Years ago my mother did the family laundry with a wooden tub with a paddle/agitator connected. She swished the laundry around by a crank. Rinsing the clothes was done in two tubs. A wringer was mounted onto the wooden tub. The wet clothes were hung on long wires attached to two poles. Nothing else could be done all day.
My father pulled the binder to cut the ripe grain and form it into sheaves. We kids stacked the sheaves so they could stay dry until the threshing rig arrived. We called the stacks shocks. Nothing else could be done all day.
Canada thistles grew in abundance. They had to be removed from the corn fields. Weed control was four kids with hoes. Nothing else could be done all day.
Modern farmers are amused by the old way of doing things, but something is missing by the corporate farmers who run their big harvest monsters across the fields. Something is missing when modern housewives throw dirty clothes into a machine and push a few buttons and practice multi-tasking. Something is missing when crop dusters kill weeds hundreds of acres in an hour.
I’ll tell you what is missing. Family togetherness. Most of the family worked together forming shocks. Women and girls, even neighbor women, prepared a massive meal. We made a game of carrying water from the well on wash day. Chopping weeds was a time to sing or tell tall tales. We walked behind the plow and felt the cool, damp earth on our bare feet. The whole family went to the granary to admire the bumper crop of wheat, barley, or oats.
When the sun set we played games and drank chocolate milk before bedtime. We celebrated what we accomplished together.
This week I looked at photographs of our simple life. My niece sent the pictures taken by her father. I enjoyed my trip to the past. I know I can’t bring those days back. What I can do is replicate as much of the simplicity as possible. I can use the best word in the art of stress control. The word is NO. I can set my own priorities before others set my priorities for me.