WE LOVE OUR NANS

When we were both young, we were heavily influenced by our grandparents, especially our grandmothers. We spent a fair amount of time with them, learning of ways of yesteryear and the methods that they used for simple everyday tasks. These ladies showed us how to live without the intervention of modern technology, quick fixes and they had a clear skill set that that the current generation seems to be forgetting.  

By today's standards, their lives were hard.  Washing garments by hand instead of throwing clothes into the washing machine, preparing a wholesome meal from raw ingredients and not phoning for a pizza take away.  

Our nans would ne’er waste a thing, no food would ever go into the bin - they simply had too many mouths to feed, scraps of food would always be given to the chickens or the compost heap instead of heading to the landfill.  Old clothes would be darned, patched up, repaired, handed down to the next generation before being finally turned into dusters or a rag rug.  The generation of old were the ultimate recyclers long before governments pushed us to recycle and made it fashionable.  

In essence, our grandparents planted the seeds of our lifestyle long before we had considered living an ecological, simpler and pre-1900 lifestyle! We want to take the lessons that our elders taught us and put them into practice.

As Confucius once said, “Study the past if you would define the future".