Shortly before I launched my blog, I came across a wonderful memoir called, Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish.  It was rated “one of the 10 best books of the year” by the New York Times Book Review in 2007.  

I love reading biographies and memoirs but I probably would not have read Little Heathens were it not for my blog.  This would have been my loss because Kalish is a terrific story teller.  And though it was not her intention, her book could be my official manual for learning how to live like my grandparents.  I often refer to it as inspiration for my Grandma Challenges.  However, there is one particular passage I find myself pondering on a regular basis.

In the chapter titled, Building Character: Oral Influences, Kalish describes various sayings which shaped the life of her family and childhood.  One saying she mentions is “She can throw out more in a teaspoon than he can bring in with a shovel.”  Kalish writes, “This insightful observation describes a wasteful wife - one, say, who didn’t wipe the inside of an eggshell with her forefinger to extract every last bit of the egg white, or one who made dusting clothes out of old cotton dresses and shirts instead of first salvaging the good parts to make dust capes, tea towels, or napkins.”

Although the saying may reflect a certain view of gender, I think it also illustrates a simple, yet profound, example of the difference between my modern mindset and that of my grandparents.  I use eggs all the time for cooking and baking and it has never once dawned on me to try to wipe out “every last bit of the egg white.”  When I crack an egg, I usually try to avoid touching the white or I try to maneuver it as quickly as possible so it does not drip all over the counter.  I am not sure if this is because I do not want to get messy or if somewhere along the line I was told that I could get sick if I touched the contents of a raw egg.

Either way, it makes me think about my impatience and inattention to certain details and how these patterns often lead to unnecessary waste.  I do not maximize most of the items in my home because it is inconvenient and slows me down.  I am of the mindset that it is easier to toss a mostly used item in the trash and buy a new one.  Apparently, I could learn a lot from the saying, “She can throw out more in a teaspoon than he can bring in with a shovel.”

A friend of mine told me she recently asked her 83-year old Grandma if she used to wipe out the inside of her eggs to which her grandma exclaimed, “I still do! Don’t you?”  I want to know how you would answer my friend’s grandma, and so it is time for another What Would Grandma Do? question.

Did your grandma (or grandpa) swipe the inside of eggs to “extract every last bit of the egg white?”  Do you?  My great grandma once showed me how she used egg whites for glue on her craft projects.  Did your grandparents have any interesting uses for eggs or egg whites?  Do you have any items that you regularly try to get maximum use out of?

As part of my two week break from blogging, I spent three days at a monastery called, St. Gregory’s Abbey in Three Rivers, Michigan.  There is almost no quieter place on earth than spending time in the company of monks.

It was just what I needed.

From the moment I arrived until the minute I left, I found myself pondering one thing - the fact that my life has grown too noisy (again).  I knew very little about the blogging world prior to starting my own and while this has been a deeply satisfying journey, it does not fit well into the other parts of my life.

And so it is with a true sense of sadness that I have decided to close down My Grandma Was Green. 

I have struggled with this decision because on the surface it seems my reason is as simple as my life has grown too busy and full.  And in the American culture where a full schedule is praised, personal busyness hardly seems a reason to step away from something.  However, I have discovered that busyness can be and often has been a source of disconnectedness and pain in my life.  Consequently, busyness hardly lends itself to creating a more sustainable and simple lifestyle.

I never took time to define the word sustainability while writing my blog but I think I have started to form a working definition for my own life.  I believe living sustainably means taking only that which I need to live a meaningful, generous and connected life. 

In order to do this I need to be diligent in learning how to distinguish between wants and needs - no small feat in a culture that is saturated with advertising aimed at turning every single thing into a need!  I realize my definition is somewhat ambiguous because the words meaningful, generous and connected can be defined in a variety of ways.  However, when I view sustainability in this context, it puts me on a path of wanting to take less and give more.  It breaks down the walls of my everyday, ordinary life and forces me to consider the well-being of others in each decision I make.

I seem to have a passion for “s” words such as simplicity and slowness.  I am now committed to moving forward in my journey with another “s” word to pursue - sustainability.  Each of these words is connected in so many ways but the tie that binds them together for me is relationships.  I believe I can pursue deeper and more meaningful relationships with self, God, my family, friends, neighbors, community and the world if I commit myself to simplicity, slowness and also sustainability. 

Therefore, I am going to persist with the changes I have made and I will continue to make more changes in the future.  Only now I will have to record my journey in the old-fashioned way - in the pages of my journal, through conversations with friends and family and in the quiet moments of my days.

I am not sure which part of this short journey has been the most important - recommitting myself to a slower pace, my growing awareness of important changes I need to make toward a more sustainable lifestyle, or reconnecting with my grandparents and my own history.  I guess each one is important in its own way.

If you are interested in learning from and connecting to your grandparents or any older person who is significant to you and/or learning about sustainability by looking to the past, I would encourage you to make use of the extensive questionnaire developed by Virginia Allee called, A Family History Questionnaire.  It proved to be an invaluable resource in asking my grandparents to share their story.  I trust you will find the same.

Thank you for all of your support in this endeavor.  I have learned a lot and will continue to be inspired by the stories I have read and by those individuals who are making great changes through the blogging world.

Goodbye for now,
April

Today is an anniversary of sorts for My Grandma Was Green.  I have been writing this blog for exactly three months and have managed to see my way through twelve Grandma Challenges. 

It is time for me to pause.

The chair in the picture is my favorite reading chair.  It is tucked into a corner in my living room next to a table with a lamp.  I love to sit in this chair at night when the house is quiet and my kids are in bed.  It is a precious moment of the day when I can read, reflect and rest.

I have not been able to sit in my favorite chair nearly as much since starting My Grandma Was Green.  I am okay with that since I knew this would be a season of action.  However, I do feel the need to take a little break in order to rest, regroup and reflect on what I have learned so far.

Stay tuned for for my next post on Tuesday, October 7.  I will share some of my reflections and return with a new set of Grandma Challenges as well as some updates on the ones I have already implemented. 

In the meantime, please continue to collect your best “grandma” stories and dig around in the archives if you are new to my site.  Although I am taking a little break, feel free to leave a comment or drop me a note at april@mygrandmwasgreen.com  I will still check my site and take time to respond to your comments and stories!