just a reminder, i will be taking a short
{sew} modern monday break until after the holidays! :)
in other news, i came across this
interesting washington post opinion
article this morning, titled
it's all about the new wave of women
(me included!) who strive for a life style
full of canning, baking, sewing, etc.
in a world full of technology and fast paced lives,
it seems there are a lot of us who are
working towards a slower more self sufficient way of life.
it's all about a "the new domesticity."
but the article also relates the
growing trends to the domestic obligations
many of our grandmother/great-grandmothers
had as shaped by society.
go check it out! i'd love to hear your
thoughts/reactions/feedback!
i'm off to bake bread!
xo, megan.
I love your baking bread comment! Off to read the article. :)
ReplyDeleteLol, if you want an Irish soda bread receipe, you know where to find me, it pretty much rocks, if I do say so myself! I'm off to read that article too :-)
ReplyDeleteI think it's fantastic that women are finding joy in these activities. For me, it's a basic need to have a creative outlet, and I think the benefits of being creative to one's inner self are greatly undervalued.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely not a step backward in my opinion, but it is a very interesting statement. Many of us were latchkey kids and don't want our children to grow up that way. I know I want to be home for my children, but then I also want to homeschool. Don't even get me started on the horrors of government schools & the Department of Education. My sister's a teacher and what she tells me about her school district frightens me beyond belief for the future of this country.
ReplyDeleteFast food has become a way of life, not a treat, and we are now seeing the long term effects on all these over processed boxed foods.
Plus I have this paranoia that someday the country will go bust and we'll be back to living like the pioneers with little to no electricity & we'll have to be self-sufficient. Those of us with these "domestic" skills will survive. I'm scared for those that live in the city and rely heavily on the government.
Thanks for sharing!
Great article. With all the chemicals and fluff out there, people want to 'know' what's in their foods. Also, making things is so gratifying.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post.
I think it's great that more women are enjoying doing these "domestic activities". I do things like sew, quilt, bake my own bread, have a veggie garden etc, because they are enjoyable hobbies to me. There are plenty of people who think it's a bit nutty and wonder why you'd want to make things you can buy, but they are fun for me and that's what matters!
ReplyDeleteI like the article too. I think women are realizing that it's okay (and healthy and good) to embrace the home arts. I'm thankful that I can stay home with my kids, sew, quilt and yes, bake bread too. (Which is on my list to do today!) Enjoy your day.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that article link - hadn't heard about it, but then again, I've been a bit unplugged the last few days, so that's probably why. Off to check it out! Personally, I think it's pretty cool that we're taking up things that our grandmothers and their mothers did out of necessity and doing it for the enjoyment of it. :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting article. I wonder if a lot of the perceived male/female divide is to do with the geographical area being looked at. I have a lot of male friends who literally fight me (and each other) for cooking rights when we get together, and one of them I turn to for advice in hand sewing because when he was at uni he was in a re-enactment group that had to make all their own clothes.
ReplyDeleteMy friends that are into the whole embracing domesticity and past-times of old are all on a similar pay scale, in similar office based jobs, scattered around the country. None of us are caught up in the huge commute times etc that are prevalent in living in areas like London however (most of us actually live in big cities though) and the idea of having hobbies and past times that are not connected to the computers we spend all day in front of is really appealing.
I think in the UK we're not as attached to the processed foods as the US (we can't get many ingredients I see in online recipes, especially for sweet things), and we don't have the same number of fast food restaurants (although there's more franchises like Subway coming over now) but I definitely find myself avoiding them because the food just doesn't appeal. My mum is a brilliant cook, and taught me well, so perhaps that's why they don't appeal, where my flatmate, who grew up on a diet of frozen food loves to munch his way through enough processed crap to more than make up for me skipping out on it! He has started to realise though just how bad it is for him, and has started to make more of his own food, not least to try and be kinder to his waistline!
Ooh, you didn't ask for an essay there did you, oops!
Hey Megan, cool article. Like the woman who wrote it, my mom and grandmother never sewed,canned, quilted, baked, knit or even really cooked much, so I have not "inherited" these interests as traditions from them, they are all my own. I love them, though. I think I can still be a progressive girl-power woman but also be able to sew me a shirt...go figure! And other people seem to admire my skills, not critisize- I am teaching a bunch of moms from my kids' school how to knit next week, actually! But I certainly don't do these things out of any sense of domestic obligation, just because I love them!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the article! I thought it was really interesting and describes me perfectly, the college-educated woman who finds herself at home and has to channel that over-achiever energy into something! And like the author, my mother certainly wonders what I am thinking ha!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the article. As a 28 year-old gal in Austin, TX who grows edibles in the backyard, cooks, sews, and quilts, the article definitely speaks to me. I've always been interested in handicrafts and the old way of doing things, though, so the popularity of DIY and sustainable ways of cooking, cleaning, and creating is exciting to me.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the info in the article, but I think the author is off about what our interest in these activities will mean for our daughters and granddaughters. Because we live in modern times, these hands-on activities will presumably always be optional for future generations. No doubt they were considered a burden when there wasn't an alternative. However, I completely disagree that we're creating a sense of obligation for our progeny by participating in this contemporary version of homesteading.
My husband participates equally in the cooking and cleaning, and he takes on more specialized home maintenance projects, eager to learn. A little wall texture here, some tile there, maybe some wiring. I don't see articles questioning whether or not he's obligating future generations of sons to do their own home maintenance instead of paying handymen, though.
As crafty gals, I think striving to fill our lives with the activities we love is great. As long as we're doing what's good for ourselves, our families, and our planet, though, we should really skip the worry and the guilt trip. What's the point of doing the things you love if you're just going to guilt yourself into a miserable state? Craft on merrily, ladies :-)
Interesting article. I liken it to guys who fix their own cars or fix the heater or build a dog house, etc. I like the feeling of accomplishment, I enjoy the process and love knowing I did it myself (quilts, knitting, canning, cleaning my own house, whatever.) And I think in a matter of years - things like this will become more of a 'lost art.' Like yes, it's popular here but we searched out these blogs and online "communities" - I know few people IRL (who I didn't search out or meet at the quilt shops) who can, quilt, knit, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that there's a return to old ways. I think it's great that I can make a quilt and blog about it and people I'd consider my peers think it's awesome. It's something I learned to do as a child from my Mom and Grandma. It's a connection with my family and my past that's important to me. It's also something I LIKE doing. And that's the difference between now and years past. I do it because I enjoy it, not because I HAVE to. I can pick and choose the domestic bits I want to do. I just wish I had the nerve to quit my job and live more frugally.
ReplyDelete