This day is starting out okay. I stopped at the local IRS office to get some forms and I got some tips on how to save $40 per year.
Then Grasshopper No.3 "pirated a metal plate" to fix an old bed upstairs and after about 10 minutes, that sucker isn't going to break down again. I think I saved the cost of a new bed!
For Christmas I got a bucket of peanuts and some grooming supplies from the Sheboygan Manager of The Barbershop and I am thinking of telling my local "hair stylist" that he can keep his $13 bottle of shampoo. So I'm saving on grooming products and I ate the whole bucket of peanuts. I threw the shell scraps on the floor just like the Barbershop.
Now on to "eight loaves of bread". Nana did not make it up to Appleton over Christmas so Mom and I took her present to her and we went out to lunch. She always has interesting stories. Nana talked about growing up on the farm.
Farm families in the 1920's were isolated. They went to town occasionally but only when they really needed some supplies. Living on the farm with 6 brothers and sisters along with her Mom and Pop created a large food demand. One of the main staples was bread. There were five meals everyday starting with breakfast, a mid-morning snack, dinner (yes dinner at mid-day), a mid-afternoon snack and supper. Bread was the common denominator to all those meals. So Nana's family would bake 8 loaves of bread every two days.
You have to think about the magnitude of 8 loaves of bread. Imagine going to your local grocer every two days and coming home with 8 loaves of "good" whole grain bread. Yes, it is an incredible amount of carbs but working on the farm, it was the fuel to keep people going. As Grasshopper No.3 put it "he couldn't imagine having 8 loaves of bread rising before baking. Where do you put them all"? The baking would take place in a wood stove. Natural gas and electricity were not normally available.
Then after two days, you would bake another 8 loaves of bread. Unbelieveable!
I'm sure fresh bread was a constant pleasure but can you imagine coming into the house from the barn after shoveling cow sh-- all morning and smelling fresh bread baking in the oven. Ah, the little joys of life.
The lesson Grasshoppers is that you do what you have to when raising a family. An isolated large farm family such as Nana's found that bread was an affordable way to feed everyone with things that were grown on the farm. Today a professional dietitian would give you a lecture on eating a balanced diet and caution you on consuming too many carbs. Isn't progress great?
Love,
Dad
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