tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post7726922067532915788..comments2024-03-27T05:18:53.795-07:00Comments on The Weaver of Grass: Times were hard.The Weaver of Grasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-53528945982152674762009-12-16T06:38:11.866-08:002009-12-16T06:38:11.866-08:00Thanks Bonnie and Jenn for your welcome comments.Thanks Bonnie and Jenn for your welcome comments.The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-5438805082685569762009-12-16T06:25:24.824-08:002009-12-16T06:25:24.824-08:00Leenie - yes, you are quite right. We think of the...Leenie - yes, you are quite right. We think of the good times but we often forget the chapped, cracked hands, the bitter cold, the dark evenings.The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-51616125103178266322009-12-16T06:24:24.069-08:002009-12-16T06:24:24.069-08:00Dick - we have one little grey Fergie still in use...Dick - we have one little grey Fergie still in use and another one kept for spares.The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-13561622357849041862009-12-16T06:23:33.136-08:002009-12-16T06:23:33.136-08:00Yes Elizabeth - I do agree with you that it is oft...Yes Elizabeth - I do agree with you that it is often the case that we look at the past through rosy spectacles.The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-33684149912205673772009-12-16T06:22:45.549-08:002009-12-16T06:22:45.549-08:00Heather - 1947 seems to be the year most people we...Heather - 1947 seems to be the year most people went mechanised - perhaps it was the aftermath of the war years that did it. Must say that I wish we still had the odd cart horse about the place, though.The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-35801102978879198312009-12-16T06:21:32.881-08:002009-12-16T06:21:32.881-08:00Derrick - I suspect future generations will look a...Derrick - I suspect future generations will look at the way we do things with a similarly jaundiced eye and say they don't know how we managed/The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-28788944833234652492009-12-16T06:20:36.602-08:002009-12-16T06:20:36.602-08:00Thanks Bovey Belle - I must say "my" far...Thanks Bovey Belle - I must say "my" farmer is very good at walking everywhere - he spends hours walking round the fields doing various jobs and only rides when it is necessary.The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-38091337958938361402009-12-16T06:19:33.667-08:002009-12-16T06:19:33.667-08:00Thanks C Hummel Wilson - there is a certain amount...Thanks C Hummel Wilson - there is a certain amount of nostalgia for those days. I think the thing I would have found the hardest was managing without a good strong electric light so that I could read. I think often in those days people went to bed with the sun.The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-82549427086145406712009-12-16T06:17:35.073-08:002009-12-16T06:17:35.073-08:00Thanks GW. It seems to me that one only really be...Thanks GW. It seems to me that one only really becomes interested in the past when one begins to get old oneself.The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-51575983684414387382009-12-16T06:16:45.444-08:002009-12-16T06:16:45.444-08:00Yes, Pondside, I think we could if we had to. I a...Yes, Pondside, I think we could if we had to. I agree we have got a bit soft but I am sure we could knuckle under in an emergency.The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-38753581964430527992009-12-16T04:03:46.734-08:002009-12-16T04:03:46.734-08:00In some ways much hard, in others a simpler time.....In some ways much hard, in others a simpler time... we're better and worse for it. <br /><br />Love this photo.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-67469500904772361882009-12-15T19:19:32.476-08:002009-12-15T19:19:32.476-08:00Your photo could have been taken in West Virginia ...Your photo could have been taken in West Virginia about the time I moved here (mid-1970's). Several neighbors still used their horses instead of tractors on this hilly land. Our first tractor was a 1950 Ferguson, then upgraded to a Massey Ferguson, and finally to a 1968 Massey 135 which we still own and use regularly. <br /><br />Our life now is a curious mix of old and new. When we moved here, we had no electricity, and did things the old way, learned from our elderly neighbors. We got electricity in 1990 but still heat with wood and do many things the older, simpler way. As you say, there is a satisfaction to doing things by hand that can't be had when doing them by machine. <br /><br />I have so enjoyed reading your blog. It is like a visit with my English-born mother and her mother, especially when they talked about life in rural Caldecote in the 1930's and40's.Granny Suehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01129064020727041161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-7035659405561731882009-12-15T18:23:11.487-08:002009-12-15T18:23:11.487-08:00Oops! should read, satisfaction.Oops! should read, satisfaction.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-11235526558580471272009-12-15T18:21:53.545-08:002009-12-15T18:21:53.545-08:00Hi Weaver you have a raw day and currently, in Mel...Hi Weaver you have a raw day and currently, in Melbourne, it is 35 degrees Celsius with a hot northerly wind and the state is on high fire alert. It is the hottest day since Black Saturday,7th Feb 2009, when 208 lives were lost, more than 500 lives injured and 450,000 hectares (1.1 million acres)were consumed by ferocious bushfires. <br />Although in former times the going and living was hard, I think there was a much better sense of satifaction in a job well done. Life was simpler and a feeling of appreciation pervaded much of family life,or so it appears to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-83633959170217006892009-12-15T17:24:04.481-08:002009-12-15T17:24:04.481-08:00It makes me grateful for the things I so often tak...It makes me grateful for the things I so often take for granted. Here at Necky Knoll House, our heating was on the blink for a couple of days, and it seemed awful to get up to a cold house. I remember many years ago prior to central heating, when we only had coal fires downstairs, and never got up to a warm house! (We giraffes do like to be warm, though!)Raph G. Neckmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02468502742144495020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-75556198899848265932009-12-15T14:21:28.024-08:002009-12-15T14:21:28.024-08:00A glimpse into another world, never mind time...A glimpse into another world, never mind time...Jinksyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01686101468214361004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-57815016222031003572009-12-15T13:50:17.535-08:002009-12-15T13:50:17.535-08:00I love that - a raw day. My husband tells stories ...I love that - a raw day. My husband <a href="http://myreflectionsmusings.blogspot.com/2009/03/life-on-farm.html" rel="nofollow">tells stories of his farm</a> without hydro or plumbing. Keep on telling the stories - they are important!Jenn Jilkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05259681360456905055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-50217619890469099332009-12-15T12:32:18.687-08:002009-12-15T12:32:18.687-08:00When one thinks of the hard way of life back then,...When one thinks of the hard way of life back then, one realizes how strong those dear people must have been. We can take so much forgranted....there is so much to be grateful for in our modern way of life.....and a lot of things which I personally am not so grateful for....but that's another topic.<br /><br />Interesting post Weaver. Thanks.Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00282469017360136275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-55951206483106647972009-12-15T11:20:01.647-08:002009-12-15T11:20:01.647-08:00Hi Weaver
I love reading your posts about life on ...Hi Weaver<br />I love reading your posts about life on the farm. The mention of the tractor triggered some memories, - we used to have grey Fergies on the farms when I grew up in the 50ies and 60ies here in Norway too. Our farm was just a smallholding with a few sheep, so we did not have one, but my father borrowed my grandfather's horse to do the heavy tasks.<br />My brother is interested in old motor vehicles, so he got hold of one one a few years back and restored it, - so now there is one on what used to be my parents' farm.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-24831953764977602872009-12-15T10:49:36.521-08:002009-12-15T10:49:36.521-08:00I so enjoy your posts with your British words and ...I so enjoy your posts with your British words and way of putting them togther. I hope someday we cross paths. <br /><br />It is good to be reminded of the sacrifices our families made. My parents worked so hard on their little dairy farm, caring for their land and cattle in all weather. We children worked hard as well, but nothing like the generations earlier. I miss the farm, but I don't miss frozen manure and feeding cattle in a blizzard.Leeniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17655189620056032790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-28247650698463468572009-12-15T10:44:16.260-08:002009-12-15T10:44:16.260-08:00A raw day indeed and a chilly reminder of the farm...A raw day indeed and a chilly reminder of the farmer's round 60 years ago. <br /><br />There was an open day on our local large farm in September. All the tractors were on display - huge, multi-function leviathans - and at the very end of the long line was a fully restored grey fergie. It was curiously moving - a remnant of 20th century technology, dwarfed in the shadow of its vast impersonal descendants.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-39125851091831878732009-12-15T10:23:25.802-08:002009-12-15T10:23:25.802-08:00Yes, we really are very lucky that life for many p...Yes, we really are very lucky that life for many people is much improved by machines.<br />The difficulty is to make a balance somehow....<br /><br />Sometimes we think of the past as picturesque and charming when it was often harsh and brutal.Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03964291132366262298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-62294158042919204452009-12-15T10:22:21.432-08:002009-12-15T10:22:21.432-08:00Even here in the southwest it's been raw today...Even here in the southwest it's been raw today but I'd rather have it cold than mild at this time of year. I have a memory of watching a tractor ploughing in the field next to my grandmother's house. Only since reading your blog have I realised why we were all so excited to see it. Over the years I have completely forgotten that there were no tractors before about 1947. It's a good thing that today's 'mod.cons' help to make life easier for farmers, though there still seem to be plenty of problems for them.Heatherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06826501916623305535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-85755330763519485272009-12-15T08:52:30.456-08:002009-12-15T08:52:30.456-08:00Hello Weaver,
I saw an episode of the Victorian F...Hello Weaver,<br /><br />I saw an episode of the Victorian Farm Christmas the other evening and was glad not to be doing the chores! But as you say, life was hard for most folks and they just got on with it. We're a bit mollycoddled!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00861397533660827678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280582018791422638.post-36670235058562396782009-12-15T08:41:19.993-08:002009-12-15T08:41:19.993-08:00And here. Work was hard in those days, but good t...And here. Work was hard in those days, but good to learn that your husband's family's farm horses worked until they retired and weren't put down to make room for tractors which is what happened on many farms, and pushed even the Shire to the brink of extinction.<br /><br />Our Farmer Next Door doesn't ever walk anywhere - even gets the cows in for milking in his Landrover, and he has all sorts of machinery for taking jawfuls of silage from the clamp, moving big bales around etc.Bovey Bellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13117332471600275100noreply@blogger.com