“It always surprises me how many things we used to hold onto that are now simply thrown away.”
On our farm, I can still picture twine being used to tie up the grapevines, which was done mostly by women. It seemed that women appeared to possess a special talent in this field that men, despite their best efforts, were unable to match.
It also required a lot of patience because the grapevine arms had to be raised and wrapped around the wires carefully so as not to break off the buds, and then tied securely.
Years ago, I would take large coils of twine we had bought and cut them into pieces that were between six and eight inches long. I sure cut a lot of twine in my day, now that I think about it.
Other ways we got twine was from the dairy farmers, as most of them back then had bales of hay, and the binder twine was used to hold the bales together.
The nice thing about it was that most farmers back then just discarded most of it. So when my Dad and I approached them, they were happy to let us have it.
We actually didn’t take it for nothing though, as being the way my old Dad was, he worked out a deal, trading some fruit for it.
For a while, things worked out quite well, and we had enough to tie a 100-acre farm each spring.
In time though, the twine was phased out, and they began using thin wire instead. Dad didn’t like it, because it had a tendency to cut into the vine, sometimes even killing it. In contrast to wire, which did not budge, twine yielded somewhat.
In the end, we had to be really careful not to tie them too tightly.
Another item that is pretty well gone now is wooden baskets. For years on our farm, we used to buy up thousands of them.
Nothing was wrong with them, other than maybe having the wrong name—and we fixed that with a coat of paint. Once the old name was covered up, we simply stamped our own name on them. It worked well for a lot of years until the Powers That Be stopped us, saying it was unsanitary. Can you imagine that? What’s so unsanitary about wooden baskets that have stood the test of time?
Today, people have been convinced to switch to paper baskets, which are only used for a season, if even that long, before being discarded. It’s a wasteful practice that troubles me a lot. Unfortunately, many minds have been influenced in ways that I believe aren’t beneficial. It’s disheartening to think about all the waste that’s being generated today.
Another item on the list was old cement blocks. I remember the time when my Dad and I were building my first home years ago. We had just finished digging out the basement and were preparing to construct the walls when my Dad heard about a guy who had a large collection of used blocks.
Excited at the prospect of getting them at a discounted price, we went to check them out. To our surprise, there were hundreds of blocks, but the catch was that they were all of different sizes.
That didn’t stop Dad though. We backed up the truck and loaded them on.
Back at the building site, a good friend of ours got busy and started to lay them.
Finally, who knew that a bunch of mismatched blocks could make for such a sturdy building? It just proves that sometimes you have to think outside the box—or in this case, outside the block!
All my books are available on my Amazon Author Page.
If you purchase a book, a brief Amazon review really helps new readers discover my work—it means a lot.
Support my writing: Support My Writing
In Closing, I Would Like to Wish You Well!
George Walters | [email protected]