Homesteader Life

When I was a lad, we had some first generation Italians that lived around us. They were hard working folks, and they lived much the same way that they did in the “old a country”. The husbands worked for themselves, they usually did construction or worked with stone or brick. Mother kept a large garden and grew grapes for wine making. They would have wonderful kitchens and some had outdoor kitchens for summer cooking and canning. One thing I remember is that they didn’t, as a general rule, keep livestock. They would buy baby goats and lambs from us at Easter time. Some of the old ladies would come and get raw milk for cheese making. They always would bring out some of their homeade wine as a gift. I think that their children were somewhat embarased by the way their parents lived. None, that I know of, kept any of the these traditions alive. They were fully absorbed into our pagan industrail culture.

Soon after I moved here, I was visited one day by a family of first generation Eastern Orthodox folks from some country in eastern europe. There was a very old lady wearing a simple handmade dress and a headcovering. Her two sons, in their 30’s, did the talking. It seems that the mother needed manure for her garden. Again the children seemed less than interested, but they did have respect for their mother, and drove her all over the countryside looking for a small farm. I pionted out the manure pile and gave them some pitch forks. They backed the big caddy up to it and the boys went to work filling baskets and putting them in the trunk. Mother had a smile on her face, she looked so pleased with that manure. We also had a Slovac fella come by looking for a jersey bull calf. He would stop by often and would talk for hours about the home farm he was forced to leave as a boy with his folks and grandfolks. The communist took it from them. He escaped to the US, but his folks wouldn’t leave the home country. He had a neat little place, a few hills over from us. He kept hogs, chickens, ducks, geese, peacocks, guineas, rabbits, bees, goats, sheep, cattle….you name it he had it. He’s dead now and some guy with a bunch dogs bought the place.

Whats the point of this rambling? I’m not sure. For some reason these folks were just on my mind. I’m sure that most of them are dead now. I’m sure that their children left the good life to be slaves to bankers and worship at the altar of DOW. Why? These people I write of had at least part of an understanding of the good life, but for some reason they didn’t teach it the children. Sadly, some of these people discouraged the kids from living the good life and chased them away from the farms and homesteads. May God help us to pass our vision on to our children. Be warned, the lure of pagan culture is strong.

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