Message From The Editor of Off The Grid News

Over the past two weeks I've gotten letters from readers that run the gamut from supportive to outraged over the Letter From the Editor editorial of February 18th which discussed the basic skills that our younger generations seem to be losing. I have either been dragged over the coals by some who were offended at my comments about the cooking skills of the modern woman (just a note... I am a woman and that was NOT the point of the editorial) or I have been seconded on my remarks. It's been fascinating.

I would never purposely try to demean our readers in any way, but I also can't hide my head in the sand over certain facts of modern society that impacts us on a daily basis and threatens our chances for making it through any situation that may confront us. I see cashiers on a daily basis who can't make change without the register telling them how to do so. I see people who are supposed to know how to cut a board to length standing there confused because they can't figure out if the "lines" on the tape measure mean fourths, eighths, or sixteenths, and they are totally stumped on how to add fractions. From the 1900s to the 1940s, we still had enough people living on small family farms that when the Depression hit, it was Nature herself who foiled you from making it, not your lack of knowledge. In one generation (from the 40s to the 80s) the giant leaps in inventions and industry either propelled most to the cities or brought such modern conveniences to our daily lives that the "old ways" were quickly forgotten. Why go through the toil and labor of growing a garden when you could go to the grocery store and purchase your vegetables from a bin, already picked and cleaned? With the advent of TV dinners, pre-cooked meals, and fast food restaurants, why bother to cook much at all?

I'm no different than the rest of you. I've grown up in the cushy, rich environment that has been the standard of living for most in the United States. For instance, I know that there's a difference between baking soda and baking powder and I know that they're both leavening agents. I also know that I don't have a clue if they're interchangeable or what I can use to substitute in their place if neither is available. I don't know under what conditions you use one or the other and my lack of knowledge may make the very difference in what I'm able to cook for my family if I don't make it my goal to learn everything I can in regard to self-sufficiency.

If I have chickens, is there a way to save the excess eggs? Can I store them without refrigeration? (Yes, as a matter of fact, you can... as our article in this newsletter shows.) Without hunting for meat every day, is there a way to cure and store meat? If running to Dollar General for socks is no longer an option, how do I darn a sock so that it not only doesn't have a hole in it, but so that I don't wear a blister on my heel from the friction of the repair?

There is so much knowledge that we have lost in just two or three generations. Any observation on my part that I share with our readers is not meant to condemn in any way. It's meant to encourage you to learn everything you can, to understand the why of things, and to help you acquire the knowledge for those things you know nothing about.

"My people perish for lack of knowledge," says Hosea 4:6. Knowledge can be for a physical or spiritual concern. We must not neglect one for the other, and we must not ignore our lack of abilities when it comes to survival. My husband has a saying: "I know enough to know that I don't know enough." It's only when we come to this point that we will have the wisdom to survive in this new world that is forming around us.

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The Editor
editor@offthegridnews.com