Taking a Bath When the Power is Out

What did Great Granny Know?

She was born January 28, 1900. Grandpa was born in 1896. Less than a year from the end of WWI, in September of 1919, Grandpa married Grandma. He was just 23 and she, only 19.

My Grandparents loved, lived and raised their family during a time we now describe as history. An exciting but also a scary and heartbreaking time for them and our country. They saw two world wars, a great economic depression and an undeclared Korean war an then a televised Vietnam war. They went from horse and buggies to the first Model T to modern communications by way of the telephone. They were the first generation to have electricity installed in the home and enjoyed all the new gizmos and gadgets that became luxuries and conveniences. All the things we take for granted today. By the time I was 12, my Grams and Gramps had retired and moved to a quiet cottage on a lake, and left most of those modern thing-dings in the city when they moved.

I was fortunate to have been able to spend lots of time with them at the cottage. They taught me much about living before the widespread use of electricity and “the old ways” of doing domestic. My education came complete with a hand built outhouse with a half moon shaped window in the door that sat in the corner of the yard.

Which brings me to the point of this post.

I believe now is a great time to drag out those dusty memories and lessons. Now is a good time to share them with anyone who can see what is headed our way and wants to update to their skills. What did Biden call it, a dark winter?

Media outlets have implied that our country could very well see the same or even a more devastating depression than the 1930’s while his administration ushers in the new green economy. I can see a time in this country where people will go berserk due to food prices, or lack of food and I can also see a tax revolt and/or possibly a draft headed into the future. But you knew all this.

Sooo, what follows here are a few of the things that Grams did for her family to keep them warm, healthy and fed during a time most Americans have never experienced. IMHO, all these technologies have their place but it has also kept the upcoming generation from learning the most basics self-reliance skills to survive this uncertain future.

*This may set some younger folks hair on fire but it was common in my grandparents day that once a child reached the age of 14 he/she was considered an adult and given the responsibility of an adult and as such you would be expected to do a full days work. Boys were taught to safely use a long gun and how to handle an axe. He would have also been expected to hunt and clean the wild game he brought home to share with the family. Girls were automatically taught at an even earlier age how cook, clean, and help care for younger siblings. She naturally learned the basics of running a household, including skills as sewing, food preserving and storing fresh veggies from the garden she tended.

*Grams always had a pan of water in the sink of the cottage. Hauling water is hard work. The kids from about 8 to 13 years old were given that job, so using it conservatively was standard operating procedure. The pan was for washing hands while cooking meals and any time during the day when you needed clean hands. A fresh pan was left in the sink after the dishes were done.

*Fels-Naptha laundry bar soap, (still available at most grocery stores) is used as a pretreatment for spots and stains on clothes before washing but doubled for the treatment of poison ivy, sumac, and oak rash. Scrub the area with the soap; it helped to dry up the rash.

*After a long winter, Grams picked a sunny spring day and flung the windows open throughout the house. Blankets hung outside on the line to freshen, because wet blankets are too heavy to wash by hand. There they were in the backyard, hung on the clothesline, thrown over the fence or even tossed over a bush so the wind blow the sink out of ‘em and the sun would sterilize them. You know, kill the bugs.

*Mink oil, lard, bear grease or melted beeswax was used to waterproof shoes, boots, gloves, wool coats and other leather items. Chapstick, or lip balm are good for small items. I have used Vaseline in a pinch for waterproofing the toe of my boots when venturing out in the yard after a rain or heavy dew. There seemed to always be a can of bacon grease next to the stove at the cottage by the lake, but I don’t think it was used for waterproofing. Walking around smelling like a slab of bacon could invite the attention of the neighborhood dogs and other wildlife.

*Large Mullein leaves are ideal for use as toilet paper, an absorbent pad for wounds, also for womens needs. Indians used Mullein leaves in the bottom of their moccasins to help keep their feet warm and the leaves make for a cushy, soft walking surface. Believe it or not, smoking mullein leaves was a remedy for an asthma attack.

*Broken glass can be knapped down and made into knives, arrows, scrapers and used as a magnifying glass to start a fire in a pinch.

* This one is fun! Put hot water and oatmeal into a thermos before bed. It will have cooked the oatmeal overnight for a piping hot breakfast in the morning. It works for rice too. Keep stews, soups, beans, spaghetti and other foods warm for up to 12 hours in a thermos. When making a pot of coffee, put the hot coffee in the thermos. Keeps hot all day for your afternoon break or those that sleep until noon.

*After a meal has been cooked using a grill or campfire, put pots of water on to heat for doing up the dishes and bathing. Never waste hot coals!! Starting a new fire is hard work!

*Cooked apples and applesauce are good for reducing fever and helps stop diarrhea. Apple pectin also helps prevent constipation and helps to eliminate heavy metals from the body.

*To make underarm deodorant; mix baby powder with 1/4 cup of baking soda. And let me tell you, living without running water, you are going to need this!!

*To make a good, cleaning tooth powder; mix some baking soda, non-iodized salt, stevia, coconut oil, and a few drops of peppermint oil. At the very least, salt and baking soda will work too. Activated charcoal brushed on teeth will whiten them nicely. Nobody wants to kiss someone with green fuzzy teeth.

*For a cough that won’t let you sleep, warm a pair of clean, white, cotton socks. Put Vicks Vaporub on the bottom of your feet and put on the warm socks. Climb into bed and stay warm. This old time remedy works almost every time. Vicks an be too strong for infants. I have used an old time remedy for a 3 month old infant with pneumonia and it worked miracles for him! For upper respiratory infections, chop up an onion and warm a towel or cloth diaper. Put the onions in the the towel and wrap the baby’s feet. Place him in his crib for the night, by morning you should see an improvement in his breathing. It may take a couple of days of this treatment for a full recovery.

*When the nights are cold, and there is no heat in the house, on a gas stove or outdoor grill, heat some water and put into a mason jar with a tight fitting lid. Wrap the jar in a towel and put under the blankets next to you. Always wear a stocking cap (nightcap) to bed and wool socks. A dog or two next to you wouldn’t hurt either.

*Chicken fat from a homegrown, free range chickens used instead of butter or shortening makes the best sugar cookies! Store bought chickens have most of the fat cut off, what a shame.

*And now it’s time for that bath;

Heat up a bucket of water, using your gas stove, grill, woodstove or campfire. If it is Saturday, and you know you will need a bath later, fill a dark container with water and leave out in the blazing summer sun all day. It will be hot!

Next, stand in the bathtub, put the bucket or pan in the tub with you. Using a cup or small pan, pour just enough water on yourself to get yourself wet. Shampoo hair, soap up your body and rinse everything at the same time. You will feel refreshed and clean and can do it with 2 gallons of water or less. Remember, hauling water is hard work!!

As for the young kids; as above, heat up water and put into the tub or a galvanized round tub set next to the warm woodstove. Put the youngest in it first, babies and toddlers. Then next, throw in the least dirty kid and so on until all the youngsters are bathed. Generally speaking, the younger ones are not as dirty as the older ones, so you bathe the cleanest ones first. Saves from having to haul and heat up fresh water. Hauling water is hard work!!

*Grandma always had a board game or some books for entertainment while she made homemade noodles for dinner. I remember, she always wiped the top of her canned goods with a wet cloth before opening them. “Why do you always clean the can tops, Gramma?” I asked. “Oh dear.” She replied. “You don’t know what has been on top of that can. It could be dust and dirt or mice could run across the top with their dirty feet or do their business on there. You don’t want to get any of that into your food. You just don’t know what has been on there.” My grams was smart!

I’ve started collecting very old cookbooks. Those books taught the newly minted homemaker how to make meals from scratch. If I were smart like granny, I’d find one from the 1800’s when you had to go out into the yard and hack up a chicken for Sunday dinner. That truly cooking from scratch!

Meet 93 year old Clara. Click here for her video Clara makes a depression era breakfast.

80 years ago. Lessons from the great depression.

Making Pemmican