[Artemisia] A New Discussion - SCA Skills in a Modern Plague

[Sondra Gibson]

 Mistress Morgan wrote: 
> The Foxfire series is an excellent series on "frontier 
> living".  There are 5
> books, if I remember right dealing with most every aspect of 
> life up to &
> including building wagons (it's been awhile since I read 
> them, but they are
> on my "grab 'n go" list).  On the question of where does lard 
>  come from -
> it's pig fat, rendered until white & clean. It can be used to 
> store meat,
> eggs, etc (mainly because it keeps air from whatever is stored in it).
> 
> Morgan of Hawksreach
>
 
Actually, there are now 11 books in the series!  LOL!

Lard from pigs and tallow from cows is rendered in about the same manner, as
is beeswax. (can use fat from about any animal) What you are going to use it
for determines how 'clean' it needs to be.  A number of years ago HL Tell
and I decided to render fat for soap making.  We used cow fat, and really
did a very limited rendering of it.  It worked wonderful and the soap was
excellent.  I later grated some up and used it to wash wool.  I was very
surprised to find that it worked as well or better than any commercial
product I've used. Well rendered tallow could also be used for candles.
Soap must sit and age before it can be used, so would probably be one of the
things that should be done asap after 'life as we know it' fell apart.  

I believe that in order to store meat using lard it must be cooked first...
I recently ordered a cookbook from Iceland that has lots of historical
'bits' in it, and talks about doing that.  

For me 2 huge issues would be feed for my sheep/llamas, and water.  My well
is over 250' deep so hand pumps are out of the question.  There's a creek
about a quarter mile away, but it would be very time consuming to try to
haul enough water for daily life as well as keeping water available for the
stock.  I'd be making a cart out of old bicycle parts and teaching a couple
large sheep to pull it!  In winter it would be even harder as the water
would freeze, though snow and ice could be melted for some of the water
supply.  When you have limited water you learn to make good use of it.  Bath
or dish water becomes floor washing water, etc.  (I'll always remember the
days before the well, when we hauled water.  Not fun, and we had a truck to
haul it with!)  I have no decent pasture on my land, so would be looking to
share pasture/hay land with neighbors - perhaps in exchange for some of the
lamb crop(?) The size of my flock would very probably have to decrease. 

Many of the basic skills that would be needed to survive are things that
I've done in the past, or at least have a basic knowledge of how to do them.
(or books to remind me!)  I know how to can food, and have the supplies to
do quite a lot.  I have an old wood cook stove that could be moved into the
kitchen, and the pipe directed out the window.  (remove glass - cover window
with wood)  I wouldn't begin to try to heat the house.  Just one or two
rooms.  Would hang heavy fabric to divide off space to be kept warm in very
cold weather.  Having lived through a number of Montana winters in a shed
with only the wood stove, I know just how cold it can get and just how
inefficient the wood cook stove is at heating 'space'.  For anything long
term I'd be trying to 'acquire' something more efficient even a barrel
stove.  I have enough wood to fuel the stove for quite a while, though
hauling it from the back hill and cutting it with a bow saw would be a *lot*
of work.  I have numerous oil lamps but a limited amount of fuel for them. I
have a fair amount of bees wax and paraffin as well as candle wicking and
candle making supplies.   

As has been noted - there would be lots of very hard decisions that would
have to be made.  Animals that couldn't be fed would become a food source.
(Icelandic sheep is very good meat!)  My 2 female llamas would probably not
be worth feeding, and llama meat can be eaten.  The male might be worth
keeping, as I think he could be a useful pack animal.  As much as I REALLY
REALLY hate to do it, I know how to butcher, and have done it.  It's
something I could do if it was really necessary.  The chickens would be
easier to feed than the sheep, though without our modern laying feeds the
egg production would probably drop.  My little Hamburg chickens are a Dutch
breed that dates back to the middle ages, and used to be a very common
barnyard chicken, known for reliable egg production.  Smaller than the large
breeds, they don't need as much food to produce their medium sized eggs. My
banty hens are very good brooders and moms, and could be used to produce
more chicks.  Eggs from the larger hens could be incubated by the banties.  

The sheep would be very useful for their wool production - spinning into
yarn; felting into a huge variety of items; coarse fleeces being turned into
rope; scrap wool being used for insulation and padding; Shearing would be
much more time consuming, without electricity, but is something I could do
if necessary.  The sheep milk would also be a great side product, as it
contains between 6% to 8% fat and in the spring would be a great addition to
limited diets.  I have a couple looms that cloth could be woven on, but
would need a commune of fiber folks to produce enough to do much with!  The
coons that have been raiding my porch would become food.  LOL!  I have wheat
and a hand grinder.  Gardens would be a problem for me unless the plague
kills grasshoppers!  They eat everything I plant!  Besides, there is the
water issue again.  Spring crops like peas and spinach would be feasible.
(before the hot dry summer and the grasshoppers arrived).

Protection - well the dogs will alert me to anything unusual, and my male
llama is pretty unfriendly to strangers... Though probably not enough to
keep someone from stealing sheep.  There is always the 2 shotguns and the 22
rifle and handgun, for as long as the ammo lasted... Hum - there's an outfit
that makes ammo just down the road...  

I guess, like Red, I'd miss my ice in the summer a lot.  (yes an ice house
is possible, but much more feasible near a large body of frozen water!)  And
I'd miss my electricity.  During the times I lived without it the single
item I missed most - even more than running water - was refrigeration!  TV,
movies, music, etc, just don't even get consideration.  I can do without.
Though these days I'd miss being able to 'connect' with my widely scattered
friends!

For another source of 'stories' about life before electricity, read the
'little house' books.  Kids books but with lots of interesting tidbits about
how life was... There's a nice description of cutting blocks of ice from the
lake and hauling them on horse-drawn sleds to the ice house, where they were
packed between heavy layers of straw...

Gefjon