75 years ago: Victory England

I have been quiet on the blog front, but I couldn't pass up the 75th anniversary for the ending of World War 2. I'm currently researching 1943, and Victory Day is a long way away yet. The women's section in the newspapers for 1943 are encouraging the Homefront to live simply and not to spend on unnecessary luxuries. 

In Australia, we have had some of our stay at home restrictions lifted for covid-19 but there is a long way to go before we return to normal. 

So there are some happy times to speak about and rejoice in even if some restrictions remain in place.

Like many, I don't think there will be a normal after covid-19. Many of us see the necessity in living within our means, making the home a viable place to rest in, and make sure we have all that we need to stay in and do our part at the Homefront.

When the war ended, the rations continued and they needed to live simply without expenses. The home was the place for many to be in. There was a survey of women at the end of the war and during the war asking women if they wanted to work or stay at home. A lot of women declared they wanted to be home, or have a home of their own. This of course shows how the 1950's home was born. 

The advertisement from 1945 looks very much like it could be from the 1950's.  With many women now declaring the home as their right place to be, this made the changes for the extravagance seen in the early 1950's home. While a lot of people believe that era to be far removed from the 1940's home, there were many similarities between both era's. The main one is, the home was the best place to be. 

And that is what it is like today, staying home as much as possible, making do with what you have, and being with family.  

Below is the Queen's speech for the 75th anniversary of V.E day.

 I hope everyone is having a good day or evening, where ever you are. And staying home safe with loved ones.

Flourless - Home front rations

In Australia we are in lockdown, shelter in place, stay at home, the only time to leave home is for essential shopping and exercise.  As I mentioned I do my part to stay home when I'm not needed as a carer for essential driving. Now is the time to stay home, do what you can with what you have, and be kind to one another. 

As I follow the wartime home front of the 1940's much of what is in the news today, seems to be what was happening then but for a different reason.

 Focusing on the home and family is important for today,  but also remember we are in anxious times. Not everyone can be productive in the home, many still work out side the home, have health issues, or are elderly.

Just focus on what you can do. Take the time to give yourself some leisure time too, remember we can still go for walks and do hobbies.

It is a good time to prepare, even now. Make sure you have what you need without hoarding unnecessarily. Return to  simple living as much as possible by doing: Home made, home cooked, home grown, and, home living.

Returning to simple home living is a way to stay home in this time where it is expected we aren't doing 'unnecessary spending'. Not only that, it also means by supplying what we need at home we aren't putting on a strain on the lack of supplies available in the shops.

Keeping things simple is important. Focusing on 'plainer foods for health & energy' as the wartime advertisement says. 

Return to meals that are 'economical',  don't waste electricity, or time. Be prepared to use leftovers for  second meals as this will save going out for more essentials and not be wasteful with food.

With the shortages now, it is a good idea to start writing down alternatives you can use for cooking if you don't have or can't find the necessary items. Writing things down is important because the internet may not be available or with everyone home it will become slower and more difficult to navigate. 

Find out substitutes for eggs, and or, flour like this wartime recipe for 'flourless French cake' (if you click on the picture it will bring up a larger image). It does use flour but not the usual types of flour that is currently being limited to the amount everyone can buy, if they can find it. If you don't have yeast for bread there are other substitutes such as potato yeast or sourdough. You can also make dampers and scones, which don't use yeast. These are handy recipes to know because you don't have to use eggs or milk (substitute with water) as well.

Most of all, remember to keep calm and carry on (at home).

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are. Be safe.  Be kind. Stay at home. 

Not a penny spent

The weather is changing into our Autumn and the days are becoming a little bit cooler and we're still have rain as well. All in all a very good time for the garden if you have one. 

In the wartime letters there is talk about tomatoes growing even though they were experiencing a bit of a heat wave and nothing else was growing in their gardens. Tomato recipes were also included in the kitchen section. 

There is still a lot of talk of saving and making do. I'm currently saving a lot of orange peels to use in potpourri crafts.  During the war they wouldn't waste full orange slices for crafts. The peels were put to use in recipes like marmalades, and candied, if sugar was available.

Savings were encouraged more often now and plenty of advertising gave the call to save for war bonds. The money saved was sent to the government to help with the war of the time.

Even though there isn't a war to send savings to, it is still a good idea to put away the 'pennies' for the rainy day emergency. There's lots of ways to save a few dollars here and there, for myself I'm not thrifting which is a hard thing for me, but a nice thing for my savings purse. I'm also considering my no spend challenge again. Perhaps in April.

Also, for now I've turned off comment ability on my blog as sometimes it is just nice to look and not have to participate...well, I think so.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

A return to Austerity

I took a break from blogging after dealing with some personal issues. I thought by now I would be well settled into a new home, however drama happened and a move hasn’t occurred just yet. I usually refrain from posting in-depth personal setbacks and drama in detail on my blog so I’ll just move onto blogging.

The return to blogging is going to include the letters posted in Eleanor Barbour’s “Dear Eleanor Barbour” from the wartime newspapers. A lot of the ladies wrote in letters giving an account of their day to day life, what they were doing to make savings, recipes and home hints. The letters give a wonderful insight into the era for homemakers of Australia.

As I continue with the 1940’s homemaking theme there will also include advertising of the time, as now coupons have become introduced to  Australians and the adverts show how much something cost the average homemaker or if a coupon was needed to purchase the item. Without a coupon you could not receive the item. Australia had a lot of items available but things like the Nivea creme stopped being produced after 1939 due to it being a German product. English Yardley perfumes and creams became more popular to support the British and were widely available.

As the war continues, many are still fighting with the Germans, for Australia the bombing of Darwin brought home the war and soldiers were also enlisted to fight the Japanese. Now more than ever, Australians were encouraged to help the war effort and send what they could to the war bonds. Austerity became the key focus of homemakers, spending less, making do, and travelling less developed into a major theme of the era. The homefront became important for many families and home made became a necessity. Home made meals were part of keeping a home and supporting the troops by spending less to save for war bonds.

With the make do motto, I’m going back to creating items for the home using what I have and putting those items away for a future home. The main aim is to spend less and be at home when I can be. The advert above shows pillow cases were available and no coupons were needed. Transfers were also available and in keeping with the era but did not become very popular until the 1950's.

With the state of the world today, all of this sounds very familiar. By posting the letters, the adverts, and continuing with a 1940’s lifestyle, I hope to pass on something useful for today’s homemaker.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening wherever you are.

Welcome back to 1943

The new year has come and gone. It was a quiet one at home, our town didn't have fireworks due to the fires around Australia and the drought we are currently facing. Many people feel like 1943 seems to be a long time ago, but if you look around there are still reminders of that time. How they lived then isn't too far removed from now, there were phones, cars, television, radios, and other modern cons. They were anxious and had sad moments of course, but they learn how to move on and made do with what they had. In today's time there are many who are trying to do the same.

As the world moves into 2020, I'm moving into 1943.  World War 2 is continuing and Australian households are facing a necessity to tighten spending habits to give money to war bonds and so that the government doesn't have to force people into harsher rations. Coupons are in full use for most items and many of the advertising of the day such as this ad for LUX washing powder encourages the use of being thrifty and taking care of clothing items so they last longer and coupons weren't used wastefully.

 Many of the articles in the newspapers are now talking about saving, being careful with money, and making do. The government of the time is asking people not to spend and instead find ways to put pursuits to wartime efforts instead. For those on the Homefront, that meant making sure the home was presentable and meals ready for those who were working outside of the home and doing late shift work for the war.

Many of the recipes of the day included very simple, quick, thrifty meals, for those who were watching how they used their coupons. All of this of course sounds very familiar as those of us who are doing it hard and trying to find ways to simplify, live simply, and spend less.

I'm doing my bit for the 'war', by using things I currently have and making the most of those items. I recently made a Christmas stocking from this thrift store brought cross-stitch kit I brought for $1. The stocking also used up fabric scraps I had.

This will likely be the major theme this year, to use what I have. The letter from 'Mauve Delphinium' is just one of many written in Jan, 1943 to Eleanor Barbour. The letter sums up the way everyone was helping with their bit for the war to save as much as they could. I am planning to show more letters of the time because they are  good example of what was happening in Australian Home-fronts.

As the war continues into 1943 the homemakers of the time are finding ways to be more thrifty to do their part for the war. This year, I will continue to follow along as they did, it may not be exactly the same as they live because I'm not trying to be a re-inactor. I'm trying to learn how they lived and take away parts I can use in my own life to make my life more thrifty too.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Holiday cheer

DEAR “A PEACEFUL HOMEMAKER” READERS,

Today is Christmas day for us in the Southern Hemisphere and in the next week we will have New Year’s Day. Like my 1942 counterparts we are all wondering what the next 12 months will bring to us.   The last year has taught me many things as I attempted to live like 1942. It has taught me that I can do without luxuries which are considered necessities and unattainable during 1942.  Living like 1942 has taught me that I can manage with a limit to my clothes, sugar and tea. The 1942 ethic of Australian of the time has shown me they sacrificed a lot to help their country to save that country and its people. The Austerity living didn’t deter those to lend their bit to “Save their all”.

While researching the time period of 1942 I realise it had been a sad one for many. You cannot have war without sadness and 1943 will bring more of it as the war of the time goes on. 1942 reflects much of what is current today with most of us struggling on the homefront and times are hard.

 Even during the difficult times many of us are learning to live simply and make do like our 1942 folks. We are still keeping the home fires burning, preparing meals with less money, making do with less things, and hurrying to keep up with the housework while we also have jobs to do outside of the home.

Next year, no doubt, looks like it will be a continuance of the work of the last year, and perhaps even more intense. For myself, my vintage life will continue while I wait to go into my own home. I will continue this blog taking it now into 1943 to follow the homefront of the time to see how they continued to live under the hardships of world war 2. 

There won’t be another issue of  “A PEACEFUL HOMEMAKER” until after the New Year, so let me now wish you all the best that the year has in store, and a very merry holiday for Christmas day.

Have a good day or evening where ever you are.

When there is no sugar, make a batch of scones -1942

Light Hands, Light Scones.

Scones are as simple as ABC to make. A proper scone maker will tell the first lesson for the cook who says they are never able to turn out a decent scone is to remember scones need lightness.  They are not like bread, where you have to roll and roll, and then knead and knead. And wielding flour will never turn out a fluffy scone. A good solid scone, maybe, but a scone that has lost all chance of lightness before it reaches the oven.

The secret of a scone is they must literally be tossed together, and quickly into the oven with a light hand (and light heart, too, if you can manage it), and the oven must be very hot. The whole process of mixing and cooking need only be around ten or twelve minutes.  

Scones are the next best thing to a cake that requires a lot of sugar and that they require very little in way of ingredients also makes it a top list for the wartime Austerity meal of 1942. Scones can vary in plain, sweet, or savoury.

A useful savory scone:

Add about half a cup of grated cheese to two cups of flour, you can also make up onion scones, which are tasty even if the name doesn’t suggest so. Here is the recipe:

Two large cups self-raising flower, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 cup grated cheese, 1 beaten egg, 1 small very finely chopped onion, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and about 1/2 cup milk. Sift flour and salt, rub in the butter and mix in the cheese and onion. Mix to a soft dough with the egg and milk, roll out and cut into usual shapes.

Bake about 10 minutes in a very hot oven.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Austerity in the home -1942

My it has been a while since I last posted. With Spring approaching it is time to dust off the blog and start again. I’ve read a lot of articles and tried out many recipes while searching through the newspapers of 1939. The idea was to find out how they lived before the war and the restrictions on homemakers of the time. I used newspapers from Australia to get a good sense of what ladies (and possibly men) were doing during that time. Of particular interest were all the letters to Eleanor Barbour, the section gave a very good insight into homemaking and personal pursuits of the time.

As September approaches war will be announced and I have chosen that time to move on from 1939 and into 1942. I’ve specifically chosen this time as the Japanese bombed Darwin and suddenly the war that was over there, was now on our own doorstep. 1942 was a time when coupons were enforced and a call to Austerity was asked from Australia’s Prime Minister: Mr John Curtin. The call for everyone to do one’s part for the war began and this is the time when planting the garden for kitchen use was encouraged. 

Surprisingly a lot of words used for encouraging austerity in the home are in current use today: Simpler living, less spending, restricting unnecessary spending. As the Prime Minster said: “If you don’t stop spending we’ll have to ration everything.”

As I move into 1942, home life will have less choices and basic recipes will be back in use. The war meant many companies turned their factories over to war use and shop brought favourites were not available. This encouraged the use of home made, home grown, home baked, in many Australian homes.

The housewife of the time was asked to budget and find ways to cut back on spending. Many were told to share their ways of cutting back, saving time, and saving money. This all sounds familiar as I've been doing this all along and I know many who also do the same thing.

The home life of 1942, was all about making do with what you have and using basic home items to make the things you could not buy or should not buy. As one newspaper article wrote: It is about rediscovering the enjoyment of simple pursuits.

With the encouragement of the austerity campaign in homes of 1942, this was also the time when home gardening was requested. Flower patches were turned over to vegetable production and the encouragement of the victory garden began. With that in mind, my own garden is undergoing a change to the 1942 gardens of the time.

This era feels very familiar and I am sure it will be to many others who follow a simple, frugal, life.

Below is a video of Prime Minster John Curtin encouraging all Australians to be useful during the war.

 I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.