This is exactly why I shared these vids and highly recommend the Wartime Farm vids. History repeats itself only this time the gov't is not so friendly. Grow your own Victory garden and save and share seeds with your neighbours.
@@oldplaner may I ask what is in the water that the woman is preserving the eggs in please. I've never heard of this before. Thanks Louise Australia 🇦🇺
I remember when this came out it was quaint. Now life has come full circle soon the only way to feed our family is to turn our gardens onto vegetable beds. I met Ruth Mott when i was a kid my grandmother was freinds with her and by a bizzare turn of evens my other grandad knew Harry though i never met him
@@londongirl1733 thanks x she was a lovely lady. At first glance she looked very stern. But she loved a chat over a cup of tea. So nice. And in one of the episodes you see Harry stringing onions. My grandad did it the same way he learned from Harry when they were both pretty young and later grandad got an allotment to keep him busy after the effects of trauma from the war. Harry apparently came to help him get it started
@@juststoppingby390 Oh how kind of you to share your Grandads story. They were a wonderful giving generation who were tough and worked extremely hard for all they had. I remember people like them when I grew up. I was born in the mid 60’s so there were many of the generation that had taught Harry and Ruth their trade still with us. All those I knew were very elderly but so kind and thoughtful to others. They were the keepers of old traditions and readily shared this knowledge with others. The world is becoming very selfish so I find myself often reaching out to times when society was less frayed. How wonderful that you met Ruth and to know that Harry helped your grandfather build his garden. Thank you for sharing this beautiful moment in time :) I love Ruth as I was a chef for decades and always thought how hard it must have been doing everything by hand.
This is so timely now more than ever. The old ways will be coming back as people learn to live with less. This series is such a gem. Also, watching Harry tie onions is oddly soothing.
Update: July 2022, the economy continues to fall, the sheep, freshly conditioned to assimilate by covid lockdowns and restrictions, will be in breadlines, wards of the state, sent to do their bidding. More and more laws that restrict freedom until common sense is outlawed. A self reliable free thinking man is the enemy of the state. But hey, Nancy Pelosi has a $40k refrigerator full of ice cream...
I’m here because Roots and Refuge recommended this series. I really appreciate this wisdom passed down from previous generations. I have my great grandmas “Victory Garden” book and I’m enjoying what I’m learning from it. God bless.💜
Miri No unfortunately I don’t know of anyplace you can read it online, but I did find a link to someone who was selling it. www.ebay.com/itm/The-Victory-Cookbook-Wartime-Edition-/383512525871
N Wren I never really thought about growing leeks until this series. I’m guessing they’d do well where I am (New York zone 5). I’m gonna keep an eye out for them!
I planted over 100,000 fruit 🍎 berry producing 🍇and nut trees🌰 this year, and I planted millions of seeds that will, and it is the cure for all species on the planet I don’t believe war is necessary to be concerned to be growing your food. I believe we all grew our food. There would be less problems. 🌎 😊
@Josey Wilds that's more the parents job, actually. It's the schools job to teach standardized stuff to a whole lot of kids. It's not to replace the stuff their parents should be teaching.
I remember being very careful about the Christmas wrapping paper. You would cut the tape holding it together and then fold it neatly to be used the next time. Absolutely NO ripping and tearing. This was well into the '50s. One reason every boy got his own pocket knife, albeit a small one.
My mom went further than that. As soon as she and Dad moved into the house (in 1965), she began gift-wrapping boxes & lids, and storing them in the garage, to be used each Christmas and birthday. Each box was stored with its tissue paper, ribbons, and gift-tags. We were still using them, right up until the house was cleaned out and sold. Some of those gift-tags were so old, they still referred to us as "Baby", though we were over 50.
My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, all lived through the hard times of the second world war. I remember as a child that they all still lived as if those times were still here. Gardening, raising chickens and pigs, sheep and goats, cows, dogs for hunting, hunting and fishing for meats. There were fruit trees, barriers vines, pecans, walnuts, and acorns. Sugar cane was grown and processed for molasses which was our form of sweetener. Water was pumped up from a well and it smelled of rotten eggs. We were all used to it and didn't think anything of it. Hard work all day with no air conditioning to speak of. Nights were hot and the air was still. Our homes were full of love and we all felt happy and secure. There was always three square meals a day. Those are fine memories. I miss all of them and sometimes wish that I could go back and live it all again.
The rotten egg smell in the water is due to Sulfur. Growing up our well water smaller the same after a dry time followed by a hard rain. Didn't hurt you but did smell when it came out if the tap.
A aunt of mine, never forgot her Wartime experinces, and right into the 1970's, she still had huge amounts of tinned food etc, in reserve,. her cupboard shelves would sag with the weight, She never got over the experience of wartime shortages.
@Adrian Heath -- My family has been in the USA for over 200 years. We are in the southern states and my grandparents and parents were all living in Arkansas. So, It's sugar cane and I do remember sugar beets as well. But mostly sugar cane and molasses.
@@MrDaiseymay My Mum never did either.....I remember her unwrapping a pound of butter and taking the back of a knife and running it over the wrapper so she didn't waste a smidgen. Same with eggs.,,.would run her finger inside to get that last little bit of the white into that cake.
This reminds me of my gran.she had a farm of pigs and cows, in the 70's and 80's and we used to spend a fortnight in our summer holidays in late August to early September. We used to forage berries, apples, mushrooms and my grandad used to shoot rabbits. Everything was hand made by gran (even patching our trousers) any peelings or waste fed the pigs. When they retired in 84, they still had raw milk being delivered in churns by hand cart............ It was great times. My gran always took her wartime ways and made it fun, and when the dewpond had water, the ducks would arrive........duck eggs were a delicacy and luxury 🙂 and at the end of the fortnight, we didn't want to leave....... My grandad had a massive veg garden that he worked all year round, we were spoiled with great food and adventures everyday 👍
My mother told me about 'shipwreck tins". This was stuff that had been recovered from a sunken merchant ship. NO LABELS, so you never knew what was going to turn up (she got apricots one time) but they were cheap and a little exciting.
As shortages are a growing concern, these videos are extremely important as most folks do not have any real relationship with their food other than cooking it and eating it. Now, you must grow it, preserve it, give some to the government food programs, sell a bit, and barter.
Originally aired in 1993, showing us how country people faired with ingenuity through war and rationing, is just as important now as ever. I find myself trying to be less wasteful in my food preparations😉
Very inspiring. I started buying land some 30 years ago to plant fruit and nut trees on and the spaces between trees would be for vegetables. When the focus was perennial crops the work was a lot easier after a time, involving harvesting and pruning. In the cities and towns, I was always a little nervous of bills. But in the country it feels much freer. The government seems keen to bankrupt the country and these excellent videos are becoming very relevant again.
I am old enough to remember what life was like 60 short years ago in Europe. We ate what we grew, raised and killed. Out of season was almost unheard of and if we did not knit it, sew it or otherwise make it you mostly did without. Really lucky rich families had two pairs of shoes each and they were the right size not so small that you got cramped toes or so big you got blisters.Thinking of the wonder of coffee and tea bought at a very high price would make the privileged laugh now. People are so spoiled and entitled these days. World wide shortages are coming and it will a bumpy ride.
The wartime farm (8 episodes) is also an excellent series and the series 1940s house, where a family live in wartime condition in a house in London some 20 years ago.
I’ve watched all of those on PBS I think, years ago! I’m 81 and grew up with rationing in England until I was 10, and remember my mother would save the wax paper from the bread (delivered by horse & cart) to wrap up my dad’s sandwiches for work. Milk was delivered in bottles, empty ones washed & put out for the next morning for the milkman to pick up and drop off our next order!
My grandmother raised rabbits & foraged. She collected Rosehip in parks & made jam from it. Rosehip is very high in vitamin C. She also collected young Nettle leaves to chop up & eat on bread. Tropical fruit was unheard of during & after the war in Germany. When i was little, there was a Banana action on my street. Berlin was still in ruins in the 50s. I remember buying fresh milk in a can. We were poor but the fresh food we were able to buy was a 100 times healthier then today....
From the wartime kitchen video, remembering the rationing and ration books. Knew an English boy from school in Germany who had no taste for eggs because he had not known them growing up during the war. Food cost money even with ration books, so my mom had a hard time at one point while my dad's allotment was not getting to her. She got a small line of credit at a grocery store and bought potatoes, which was about all we ate during that period. She got a job sewing military caps to try making money, but the job did not last more than about a week. We had to mind the blackout, especially when air raid wardens walked the streets looking for light leaks and telling homeowners to correct them. They also were on the lookout for bombers, bomb damage, and fires. Of course, no German air raids ever made it to USA, but it paid to be prepared. Scrap metal (iron, copper, aluminum, etc), old tires (natural rubber latex imports from SE Asia stopped by Japanese conquest there), and paper drives to reuse scarce resources for war production. On a road trip to PA, my dad would climb a hill driving the car, then shut off the engine to coast down the other side to save gas. His gas ration sticker on the car was not high enough to get more than a very few gallons per week. He told of how once he ran out of gas and the gas station owner taking pity on him as he was a soldier in uniform - sold him a gallon.
Books with handwritten recipes and ones cut from newspapers and magazines and pasted onto the pages where common when I was a little girl in the early '60s.
I have my mom's cookbooks(she was born in 1949) and they have a ton of clipped recipes etc...some of the books are my grandmother's. Was happy to get them
This is a very educational video! When the lady was preparing Water Glass Eggs, I thought of my mother. When she was a little girl, her mother made Water Glass Eggs so the family would have eggs to eat during the winter. Mom was 7 yrs old when the Second World War broke out, and was fourteen when the war ended. She has told me many stories of how she and her parents and sisters lived during the war. They lived on a farm in the Okanagan in British Columbia, Canada, so they had access to meat, and milk and eggs. There was fruit trees on their farm, so they were able to put fruit up in jars. Like everyone in those days, they all had ration books. Now, in 2022, with the Russians making war on Ukraine, and many food stuffs being hard to get, I believe that we find ourselves in a similar situation. Mom's stories about her childhood during WWII, are so interesting! As is this video! Thanks for sharing this! ~Janet in Canada (aged 63)
i was born 1941 now 81,,,, my dad was born 1899 in dads army,,,,, mom born 1903 she worked some of the war in armourment factories,,,, my bother 21 years older than myself he was in bomber - command a pilot sister 18years older she worked for L.M.S railways,,,,spent most of my early years in air-raid shelters Ed
Thanks for sharing Ed! My Mum's Uncle Bob was a navigator on a Mosquito and met and married Aunt Barb. I was pleased and proud to have known many from that generation. - Paul
Just learned how sulphur dioxide preservation of dried fruit initially came about! Fascinating! Never mind the slaked lime ("waterglass") solution used for preserving eggs!
Calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) can be used the same way Sodium silicate (waterglass) is used for egg preservation, but the two aren't the same chemical, and require slightly different recipes. Just FYI, if you start experimenting.
Watching this series again. So much practical information here, and a great tribute to the tenacity of the British people during WW2. A magnificent series!
Now we have food being thrown into bins going into landfill take a look at the bins in supermarkets, bakeries, and other shops edible food being sent to landfill that is how much food is worth to us now. We have people sleeping rough on uk streets and others relying on foodbanks to make ends meet as well.
Sweet Vulvuzela probably due to the stupid "straight carrot" mentality of the EU! Best before and use by dates. You'd wonder how we ever survived. Devastated our fishing industry and over fished our waters, undercut our dairy farmers but when we sent sheep they set them alight! Never been out of recession since we've been in !
gbwildlife uk what absolute rot! The EU have done far more to help that the UK government, god help us after brexit. They basically propped up our farming industry, highly doubt much of it will survive, the tories aren’t going to replace all the money the EU pumped in. And we have most definitely been out of recession since we joined the EU, it would be more accurate to say we haven’t been out since the Tories have been in power! And more to the point, since the EU had been formed we’ve had the longest period of European peace for millennia!
I have a friend that gets a 6x10 trailer full of bread,rolls and donuts every month from a day old store. But it has not expired yet . He feeds it to his livestock.
Sweet Vuvuzela Its the same here in the States. Some are wasting piles of food while others don’t have enough. Thankfully my family is safe and comfortable, but it is embarrassing to see waste and so sad to hear of folks not able to be prepared
I want my Granddaughters to watch these types of videos to appreciate how lucky we are. The way things are going you can't say it would never happen again. Not necessarily war, but the pandemic and shortages we see now could get worse and it would be a good idea to be prepared.
Yes, shortages can occur for a variety of reasons. Natural disasters, flooding, or even the windstorm that blew dow so much corn last year. Having the skills to cope is important.
U r right on that already I've made a few dishes to make last for a couple dys. I also have a small snack dish so I don't open a big bag of chips and inhale, also individual bags help to, the snacks that last the longest for me is Sunflower Seeds, Milk Chocolate Cranberries, and Gummies. And yes stocking up is easy, making do is a bit harder. But we can do it, already I have stuff stashed for a holiday pie.
Very interesting how the apple rings were dried. Today these are in packets in the fancy expensive snack section in supermarkets and organic shops and called "apple crisps." Water eggs are something I had never heard of before- must've been great for people to be able to save the eggs.
I have heard many stories from this time from my own mother and several aunts...collecting harvests, canning, pickling and drying. In the States gardens were called Victory Gardens. Feeding yourself and others from what you had grown in your garden preserved and exteded resources that would be essential for victory in the war effort. Thank you so much for helping to preserve this important bit of history! The lessons learned then are just as important now!
I'm 61, too. My mom talked a lot more about the depression than the war. She was born right when it started (1929) & her parents (farmers) never did really recover financially or emotionally, so I think it stuck with her more. The stories she used to tell were heartbreaking.
Wonderful! Everyone was so helpful, l remember my mother, and father telling me! about how people cared for one another. And rallied around to make sure, everyone was ok! Thank you, for sharing this delightful video. Moira From England.
@@pmscalisi It's centre (re), not 'center (er)', hence the combining forms 'centri-, centr-, centro-', denoting centre, unless you're American. Please use and preserve our proper English language, as used in England by the English, as well as the rest of the UK (Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland), and most commonwealth countries, and avoid adopting unnecessary Americanisms. xx
Great series I remember watching it with my nan nearly 30 years ago nan cooked all like this and my grandfather grew like Harry remember watching this vividly in front room she lived Ruth mott.miss them lots
I have never planted a vegetable garden before but I remember my Momma talking about their Victory Garden back from the 40s. In 2020 I decided that I needed to learn how to even begin to get food out of the ground. From that beginning I have now bought a pressure cooker and learned how to can both vegetables and ground beef and chicken. One thing leads to another since I refuse to eat bugs or 3-D printed meat.😐. Thank goodness for videos like this to give us perspective.
I was thinking this as well. We are going to need this to survive. I'm in my 60s and was raised by my grandparents. They knew the meaning of the word frugal. My mother did not recreational shop. She was good with her dollars. Her sister was very frugal. She was older and the went threw the dirty thirty and the second world war in Alberta Canada. They had a farm so they had food. She loved to tell her stories. How I miss the old days.
Watched this when it first came out in the early 90s, there was several companion series to this one, The Victorian Kitchen, The Victorian Kitchen Garden and the Victorian flower garden.
Harry Dodson did an earlier series called "The Victorian Kitchen Garden" that's one of my all time favorite shows. The world could use a lot more Harry Dodsons.
In these days of profligate waste and bewildering choice, this is a useful reminder of how little we actually need to enjoy a healthy life. Eat to live, not live to eat.
@@ChristinaOurWoodHome Mix the Isinglass into water, heat, and let cool, at which point it will form a sort of white jelly substance. Arrange the raw shell eggs in the crock, point down. Pour the cooled Isinglass mixture over them to cover completely, then cover the crock to keep dirt, bugs, mice, etc out of it So your next question would be what is isinglass? IT's plain gelatin
Yes as an Australian, my parents were farmers. Australia supplied wheat and wool to Britain 🇬🇧 and also women did here as 10s of thousands Australians went to war with Britain 🇬🇧.
People were less selfish and worked at pulling together for the common good at that time. Nowadays some people throw a huge hussy fit over something as small as wearing a facemask to protect everyone-including themselves! Many nowadays care for nothing but themselves!
Cheyanne Opheikens I think you havent thought out the basics. You will only survive if you have the resources to survive on, while you wait for the food to grow!
Most gardeners preserve around where I live, I dry apples, chili, strawberries (even wild blueberries, cranberries, cowberries...). I make jam, marmelade... put carrots, potatoes, swedes... in boxes with dry white sand between layers (no two touching)... I even smoke and dry fish and meat of my own. Smokedried salted meat And fish holds up for year or so... up here in northern scandinavia (65 degrees north) it is verry common to keep old methods like these alive, I can walk 15 min to the store but we still eat our own products regularly, everyone knows someone that can do these things.
Very much enjoyed this and as others have mentioned 1940's House also was of this theme. Manor House narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi got me hooked on this genre. Love Mr. Jacobi's work especially in Cadfael. Blessed Be from Tennessee.
On rare occasion you will see dried leaves and veg sold at Chinese or Asian stores. I tired a bag once and thought it tasted awful, but its good to know that it can be done. Like the apples, the dried veg is reconstituted and probably added to soups. But, the Chinese in cold areas also had a way of packing cabbage in fields - they'd separate the heads with straw or hay when making them into a cone or pyramid, then cover with straw, then with dirt, then pack down a bit with mud - almost like an adobe house - just to keep pests out and I guess to prevent frost damage.
Such a shame those lovely gardens had to go, but you do what you have to for survival, especially during wartime. This applies to now, if we could get more young people to watch and listen.
I read about a Japanese general (or some other rank) during WWII who said they never tried to invade the U.S. was because there was a "gun behind every bush." How true!
Japanese Admiral Yamamoto is claimed by some to have said, "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass."
That would have been a joke. They intended to take over Asia and Australia, for raw materials, before starting on American mainland. The Japanese had no huge supplies of raw materials for war, to produce weapons, without Australia and it's big iron supplies. They envisaged Australian and Asian slave labour, mining it.
We as a country have learned nothing and are now in just as bad a predicament, our Grandparents and Great Grandparents would be ashamed of what we have become.😞
Really, the older generations just pass crime down to the young each year. Guns and knives are to make sure working class kids are tough enough to fight in the next world war. I don't think the older generations really did cope as well as they say they did. They was never the old age pension and national health service as we have today . . .
I'm not putting down what these people did to save their nation but if the Liberty Ships had not continued to get vital supplies through including food the nation would have starved. The crews of those ships paid a gawd awful price. May God have mercy on their souls.
Drop the tiniest bit of salt into a bowl of water. Dip your apple/pear/whatever slices into it. This will keep them from browning. This candle and jar business is ridiculously excessive.
Oh the fuss and faff of the old ways . . . I don't know how those people really did cope . . . I don't think they actually did half the things they were told to do !
Wonderfull...It reminded me of my mum and Grandmother showing me and telling me of how to make do , in the hard times.Of which as they say " what comes around goes around" meaning the hard times are returning for many people now days,so its time to re- learn the old ways of survival or starve.My favourite is rice pudding,and bread and butter pudding. My mum used to make this....and stews are still common in the family. But the old saying I remember was" waste not want not"in other words everything was used saved and reused..I think that it is going to get to that point again.But my saying is "If the old generation could do it we can to,we just have to listen to their wise instructions."😊
Well said. Nice comment ! Get a bread machine , and an electric pressure cooker , and a microwave - they are safer and more efficient, and can make better goods than the muck depicted in this . . .
What a jewel of a series. Thanks very much for this it provided me with much food for thought because we need to reignite that community spirit and hard work is its own reward.
As for the "water glass". The NEW eggs are just added on top? So a family would use those eggs first? There was no OLD over NEW rotation going on? This series is sooooo fantastic and I have learned so much from it. I have also watched it so many times. These people new what's what about surviving through these horrible times. I would love to think that we have that same resilience now, but sometimes I wonder. Thanks so much" oldplaner" for this video gift!!❤❤❤
Very excellent program much enjoyed it 4 is i interesting and former is and very important to have this knowledge to go forward in times of hardship i thanks to harry dodson and ruth mott rest in peace my old friends
March 12, 2023...who knew we would be needing this is information again...
This is exactly why I shared these vids and highly recommend the Wartime Farm vids. History repeats itself only this time the gov't is not so friendly. Grow your own Victory garden and save and share seeds with your neighbours.
@@oldplaner I agree. I have lost faith in our Govt... sadly, we are on our own.
@@oldplaner may I ask what is in the water that the woman is preserving the eggs in please. I've never heard of this before. Thanks Louise Australia 🇦🇺
@@louise7552 Hi Louise, water glass is a mixture of Sodium silicate and water that will allow eggs to last in storage. Water glass is the common name.
@@oldplaner thank you. Louise Australia 🇦🇺
This is the future! Sustainability and self reliance is all anyone should hope to achieve In 2023
I remember when this came out it was quaint. Now life has come full circle soon the only way to feed our family is to turn our gardens onto vegetable beds. I met Ruth Mott when i was a kid my grandmother was freinds with her and by a bizzare turn of evens my other grandad knew Harry though i never met him
Wow what a lovely memory ❤
@@londongirl1733 thanks x she was a lovely lady. At first glance she looked very stern. But she loved a chat over a cup of tea. So nice. And in one of the episodes you see Harry stringing onions. My grandad did it the same way he learned from Harry when they were both pretty young and later grandad got an allotment to keep him busy after the effects of trauma from the war. Harry apparently came to help him get it started
@@juststoppingby390 Oh how kind of you to share your Grandads story. They were a wonderful giving generation who were tough and worked extremely hard for all they had. I remember people like them when I grew up. I was born in the mid 60’s so there were many of the generation that had taught Harry and Ruth their trade still with us. All those I knew were very elderly but so kind and thoughtful to others. They were the keepers of old traditions and readily shared this knowledge with others. The world is becoming very selfish so I find myself often reaching out to times when society was less frayed. How wonderful that you met Ruth and to know that Harry helped your grandfather build his garden. Thank you for sharing this beautiful moment in time :) I love Ruth as I was a chef for decades and always thought how hard it must have been doing everything by hand.
Aww. I watched this years ago and so happy TH-cam sent it to me today! Will enjoy it all over again!
This is so timely now more than ever. The old ways will be coming back as people learn to live with less. This series is such a gem. Also, watching Harry tie onions is oddly soothing.
Gina Sigillito I love Harry!
@@Jess-k6q oo9i9
Even more so now
I have seen people braid onions too, with the same effect. I so wish I had learned these skills in my youth.
Update: July 2022, the economy continues to fall, the sheep, freshly conditioned to assimilate by covid lockdowns and restrictions, will be in breadlines, wards of the state, sent to do their bidding. More and more laws that restrict freedom until common sense is outlawed. A self reliable free thinking man is the enemy of the state. But hey, Nancy Pelosi has a $40k refrigerator full of ice cream...
I’m here because Roots and Refuge recommended this series. I really appreciate this wisdom passed down from previous generations. I have my great grandmas “Victory Garden” book and I’m enjoying what I’m learning from it. God bless.💜
I'm interested in what the Victory Garden book says. Do you know a resource where I can read it online? Thank you!
Miri No unfortunately I don’t know of anyplace you can read it online, but I did find a link to someone who was selling it. www.ebay.com/itm/The-Victory-Cookbook-Wartime-Edition-/383512525871
I'm here because of Jess too! I'm keen to know why she was persuaded to grow more leeks this year!
N Wren I never really thought about growing leeks until this series. I’m guessing they’d do well where I am (New York zone 5). I’m gonna keep an eye out for them!
I absolutely love Jess and Miah. Such a great recommendation
I planted over 100,000 fruit 🍎 berry producing 🍇and nut trees🌰 this year, and I planted millions of seeds that will, and it is the cure for all species on the planet
I don’t believe war is necessary to be concerned to be growing your food. I believe we all grew our food. There would be less problems. 🌎 😊
How interesting these programmes should been shown in schools think the kids would learn from a lot more and understand more about the wars
Oh yesss , picture kids learning the truth ehhh
tracy 511 .. I totally agree with that idea.
It would certainly teach them much more about the truth of our history instead of the rubbish they learn at present
@@TheIramzi well let's face it they only learn crap might make them understand how lucky we are
@Josey Wilds that's more the parents job, actually. It's the schools job to teach standardized stuff to a whole lot of kids. It's not to replace the stuff their parents should be teaching.
I remember being very careful about the Christmas wrapping paper. You would cut the tape holding it together and then fold it neatly to be used the next time. Absolutely NO ripping and tearing. This was well into the '50s. One reason every boy got his own pocket knife, albeit a small one.
We still save wrapping paper.
I grew up in the sixties and seventies and did the same thing. Lol
My mom went further than that. As soon as she and Dad moved into the house (in 1965), she began gift-wrapping boxes & lids, and storing them in the garage, to be used each Christmas and birthday. Each box was stored with its tissue paper, ribbons, and gift-tags. We were still using them, right up until the house was cleaned out and sold. Some of those gift-tags were so old, they still referred to us as "Baby", though we were over 50.
That paper was much higher quality
Christmas wrapping had a special smell too.
My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, all lived through the hard times of the second world war. I remember as a child that they all still lived as if those times were still here. Gardening, raising chickens and pigs, sheep and goats, cows, dogs for hunting, hunting and fishing for meats. There were fruit trees, barriers vines, pecans, walnuts, and acorns. Sugar cane was grown and processed for molasses which was our form of sweetener. Water was pumped up from a well and it smelled of rotten eggs. We were all used to it and didn't think anything of it. Hard work all day with no air conditioning to speak of. Nights were hot and the air was still. Our homes were full of love and we all felt happy and secure. There was always three square meals a day. Those are fine memories. I miss all of them and sometimes wish that I could go back and live it all again.
The rotten egg smell in the water is due to Sulfur. Growing up our well water smaller the same after a dry time followed by a hard rain. Didn't hurt you but did smell when it came out if the tap.
A aunt of mine, never forgot her Wartime experinces, and right into the 1970's, she still had huge amounts of tinned food etc, in reserve,. her cupboard shelves would sag with the weight, She never got over the experience of wartime shortages.
@Adrian Heath -- My family has been in the USA for over 200 years. We are in the southern states and my grandparents and parents were all living in Arkansas. So, It's sugar cane and I do remember sugar beets as well. But mostly sugar cane and molasses.
@@MrDaiseymay My Mum never did either.....I remember her unwrapping a pound of butter and taking the back of a knife and running it over the wrapper so she didn't waste a smidgen. Same with eggs.,,.would run her finger inside to get that last little bit of the white into that cake.
Sugar cane only grows in tropical areas. It was sugar beets that you remember the molasses coming from.
This reminds me of my gran.she had a farm of pigs and cows, in the 70's and 80's and we used to spend a fortnight in our summer holidays in late August to early September.
We used to forage berries, apples, mushrooms and my grandad used to shoot rabbits. Everything was hand made by gran (even patching our trousers) any peelings or waste fed the pigs.
When they retired in 84, they still had raw milk being delivered in churns by hand cart............ It was great times. My gran always took her wartime ways and made it fun, and when the dewpond had water, the ducks would arrive........duck eggs were a delicacy and luxury 🙂 and at the end of the fortnight, we didn't want to leave....... My grandad had a massive veg garden that he worked all year round, we were spoiled with great food and adventures everyday 👍
Sounds absolutely wonderful !
My mother told me about 'shipwreck tins". This was stuff that had been recovered from a sunken merchant ship. NO LABELS, so you never knew what was going to turn up (she got apricots one time) but they were cheap and a little exciting.
Like real life “loot boxes” in video games 😂
As shortages are a growing concern, these videos are extremely important as most folks do not have any real relationship with their food other than cooking it and eating it. Now, you must grow it, preserve it, give some to the government food programs, sell a bit, and barter.
Originally aired in 1993, showing us how country people faired with ingenuity through war and rationing, is just as important now as ever. I find myself trying to be less wasteful in my food preparations😉
How country people FARED, not faired.
Very inspiring. I started buying land some 30 years ago to plant fruit and nut trees on and the spaces between trees would be for vegetables. When the focus was perennial crops the work was a lot easier after a time, involving harvesting and pruning.
In the cities and towns, I was always a little nervous of bills. But in the country it feels much freer.
The government seems keen to bankrupt the country and these excellent videos are becoming very relevant again.
I am old enough to remember what life was like 60 short years ago in Europe. We ate what we grew, raised and killed. Out of season was almost unheard of and if we did not knit it, sew it or otherwise make it you mostly did without. Really lucky rich families had two pairs of shoes each and they were the right size not so small that you got cramped toes or so big you got blisters.Thinking of the wonder of coffee and tea bought at a very high price would make the privileged laugh now. People are so spoiled and entitled these days. World wide shortages are coming and it will a bumpy ride.
The wartime farm (8 episodes) is also an excellent series and the series 1940s house, where a family live in wartime condition in a house in
London some 20 years ago.
I’ve watched all of those on PBS I think, years ago! I’m 81 and grew up with rationing in England until I was 10, and remember my mother would save the wax paper from the bread (delivered by horse & cart) to wrap up my dad’s sandwiches for work. Milk was delivered in bottles, empty ones washed & put out for the next morning for the milkman to pick up and drop off our next order!
My grandmother raised rabbits & foraged. She collected Rosehip in parks & made jam from it. Rosehip is very high in vitamin C. She also collected young Nettle leaves to chop up & eat on bread. Tropical fruit was unheard of during & after the war in Germany. When i was little, there was a Banana action on my street. Berlin was still in ruins in the 50s. I remember buying fresh milk in a can. We were poor but the fresh food we were able to buy was a 100 times healthier then today....
We can learn so much from these videos in pandemic times.
What a gem of a series! The next time around won't be so idyllic, I think. We have much to learn from how they lived back then.
From the wartime kitchen video, remembering the rationing and ration books. Knew an English boy from school in Germany who had no taste for eggs because he had not known them growing up during the war. Food cost money even with ration books, so my mom had a hard time at one point while my dad's allotment was not getting to her. She got a small line of credit at a grocery store and bought potatoes, which was about all we ate during that period. She got a job sewing military caps to try making money, but the job did not last more than about a week. We had to mind the blackout, especially when air raid wardens walked the streets looking for light leaks and telling homeowners to correct them. They also were on the lookout for bombers, bomb damage, and fires. Of course, no German air raids ever made it to USA, but it paid to be prepared. Scrap metal (iron, copper, aluminum, etc), old tires (natural rubber latex imports from SE Asia stopped by Japanese conquest there), and paper drives to reuse scarce resources for war production. On a road trip to PA, my dad would climb a hill driving the car, then shut off the engine to coast down the other side to save gas. His gas ration sticker on the car was not high enough to get more than a very few gallons per week. He told of how once he ran out of gas and the gas station owner taking pity on him as he was a soldier in uniform - sold him a gallon.
My Grandmother would do the same thing. As a child it was very puzzling.
It's mum not 'mom''. 'Mom' is an Americanism. xx
@@pussypostlethwaitsaeronaut8503 What part of my comment gave the impression that I was speaking of anywhere else?
.....? Douglas is an American.
Books with handwritten recipes and ones cut from newspapers and magazines and pasted onto the pages where common when I was a little girl in the early '60s.
I have my mom's cookbooks(she was born in 1949) and they have a ton of clipped recipes etc...some of the books are my grandmother's. Was happy to get them
This is a very educational video! When the lady was preparing Water Glass Eggs, I thought of my mother. When she was a little girl, her mother made Water Glass Eggs so the family would have eggs to eat during the winter. Mom was 7 yrs old when the Second World War broke out, and was fourteen when the war ended. She has told me many stories of how she and her parents and sisters lived during the war. They lived on a farm in the Okanagan in British Columbia, Canada, so they had access to meat, and milk and eggs. There was fruit trees on their farm, so they were able to put fruit up in jars. Like everyone in those days, they all had ration books. Now, in 2022, with the Russians making war on Ukraine, and many food stuffs being hard to get, I believe that we find ourselves in a similar situation. Mom's stories about her childhood during WWII, are so interesting! As is this video! Thanks for sharing this! ~Janet in Canada (aged 63)
In July we’ll be at war ( boots on the ground) with china. Sadly no one is prepared or watching for it. Good luck and god be with us!
One thing I really like about this approach is it's easier to tell if you have a bad egg if they start to float to the surface.
I’m hear today because Jess from Roots and Refuge said this is a great series. Thank you for this series, much needed today! 6/26/22.
Same! First time I've heard about this series. Already learned something new. Sulfur candles! How fascinating.
i was born 1941 now 81,,,, my dad was born 1899 in dads army,,,,, mom born 1903 she worked some of the war in armourment factories,,,, my bother 21 years older than myself he was in bomber - command a pilot
sister 18years older she worked for L.M.S railways,,,,spent most of my early years in air-raid shelters Ed
Thanks for sharing Ed! My Mum's Uncle Bob was a navigator on a Mosquito and met and married Aunt Barb. I was pleased and proud to have known many from that generation. - Paul
Just learned how sulphur dioxide preservation of dried fruit initially came about! Fascinating!
Never mind the slaked lime ("waterglass") solution used for preserving eggs!
Calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) can be used the same way Sodium silicate (waterglass) is used for egg preservation, but the two aren't the same chemical, and require slightly different recipes. Just FYI, if you start experimenting.
Watching this series again. So much practical information here, and a great tribute to the tenacity of the British people during WW2. A magnificent series!
Great video. Reminds me of " Wartime Farm " another great series.
Yes--Highly Reccommended
And the 1940's House
Now we have food being thrown into bins going into landfill take a look at the bins in supermarkets, bakeries, and other shops edible food being sent to landfill that is how much food is worth to us now. We have people sleeping rough on uk streets and others relying on foodbanks to make ends meet as well.
Sweet Vulvuzela probably due to the stupid "straight carrot" mentality of the EU!
Best before and use by dates. You'd wonder how we ever survived. Devastated our fishing industry and over fished our waters, undercut our dairy farmers but when we sent sheep they set them alight!
Never been out of recession since we've been in !
And ?????
gbwildlife uk what absolute rot! The EU have done far more to help that the UK government, god help us after brexit. They basically propped up our farming industry, highly doubt much of it will survive, the tories aren’t going to replace all the money the EU pumped in. And we have most definitely been out of recession since we joined the EU, it would be more accurate to say we haven’t been out since the Tories have been in power! And more to the point, since the EU had been formed we’ve had the longest period of European peace for millennia!
I have a friend that gets a 6x10 trailer full of bread,rolls and donuts every month from a day old store. But it has not expired yet . He feeds it to his livestock.
Sweet Vuvuzela Its the same here in the States. Some are wasting piles of food while others don’t have enough. Thankfully my family is safe and comfortable, but it is embarrassing to see waste and so sad to hear of folks not able to be prepared
I want my Granddaughters to watch these types of videos to appreciate how lucky we are. The way things are going you can't say it would never happen again. Not necessarily war, but the pandemic and shortages we see now could get worse and it would be a good idea to be prepared.
Yes, shortages can occur for a variety of reasons. Natural disasters, flooding, or even the windstorm that blew dow so much corn last year. Having the skills to cope is important.
U r right on that already I've made a few dishes to make last for a couple dys.
I also have a small snack dish so I don't open a big bag of chips and inhale, also individual bags help to, the snacks that last the longest for me is Sunflower Seeds, Milk Chocolate Cranberries, and Gummies. And yes stocking up is easy, making do is a bit harder. But we can do it, already I have stuff stashed for a holiday pie.
If you aren't prepared now, you might not afford it soon.
Here 2024...they have got worse. WW3 around corner
This is a great series. It reminds me of my great grandma and the days we watched Lawrence Welk. From USA
Watching this May 6th 2020 from Australia in self isolation. The Corvid-19 virus has hit.
I absolutely love this video!!! I am a WWII buff. I love anything related to this era. Thank you ever so much for this show.
Me to
Very interesting how the apple rings were dried. Today these are in packets in the fancy expensive snack section in supermarkets and organic shops and called "apple crisps." Water eggs are something I had never heard of before- must've been great for people to be able to save the eggs.
I have heard many stories from this time from my own mother and several aunts...collecting harvests, canning, pickling and drying. In the States gardens were called Victory Gardens. Feeding yourself and others from what you had grown in your garden preserved and exteded resources that would be essential for victory in the war effort.
Thank you so much for helping to preserve this important bit of history!
The lessons learned then are just as important now!
1 oz - "hydrated" lime to 1 quart cool water.
"Calcium Hydroxide"
There are different kinds of lime, make sure you get the right kind.
Very interesting. I am 61 and never realized What it was like back then. Thank you for showing this. God Bless.
we all tend to think a lot more with age, but that does not mean we are growing old? ;)
I'm 61, too. My mom talked a lot more about the depression than the war. She was born right when it started (1929) & her parents (farmers) never did really recover financially or emotionally, so I think it stuck with her more. The stories she used to tell were heartbreaking.
What a lovely series. I felt like I was watching their lives in real time. It was fascinating.
Thank you for this. The BBC sadly had no plans to release this series on DVD even though there was a lot of interest.
Wonderful!
Everyone was so helpful, l remember my mother, and father
telling me! about how people cared for one another.
And rallied around to make sure, everyone was ok!
Thank you, for sharing this delightful video.
Moira
From England.
Love conquers all
1 year on in this pandemic in the US., I wish people looked after one another like in WW2! What a mess this is.
My nan delivered her neighbours baby , under a bed during an air raid.
People are too self centered now to help anyone. It’s all about me, right?
@@pmscalisi
It's centre (re), not 'center (er)', hence the combining forms 'centri-, centr-, centro-', denoting centre, unless you're American. Please use and preserve our proper English language, as used in England by the English, as well as the rest of the UK (Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland), and most commonwealth countries, and avoid adopting unnecessary Americanisms. xx
WOW! Thank you so much. This puts things into perspective for me and I actually felt a burst of strength and hope.
That's the reason they were posted,to inspire and awaken
Great series I remember watching it with my nan nearly 30 years ago nan cooked all like this and my grandfather grew like Harry remember watching this vividly in front room she lived Ruth mott.miss them lots
I’m thinking we may need this sooner than later here in the US.
You're right, it's coming here very soon.
I have never planted a vegetable garden before but I remember my Momma talking about their Victory Garden back from the 40s. In 2020 I decided that I needed to learn how to even begin to get food out of the ground. From that beginning I have now bought a pressure cooker and learned how to can both vegetables and ground beef and chicken. One thing leads to another since I refuse to eat bugs or 3-D printed meat.😐. Thank goodness for videos like this to give us perspective.
Agreed. Prepare while you are free to do so
You mean you’re not living it already? You’re missing the boat.
Ive got pounds of meat flour and rice in my small chest freezer, and a solar set up to keep it going if needed.
I was thinking this as well. We are going to need this to survive. I'm in my 60s and was raised by my grandparents. They knew the meaning of the word frugal. My mother did not recreational shop. She was good with her dollars. Her sister was very frugal. She was older and the went threw the dirty thirty and the second world war in Alberta Canada. They had a farm so they had food. She loved to tell her stories. How I miss the old days.
I was looking for this exact show! So wonderful and peaceful to watch. And educational too! Thank you!
Watched this when it first came out in the early 90s, there was several companion series to this one, The Victorian Kitchen, The Victorian Kitchen Garden and the Victorian flower garden.
It’s so sad to see thoso beautiful flowers burning but they need to plant for food.
Thank you SO much for making this gem of a show available!!
I have tried to watch this every night. Absolutely love it. But cannot figure out where the child was?
I think they ate him. You never see him after episode 1.
Harry Dodson did an earlier series called "The Victorian Kitchen Garden" that's one of my all time favorite shows. The world could use a lot more Harry Dodsons.
In these days of profligate waste and bewildering choice, this is a useful reminder of how little we actually need to enjoy a healthy life. Eat to live, not live to eat.
There did used to be a drama programme for schools which included history including the war years! Called How We Used to Live!
Can you buy this
Beautiful royal garden! Learn these old ways as we are seeing them come again.
I watched the series a couple years ago. I was born 1951 in Germany. I was raised on depression meals. We had potatoes with everything...
My husband and I with our 2 young children were preserving eggs in isinglass in North Devon in the 1970s.
Vivien Dockerty what is the method for doing it?
@@ChristinaOurWoodHome Mix the Isinglass into water, heat, and let cool, at which point it will form a sort of white jelly substance. Arrange the raw shell eggs in the crock, point down. Pour the cooled Isinglass mixture over them to cover completely, then cover the crock to keep dirt, bugs, mice, etc out of it So your next question would be what is isinglass? IT's plain gelatin
Yes as an Australian, my parents were farmers. Australia supplied wheat and wool to Britain 🇬🇧 and also women did here as 10s of thousands Australians went to war with Britain 🇬🇧.
Love this, watched it decades ago, thx for sharing
People were less selfish and worked at pulling together for the common good at that time. Nowadays some people throw a huge hussy fit over something as small as wearing a facemask to protect everyone-including themselves! Many nowadays care for nothing but themselves!
I find the community elders are nothing but the biggest cruel mean-spirited bastards going. No wonder they voted to leave the common market !
Wow! I love growing food. This makes my heart happy. I know the basics. I will survive if it should come again. 💖💗
Cheyanne Opheikens I think you havent thought out the basics. You will only survive if you have the resources to survive on, while you wait for the food to grow!
Most gardeners preserve around where I live, I dry apples, chili, strawberries (even wild blueberries, cranberries, cowberries...).
I make jam, marmelade...
put carrots, potatoes, swedes... in boxes with dry white sand between layers (no two touching)...
I even smoke and dry fish and meat of my own. Smokedried salted meat And fish holds up for year or so...
up here in northern scandinavia (65 degrees north) it is verry common to keep old methods like these alive, I can walk 15 min to the store but we still eat our own products regularly, everyone knows someone that can do these things.
I have seen a Anderson shelter at a museum in Florida on a old Navy Air Base. Very small. About 8 people could stand shoulder to shoulder in it.
Very much enjoyed this and as others have mentioned 1940's House also was of this theme. Manor House narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi got me hooked on this genre. Love Mr. Jacobi's work especially in Cadfael.
Blessed Be from Tennessee.
I used to love this show! Thank for posting.I still have the soundtrack on cassette. Pity I no long have a cassette player!
What an insightful series! Thank you so much for uploading this gem, and without any silly frames as John Cooper mentioned :)
What are the frames being referred to?
I believe I will experience in my later years what my father experienced in his youth the only difference is I see it coming.
I saw that 1940 House was on TH-cam. If you like this video you will probably like1940 House.
T. W. I watched 1940s house straight through yesterday, it was Great.
On rare occasion you will see dried leaves and veg sold at Chinese or Asian stores. I tired a bag once and thought it tasted awful, but its good to know that it can be done. Like the apples, the dried veg is reconstituted and probably added to soups.
But, the Chinese in cold areas also had a way of packing cabbage in fields - they'd separate the heads with straw or hay when making them into a cone or pyramid, then cover with straw, then with dirt, then pack down a bit with mud - almost like an adobe house - just to keep pests out and I guess to prevent frost damage.
Watching this during the covid-19 pandemic. Good to watch.
Loved watching these we can certainly learn a lot
I love this series...
Thank god there's no stupid frame or picture within a picture. Great series
Yes,I couldn't find any without the theatre frame and found it hard to watch that way
Already Living this way through Choice x
Such a shame those lovely gardens had to go, but you do what you have to for survival, especially during wartime. This applies to now, if we could get more young people to watch and listen.
Thanks for posting. Harry is also fantastic in the Victorian Kitchen Garden series.
I read about a Japanese general (or some other rank) during WWII who said they never tried to invade the U.S. was because there was a "gun behind every bush." How true!
Thanks for the tip. A brilliant experience. I have the DVD series ( which is very expensive) but a friend will be keen to watch TH-cam.
Every George Bush? LOL
Japanese Admiral Yamamoto is claimed by some to have said, "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass."
Have you got genuine dvd
That would have been a joke. They intended to take over Asia and Australia, for raw materials, before starting on American mainland.
The Japanese had no huge supplies of raw materials for war, to produce weapons, without Australia and it's big iron supplies. They envisaged Australian and Asian slave labour, mining it.
Wow!This an amazing part of history. Thank you for putting this out for everyone to see.
We as a country have learned nothing and are now in just as bad a predicament, our Grandparents and Great Grandparents would be ashamed of what we have become.😞
It didn't take long did it?
Really, the older generations just pass crime down to the young each year.
Guns and knives are to make sure working class kids are tough enough to fight in the next world war.
I don't think the older generations really did cope as well as they say they did. They was never the old age pension and national health service as we have today . . .
Amazing, Wonderful, Awesome and everyone needs to see this program.
I'm not putting down what these people did to save their nation but if the Liberty Ships had not continued to get vital supplies through including food the nation would have starved. The crews of those ships paid a gawd awful price. May God have mercy on their souls.
Drop the tiniest bit of salt into a bowl of water. Dip your apple/pear/whatever slices into it. This will keep them from browning.
This candle and jar business is ridiculously excessive.
Oh the fuss and faff of the old ways . . .
I don't know how those people really did cope . . .
I don't think they actually did half the things they were told to do !
that song at the end! marvelous.
Im learning so much. This is very timely.
Brilliant video & thanks 👍
Excellent program. Thank you.
Gosh!
I remember, doing this at school👍
The apples tasted lovely♥😊
Moira
From England.
Wonderfull...It reminded me of my mum and Grandmother showing me and telling me of how to make do , in the hard times.Of which as they say " what comes around goes around" meaning the hard times are returning for many people now days,so its time to re- learn the old ways of survival or starve.My favourite is rice pudding,and bread and butter pudding. My mum used to make this....and stews are still common in the family. But the old saying I remember was" waste not want not"in other words everything was used saved and reused..I think that it is going to get to that point again.But my saying is "If the old generation could do it we can to,we just have to listen to their wise instructions."😊
Well said. Nice comment !
Get a bread machine , and an electric pressure cooker , and a microwave - they are safer and more efficient, and can make better goods than the muck depicted in this . . .
What a jewel of a series. Thanks very much for this it provided me with much food for thought because we need to reignite that community spirit and hard work is its own reward.
Muy buena serie, auténtica de lo mejor que he visto, gracias.
As for the "water glass". The NEW eggs are just added on top? So a family would use those eggs first? There was no OLD over NEW rotation going on? This series is sooooo fantastic and I have learned so much from it. I have also watched it so many times. These people new what's what about surviving through these horrible times. I would love to think that we have that same resilience now, but sometimes I wonder. Thanks so much" oldplaner" for this video gift!!❤❤❤
but dont forget the FARMERS. After all it was them who had the cows for milk and the wheat for flour to bake bread...
It kills me I can't find a DVD copy of this series! Thanks so much for sharing.
Wish this was on dvd i would like to give it to my parents who would remember this
Is anyone watching these trying to prepare for 2021?
Trying to prepare for 2023 lol
Trying to prepare for 2025
Thank you👍
I’m back here again. I watch every few months and it’s just as relevant as ever, especially with the supply chain issues we’re experiencing now.
Very excellent program much enjoyed it 4 is i interesting and former is and very important to have this knowledge to go forward in times of hardship i thanks to harry dodson and ruth mott rest in peace my old friends
Interesting and informing
Him ripping up and burning the garden crushed my poor soul.😢
Naaah , concrete over the waste of hard work - those bastard weeds are never ending ! ! !
I love this series!!!
Superb video! I really appreciate it 💜
So enjoyed this, well worth watching.
Just here taking notes.