Book Of The Year

This opinion piece appeared in the Townsman, December 31 edition.

For our community that went overwhelmingly for Barack Obama there is much to look forward to beginning January 20, Reverend Rick Warren not withstanding. But for many of us, even those not victimized by Bernie Madoff or a mortgage broker, 2009 is not going to be an easy row to hoe. Markets plummeting with our retirement portfolios, unemployment rising with our blood pressure, and prospects looking flat as this year's holiday sales all paint a grim picture of the coming year.

So what good fortune it was to stumble over The War-Time Guide Book For The Home, a 1942 publication by the Popular Science Publishing Company. I think this volume came into my possession after cleaning out a great aunt's basement thirty years ago, and has sat in mine all this time.

While reading through the Guide it is obvious not only the shortages caused by the WW II effort, but also the privations caused by the Great Depression made this a handy compendium for do-it-yourselfism, and who knows, the day soon may be upon us when we have to make our own laundry soap, fix our own rotted window sashes, or make up our own "rodent paste" (ycch!).

Directions for "blackout protection" may seem a little quaint, but I suppose the same technique used to stop light from getting out the windows could be used to stop heat, too, and make us all more fuel efficient.

Speaking of blackouts, how about a recipe for ginger wine? It's here:
Sugar, 9 lb
Whole bruised ginger, 4 oz
Raisins, 7 oz
Lemons cut and sliced, 4
Water, 3 gal
Heat all but lemons. Cool and add lemons and then yeast.

Mmm, can't wait.

What the heck was going on in 1942 here on the home front that we needed to fireproof clothing? Dunno, but there are directions on page 29 (warning: suitable for white clothing only). Maybe it was for town board members, for knowing Woodstock I'm sure somebody was furious at them in 1942 for allowing Rotron to make war parts that injured Germans.

Little pomade for the hair? Page 63 (Hint: lots of Vaseline).

A little section called Food In The Woods begins with:

"By foraging through the woods in the summertime, a substantial amount of huckleberries, wild blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries may be gathered. Acorns and hickory nuts also can be found available without much trouble. A piece of fresh sassafras root, sliced into boiling water, will make an excellent tea." It goes on to mention, "Although most of the vegetation dies in the winter, clumps of wintergreen may be found in swampy country. By looking in tree hollows, it is often possible to find a wide variety of nuts stored there by an ambitious squirrel. The lowly cat-tail…"

I think you get the picture. But doesn't it amaze you to consider that just 66 years ago the idea of looking in tree hollows for "a wide variety of nuts" was a serious recommendation? I have no idea what that generation did with wintergreen, and I won't bother reporting to you what one can make with the "lowly cat tail," but my guess is the biggest Wal-Mart hater in the world would probably swallow his pride and shop there before doing it.

I am glad I found this guide; it tells me of the bone and sinew that made up our parents and grandparents as they lived through an era a lot scarier than the one we live in now, and if not scarier certainly less gourmandizing (Acorns? Ginger wine?). It tells me that as grim as it gets we will somehow manage. After all, they did.