Voyageur Press recently sent me a copy of their newest book Old-Time Country Wisdom & Lore: 1000s of Traditional Skills for Simple Living by Jerry Mack Johnson to review. This book contains a wealth of information from folklore about topics like water witching, weather, country remedies and herbal cures, bird migrations and animal lore, firewood essentials, adobe making and bricklaying, leather working, bread making, beer brewing and winemaking, jams and jellies, canning and preserving, down-home toys, homemade soaps and shampoos, and fishing and hunting secrets.
If you are interested in a historical book, this is pretty interesting and good for a few chuckles at how things used to be done. There are a number of projects that would probably not be too difficult to figure out given the instructions in the book. However, I cannot recommend it for serious preparedness efforts as much of the instructions for projects in it are a bit vague without noting measurements or details that may be helpful to someone actually wanting to engage in that particular activity, and the herbal cures sound like something off of Pete’s Dragon. To their credit, the publishers do put a disclaimer in the beginning of the book letting you know that cures and recipes are for historical reference and are not recommended for actual use and they won’t be held responsible when putting onion skins in your armpits doesn’t cure your vomiting. Well, that’s what they were alluding to anyway when they gave their line about not being responsible for anything that happens to you because you tried something in this book. Gotta love the legal system.
The book covers a lot of information on what zodiac signs and moon phases to do certain activities under, like when to plant your garden, wean your baby, get a haircut, mow the lawn, dehydrate foods, etc. Interesting, but really, I dehydrate when I have extra food to dehydrate and get a haircut when my hair is getting too long. Maybe I’ve been doing it wrong all this time, but didn’t the zodiac signs just change recently anyway?
There are also a lot of “old timer” type quips about each topic. Like “When the aroma of a tobacco pipe is stronger and lasts longer, a storm can be predicted.” As well as tips for cleaning that may or may not actually work–“Hold cloth stained by fruit over a piece of burning sulphur. Wash thoroughly.” Not having any sulphur to burn, I’ll just stick with Spray N Wash.
And one I really enjoyed was the cure for a fussy baby–Put molasses on his hands and give him feathers to hold. Trying to get the feathers off his hands, he will tire and go to sleep. It’s no wonder children in old time pictures usually look dirty! Their parents have been giving them molasses and feathers to keep them occupied! Hilarious.
So, like I said, this is a fun book for historical reference, but I sure wouldn’t trust my life to the advice given in it. Pick and choose which bits of “wisdom” you feel safe following, or get a book that has been researched and proven safe on the topic you want to know more about.
Keep preparing! Angela
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