The walton's should have lived in maine (Medford: apartment, home)

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Maineah

The Waltons was an iconic television show...just remember it's a television show ...not reality. Times and living were far more harsh back then than depicted in the TV show. After you've taken the kerosene lantern and walked through snow drifts to sit in an ice cold outhouse and cleaned up with a dry corn cob for the millionth time I'd have to imagine the novelty of the back to nature thing would have worn off. Imagine sitting in front of a wood stove from December through April with little more to do than feed yourself ,your animals, and the fire. Anyone who has lived a modern life would go absolutely stir crazy after the first winter. Sure it's nice to think about the closeness of the family but they were close for a reason,they had nowhere else to go! Back then a trip to the grocery store was a bi- monthly event and cause for celebration. I challenge anyone to go off the grid, just a plain dial telephone and a radio,and live off the land for a few years with your whole family the way the Walton's are depicted and then tell us how much you love the Walton's lifestyle.

Good points.

Though there are folks, who do live in that manner. Some of them do live in Maine.

My Dw and I are both on 'homesteading' forums, and organic farming forums, and frugal living forums, and survivalist forums.

She has one friend in particular that is off-grid. Using solar-cells to charge batteries, she can get online for two hours each day, until her batteries run low again.

What do I see when I look at my fellow Mainers?

I see folks who have no washing machine, no dryer, grinding grain for breads, butchering their own animals, milking and making cheese, producing veggies, etc.

I have bought grain from Mainers who harvest their own grains using horse teams.



Pardon me now while I go to feed our livestock.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Good points.

Though there are folks, who do live in that manner. Some of them do live in Maine.

My Dw and I are both on 'homesteading' forums, and organic farming forums, and frugal living forums, and survivalist forums.

She has one friend in particular that is off-grid. Using solar-cells to charge batteries, she can get online for two hours each day, until her batteries run low again.

What do I see when I look at my fellow Mainers?

I see folks who have no washing machine, no dryer, grinding grain for breads, butchering their own animals, milking and making cheese, producing veggies, etc.

I have bought grain from Mainers who harvest their own grains using horse teams.



Pardon me now while I go to feed our livestock.

I applaud anyone who wants to live that way. I think if you have the will to live next to nature, feed and clothe yourself and your family,barter and trade for supplies,make and store your own power as needed,cut wood for fuel, raise animals,thumb your nose at the power companies and oil companies, home school your kids, make bio-diesel to run your tractor, shovel hen poop,beat your clothes on a rock by the river,and do your business in that frozen outhouse all winter you are to be commended, you may very well need your head examined, but if that's your thing then more power to you. I'm just saying that back when people HAD to live that way they would have undoubtedly embraced all of the luxuries we take for granted now without much of a nostalgic sense of losing the old ways.

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by Maineah

<snip>I'm just saying that back when people HAD to live that way they would have undoubtedly embraced all of the luxuries we take for granted now without much of a nostalgic sense of losing the old ways.

I can say for a fact that this is true. All I have to do is think back, to when I was raising my 5 daughters ... off grid, with (only) a radio, an outhouse, a hand pump for water (but it WAS in the kitchen!) and a wood stove for heat and cooking... Though my husband worked in town, when he lost his job and we had to go on Welfare for a while, we had a net increase in our standard of living; much of our food we raised (animal and vegetable), I sewed our clothes, canned, etc... a very "little house on the prairie" or Waltons existence.

I was not raised that way, but my mom, who was born in 1910, in the very rural midwest, saw the arrival of indoor plumbing, electricity and actively embraced all the modern conveniences that she found. She could never really understand why I wanted to "throw that all away". I used to call her "thoroughly modern Millie."

[bignhfamily]

Originally Posted by starwalker

I can say for a fact that this is true. All I have to do is think back, to when I was raising my 5 daughters ... off grid, with (only) a radio, an outhouse, a hand pump for water (but it WAS in the kitchen!) and a wood stove for heat and cooking... Though my husband worked in town, when he lost his job and we had to go on Welfare for a while, we had a net increase in our standard of living; much of our food we raised (animal and vegetable), I sewed our clothes, canned, etc... a very "little house on the prairie" or Waltons existince.

and if you had to do it all over again....?

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by bignhfamily

and if you had to do it all over again....?

Of course I would do it in a minute. Need a few more amenities for my disabled other half, but me, by myself... that is a whole 'nother thing! And I am convinced that was the best way and place to raise my family. All of the kids, even though they live in the city now, have very good memories of their youth and visit "the old home place" any time they get back there.

I'm the one who lived for the last few months before moving north, with the big fridge the house came with turned off (using a dorm size, 'cause the back porch wasn't cold enough in NC) and the water heater off except for a few hours a week. Still use kerosene lamps, most mornings and many evenings, even when I have electric. etc...

[dmyankee]

LOL!

I know quite a few Mainers who live "off the grid." Several are dead hippies in one particular town. You have to produce an SDS card to move in.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by dmyankee

LOL!

I know quite a few Mainers who live "off the grid." Several are dead hippies in one particular town. You have to produce an SDS card to move in.

They all have degrees from Ohio state university?



I know a few hippies in Maine, though I do not know any that are dead.

[dmyankee]

I use the term loosely, after catching a band in Vermont a few years ago called "The Dead Hippies."

Greatful Dead era!

[Nor'Eastah]

In these posts, you are often speaking of extremes. That is, they live "off grid" or "on grid", use indoor plumbing or freezing outhouses , heat with wood and light with kero vs. central heating and electric lights. You could go further and say, raise their own food or shop at the supermarket.

The Waltons were like all rural families of their time, and many in the cities did not fare much better. Yes, technology has improved our standard of living enormously, but at a cost. As a couple, we are facing a retirement that will require a lowering of our standard of living. I firmly believe that most of the baby boomers will either voluntarily accept a lower standard of living in retirement - or never retire.

To us, it is worth the change to a colder climate, to heat with wood instead of an automatic oil burner, to raise most of our food rather than buy at a store, and to do without many things we have today, often taking them for granted as part of "civilization" - just to have some sort of retirement. Do we really need everything we have now? Is it worth it, at age 75, to go to work as a greeter at Wal-Mart or an order-taker at McDonald's, just to have what others consider "civilization"? NO.

Was life wonderful every day for the Waltons or anyone else in their situation? NO. Is life wonderful every day for us, still working, arising at 4:30 or 5 am every day facing a commute of 45 minutes in traffic that gets worse by the week? NO. We come home tired, snap at each other, sit down to a supper of bland factory food, spend a couple hours in front of the TV watching "slop served up by second-rate minds" (Scott Nearing), and feel too tired to do much on weekends or holidays.

Nobody said life was a picnic. We choose our lifestyles, and live with our choices . A little less of this, a little more of that, till we get the mixture just right for ourselves. I won't criticize the lifestyle choices of others - be they hippies or modern-day Waltons. Just trying to get through the whole messy business myself. I for one, have had enough of all the "conveniences" and the sky-high prices demanded for them. Amen!

[msina]

Originally Posted by dmyankee

LOL!

I know quite a few Mainers who live "off the grid." Several are dead hippies in one particular town. You have to produce an SDS card to move in.

What's an "SDS" card?