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. 

Home Stay- Useful hints for the garden

Like everyone, I am self-Isolating with family and staying home as much as I can because I'm the designated driver for shopping essentials. While I'm at home I have been looking through my treasure trove of saved household hints, tips, and recipes. I thought I would start to share these along with the regular posts from the Wartime era. 

Many of these useful hints and tips are tried and tested over time, in today's world they still are relevant.  The useful hints and tips for today are all about gardening. As always these are frugal tips and won't cost you the earth and many of the items can be already found at home.

GARDENING TIPS:

1 tbsp (20g) Epson salts dissolved in about 1 pt (550ml) luke warm water is a marvellous tonic for plants, especially roses.

Eggshells ground finely may be used not only as a fertiliser but also a slug deterrent.

After putting garden waste on a compost heap, cover a black plastic bag weighed down with stones. This gives the best and quickest conditions for rotting.

Don’t throw away those nettles; when they have rattled put them into a bucket outdoors, cover with water, and leave for 2 to 3 weeks. The resulting strongly smelling liquid is an unrivalled fertiliser, especially good for tomatoes.

Bury banana skin and crush eggshells near the roots of rose trees to supply them with extra vitamins and minerals. 

Garlic grown near roses is supposed to keep them clear of Aphids (greenfly).

Use leaf mould on your garden instead of expensive fertiliser. Collect autumn leaves in sacks, put a brick on each sack and by spring your free leaf mould is ready for use.

Use an old bicycle pump as a pest killer spray in the garden.

To get rid of ants in the garden, sprinkle some talcum powder. 

Sprinkle salt on paths and brickwork crevices to get rid of weeds and grass. Salt will have the same effect if sprinkled on the roots of weeds in the garden. Sprinkle salt on slugs to kill them. (*Always be cautious about using salt as it will also kill everything else too.)

Spread soot or coal around the lettuce bed to keep off slugs.

Remove green fungi from a cement path or patio by pouring on water containing bleach, then scrub with a brush.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening. Staying safe at home. And being kind to one another.

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.

Vintage beauty

GLYCERINE AS A COSMETIC

It is worth knowing pure glycerine is valuable as a cosmetic . It has a wonderfully beautifying effect when used on the skin and as the benefit of whitening and softening any rough dry sky to make it supple. When using glycerine it shouldn’t be used as in a concentrated form. 

Glycerine has special interest for a beauty regime because of its property of softening the skin, but also for its capacity for fading discolouring, so that it acts a s a beautifier in the true sense of the word.  A tablespoonful of it in a  pint of water - or rosewater or, witch hazel- will soften and protect the skin from the air. It should be rubbed in, but not wiped off. 

Lotions containing glycerine agree with most cases of dry skin, and often combined with other beauty ingredients for wrinkled skin, blackheads, chapped lips, and sunburn. Pure glycerine has a powerful, beautifying effect on the skin.

Glycerine is a substance which may be used instead of oil and has the advantage of being more cleanly effective to the skin. It is more emollient than oil, and softens bodies without greasing them. A cupful in a bath of warm water will have a fantastic effect upon the skin of the body.

Glycerine having the property of absorbing water, uses up the moisture which the skin requires, and there-fore, should be diluted.

Those who want to try glycerine can do so by mixing in a little glycerine with the cold cream or lotion that they regularly use, but be sure to use only pure glycerine. 

To summarise, here are some of the virtues of glycerine:

1: It renders the skin soft, velvety, and supple.

2: It is an antiseptic.

3: It is the only cosmetic which softens without greasing.

4: It is more emollient than any oil.

5: It contains amazing preservatives qualities when applied to the skin, and acts as a veil against wind, heat, cold, and burning rays of the hot sun.

6: It has a tendency to dissolve blackheads and such.

7: It imparts to the skin softness, smoothness, and suppleness.

8:It is a great substances for curing chapped skin.

9: Used as a cleansing cream or lotion, it acts as a protector and beautifier.

10: It does not evaporate or dry out, nor turn rancid, nor decompose as almost cold creams do, and when added to them, prevents those preparations from doing so.

(Note: I used rosewater essence as I couldn't find true rosewater. And I didn't have fresh roses to make rosewater. You need to use quite a bit of the rosewater essence to make up for the substitute.)

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

40 vintage ways to cut costs

Vintage living is renowned for having a life-style based on frugality. Adapting the rules from a no-nonsense era can stretch today’s dollar and cut household costs. 

As I continue the year of living like 1939, I can hardly be anything less than a careful housekeeper. The suggestions that follow are all I have learnt so far.

1. Grow as much food as possible to lower the food bill, and freeze or can what you can’t use immediately. Even tomatoes can be frozen and used in soups and stews.

2. Save leftovers to make potato scones, soups, stews or fried vegetables.

3. Sheets can be reversed to extend their wear, putting the top border at the bottom end of the bed.

4. A sheet that’s worn in the centre can be put “sides-to-middle.” Cut it in half lengthways, seams the sides together and hem the raw edges.

5. Turn back bedding in the morning to help keep sheets to stay fresh longer. Which will cut back on frequent laundering. 

6. Cleaners should be bought in the most economical size (not always the largest) and decanted into spray bottles. Use just a squirt instead of pouring out a large amount.

7. Don’t use more laundry detergent than you need. If you don’t have a measuring cup, use a 470g jam jar (fill it halfway for a cup measure).

8. A slightly soiled wash may not need as much detergent as the manufacturer recommends.

9. Towels need watching. At the first sign of weakening along the edge, take bias tape and sew it with strong thread on both sides. 

10. A ripped towel can be cut into squares for use as washcloths.

11. Worn-out towels, cut into squares and bound together in four or five thicknesses, make good washable pot holders. Hem with binding tape and leave a piece at the end to make a little loop of tape to hang them up.

12. Wash blue towels, sheets, pillowcases with your whites to brighten up the white wash. Of course, any new coloured items should be washed separately for a few times.

13. Camouflage unremovable stains on children’s clothes with embroidery. Paint, rust spots, small rips can all be concealed with stitched flowers, a butterfly or a fish, using washable beads or old pearls for centres and eyes.

14. Soap is said to harden with keeping. Buy it six months ahead and store. unwrapped, in the linen cupboard. It smells good too.

15. Use soap holders to prevent soap being wasted.

16. If your bath oil label suggests using two capfuls, then half a cap is probably just as good.

17. You can get rid of paper table napkins, too. An inexpensive bangle for a serviette ring for everyone in the family and a hemmed square from a worn-out towel make free substitutes.

20. Scrub the dirtiest spots on clothes first to cut down on the washing time.

21. Boil only enough water for the cups of tea or coffee needed.

22. Have everything ready before the kettle comes to the boil, turning off the heat as soon as the water is boiling.

23. Use the minimum amount of water to cook vegetables. Add a tablespoon of water and a dab of butter to the vegetables, shake to coat, then cover and cook slowly.

24. A properly insulated oven retains heat. Turn it off before dishes such as casseroles are quite ready.

25. If the oven is already on, cook frozen vegetables in it. Put them in a covered casserole with a little water, butter, and salt, and cook for 39 minutes.

26. Keep your mending up-to-date, or that pair of ripped pyjama pants will sit in the mending box until it’s been out-grown. Organise a mending or sewing circle among your neighbours, for one or two afternoons a month.

27. Worn-out clothes should have zips, buttons and binding tape removed. The old binding is more suitable for mending older clothes, since new tape is stronger and causes more stress. 

28. A patchwork quilt uses up old clothes. Make a cardboard template about 20cm square, and cut squares from the better parts of old garments. Back the quilt with an old flannelette sheet and interline with an old swollen blanket. Pillow slips can be fashioned in the same way.

29. Short dresses can still be used by buying or making a wrap skirt in a complementary colour to wear over the dress.

30. Lengthen accordion-pleated skirts using a remnant of fabric lining. Unpick the waist. Make a circle from the lining by seaming together a strip 17 cm wide and hop measurement plus 5cm long. Stitch the circle tot he top of the skirt - this portion will be hidden by an overblouse or seeker - and make an elasticised waist.

31. Hand-knitted sweaters are warmer and can be unravelled when outworn or outgrown. Wind the yarn loosely around a large book, tie the skein in several place and hand-wash.

32. Sometimes there is enough fabric in a pleated skirt to make into another garment by unpicking and pressing out the pleats. The material can then be reassembled.

33. Carry a notebook with your family’s current measurements. If you see an unexpected sale, you’ll be prepared.

34. Jot down metres or wool requirements for a pattern. That way you won’t buy too much or too little.

35. Thermal cot blankets can be saved and seamed together to make a bedsize blanket when the cot is outgrown.

36. Bean sprouts are an excellent and cheap source of vitamin C. 

37. Worn-out sheets cut into handkerchief-chief size pieces are softer on the nose than tissues.

38. Conserve heating oil or gas by keeping the thermostat about 19 deg C (66 deg F) during the day and turning it down at night. Better still, turn the heat off.

39. Cook roast beef slowly to minimise shrinkage. Rub it with oil but no salt, and place on a rack in a shallow pan fat side up. Do no sear or add water. Cook, uncovered, in a preheated 150 deg C (300deg F) oven for 32 to 34 minutes per 500g (1lb) for medium.

40. A clothes dryer can use up to 100 kilowatt hours a month; drying clothes on a line is free. Clothes can be partly dried in the dryer, then hung on a line under cover.

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

IN YOUR GARDEN

In the Southern Hemisphere, Australia is in autumn heading into winter, and the winter chill is very much here. For the garden the newspapers of 1939 say it is time to sow beds where plants such as quick-growing annuals are needed. Popular flowers during the era for planting now, include:

* Virginia stocks (for ribbon borders)

*Larkspur

*Dwarf nasturtiums

*Shirley poppies

*Gyspohilia

*Candytuff

*Petunias

Nemesia, snapdragons, and sweet peas.

Hardy annuals should be sown in boxes or seedbeds for late flowering seeds. 

Now is a good time to make speciality of bedding out pansies, violas, stocks, Iceland poppies, carnations, lobelias, linaria, English daisies and calendula. All root cutting of pelargoniums should be done now.

In the vegetable plot sow or plant cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohl-rabi, parsnips, turnips, silver beet, herbs and broad beans.

Strawberries should be planted out in proper containers or beds.

ROOM REQUIRED

Every vegetable planted needs ample room to be able to grow into flourishing plants. Carrots, turnips, parsnips, and red beet should be planted from four to five inches apart. Seeds need to be thinned out from six to ten inches apart with a foot between rows. For general purposes onions will do well with four inches apart, with ten inches separating the rows; lettuce will need a foot apart and twenty inches will do for cabbages in rows two feet apart.

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

From Kitchen Left Overs

From Kitchen Left Overs.

It’s May and Autumn is starting to appear here with plenty of foggy days, crisp mornings, and a hit of frost on the ground during early morning times. The weather has been very foggy and rainy. The rain is nice for the garden. There have been fine days too and the days are cooler in temperature but not very cold, making  most days really pleasant. The weather makes it a good time to be indoors pottering around.

During May of 1939 there's articles for dishes from ‘left overs’.  The articles all suggests it worth having patience and a love for making something from nothing to make sure not a scrap is wasted in the kitchen so that pennies can be saved. Below are just some of the tips from those articles for using your kitchen left overs.

When The Food Overflows.

It’s worth while for a cook to make use of using left overs as it helps with savings in the weekly account. Left overs can be used - not every other day, but often enough to make a savings. In the first place, it pays to get into the habit of planning meals so there isn’t really any left-overs to be had. Over time this can be managed and when scraps do appear obviously know what to keep and what not to keep. 

Hoard The Gravy and The Sauce.

Cupfuls of gravy and white sauce from dinner, can be reheated with pieces of cold meat like chicken and the sauce is easily season well and served up with crips bits of toast sprinkled with parsley makes an easily made meal.

Chicken heated in left over brown gravy: to the gravy add a little curry powder and spoon-full of chutney, and it makes for a nice breakfast dish. Boil up some rice and the left over becomes something more substantial.

Hasty Curried Eggs.

Eggs are always a good standby for any left over dish for dinner or breakfast. If there’s white sauce or gravy on hand, curried eggs are a few minutes and can be made up easily when you don’t have time. Heat the sauce or gravy, thin it if necessary, and flavour to taste with curry, a tiny pinch of sugar, and just before serving squeeze some lemon in it. Hard-boil and egg, shell them, and halve them, and smother with the prepared curry sauce. Serve with toast. A variation is simply poach an egg, serve on toast and coat with the curry gravy. The same can be done with poached egg on a bed of rice and the sauce over that.

A Spoonful of Gravy.

* Try poaching eggs boiled in brown gravy. 

* Place an egg in a small greased ramekin dish, cover with gravy, and bake until the egg is set. If you have white sauce left over you can add breadcrumbs on the surface and grated cheese, and brown as the egg sets.

* A rissole mixture can be moisten with left over gravy.

* White sauce is good for mixing in with salmon patties.

* And both gravies can enrich a stew or soup.

The Potato Goes a Long Way Here.

Everyone knows scraps of mashed potato are some-how always in the kitchen left-overs. They can be fried and made into covering fish pie. Left over mashed potato is also good for padding rissoles or fish patties. Add left over potato to a shepherds pie for a good family meal.

You can make some potato puffs as well if you have dry cheese that can be grated. Mash a cupful of potato with 2 or 4 tablespoons of cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. You can include a spoonful fo chopped parsley as well. Then add about 1 cup fo self-raising flour, and mix the whole together with two beaten eggs and a little milk if necessary. At the end it should be like a cavelike mixture that you will drop from the spoon. Fry in very hot oil until puffy and golden brown all over. Drain well. Serve with bacon and tomatoes.

Try Potato Scones.

When you are making up some sweet scones, try making up a batch of potato scones (biscuit) which can be made quickly with scraps of cold potato. Sift 2 cups flour with a good pinch of salt and 2 teaspoons of baking powder, and then rub into it a heaped tablespoon of butter. Thoroughly mash 2 cups cold potato and blend it thoroughly with the flour. Mix to a soft, scone-line paste with a beaten egg and milk, or with the milk alone. Roll and cut in the usual way. Bake for 10 minutes in a very hot oven. You can add some grated cheese to this as well.

Cauliflower left over?

When you buy cheese in blocks there’s always unavoidable scraps and the ends are always dry. Those ends are easy to grate, and really useful to have on hand. They can be grated into macaroni cheese. If you have cauliflower, cheese blends very well with it. Place the left over cauliflower in a greased pie dish and cover it with a white sauce, well flavoured with grated cheese, pepper, and salt. Sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs and grated cheese then dot with a few bits of butter on top.  Bake until brown. 

Odds And Ends

* Rice left from curry will make a rice custard with the addition of eggs and milk. It won’t be as creamy as the usual rice custard but still tasty.

* Use ends of jam in the bottom of the basin that holds steamed pudding.

* An odd spoonful of jam goes well in a curry.

* Any old tomatoes, onions, or scraps of meat can be added to a damper.

* Think twice before throwing out dry ends of bread. Bake them instead in a slow oven until pale brown and crisp right through, or lightly toast them. Then either roll them finely with a rolling pin in a bag and store them in an airtight jar where they will keep for several weeks, and always be available for coating fried foods, and other purposes. 

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