Post by Granma Gertie on Jul 7, 2008 9:13:39 GMT -4
With times bein' what they are, and with ever body havin' to learn to pinch pennies till ol' Lincoln hollers, I figured I'd start somethin' on makin' do. If'n you got more ideas to add, then please do! I figer we can use all the help we can git about now, 'specially the younger ones that ain't never really had to make do!
I was onced called the Queen of Make-do. A woman I really liked one time told me that I had done so much with so little fer so long, that I was fully quali-fied to do anything with nothin’! I reckon she was about right.
When I was comin’ up, there was times when we jest didn’t have somethin’ we needed, so we had to learn to make do with what we had. Sometimes, it weren‘t easy. Other times we had to figer out somethin’ to correct a mistake, er make somethin’ take the place of somethin’ else.
Ya gotta remember that times were hard and more often than not, money was purdy scarce. There’s been times we had to cut pasteboard to go in our shoes when they was about worn out. We didn’t have money fer new shoes, so we had to make do with what we had. When a pair of dungarees wore out, mama wouldn’t throw’em away. She’d put’em in a bag with the rest of the material scraps she had so that if’n one of us young’uns got a rip er wore out place in ours, she’d have dungaree materiel to patch’em with. That’s makin’ do.
When it come time to make a quilt, we didn’t go out and buy a bunch of new material. We always used the flour sacks er pieces of our old clothes. Them same flour sacks was made into dresses, shirts, curtains, piller cases er whatever we was needin’. I still got a old quilt that my mama and granny made with flour sacks, and one that I can look at the pieces and see one of my old dresses, one of my daddy‘s shirts, and some of the old kitchen curtains. In the winter time, we used to poke old pasteboard and paper into the cracks in the walls and around the doors to keep out the cold. The feathers we got durin’ chicken killin’ time were made into pillers and mattresses. Corn shucks was used fer mattresses too. We didn’t throw nothin’ away. You never knew when you may need it fer somethin’ else. That’s makin’ do.
There’s other ways of makin’ do. Like if’n you put too much salt in your beans, jest peel and cut a tater in half and throw it in with’em fer a few minutes. That tater will take up some of the salt. If’n you need buttermilk fer biscuits, you can take sweet milk and add a dash of salt and a bit of plain’ol white vinegar to it, let it set fer about 30 minutes, and it makes biscuits jest fine. You can use cold leftover coffee to make gravy a bit darker, though now days you could probly add a spoon of that instant coffee to do the same thing. If’n ya got an apple, you can put it in a bag of taters and it’ll keep’em from sproutin’ to quick. Before you store’em, if’n ya wrap up yer sweet taters in paper, like an old Sears catalog, it’ll keep’s from sproutin’.
To make yer shoes shine real purdy when ya ain’t got no shoe polish, jest use a bit of Vaseline and buff’em real good. Fer the women folks, if’n ya want to lighten yer hair a bit, rinse yer hair with some lemon juice and git out in the sun fer a while. If’n ya got some of them khaki britches that’s lookin’ a bit dull and faded, you can soak’em in some coffee er tea. It’ll darken’em jest a bit, but it will bring back some of the luster they had when they was new. Vinegar and newspapers are good fer cleanin’ winder’s in the house er on yer car. The newspapers don’t have all the lint that them paper towels has got. Bakin’ soda makes a purdy good scourin’ powder and it makes your sink drains keep from smellin’ bad. I think ever body now knows about how it keeps smells out of the ice box.
A lot of our traditions come from makin’ do, more especially at holidays. Like stringin’ popcorn er makin’ colored paper chains fer the Christmas tree. It may be a tradition to some people now, but it came from not havin’ money fer store-bought decorations. A lot of our foods were born from makin’ do. If’n ya don’t believe me, jest look at biscuits and gravy. Many a young’un was raised on this fer breakfast er supper, sometimes both. It weren’t cause it was so good, it was cause there weren’t nothin’ else. When ya ain’t got much more than flour and water, you make do. Same goes fer dried beans. They was cheap and would stretch quite a ways. A lot of soups and stews came about to make a little bit feed a bunch. Take a small bit of leftover macaroni er rice, a little bit of meat, throw in some leftover vegetables and a few t’mater’s and ya got soup enough fer a whole family.
Now that things ain’t like they used to be, people don’t have to make do as much. People now days throw away more than we had at times. It seems so sad to me to see so much thrown away. There’s young’uns now that ain’t never even had to eat leftovers! The mamas and daddies jest throw out whatever’s left. If’n a shirt loses a button, they buy a new shirt instead of sewin’ the button back on. Not to many young’uns now days have to wear hand-me-downs. If’n people need to clean somethin’, they jest go to the store and buy whatever they need to instead of usin’ what they got.
Makin’ do is becomin’ a thing of the past. In some ways, I reckon that’s good cause it means we’re doin’ better. But, in other ways, I wonder if’n it ain’t takin’ some of our strength away. If’n ya ain’t never had to make do before, and then somethin’ happens where ya ain‘t got the money you been used to, how many people now days will be strong enough to simply make do?
I was onced called the Queen of Make-do. A woman I really liked one time told me that I had done so much with so little fer so long, that I was fully quali-fied to do anything with nothin’! I reckon she was about right.
When I was comin’ up, there was times when we jest didn’t have somethin’ we needed, so we had to learn to make do with what we had. Sometimes, it weren‘t easy. Other times we had to figer out somethin’ to correct a mistake, er make somethin’ take the place of somethin’ else.
Ya gotta remember that times were hard and more often than not, money was purdy scarce. There’s been times we had to cut pasteboard to go in our shoes when they was about worn out. We didn’t have money fer new shoes, so we had to make do with what we had. When a pair of dungarees wore out, mama wouldn’t throw’em away. She’d put’em in a bag with the rest of the material scraps she had so that if’n one of us young’uns got a rip er wore out place in ours, she’d have dungaree materiel to patch’em with. That’s makin’ do.
When it come time to make a quilt, we didn’t go out and buy a bunch of new material. We always used the flour sacks er pieces of our old clothes. Them same flour sacks was made into dresses, shirts, curtains, piller cases er whatever we was needin’. I still got a old quilt that my mama and granny made with flour sacks, and one that I can look at the pieces and see one of my old dresses, one of my daddy‘s shirts, and some of the old kitchen curtains. In the winter time, we used to poke old pasteboard and paper into the cracks in the walls and around the doors to keep out the cold. The feathers we got durin’ chicken killin’ time were made into pillers and mattresses. Corn shucks was used fer mattresses too. We didn’t throw nothin’ away. You never knew when you may need it fer somethin’ else. That’s makin’ do.
There’s other ways of makin’ do. Like if’n you put too much salt in your beans, jest peel and cut a tater in half and throw it in with’em fer a few minutes. That tater will take up some of the salt. If’n you need buttermilk fer biscuits, you can take sweet milk and add a dash of salt and a bit of plain’ol white vinegar to it, let it set fer about 30 minutes, and it makes biscuits jest fine. You can use cold leftover coffee to make gravy a bit darker, though now days you could probly add a spoon of that instant coffee to do the same thing. If’n ya got an apple, you can put it in a bag of taters and it’ll keep’em from sproutin’ to quick. Before you store’em, if’n ya wrap up yer sweet taters in paper, like an old Sears catalog, it’ll keep’s from sproutin’.
To make yer shoes shine real purdy when ya ain’t got no shoe polish, jest use a bit of Vaseline and buff’em real good. Fer the women folks, if’n ya want to lighten yer hair a bit, rinse yer hair with some lemon juice and git out in the sun fer a while. If’n ya got some of them khaki britches that’s lookin’ a bit dull and faded, you can soak’em in some coffee er tea. It’ll darken’em jest a bit, but it will bring back some of the luster they had when they was new. Vinegar and newspapers are good fer cleanin’ winder’s in the house er on yer car. The newspapers don’t have all the lint that them paper towels has got. Bakin’ soda makes a purdy good scourin’ powder and it makes your sink drains keep from smellin’ bad. I think ever body now knows about how it keeps smells out of the ice box.
A lot of our traditions come from makin’ do, more especially at holidays. Like stringin’ popcorn er makin’ colored paper chains fer the Christmas tree. It may be a tradition to some people now, but it came from not havin’ money fer store-bought decorations. A lot of our foods were born from makin’ do. If’n ya don’t believe me, jest look at biscuits and gravy. Many a young’un was raised on this fer breakfast er supper, sometimes both. It weren’t cause it was so good, it was cause there weren’t nothin’ else. When ya ain’t got much more than flour and water, you make do. Same goes fer dried beans. They was cheap and would stretch quite a ways. A lot of soups and stews came about to make a little bit feed a bunch. Take a small bit of leftover macaroni er rice, a little bit of meat, throw in some leftover vegetables and a few t’mater’s and ya got soup enough fer a whole family.
Now that things ain’t like they used to be, people don’t have to make do as much. People now days throw away more than we had at times. It seems so sad to me to see so much thrown away. There’s young’uns now that ain’t never even had to eat leftovers! The mamas and daddies jest throw out whatever’s left. If’n a shirt loses a button, they buy a new shirt instead of sewin’ the button back on. Not to many young’uns now days have to wear hand-me-downs. If’n people need to clean somethin’, they jest go to the store and buy whatever they need to instead of usin’ what they got.
Makin’ do is becomin’ a thing of the past. In some ways, I reckon that’s good cause it means we’re doin’ better. But, in other ways, I wonder if’n it ain’t takin’ some of our strength away. If’n ya ain’t never had to make do before, and then somethin’ happens where ya ain‘t got the money you been used to, how many people now days will be strong enough to simply make do?
