“I am a grandchild of a lost war, and I have blood knowledge of what life can be in a defeated country on the bare bones of privation.”
Kathryn Anne Porter from her memoir The Days Before
I have written of our efforts at self-sufficiency and of clownish neighbors. But, I have not conveyed much of the wisdom of our self-sufficient neighbors. As mentioned previously, self-sufficiency is as much about learning to live in hard times or preparing for the same as it often is a response to a cultural memory. For those of us in the US that memory extends to the Depression and further back to stories of hardship after the American Civil War. A knowledge that what one currently enjoys may yet be removed from ones ownership.
T-posts: A few years ago I helped Lowell Raby rebuild a fence. He and I labored for weeks. He outworked me most days even though he is in his mid-seventies. Besides that fact what Cindy and I often recall was a steadfast determination to build a beautiful and sturdy fence and his use of frugality to achieve it. A t-post, the metal post commonly used in line to attach barbed wire, has become quite expensive. Currently they run about $3.99 a post. Multiply that cost times a hundred and you quickly get fence that is not economically justifiable to build.
Lowell, in typical fashion as we have learned these last 12 years, found a novel way to circumvent that cost. He bought warehouse shelving posts at auction. If you have been in a warehouse you have seen the towering shelving units that go up 20-30 feet where goods are stored. The connecting pieces, a bit like scaffolding, come in 12 foot units. These pieces he bought in bulk and hauled to his farm. Using a cutting torch these were then cut into 6 foot sections. We used these pieces as our posts, pushed into the ground with his front end-loader. They are sturdy and will in all likelihood outlast the un-bought t-posts. Unit costs were perhaps 25 cents.
Home production: A man lives across the road from our farm in a small hand-built house of no particular style, maybe 600 square feet. Additionally he has a few small outbuildings. It all sits on about an acre of land nestled between the road and the creek. The owner works odd jobs as a handyman. His place is beautifully kept, neat and orderly. But, the real pride is the garden. Beginning in late winter a regular and varied succession of crops and veggies make an appearance. Never a sign advertising produce, we are left to assume that is all canned and preserved for his own use. Regardless, his place is a simple reminder of the value of hard work.
Repurposing: Ten years ago Cindy wrecked on Pond Creek while pulling a horse trailer. Shaken but unhurt she secured the horse and made arrangements to have the trailer towed to the wrecker. The top of the trailer was completely smashed like a beer can. To our eyes and the eyes of the insurance company this was a total loss.
Mr. Kyle, another neighbor, heard the story and asked Cindy to call the wrecker company for him. He bought the smashed trailer for $60. Using a welding torch he cut away the frame of the trailer and was left with a perfectly sound foundation. Using scrap metal from his barn he built a new and sturdy frame. A few weeks later he drove up to our farm and showed us a functional, painted livestock trailer. Still in use the many years later, the trailer reminds us of the need and uses of thrift.
We struggle with the same impulse as the rest… go buy it. We have gradually, though certainly imperfectly, begun to learn to make do or simply “make”.
