Ever wonder?

[lew]

Our old family deer camp for many years was an abandoned farm near the s/e corner of Algonquin Park. My mom was born and raised in a little town called Killaloe about 35 miles from there. Her old uncles checked the archives for the history of the farm and found it was built about 1825.

 

I started going there around 1956 and as you can somewhat see in this picture the barn is fairly intact and the walls of the house on the left are standing but the roof has collapsed.

 

This place is isolated even now but close to 200 years ago it must have been unbelievable and I've often thought about how tough his his life must have been living in such isolation. Even today there's absolutely nothing around 'cept trees and water and the nearest hiway is 10 miles away.

 

Those 2 buildings are long gone now and nothing more than a mound in the earth, but I was still about to slog thru the bush a few years back and find the place....lotsa great memories.

 

 

When I was a kid in the 50's I used to visit my family in Killaloe and well remember how different it was from the city. They had the big old wood stove in the kitchen that was used for both cooking and heating the house and there was no indoor plumbing other than the hand pump in the kitchen.

 

Tough life but it made for some tough people too.

[ehg]

By this time of year Wendigo Psychosis would have already set in.

 

I guess for some aboriginals instead of starving to death when there was no food they reverted to cannibalism.

[Rod Caster]

very cool Lew.

 

My Dad has been writting a novel based deeply on our family's history, including farming and our native bloodlines. He isn't sharing any of it just yet, can't wait to see how we used to live.

 

Reading the stories above, I really find it interesting how dependent people were on fish for food and how no one concerned too much about the species, only the amount of protein.

[bigugli]

very cool Lew.

 

My Dad has been writting a novel based deeply on our family's history, including farming and our native bloodlines. He isn't sharing any of it just yet, can't wait to see how we used to live.

 

Reading the stories above, I really find it interesting how dependent people were on fish for food and how no one concerned too much about the species, only the amount of protein.

Fish was readily available, and could be had fresh most days. Secondly, there was no expenditure of resources, effort, or crops. Livestock requires care, handling and feed. Your summer diet would also be heavy on fish and chicken because there was little or no waste from spoilage.

Edited November 25, 2013 by bigugli

[Skipper D]

Awsome thread , In those good days hard work every day was what kepted you healthy , there was no fear if you were doing your share .... lol

Edited November 26, 2013 by Skipper " D "

[nancur373]

 

Could you imagine raising 14 kids in a 4 bedroom home with no hydro or running water?

My dad had 11 siblings in a 800 square feet 2 bedroom home. Pop fished and hunted seal for 9 months a year which left Nan home to raise all of them and do the work. for years they even had a boarder to help with expenses. his family moved from their village to a nearby island in an 18' dory. The whole family, belongings, cookstove and everything. My dad still gets upset when he tells that story as they did not have enough room for his pet goat. He is only 54 and he remembers when electricity came to town.

[Steve]

i'm going to take a wild stab in the dark but I bet cancer rates were a helluva lot lower with that lifestyle than they are now.

[Muskieman]

My Memère had 22 kids in 18 yrs .. every time Pepère would come out of the bush for the season , they get " busy " I guess , all kids raised in a 400sq ft farm house , she always said

" I raised 22 kids in a 400sq ft house , nowadays (1998) they're having a hard time raising 2 kids in a 3000sq ft house "

 

Things sure have changed .

[Twocoda]

I watched this awhile ago and thought it was interesting ...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwQxqBBut8s

[bigugli]

i'm going to take a wild stab in the dark but I bet cancer rates were a helluva lot lower with that lifestyle than they are now.

It would be difficult to jump to that conclusion. Many forms of cancer were unrecognized/ undiagnosed/undetectable some 50 years back, let alone 100 years ago. I do agree that there is a correlation between the increased incidence of cancer and increasing industrialization. How dramatic, I'm not sure.

 

I do know that our avg. life expectancy far exceeds that of our counterparts in Canada 100 years ago. Due very much to advances in science and technology. Taking maternal death rates, as an example, the rate in the 1920's was 1 in 2000. By 2005 that rate had diminished to 1 in 11,000. Infant rates in 1920 were 1 in 10 as compared to 1 in 120 by 1990, and even that number is exaggerated as it includes neonatal deaths due to abortions and medical termination.

In short, the good old days were not always good.

[Moosebunk]

They are very few I'd bet now, but out there are still some small, isolated communities in this country which live by such similar practices, maintain such harder lifestyles, and thrive by a bounding pulse of belonging, sharing and being part of a greater surviving family.

 

Peawanuck is one which comes to mind.

 

 

Two things learned in this thread, is that Shane is younger than I thought. lol. Cool upbringing too. And my wife could easily save me if the power goes out and taps turn off. lol.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Moosebunk

[Rod Caster]

My Memère had 22 kids in 18 yrs .. every time Pepère would come out of the bush for the season , they get " busy " I guess , all kids raised in a 400sq ft farm house , she always said

" I raised 22 kids in a 400sq ft house , nowadays (1998) they're having a hard time raising 2 kids in a 3000sq ft house "

 

Things sure have changed .

We just bought a 2 bedroom house and a few people mentioned that '..if we have more than one kid we'd run out of room'. My response was 'I'll stick the kids in the same room, what did your grandparents do?'. I really don't see how having soooo much space is vital to ones health/comfort. You want space kids? GO OUTSIDE hahaha.

 

 

I bet a lot of people here, or their grandparents, must have traveled for work. What did you do about lunches and meals? It would be pretty hard to pack a lunch for a week if you are away from home and there certainly were no McD's or Tim's.

[nancur373]

We just bought a 2 bedroom house and a few people mentioned that '..if we have more than one kid we'd run out of room'. My response was 'I'll stick the kids in the same room, what did your grandparents do?'. I really don't see how having soooo much space is vital to ones health/comfort. You want space kids? GO OUTSIDE hahaha.

 

 

I bet a lot of people here, or their grandparents, must have traveled for work. What did you do about lunches and meals? It would be pretty hard to pack a lunch for a week if you are away from home and there certainly were no McD's or Tim's.

I get the same from people saying that my house is too small for my family. I have 4 kids in a 1,000 sq ft bungalow. Suits us fine. Keeps the family that much closer. And we only have 1 TV

[mattybculp]

 

 

Some of you guys may enjoy this story. I sure did !

[mattybculp]

 

 

This one was good aswell !

[limeyangler]

It would be difficult to jump to that conclusion. Many forms of cancer were unrecognized/ undiagnosed/undetectable some 50 years back, let alone 100 years ago. I do agree that there is a correlation between the increased incidence of cancer and increasing industrialization. How dramatic, I'm not sure.

 

I do know that our avg. life expectancy far exceeds that of our counterparts in Canada 100 years ago. Due very much to advances in science and technology. Taking maternal death rates, as an example, the rate in the 1920's was 1 in 2000. By 2005 that rate had diminished to 1 in 11,000. Infant rates in 1920 were 1 in 10 as compared to 1 in 120 by 1990, and even that number is exaggerated as it includes neonatal deaths due to abortions and medical termination.

In short, the good old days were not always good.

 

I'm glad you make that point Bruce. This post was beginning to remind me of an old Monty Python sketch. As a History graduate one thing I remember was a lecture about reactionary historians and the tendency to romanticize the past. Just saying.

 

here is the sketch i was reminded of………...

 

 

 

 

[bigugli]

I'm glad you make that point Bruce. As a History graduate one thing I remember was a lecture about reactionary historians and the tendency to romanticize the past.

 

'

You as well? Whod'ave thunk it? Mind, I feel more like an anachronism these days, than a student.

I got a similar lecture from a Cambridge man teaching here in Canada.

[Rod Caster]

"...our Dad would kill us and dance upon our grave" hahahaha. Too funny Simon

[vance]

I can remember my dad saying that they got trapped in an army exercise in Labrador in the late fifties by a storm and then a plane defect,the OFFICER in charge was in a panic about no food coming in and what to do,dad told him this is a survival exercise we have guns we wont starve the blank look the guys face was priceless.As a side note you cant fish with hand grenades they arent big enough,at least in the late fifties...

 

 

vance

[Skipper D]

We just bought a 2 bedroom house and a few people mentioned that '..if we have more than one kid we'd run out of room'. My response was 'I'll stick the kids in the same room, what did your grandparents do?'. I really don't see how having soooo much space is vital to ones health/comfort. You want space kids? GO OUTSIDE hahaha.

 

 

I bet a lot of people here, or their grandparents, must have traveled for work. What did you do about lunches and meals? It would be pretty hard to pack a lunch for a week if you are away from home and there certainly were no McD's or Tim's.

Rod Caster, I ‘Il take a trip back in memory and hope my thoughts shed a bit of light to your questions. Yes we traveled away from home to work but not as far as you might think , most people that I knew never went that far that we couldn’t get back home at the end of the day . We had to be able because we were needed there to do our share of what it took to keep the family running at home. For the lunch’s and meals it went some thing like this , if you were lucky you’d land a job where your meals were included , which meant you ate at meal times with your boss and his family . In other circumstances when this was not the case , you would bring a lunch with you , some in a paper bag others in a tin lunch pail . Generally you started with a paper bag till you made enough money to buy your self the tin lunch pail and a thermos. Sandwich’s were wrapped in wax paper along with your deserts , a glass jar containing your favourite drink , freshie , milk , water and some kind of fruit did it for you .. lol . And when you got to where you worked you made sure you placed your lunch some where it would be cool out of the sun. Being from the farm my favourite drink was always milk, many a glass jars of it I drank and I never had a bad one , least not after the first one . There were no mcD’s or Tim’s your right, we never saw those till the mid seventies and were warn not to go in them and that home cooked meals were healthier. And while were on the subject of the food thing , some of the best vegetables and fruits I ever ate came out of our root cellar where they laid in there all winter covered over with a thick coating of maple leaves , when I think about it now I can still smell that great smell that came from things brought out of there . .

[DanD]

I was raised on a tobacco farm; we had all the amenities that a household had during the 60's & 70's; but there was no such a thing as going out for a meal. Dad would say what better food is there then what we grow right here in the garden, raise in the barn or in the pasture. We had chickens, hogs and beef cattle; that we raised not just for us to eat; but all the seasonal people that boarded with us during harvest. My mom cooked three meals a day for about 20 people; plus a mid morning and mid afternoon snacks for all the workers.

I can still hear my mom telling me what she needed from the garden for the next meal she was preparing. Or sending me to the chicken coop to collect the eggs for that morning's breakfast. That brings back another memory; that frigging rooster, he use to chase me out of the coop and half way back to the house; pecking at my heels all the way. LOL It's funny now but when you're 6 or 7 years old and the rooster is about as tall as you; it got your attention pretty quick.

I know this isn't the extreme as some of you guys have mentioned; but I know we lived a lot healthier life then; we were doing the organic thing before anyone ever coined the phrase.

 

Dan.

[bigugli]

Does not have to be extreme, Dan. You're right about eating out though. Until 1970, we never went out or ordered take out, unless we were travelling .Even then, Gram used to pack a mean picnic basket. There was always all the fixings for sandwiches, slaw and tater salad, hard boiled eggs, etc... We were never hungry.

However, in 1970 we had moved down to Toronto suburbia, just 5 minutes away from Canada's first McDonald's restaurant on Keele St. Stepfather thought it was the greatest place on earth. Keele st., from Finch down to Shepherd, was "restaurant road" just outside the airbase. And Gord insisted we try them all. McD's, A&W, RedBarn, DQ, Ponderosa, Harveys, BurgerKing, etc... My Gram would just shake her head. Mind you Gram did have a weakness for fish and chips from Chico's, kitty corner across from Honest Ed's, and she always took me to the Woolworth's lunch counter when we went to downtown Toronto, but those were full days away from home. Going to Downtown Toronto was an adventure back then.

[lew]

My wife and I go out for dinner every Friday night and always have a great time. Sometimes it's just the 2 of us, other nights it's with a group of friends. Might be the $12 Chinese buffet or sometimes it's a couple hundred dollars at a nicer place but to us it's always worth it.

 

Been married 47+ years but Friday is still called "date night"

[DanD]

30 years married plus 5 years living in sin.

 

Dan.