The Things We Don't Have to Do These Days

I've been totally exhausted recently, and while I like to think that I'm doing well by taking care of River and managing to do a modicum of chores, errands, and writing work, it has also occurred to me how incredibly lucky I am to be living right now in a culture/situation where I can get by doing this little for a while. I know there are plenty of people even now and around here who have to work double shifts and things like that just to get by, but what really blows my mind is thinking about people who have lived with a much lower level of technology, in subsistence situations.

Today I did a little research on what homesteading women did every day in the late 1800s, and it was pretty mind-blowing. First of all, a woman my age might be pregnant, caring for a toddler, and would probably also have at least a couple of older children. She would get up around dawn to build up a fire, get water from a stream or well, and make breakfast, then milk the cows, gather eggs, feed the animals, and work in the vegetable garden. After that, she and any daughters who were old enough to help would do chores specific to the day. One traditional way of arranging these chores was "wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday, mend on Wednesday, churn on Thursday, clean on Friday, bake on Saturday, rest on Sunday." (Although, if it were me, I'd save time on Tuesday, because who the hell cares about ironing? Especially if you're just going to be working on a farm). Some days (maybe Tuesdays, but it would probably end up getting put off until Sunday) she would also have to squeeze in extra seasonal projects like making sausage, preserves, candles, soap, and tanning leather. Most of these projects were just for subsistence, but she really needed to come up with extras of something occasionally, to trade for things like sugar and salt (tasty, but also important for preserving food), crockery, fabric, and metal tools. Which, of course, she'd also have to spend lots of time traveling to town for occasionally. Then she would make dinner, teach the kids reading and math, and maybe do some sewing, spinning, or other handwork before bed.

I'll admit, I'm the kind of person who tends to fantasize about living in the woods and making my own jam, but especially when I'm pregnant, I'm pretty happy that I don't have to, say, boil all my laundry with water I carry from a creek, then beat it clean and wring it out by hand.

(Of course, it's also incredibly inefficient to live by yourself when you have this much work to do. I'm sure it all goes a lot faster in cultures or places where several households pool their chores somehow.)