Why do I love reading about “old pathways” and past ways of living? I am drawn to the descriptions of lives lived closer to each other and to the land. I am drawn to the hints of useful everyday knowledge of yore now almost entirely lost to us. I appreciate the ingenuity, the self-sufficiency, the common sense, the patience and the contentment I often find in certain kinds of readings from the past. I also just really enjoy learning about other ways of life whether that be from the past or from a radically different culture right here in the present.

I stumbled across A Childhood Reminiscence by Anne Knight in my web travels. With just a few paragraphs and photographs, the feeling of an entirely different way of living is evoked. Imagine this as a way to tell time every evening:

In the evenings he would drive them back to the farm to be milked. The cows plodding along at their own pace, taking their time, and pushing their horns through the hedge in our front garden and munching at the dandelions as they passed. Turning patiently into the farmyard, each one went to its own stall to be milked by hand, patiently waiting their turn.

Imagine receiving your fresh, unprocessed milk this way:

Each day Mr. Mansell, his flat cap at a jaunty angle, would deliver the milk. He rode on a horse and cart, a type of open cart with milk churns at the back. The horse needed no instructions, he stopped and started at all the customer’s houses and Mr. Mansell dispensed the milk from the churns. He would dip in the measure and bring it out of the milk, frothy and creamy, and pour it into the largest jug we had. Milk was rationed, but he always filled our jug and milk was one thing we were never without.

Imagine having bread, fish, groceries and all sorts of other necessities (including “stone bottles of lemonade and dandelion & burdock”) delivered to your house. Imagine knowing the person who grows the food and delivers it to you. Imagine sharing simple vegetables with your neighbors along with seasonal chores. There are so many things to imagine.

Nathan Griffin, author of one of my favorite homesteading books Husbandry - The Sure, Cheap Way to Plenty & Prosperity in the Country, started early in his homesteading career reading old books:

I neglected to mention that my antiquarian-bookselling friend handled mainly religious books, but he also specialized in old agricultural books. In the year I worked for him I read, borrowed, and bought dozens of books. I learned a great deal, things which made life easier in the days before America became petroleum-based. Finding much scientific lore too, I began experimenting with low-cost ways of making a good living with less money, less labor. Little by little, our tiny farm began taking shape. p. 8

One of the ways that I think investigating the old pathways readies us for even a startlingly new future is that it disengages us from modern, conventional mindsets. We become vividly aware that there are other ways of living and that industrialization, rampant materialism, loss of tight family and community bonds and ties with the land, pretend food, too much choice of goods and services as well as a host of other modernities represent a loss. By disengaging from the present ways of doing things, we can think in refreshing ways about how to solve our problems of life. We can rethink what our goals actually are and ply a new course towards them.

Unhooking from present day helplessness by engaging in past modes of self-sufficiency can build the skill sets, knowledge bases, thought force, and inner qualities of intuition, confidence, courage and faith that will be absolutely critical to participating in a radically different future.

So I would say, “Yes, following old pathways is one of the first steps we need to take towards a new future.” The old ways aren’t necessarily an end in and of themselves. However following at least some of them can be a lever that moves us towards a more natural life and a wedge that opens our mind to possibilities beyond what we see in front of us. When we habitually come from the perspective that what is preached by society at this time is not “truth” or “the only way” or even “reality”, then we will have taken a giant step towards becoming more open to the new ways Nature is already mapping out for us.

From the beautiful mountains of southwest Virginia,

Leslie

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