COOKING, SEWING, AND GARDENING

May 22, 2020, Friday

I've heard reports that flour, yeast, and garden seeds are hard to find in the stores this spring. People who are sheltering in place have been spending their newly-freed time baking and gardening. And hundreds and thousands of seamstresses have been mass-producing masks until they run out of narrow elastic for the ear loops. Most are donating what they make, but some have asked to be reimbursed for their supplies, and a few have launched small businesses. Who would have predicted that stores would run out of these particular supplies?

I'm glad to know these tasks that kept our mothers and grandmothers busy many decades ago are enjoying a revival. And I'm a bit suprised that the skills have survived among a great many practitioners, mostly women. It will be interesting to see if bread-baking leads to more home-cooking, or if mask-making morphs into home-sewn clothing, or if gardening yields big harvests and a revival of canning, freezing, and drying.

But it will be even more interesting to see if men become more involved in these activities. Gardening and cooking have always had their male practitioners. But sewing has been a predominately female occuption. Each of these activities can fill a need, be creative and satisfying, and does not need to cost a lot. But it remains to be seen if the new normal (whenever that arrives!) will still allow enough time to persue them. Maybe there's hope for a more simple and healthy lifestyle in the future.