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Letter Re: Lessons Learned From My Elders
James:
As a five year old I lived with my grandparents in a small isolated village in the foothills of the Austrian Alps. This was about 1953 until 1958. Rural life had its own rhythm which now seemed more akin to the 19th century. Small family fields were plowed with the milk cow which was also used to bring in the hay and the harvest. Everything planted had a use. Each tree on these small family farms bore fruits or nuts. Ornamentals were for the well to do- perhaps the village doctor who had a more secure source of income. Each farmstead depended on a variety of fruit and other crops. If one thing did not do well that year, then other harvests such as the chestnuts or the pears and apples for hard cider might be plentiful.
The grain keeping body and soul together was polenta, a new world crop, along with the potato. Corn grew well and would be eaten as mush with pork cracklings, sour milk, or coffee mornings and evenings. Each farmer’s wife was also capable of making hearty loaves of bread seasoned with herbs along with the obligatory home churned butter. Besides working in the fields alongside her husband, the women also had a kitchen garden with vegetables and savory herbs.
The other mainstay was the pumpkin which is still harvested for its seeds and the superb oil the roasted seed produces. Oils and fats are always at a premium and never ever thrown away. I have had many a pork fat sandwich with garlic, salt, and pepper. Anything left over was given to the hogs which were slaughtered in the fall and processed, smoked and hung on rafters in the pantry or preserved in a tub of lard. The root cellar like the pantry was built of stone, being cool and moist. It held barrels of sauerkraut, pickles, and perhaps of eggs which had been covered with a solution of lime and water.
In the evenings, kept warm by the ceramic wood & coal stove, stories were told about surviving WWII and the Russian occupation. Some were very funny, some not so much.
During the war everything was rationed. Towards the end of the conflict, people in the city would get on the train for the country with their fur coats and oriental rugs and anything else they thought they could trade for a sack of potatoes. Many a farmer’s wife could be found with finery. If you had extra food you kept a very low profile as not to arouse anger or envy of neighbors.
If you were fortunate enough to live in the country, then hunger was not a problem because you grew what was needed – most had the skills, experience, and land needed. Organic methods along with long established permaculture were the norm. Small livestock such as chickens and sometimes rabbits and doves were part of the living larder. Everything depended on composting and the farmer with the biggest manure pile was considered rich.
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