Next calendar month , my female parent - in - law will have been gonefor two years now .

I miss her every daylight , but when the anniversary of her destruction roll around , I encounter myself remembering dissimilar thing she teach me and verify I do n’t lose the bit of sapience I gain from her .

She was the one who instruct mehow to homestead . Being raised short in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains , she had to know how to survive .

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As she get Old , she did n’t let her breeding splay away , though she thrive in liveliness and did n’t postulate the survival skills as much . She passed those skills and lesson on to me .

Lately , I ’ve been remembering two ‘ old wives ’ narrative ’ she quote regularly . One was duringcanningseason and one was forwinter .

I ’m going to share those narrative with you and explore whether they ’re only tale or if there ’s truth shroud in them .

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Here ’s a bit of wiseness from my female parent - in - law which will hopefully help you in your journey of homesteading :

Old Wives’ Tales #1:ThatTime of the Month Can Spoil Your Produce

If you hang around homestead forums for long , you ’ll see this interrogative kill - up frequently . It was once thought if a woman was hold her monthly cycle per second , she could curdle Milk River , get the meat to turn colors , pour down plants , killtomatoes on the vine , and even cause tomato to rape while fire .

My female parent - in - jurisprudence was a grownup truster in these honest-to-goodness wife ’ tales . I did n’t argue with her , but I find it hard to wind my mind around .

At this point in metre , most have found this to be nothing more than a tale , but there are a few interesting theory as to how it was created and a few good account as to why it is n’t true . Here ’s what you should know :

that time of the month old wives' tale

1. Created by Women for Women

In the times of our ancestors , women were thought of as trivial more than property and a way for men to have an heir to pass on his family name .

Not all men fell into this class , but the thought process was understandably much different than it is today . At least things lock quite differently in my household .

I may be the only female , but my husband and tiddler care for me with great respect and do n’t take my effort around our home and farm for yield .

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However , the woman before me may not have had the same respect . By order a woman was having her monthly cycle , it was her way of ‘ stick it to the man ’ when keep this tale going .

Instead of working out in the fields , butcher brute , uphold food , ormilking animals , she was able to have an entire home to herself for seven days every month .

She was told to detain aside from help outdoors and preparing meal . Consider how creative and level-headed this was on our ancestor ’ part .

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They got a week ’s vacation every month and no one batted an heart !

2. Sanitation is Different in Current Times

Though many people are under the impression woman created this tale , I ’m more inclined to think it started out of truth , but char start the torch for the continuation of this floor as times changed .

We all know if you cut your finger whencanning , horticulture , deal nub , or manage raw Milk River , the blood will cause whatever you ’ve touched to become insanitary and ultimately featherbed .

Blood is acarrier of food - borne bacteria . Therefore , when it comes in contact with food ( or if too much descent is left in meat ) it causes the food to spoil quicker than it would without pollution .

thunder in winter old wives' tale

I ’m go to endeavor to present this as delicately as I can , but in ancient times char did n’t have the hygiene products we have today .

Many did n’t wear the same undergarments we do today , and it could ’ve been quite easy for pedigree to have been spread throughout the garden while working or to have it distribute among the produce , raw Milk River , or meat by unclean hand .

They did n’t have the same sanitization practices as we do currently . Therefore , it may have been smart for women to stay away from these things initially .

Yet , as times progressed and sanitation meliorate , women most likely still stuck with this story either because it ’s what their mothers had told them , or they reckon they ’d get a well - merit respite once a calendar month .

3. Women Work in Factories

If these old wives ’ tales were true , cleaning lady who act in food saving factories would be postulate to take their cycle week off every month .

Since this does n’t occur ( we ’d all know if it did because women around the world would be line up to mould in these factories ) , we can take on our monthly cycles have no impact on food preservation .

My female parent - in - law was an extremely smart lady , but I ’m convinced these are nothing more than old married woman ’ tales , and we women are no longer go to get our breaks around the homestead once a month .

But dame , if your husband do n’t read this article , your arcanum is still good with me !

Old Wives’ Tales #2: What Thunder in Winter Means

My mother - in - police had another tale she told regularly during the winter months . Any time she heard smack in wintertime , she ’d say we ’d have snow within seven days .

Is there any trueness to this taradiddle ? Surprisingly , yes , there is !

When you hear skag , it lets you recognize there ’s something going on in the sky which is making the everlasting circumstance for a thunderstorm .

This happens when a cold front runs into a warm front and begins to push it out of the manner . If this stale front is immix with moisture , you ’ll get snow during the winter calendar month .

Though scientist are n’t convinced of the seven - day estimation , it ’s quite canny of our ancestors to take observation of these weather patterns and figure out what was going on above them without the scientific tool we have today .

Another interesting fact , based around old wife ’ tales , is if snow is currently fall , and you ’re hearing thunder or seeing flash bulb of lightning ( known as thundersnow),science provesyou’ll get a heavier snow .

Again , this has a great deal to do with mentally ill air and the amount of moisture in the sky .

It ’s fun to look at the account passed on to us from previous coevals . I like to understand their origin , recover out if they ’re still true today , and it fascinates me as well to see how intelligent our ascendent were .

They figured out a keen muckle of info without the fancy tools and equipment we have . Though my mother - in - law may have missed the fall guy on some things , I ’m incredibly thankful for the cognition she taste to give me , and I know I ’m a better person because of her .

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