Comments on: Doing Research for a Fantasy Novel

By: glenda larke

glenda larke — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:31:45 +0000

Yeah, I was the same, Helen. A farm kid. Caught my first fish around 5 yrs old and was cleaning my own from 7 yrs on. And that meant catching the bait to start with, and tying on the hooks etc, as well. Never even thought it unusual.

I've heard about the Mrs B., but never seen the original one.

Thanks for the link, Spikeabell – fascinating!

By: Spikeabell

Spikeabell — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 19:36:56 +0000

Nick Hand..often travels around the UK on his bicycle with his laptop and camera interviewing arts and crafts people..there are some fantastic videos of people talking about their work.. http://nickhand.typepad.com/weblog
The most recent post was about the last glove maker in Worcester…might help to see them in the workplace!

By: Helen V.

Helen V. — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 19:09:15 +0000

I love those books and I've seen and done a lot of the things you mentioned too – just because I thought they were things we should know how to do – but I think even in our age group I was fairly unusual. When I was nineteen I went away with a group of girls the same age and stayed in a pretty primitive beach shack. Of the four of us I was the only one who could lay a fire, cook on a wood stove and catch and clean fish. I think because my family has a farming background and we went camping a lot – plus my parents always worked on the assumption that if you could make it yourself you should – I learned a lot that others didn't.

By: Jo

Jo — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:55:34 +0000

I was just thinking I have a book you would like, Mrs. Beeton's Household Management published in 1935. Apart from being a wonderful source for recipes, it also tells people how to run households, how to sweep carpets using tea leaves and so on. Wonderful book even if it is somewhat dilapidated and falling to pieces.

By: Jo

Jo — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:35:08 +0000

I remember some of those things, but I guess my part of the UK was less primitive than your part of Oz. I certainly learned to darn, I was 'darn good at it' sorry!!! I once made butter myself, by accident, whipping English cream on a warm day. It wasn't bad butter either. Don't think you could do that with cream here. In our long lives we have had to do a lot of things which today, have the drudgery taken out of them. Look at computers compared to the original typewriters just for a start.

By: Melissa (My World...in words and pages)

Melissa (My World...in words and pages) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:23:11 +0000

These are great! I always wonder on some of the things that are to be done or where done. 🙂 I will have to remember about these. THank you!