John Van Willigen

This book was plucked off the library shelf for the cover. "I know, I know, don't judge a book by its cover." But I'm glad I did. It was about the daily living of the citizens in the state of Kentucky during the 1920's, '30's and '40's. The 1950's was mostly about the changes or "modernization" that took place.
What did the kids take to school for lunch? what is sorghum syrup? how did families clean? how often did they bathe? etc., etc., etc.
The book includes comments of various people living in different areas of Kentucky about all manners of things; shopping, slaughter days, court days, stringing beans, etc.
I found it all quite fascinating and then sad when I came to the last chapter and read about agents telling citizens they needed to buy pressure cookers to can properly. Laws were created and farmers weren't able to sell things like milk, eggs, pork, including sausages, etc. Later in 1950's the law for selling chickens was added.
Due to the laws and the changes brought by electricity, life changed. The energy source called FOOD changed on the farm making people more reliant on the foods sold in grocery stores and people becoming less self-reliant. People couldn't save seeds from grocery store produce, because the next generation is different, (not as good) as the first generation. Saving the "heirloom" seeds became less frequent and therefore so did the sharing/swapping with neighbors. The structure of society also changed.
Great book, sad we've lost our self-reliance.… (mer)