?

California Dreamin'

Well, school is finally done for the semester and I have so many things to do that I've been putting off! I spent some time today raking up some leaves that we abandoned a month ago, and taking them to the burn pile in the back yard. As I was burning the rubble, I began to think about all the lessons I've learned since I moved here to California. I guess that thought popped into my head because I was considering the fact that three years ago I had never gathered sticks and leaves with the sole purpose of disposing of them by fire, unless you count the many campfires I've had. I recall a decade ago being proud of the fact that I got up early once during a camping trip and started the fire all by myself! And here I was today, by myself, standing by a burn pile that I created, I managed, I saw through.

Our lives are full of lessons. One thing I've realized these past few years is that we are constantly evolving as human beings. New challenges come our way, and how we rise to meet them is what creates the person we become. I guess I never embraced those opportunities in years past, but I enjoy discovering what I am capable of, how I handle things, and most importantly, how I can stand on my own two feet and still get by.

As I was waiting for the fire to burn out, I decided to work a bit in the area nearby. It was at this point that I realized that my "voice," or, my "brand" for this blog could include observations of living in Northern California. I was born in Oregon, but I was raised in Nebraska, and consider myself a Midwest girl. On the Great Plains we have few trees--the grassland goes on forever. When I moved to Northern California three years ago I had only ever been to this state three times before: twice to LA and once when my family drove down the Oregon coast, through the Redwoods and over to Reno before heading home. So life here provides new experiences for me daily, and new opportunities for observation.

It is mid-May now, and summer is coming on us hard here in the northern part of the Great Valley. I live just outside Sacramento, on the verge of the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. Our weather here is much like the weather is in the Mediterranean. Just down the street from me used to be (before urban sprawl got the better of it) several acres of olive trees. There was an olive ranch there at one time; now all that's left is the house and a few small groves of trees. I had never seen an olive tree before I moved here. The climate here, while second nature to many, always takes me by surprise. This weekend, the middle of May, the temperatures will be over 100 degrees. Granted, this is about 20 degrees over the normal range, but it's not uncommon. To me it is a reminder of the summer to come--hot and dry as they always are, but full of new adventures and wonders to take in.

More of life's little lessons

It's been a month now since I was cleaning out my garden space and planting seeds. My vision of a garden bursting forth with new plants by this time has not come to fruition, and has been peppered with few successes. I am a little disgruntled by the very few seeds that have germinated, and even more so with their very slow growth. As I was reviewing my post about the seeds I planted, I do realize that most of them have produced a few plants each. By now I have several (albeit tiny) basil plants throughout my garden. I have a few borage plants growing, and some nasturtiums. I see some of the cosmos flowers are doing well, too. The peppers are very slow, but some are coming up, and the lettuce, onion, garlic, zucchini, and squash are flourishing. My tomatoes, on the other hand, are another story entirely.

The other day, as I was huddled over my plants (as I do multiple times a day), I realized that gardening is a reflection of life itself. Seeds of thought, of action, of hope need proper germination. The right temperature, humidity, and light will either bring a seed to life, or it will lie stagnant in the soil and wither to nothingness. I find myself nurturing these little plants, feeling a love and passion for each. I want them to grow, not only for myself, but for the energy I have tranferred into each one of them. They each are a reflection of myself.

I was accused of loving my plants to death, scaring them because of my hovering. I suppose there is some truth in that to those plants that didn't make it, but for those that are struggling to survive, I say my love is what keeps them going. I nurture them as I try to do with my children. I suppose I liken these little plants' physical needs to my own children's emotional needs. Some would also say I hover, and mother my children to death, but I see myself as a protector of their emotions, helping them develop and mature into fruitful adults.

I remember one time when my son, who is now 19, was only four years old, had some emotional upheaval happen which brought him to tears. At the time we were visiting my in-laws; my husband's step-father said to my son, "Boys don't cry!" and made him feel even worse for feeling the way he did. Where does this notion come from? Why is it we stifle our sons from feeling anything and then expect them to be compassionate, loving adults? How can we expect our children to feel anything at all if we do not nurture their emotions?

I suppose, as with all things, there is a balance. But when it comes to tending my little plants, coaching them, nourishing them, and nurturing them, I won't give up. Not even when they've grown up and produced little fruits of their own.

Gardening Lessons learned

The Seed Saver seeds arrived and as I posted earlier, I eagerly planted as many as I could in peat pots to get a jump start on my garden. Here in Northern California we're still experiencing relatively cool temperatures. Highs in the 60s, with a few days in the 70s, and nighttime lows still into the 30s and 40s. Not knowing any better, I filled my little pots, set them in a tray of water and set them in the sun on a table near the garden. I watched anxiously and nothing happened. I watered and watched, watered and watched, but still nothing. After several weeks a few little brave seedlings began to emerge (not the 4-6 days most seed packages claimed!), and my peat pots began to get some green moss on the top. Jack so kindly pointed out that 1) you cannot drown the seeds and expect them to grow, and 2) you need heat to make the seeds grow. I was beginning to get so disheartened that all my efforts were for naught.

I must step back a moment and explain that this gardening venture is entirely new to me. I've never tended a garden of my own from start to finish. I've never tried to grow seeds, unless you count those elementary school lessons on seed germination. So this is all a new experience. What little I know, I've learned from books, or from sage advice from experienced gardeners.

Jack, in all his wisdom, found some building materials that were laying around the yard and bought some insulation, and built a box around my seeds to create a cold frame box to get those seeds started. He pulled out the excess water I thought was so necessary as he explained that damp soil works better than soggy soil. A few weeks ago he and I pulled down the greenhouse that I photographed for my previous post, and from that he salvaged a window that he used for the top of the new cold frame. Within a couple of days more seeds were popping out thanks to the warmth and the drying soil.



I did succumb and buy a few plants already started in a nursery. I bought garlic, a few onion sets, a couple of rhubarb plants, a horseradish plant, and a six-pack of Lobelias. Another lesson I learned was that the onion sets have multiple onions in each cell pack. I made the mistake of planting each bunch in one clump, but last night I took the time to dig them back up and separate each little shoot and plant them individually. I'll be digging up a lot of onions this fall!

As I discover the ways to live tight in tight times, I am learning how to make do with what materials we have on hand as much as possible. The cold frame box illustrates the ingenuity of utilizing scraps to make something new and useful with very little monetary output. Stay tuned for more on this topic, and the story of the creative garden fence pictured at the top!

Turning over an old leaf (several!)

If you've ever read The Secret Garden, you'll understand when I say I feel like Mary Lennox these past few weeks. I have been taking advantage of the 60-70 degree temperatures and unearthing a space for a garden. The idea has been lurking in my brain for a few years, but finally, thanks to my friend Carol's help, I am making headway toward a real garden. For the past few years I have primarily grown herbs in containers, with an unsuccessful attempt at tomatoes. The space I've been clearing was previously used as a garden but was abandoned at least five years ago, with some parts of the garden not receiving attention for a good decade. I've been hacking, pulling, digging, raking, and in general just clearing the space in which to grow vegetables.


I've been doing a lot of reading lately about organic gardening methods. A little more than a week ago we went to the Goodwill where Carol ran into the book Carrots Love Tomatoes. She and I had been talking about that book a few weeks back, so she got it and gave it to me. I've been pouring over it considering the benefits of companion gardening. I also started a compost pile where I am putting all the debris from my garden clean-up along with scraps (not meat) leftover from the kitchen. It won't be done "cooking" for a few months, but when it is, there will be some prime soil for future gardens!

In the meantime, as I've been raking out a very neglected section of the garden, I discovered some well-composted soil from years of leaves, sticks and dirt piled in the same area. I'll make use of that in my garden!

I was recently reflecting back to a time in the not-to-distant-past when I refused to dig in the dirt because "there are bugs!" and how I now boldly rake through leaves that just as well could have snakes, knowing that what I am doing now will benefit our grocery bill this summer.

I did go to Seed Savers yesterday and order several seeds. I may be a bit ambitious, but I'm trying to limit what I grow to those things I know we buy on a regular basis in the summer time. I have also been planting other seeds that I already had, and some I bought locally. So far I've planted:

• Basil


• Turnips


• Lettuce


• Green Onions


• San Marzano Pole Tomatoes


• Beefsteak Tomatoes

I'm waiting on the following seeds from Seed Savers, which I will plant immediately upon their arrival!

• 2 kinds of cucumbers: lemon and pickling


• Beets (Detroit Dark Red)


• 2 kinds of peppers: Hinkelhatz and Cayenne (I put red pepper flakes in almost everything I cook!)


• Purple Tomatillos--this is something I grew by accident a few years ago and we really enjoyed them!


• And 3 more kinds of tomatoes! Cherry, Black and Green

It may seem a bit ridiculous to have five kinds of tomatoes, but we go through a lot of tomatoes in this house. In the fall I will can tomatoes, tomato sauce, and salsa. I love canning pickles too!

Watch this space as spring progresses and see how my garden grows!

Hung out to dry

The other day our dryer went out. It just stopped wanting to run. In a house of four people this almost seems tragic. In our debate whether we should try to fix it or replace it I decided to run out and get some clothesline in order to get us by until the decision was made. After we stretched the line, and I took the first load out to hang up, I began to think about the potential savings this could provide us down the road. Yes, it's a hassle to hang up the clothes, and the clothes take longer to dry. The day I hung my first load of clothing, they were dry in six hours. I got to thinking about summertime and how the California sun is so hot, and realized that as the days get warmer, my dry time will be less. I could conceivably get two loads washed and dried in a day. The potential savings coupled with the intense summertime heat as well as the mild winters makes using the clothesline as a penny saver a natural choice for us.

We fixed the drier, but this won't stop me from using my new line. I read in an article online that clothes dryers consume 6% of a household's electricity usage. The other day we were reviewing our most recent PG&E (gas and electricity) bill, and were shocked at the monthly cost for gas. We calculated that we are spending no less than $5 a day just in gas usage. This may not seem to be a lot at first glance, but over the course of a year this can add up! We began to debate what we could do to cut this cost. Naturally I considered the clothesline!

It's a strange world we live in. Just 50 years ago people hung their clothes to dry on a regular basis. In that time somehow we, as a society, have become dependent on this machine to do what the sun naturally does. According to the same article, over 83% of households view the drier as a a necessity. There are even bans on clotheslines in neighborhoods all around California. Over 35,000 subdivisions in California ban the use of clotheslines. Why? Because they're not pretty and it makes things uncomfortable for the neighborhood if your undies are hanging up to dry. It's this kind of thinking that has us in the mess we are today.

Consumer Reports has a nice list of green ways to save money when doing laundry. Take a look at their site if you want more energy money savers too!

1. Wash clothes in cold water. You might guess that most of the energy used by a washing machine goes into vigorously swishing the clothes around. In fact, about 90 percent of it is spent elsewhere, heating the water for the load. You can save substantially by washing and rinsing at cooler temperatures. Warm water helps the suds to get at the dirt, but cold-water detergents will work effectively for just about everything in the hamper.

2. Hang it up. Clotheslines and drying racks spare the energy a dryer would use. You'll also get more useful life out of clothes dried on indoor or outdoor clotheslines--after all, dryer lint is nothing but your wardrobe in the process of wearing out.

3. Don't overdry your laundry. If you opt to use a dryer, clothes will need less ironing and hold up better if you remove them from the dryer while they're still just a bit damp. If you are in the market for a dryer, look for one with a moisture sensor; it will be less likely than thermostat-equipped models to run too long.


One last note, The Clothesline Shop asks Did You Know:

1.  clotheslines can save
you money?
2.  electric dryers use 5 - 10 percent of residential energy?
3.  clothes
and sheets smell better when hung outside?
4.  solar dryers save energy, thus preventing
pollution?
5.  fabrics last longer when air dried?
6. spending a few minutes out in the
sun is good for your skin?

Libraries and lean living

The other day I was reminded that not everyone (even those I consider part of my closest circles) remembers that the public library is an excellent resource in tight times like these. As a library school graduate student I feel it is my duty to remind you that there are some awesome things available for FREE to you with your local library card.

For instance, did you know that you can

• RENT MOVIES at the library? Absolutely. And many libraries have the most current movies available too. Be aware, however, that not all libraries check out movies for free (mine does, but I know not all do), but even if they charge it will be a nominal fee. I've been renting movies at the library for at least 15 years now!
• Check out music CDs? Certainly! My son was surprised at some of the music I have on my computer. "Where did you get that CD, mom?" At the library! I've converted him now too!
• Use the Internet and computers? Almost every library in this country now is outfitted with computers (a lot in part thanks to Bill & Melinda Gates!), and these computers are available for you to use. You can write a letter or paper using Word; you can jot off an email or shop online; you can bring that disk of pictures and view them on a computer monitor. The only thing you cannot do, however, is check out lascivious web sites. Children may be watching!
• If you have young children, most libraries have story time and other activities for the children.
• And most valuable of all (in my opinion) are the online databases that virtually all libraries have. It's a hidden resource that not many people are are of. I was chatting online one day with a friend of mine who lives in Wyoming and he was commenting that his children, when they write a paper for school, tend to gravitate to the Internet to find sources for their papers. I told him about how his public library no doubt has access to encyclopedias, newspaper articles, and magazines and journals where his children can tap into reliable information from the comfort of their home. He was surprised to hear about it! In my library system, you simply have to go to library's web site and find the link that refers to the "online databases" (every library will call it something different) and out of curiosity I went to his library's web site and found out that their databases are not at the local library level, but on the State Library level! What a great resource for Wyoming residents!
  

Recently I posted a blog about how the economy is affecting museums and the arts. Though library funding is way down, the need for public libraries is increasing. Watch this video and see what I mean, and then get out and see what your library has to offer!:

Recalling Grandma's lessons

"During the Depression, when the spirit of the people is lower than at any other time, it is a splendid thing that for just 15 cents an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles."

-President Franklin Roosevelt

Last Friday I was mid-discussion with a group of people when the economy came up. One young adult (I'd guess she was in her early to mid-twenties) piped in and said "I still go to movies and out to eat, and I see all kinds of other people doing the same. People are still going to go out and spend money."

Perhaps so, but I would venture to guess that this gal is single, has a small apartment, perhaps with a roommate or two, and very little overhead. I would definitely guess she does not have children. I think her mindset is still fairly representative of the majority of the country. Perhaps she's right. Perhaps it is not as bleak as the mainstream media would like us to believe.

Historically speaking, during the Great Depression unemployment rates were much greater. From 1923 to 1929 (the year of the Stock Market Crash), unemployment rates hovered around 3%. Annually the rate leaped upward to a high in 1933 of nearly 25%.* If I consider my young acquaintance's mind set, that would mean that 75% of Americans were working--and out there spending money. Perhaps this is true. The movie industry at that time was enjoying incredible success. 60 to 70 million Americans still managed to patronize movie theaters weekly during the Great Depression. Stars like Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney made big money by putting smiles on peoples' faces. It was a form of escape.

Yet at the same time people were also learning to do with less, making cuts where necessary, living tight in tight times. My grandmother lived through the Great Depression. As a young, single mother, with three mouths to feed, she made do by sewing their clothing and sending her children out on the street to sell her homemade baked goods. She grew a garden and canned her food. For the rest of her life the lessons she learned during that time stuck with her. When she passed away in 1981 among her possessions were stacks of aluminum TV dinner trays, bundles of string she saved, and more bags than a person had a right to.

Our generation has forgotten these lessons of the past. We are a throw away society. I admit I'm as guilty as the next person, but I am trying to recall Grandma's lessons, and learn to reuse as I can. When I bring home vegetables from the grocery store in those flimsy plastic bags, I no longer toss them out as soon as I've emptied them. I save them to cover leftovers for the fridge, or to wrap the remainder of a home baked loaf of bread. I use the plastic grocery sacks for my lunch bag when I need to pack a lunch. I save spice jars once empty and buy replacement spices in bulk to refill the empty jars.

Maybe there are those who are still out there spending money and oblivious to the economic change upon us. There are others of us who are cognizant of the changes occurring, however, who are making a conscious effort to make due with what we have. Maybe our economy won't sink to the levels of the Great Depression, but in the meantime it doesn't hurt to become aware of what we throw away and how we might reuse it.




* For more information about the Great Depression and unemployment rates, check this site out: http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20030124ar03p1.htm

Advertising and the economy

I don't watch television. I know, it seems very strange and almost un-American, but it's a fact. I do turn the TV on long enough to catch a little bit of my local news, and to catch the weather forecast for the day, but after about an hour (or less), I can't take it anymore, so I shut it off. We don't have cable television, or satellite. We use the old fashioned antenna to receive our local television stations--and not all of them come in. When the news came out that all televisions were going digital in February, I sent away for the TV coverter box coupon and went into Radio Shack to redeem it. The $40 coupon only covers part of the cost of the box. I was so miffed that someone is making big money on this conversion I decided against it entirely and let my coupon expire. I admit I'm a little shaky when I consider not having a television at all, but I step back in those moments and wonder why I'm feeling this way. I don't watch the thing, so why should it bother me to let it go? I suppose it is because we are all so conditioned by the glowing box. Our entire society is shaped by it. The "in" products are a result of the advertisements and constant mental barrage from the television that these products are necessary.

Have you noticed how ads in January really focus on how you look? You're fat, you have too much facial hair, you don't have enough hair on your head, you're out of shape---you must be beautiful, so buy this product to make it all better! I find myself resenting those commercials most of all. But people buy into them! One commercial that seemed to make a huge impact was an infomercial for the Snuggy. Around Christmastime my local news station was talking a lot about these sleeved blankets, and at first I had no clue what they were talking about, but then I caught one of the advertisements. I found myself fascinated by their approach--the commercial, which I'm sure you've seen, claims that with the Snuggy you can turn down your heat and save money. Now, this may not mean much to some, but what caught my attention was that this company was playing on the bad economy and the difficulties people are having just making enough money to keep their house warm. Save money by buying this product! What's wrong with the afghan you have tossed in the closet? Or the blanket off your bed?

The other day I heard a piece on NPR about how infomercials are thriving in this bad economy. It seems that as prime time advertisements--such as those for automobiles--are declining, more advertisement spots are available during the waking hours than before. Infomercial advertisers tell television execs to just put their commercials wherever there is an open spot. By doing so they can get air time for a lower rate. As a result, products like the Snuggy are receiving more viewers than ever before because they are no longer contained to late-night viewers. I remember several years ago, a time when I did watch a lot more television and had cable, I was up very late and I found myself watching QVC or another similar channel. I wasn't paying attention to the product being sold, but I was noticing how they used frenzy to sell. "Oh, there's only one hundred of these left! CALL NOW!" I think so many people are sucked in by that mentality that they think there will never be another moment to get an item like this in their life.

Interestingly, a separate, but related NPR news piece was on the radio yesterday about how the economy is affecting (traditional) advertising companies in general. What I think is happening is that as people are learning how to hunker down and live with less, advertising, in its current and past form, is not working. That, and the fact that so many companies are going under. I think that as we move forward and experience more hardships we will begin to see a radical shift in the way we do everything, and the way we experience everything.

Just the beginning

We are bombarded by "the economy." Mainstream media, reluctant to use the word "recession" has finally come around. Now we are not only in a recession, we are in a "deep recession." Daily I listen to the news of hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs. My personal conversations center on the economy. How can we cut back? What can we do to maintain? What will happen to our jobs?

A friend of mine received word the other day that his salary would be cut by 10%. This was only two weeks after receiving a 7% pay increase. Though his net loss is not as great as it could have been had the news been delivered before the raise, his family is still feeling the pinch. As he said, "at least I still have a job." His wife has gone through the motions of cutting back. No more piano lessons, buying food in bulk, even reducing the telephone services to local calling only. In those few actions she has managed to save several hundred dollars a month--more than likely enough to make the difference of the pay cut.

Everyone seems to be doing what they can to cut back. And this has been much needed as I feel our society is so focused on consuming. Buy now and save! How can you save if you buy?

As my blog continues, I intend to focus on the ways we can save money, but also I will throw in some historical context. As a historian I tend to look back and consider the way people managed in similar circumstances. Our economic downturn has often been compared to the Great Depression. I believe we are heading into more dire economic circumstances before it gets any better. I hope to include Depression-era recipes, tips for simple living, and thoughts on how we can change our attitude toward mass consumerism.

Stay tuned!