Why I Do What I Do

A Facebook friend asked me the other day, "Annie, how in the world do you do all that you do!?"

Well, I just do! Summer is always a crazy-busy time in my house. I'm harvesting, canning, freezing, freeze-drying, and just BUSY.  

Yesterday I canned blackberries. The day before I made blackberry and peach jam. And the freeze dryer was full of peaches and rhubarb for two days. 

Today I bottled up the laundry soap we made last week. I ended up with enough for the year and the cost was under $2. Here's a photo of the result; 6 big jugs, 2 small and a bucket full!

Joe is busy putting in barrels to catch the rain for the garden, so he asked if I'd can the green beans today. I said sure! 

While I was putting them in the jars, he stopped by and said, "How do you do that so fast? You're like a danged  machine!"  

I started laughing.

I can remember, and my cousins will remember, we were always asking Ma (my grandmother who reared me), "Ma, do you EVER stop?"   

She would just laugh.

Well, then you have to remember, I grew up with 13 living grandparents.  Most of those were grandMOTHERS, and those grandmothers had all lived through the Great Depression! 

I've posted this photo before, but here it is again. In addition to these grandparents in this photo, I had two STEP- grandparents, Grandma and Grandpa Sams, and one grandfather, Grandpa Fred (my father's father) and one STEP-grandfather, Bruce, who was at work this day.

Grandpa and Grandma Sams

I'm the baby in the middle in the photo below. I'm being held by my GREAT-GREAT-grandmother Carvalho and my GREAT Grandmother Cato. They both were alive until I was 6 years old and I remember them well. Grandma Cato lived with us 3 months out of every year and she got my bedroom when she was there - I didn't mind because it meant I got to sleep with my grandparents!  lol! My mother said when she was a girl, she didn't like it when Grandma Cato came to stay because she would get my mother's bedroom. Mom was a teenager then and she said she was always ashamed when she grew up because she'd go into the bedroom at night and flip on the light and Grandma never complained. But I liked it when she was there. She had long, long hair that I liked to brush. I thought she was nice.

So here is the lowdown - it's convoluted but maybe you can follow. 

GREAT GREAT Grandma Carvalho's son was my GREAT Grandfather, who you see right above me. 

His wife, my GREAT Grandmother Emma is to the far left.
Their daughter, next to Emma, was my Grandmother Mary (my father's mother).  

Above Grandma Cato is my Grandfather, Chap Cato (I called him Pa).

Next to him is my Grandmother Inez (I called her Ma.) They reared me.  

Ma

In front of Ma is her father, my GREAT Grandfather Benjamin Hall and next to him is Ma's mother, Ada Hall, my GREAT Grandmother.  They lived next door to us. 

My cousin Janie and I with my Great Grandma Ada Hall.

The Carvalho grandparents and Grandma Mary all lived in the same town.

So I spent a LOT of time with all these grandmothers!  Every summer we were busy harvesting and canning peaches, apricots, beans, tomatoes, and in the autumn, making apple butter and canning pears. By the time I was 13, I was working at the packing house in Armona packing fruit.

My great-grandmothers didn't pass away until I was an adult. I was 38 when my Great Grandmother Ada Hall passed away. I was 35 when my Great Grandmother Emma Carvalho passed away and I was 58 when my Grandmother Mary passed away.

I was very blessed with grandmothers and grandfathers!
And they all taught me valuable lessons in survival.
The grandfathers taught me to farm, to fish and how to grow a garden. The grandmothers how to clean, sew, can and freeze food.

The WHY I do what I do is also because of these wonderful folks, but also because I just love doing it. I get great satisfaction from growing my own food and preserving it. Having MCS, I need to KNOW what is in my food. I make my own sourdough from organic flour, salt, and water. That's it. I make my own laundry soap from very few ingredients because the stuff off the shelves makes me sick as hell. I can my own vegetables and meat and KNOW what is in them. 

A long healthy life is what I strive for! Every time I go to the doctor for a check-up, they ask, "What medications are you on?" and when I say "NONE!" they look at me like I'm an alien!  I'm hoping I NEVER have to take medications. My food and exercise is my medicine! A positive outlook is my medicine! 

Joe, my housemate, is really good about not putting things into the landfill. He's the recycler. I often toss cans or bottles into the garbage and he'll pull them out and get them to the correct recycling bin.  

We don't buy a lot of new things. If we need something, we'll look online at our local Buy Nothing group, or go to Goodwill or H20, a charity shop here in town.  I probably buy new clothes maybe once a year, and usually it's just one or two items. I live on about $1200 a month, so I'm not flush with cash!  lol!  But my house is paid for, and I share utilities and food costs with my housemate. 

That's not to say I do not spend money!!!  
Oh, I DO!

But I spend it on things that bring me joy!

I love crafting. I do needle-felting, card-making, and colored pencil or watercolor during the winters. Those things make my heart happy so I spend my money on supplies. 

I also spend the money I save on travel, which I've always loved. I try to walk the Camino Santiago every year for my health - it chelates the chemicals that make me so sick. Or I'll take a trip cross-country in my van. So it's not that I don't spend - I just choose to spend it on things I love, crafting and travel.  

Sunset Kawaii

To me, watching a beautiful sunset over the desert or the ocean is worth more than a hundred new outfits!

Anyway, I guess this is why I do what I do.

And I hope I'm able to DO it for many many more years. 
My grandmothers all lived very long active lives and I'm hoping I got more than a lot of THOSE genes! I would love to live to be a healthy 105 or more and still having fun - and I believe it's possible. 

So that's it.  Why I do what I do.

Oh yeah... tomorrow we're going to the coast to buy tuna from the tuna boats -- gonna can tuna this weekend!

Life is SO good!

Love,

Annie