OHIO
Written by Gene Williams
Monroe Historical Society
October 2010
Once Upon a Time
Once upon a time, in the way-so-long-ago, there lived a group of people who traveled here and there, not staying too long in one place, but following the animals as they foraged for their daily sustenance. Once we left the fabled garden where some believe it started, it became difficult to provide daily food easily and abundantly, unless you were exceedingly lucky and lived in a place where good fruit grew, the weather was mild, the animals had plenty to eat, and all had water that was plentiful enough that there was enough for everyone. Then you also had the tremendous problem of keeping the food from turning bad, making you sick, and eventually dying from what you had found, hunted, or cultivated. Life was tough and it didn’t last too long. The average lifespan of a person in that time was thought to be in their 20’s or early 30’s. Most babies and children never made it to adulthood, but those that did were a hearty bunch, and we survived.
Not so long ago, we learned to stick to one general area, gleaned what we had either grown or gathered, learned the magic of salt, the power of fire, the secrets of many herbs and spices, and, with an innate desire to always make things easier, better, more abundant, we somewhat conquered our little part of the Universe. The following is only one small part of what we did a couple of hundred years, right up to the start of the last century, in order to survive our own naïve way of learning, doing, and surviving.
Once we started settling in one very small area, be it a gathering place, village, farm, or whatever we called home (and for some, that meant living in caves in some parts of the world), we started to learn to find ways to take care of our daily bread. A hundred and fifty years ago, around the time of the Civil War, each town had a general store, where the things that could not be grown or caught by the family members was kept, after it had been sent for from some far off place where that specific area provided us with a certain item. For instance, chocolate came from the cocoa tree which grew in very warm areas.
Sugar and coffee also came from the same general areas. For us, these items came from what we call South America. Tea, silk, and gunpowder came from the area we call China. BUT, what we personally did was to catch a fish, either cook it, pack it in salt, or eat it right away. If not, you might as well throw it away as it turned bad and started smelling awful, and would make you so sick, you would either die or wish you had. Most families had a root cellar, where you stored grown goods, such as corn, nuts, wheat, beans, that came from your daily labors, Most farms were close to a running stream or river, or had a dug well, where you could store certain items, such as milk from the goat or cow, so it would last longer, could be used, or turned into something else, such as cheese or butter. We all have to thank some Arab who probably lived a few thousand years ago, because he took off across the desert on his camel, with a bag of goat’s milk to take care of his thirst and hunger in that awful desert heat. Amazingly enough, when he stopped to get a drink of that wonderful, sweet milk, imagine his surprise when he learned that he had to chew the concoction that it had become, but it still was able to provide sustenance to him to get him across the desert, and so you have the start of cheese. Even with our new-fangled machines, if you think about it, milk is still shook up until it becomes something that we really like, such as butter, cheese, cottage cheese, and a few other products that have been passed down from those who came before us. Ice was cut up off of the pond or river in the winter, after it froze over, then stored in a tightly made wood building and covered with straw to make it last as long as possible. Now, I drive my horse(power) over to the local Kroger, where I can get most anything that I desire to fill my eyes and stomach, with a fairly certain knowledge that it will not kill me, bite me, sting me, or poison me, unless some other man has made a really bad mistake in doing what is supposed to be his job. I love talking about the past, our history (Your Story), amazed at what we have accomplished and how far we have come in such a short span of time….and it seems to speed up even more each passing year.
On Oct 2nd, we will be making apple butter the old way at the Garver Farm Market on State Route 63.
All of you are invited to stop in anywhere from 8 A.M. until somewhere around 5 P.M. Hayrides and other happenings will be going on with the expert help and leadership of the Garver Family. There is no cost for joining in the fun, unless you want to buy some of the items that are going to be for sale, such as vegetables and, of course, that wonderful, sweet, juicy, delicious apple butter. Come and help stir the pot, help in the canning, or taste-testing the final product on its way to the canning jar.
