Gladys Gives Away Grandmothers kind of

I got a call from my twenty-something niece, Tooter the other day. We were chit chatting and she said Aunt Gladys how do you make stew. Well I launched in to my diatribe of how you dust the meat and so on and she stopped me and said “Is the meat dirty? Is that why you dust it?” Then I realized I was speaking another language and that she had not yet learned. You see I learned things from my mother who I think just instinctively learned them because she didn’t really have a mother to teach her things. It was like Nurse Meme instinctively knew how to fold a fitted sheet or wash a cashmere sweater and then passed that knowledge down to Matilda and me.

Nurse Meme would set her hair with beer.

My Grandmother yes the same Grandmother who jumped in the number five washtub with me also was a wealth of knowledge. There wasn’t anything that woman couldn’t do. She could sew, sing, cook, mend, crochet, garden and since she passed away when I was only five she could have taught me all those things but well she went too soon. I am left with remnants of her though a homemade apron, a picture painted on an old canvas window shade because she didn’t have canvas, her flour sifter and her chocolate pie recipe.

I get calls from my daughters and others often wanting to know the secrets of pie crust and how to bleach out your white clothes without turning them yellow. I love getting these calls because it gives me the chance to pass on the knowledge with which I was blessed. I have always said I would have made a great 1940’s housewife because I can make one roasted chicken into five or more meals, I know how to compost my kitchen waste and can put up my own vegetables.

This brings me all to the point of my post. Yes I have a point and yes it’s a good one. The other day I received an email from Erin Bried wanting to know if I would be interested in giving away one of her books “How to Sew a Button and Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew”. Now I had never heard of Erin even though she had been featured in O magazine, yes as in OPRAH. Did you just hear a choir of angels sing? Yeah me too. Now I feel like I know Oprah personally what with all that six degrees of separation and all. She is also a senior staff writer at Self magazine and has been featured in Redbook among others, Erin not Oprah.

It wasn’t Oprah that impressed me though it was something else or I should say somebody else. It was the fact that Erin interviewed grandmothers, yes other people’s grandmothers, and compiled all of their knowledge in this book. One of the women she interviewed is Mildred A. Kalish the author of Little Heathens.

I read Little Heathens awhile back and loved it so much I shared it with my family. You see I don’t believe we can hear enough about what life was like before we had all these modern conveniences and she describes her life growing up in the early part of the last century so well.  I recommend you read Little Heathens as soon as you finish with Erin's book.

I received Erin's book earlier this week and I sat down and was mesmerized by the topics, like how to fold a fitted sheet; yep she does it just like Nurse Meme taught me. How about how to wear red lipstick? I shy from red lipstick even though I love it because I’ve never been sure how to choose the right shade for my complexion. This book is a wonderful wealth of knowledge. You must get one for yourself and for all your domestically challenged friends and relatives.  My Sisters Farmhouse is having a contest to give away one of Erin’s books and so am I.

Yes I am giving away a copy of Erin’s book which goes on sale December 18. I have preordered copies for myself, my daughters, my nieces and of course myself because believe it or not I do not know everything.

Here is how you win, leave me a comment of something your grandmother or mother heck let’s not be biased your grandfather, father, uncle, brother or aunt taught you. I will throw all your comments in the random integer hat Saturday morning and come up with a winner. The one who wins will win a copy of Erin’s book and….This. So sign up and learn things your grandmother knew.