Forgotten Survival Tips From a Bygone Era
Kevin Felts 03.09.18
Chances are buried deep in the closet is a wealth of survival tips. Then again, chances are that information may of been tossed out decades ago.
The information being referred to are letters from a bygone era.
The younger readers may not know this, but there was a time before the Internet. There was even a time when not everyone had a phone. If someone wanted to get information about a family member, a letter was dropped in the mail box.
Buried in those letters from our granny to other family members are tidbits of information as to how they lived their daily lives, and various tips.
For example, in the 1950s my great aunt wrote to my grandmother and recommended my grandmother get rid of her rabbits. The comment was along the lines of, “You are not doing anything with them. So get rid of the rabbits and plant some asparagus.”
That advice got me to thinking about my own rabbits. They were consuming resources and not producing anything buy manure. I can get manure from my chickens. So the two rabbits were let loose in the chicken yard. Keep in mind the chicken yard is a 1/2 acre.
There may also be a slim chance books bought decades ago may have been passed down from one generation to another. Are the books still relevant? A horse, cow or chicken from 50 years ago is still a horse, cow and chicken today. Somethings have changed, such as various diseases being common decades ago are rare today.
The letters were from a generation that was born and raised with kerosene lanterns. They got water from a hand dug well, or from a creek. The grew a garden every year, then put part of the crop up for the winter. They survived through hardships, or else the reader would not be here today.
Rather than buying various survival manuals, maybe there are some family letters in the closet with tips from people who lived a life of self-reliance.
