Did great grandma have it rougher? | Arthritis Information

When you read this article at first you'll think how hard life was for our great grandmothers. However, read to the end. You might realize how much you do on a daily basis.

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/housework.cfm

psst...this is to make your feel less guilty.

OMG Deanna, how did the poor woman have time for herself, the children and hubby? I would guess no time for herself...How sad. But, they had plenty of exercise, probably low cholesterol and I bet that they slept better at night than we do. Holy, moly, makes me tired just to read this!
It is however an educational website and worth reading. Thank you!

I think the good old days were just plain awful.

Good thing heavy duty pain killers like ludnum and heroin were legal and easy to obtain. Water weighs 8 lbs per gallon and I suppose the wooden bucket weighed another 8 - I don't want to think about hauling it..

marian39021.6132291667

Very interesting article. Thanks Deanna. Next time the girls decide to whine at me about vacuuming I am going to show them this article lol.

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I think the good old days were just plain awful.

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Oh my, I have to agree with this!!

After reading that I understand WHY herion and opium were so popular back in the day. I'd need to be "high" to get all that done and stay sane!!!!

I'm thankful for all our modern ways.
When we built our home we didn't have running water and heated with wood, we lived that way for 3 years, hauling water in 5 gal buckets and getting up in the middle of the night to stoke the woodstove, we did have electricity. Then my husband wanted to start our family, I said 1st indoor plumbing, I hate using an outhouse to this day, then an oil furnace and the week after we brought our daughter home from the hospital a washer & dryer. She's 20, I can hardly believe we lived like that, but we thought it was great at the time, we live in the same home, 3 bedroom, 2.5 baths, beautiful view of the ocean & volcanoes, in case you think it's a hovel. Could have never done it with the RA I have now.I have to laugh when I read that article, because it was written about the way women lived in the 19th century, and my grandparents lived that way in West Virginia while I was growing up,in the 60's, LOL! I was a city girl from Cleveland, but spent all of my school vacations and summers at my grandparents home. It was such an amazing contrast to my life in the city, and I LOVED it!

While they did have running water, there was no hot water heater, so to take a bath you had to heat the water on a stove and carry it to the tub, trip after trip until you had enough. They had a wood cook stove in the kitchen, and a coal stove and coal fireplace were their only sources of heat. Wash day was again done with carried water -- out to a ringer washer in the wash room. Then we had to take all of it out and hang on the lines and pray it didn't rain. Much of the summer time, in the heat, was devoted to canning food to be stored in the cellar to last during the winter. The canning was done in wash tubs over a fire outside. When my grandmother wasn't working on any of those tasks, she was busy baking homemade biscuits for every dinner, and making the most delicious pies I've ever eaten! Chickens were killed and plucked on Saturday evening for dinner on Sunday!

Hillhoney, this actually sounds like much of my childhood growing up on the farm. In the winter, our pipes froze and there we would be boiling water for cooking and baths. When storms came, the electricity was the first thing to go and not quickly fixed. We spent many evenings wrapped in blankets, near a big candle or the kerosene lamp. We had a wood stove that had to be stoked in addition to the gas furnace that was never warm enough no matter how close you got to it. That was my first hair dryer, sitting next to the furnace and brushing out my long hair.

Our fear when hanging out the clothes to dry was the red dust storms that'd sweep through unannounced. All that work would turn to mud. It was a race to get them all inside.

We picked, canned and jammed all summer. My mom used the sour dough starter and we had fresh baked bread at every meal. I was spoiled with the best of foods then.

We raised rabbits and chickens and then would have a buthering day. Those days were full of slaughter, butchering and plucking. Then, we'd put up meat in the freezer. That night we'd have fried chicken, not exactly what you want to eat after dissecting the poor creatures all day. But later, that winter, there was no complaints. Rabbits were the best because you have four legs to choose from.

We had horses, sheep, a pig, calves and a wonderful garden. We also had the largest compost pile you ever saw for a small farm. My grandfather was into organic farming. He place this 6' high by 20' long pile of compost on the west side of the house. In the evenings, the wind would change and bring that wonderous smell right to the house.

I miss those days and have never felt comfortable with city life. I always thought I would move some small again some day. But the doctors live in the big city. I'm still dreaming.

Deanna, I love rabbit! And rabbit gravy is the best! But we didn't raise them, we trapped them in box traps.

I miss those days too. The difference in the world my children have grown up in and the world I grew up in is so dramatic. We have gained much in terms of technology, medicine, communication, etc. but we have also lost so much. I would love to live in Mayberry - with my laptop of course!

First of all...Deanna thanks for posting the article...and secondly...thanks ya'll for sharing the stories of your farming days. I loved the first Little House on the Prarie book...Little House in the Big Woods. It describes so much of how they did things.

Just since we have moved out to the country I have noticed that the kids spend alot more time outdoors and a lot less time in front of the TV. I find myself outdoors alot more too. I know it is better for me physically and emotionally.