Common Sense Home Good News Letter 6/4/22
“Pay heed to the tales of old wives. It may well be that they alone keep in memory what it was once needful for the wise to know.”- J.R.R. Tolkien
It has been my experience that most older folks have a wide array of knowledge they have gathered over the course of their lives. Too often in our splintered society, with different age groups only rarely mixing together, this information is lost. That’s why I greatly appreciate activities where apprenticeship is still practiced.
I was talking to the young plumber working on repairs to our shower valves and urinal last week, and he was telling me about a trick he learned as an apprentice. When he first worked on a fixture like ours, he ended up completely busting the whole thing because he was young and tried to muscle it lose. The second time he worked on one, the older plumber was nearby, and showed him a better way – and the valve assembly stayed intact.
If you have life lessons, tips, and tricks to pass along, and a willing recipient, I encourage you to share. We’re losing so much knowledge that should not be forgotten.
If you don’t have someone ready to listen, write it down, or make some recordings. Go ahead and send tips and stories our direction if you like, and with your permission, we’ll share them with others if they fit with a topic that we’re working on.
I suspect we’re going to need all the knowledge and problem solving skills available to get through the years ahead, but if we help each other out, we’ll be okay.
All our best to you and yours,
Laurie (and August IV, August V and Duncan)
This weeks’ featured articles…
Energy costs are going up, and many areas of the country face increased rick of power outages this summer. We’ll help you reduce your electric bill and save energy – without completely changing your lifestyle. There are tips for year round and seasonal suggestions.
When spoons were passed around with samples of this homemade low sugar raspberry jam from the bottom of the cooking pot, the collective response from the boys and husband was, “mmmmmmmmmm”. The quarter jar that didn’t make it in the canner soon disappeared, and a second jar never made it into the canning pantry.
Low Sugar Raspberry Jam Recipe
Common Chickweed can be tinctured, dried, and made into poultices. The book Backyard Medicine suggests using chickweed topically for itches, bites, stings, inflammations, burns, swellings, sunburn, bruises, splinters and sore eyes.
Popular on Instagram: the duck patrol helping in the garden and our mystery busted patio door.