Last year a friend and I had really wanted to start up our own scouting troop for girls. Something that incorporated a lot of nature studies, old school type badge earning activities and crafts that used all natural materials. I was a Camp Fire Girl when I grew up and I love the idea of a group of girls that works together. We were going to make the group cooperative rather than competitive as we had friends and family currently in Girl Scouts that were extremely cut-throat about who had more badges and it was just another opportunity for competition. Mothers were doing some of the activities for the girls so their daughter would have the most badges to wear across her chest. And a recent troop activity after selling more cookies than any one else in their district was to rent a limo to go to the Hannah Montana concert- or is it Mylie Cyrus? We were looking for something a little different. I should say I have a friend who is a co-leader in another state whose troop is entirely different. But I was living in Orange County- so limos and concerts were 'normal' for 7 year olds who 'beat' their competitors.
Our group was going to pick the berries and leaves to tie-dye their own self-designed shirts for their uniform, were going to be called something like The Nature Girls and work on a cooperative quilt- each sewing on one patch each time they completed a task- that at the finish of the quilt would be given away to someone who needed it. Our goal was harmony with nature, working towards a common goal, serving others and non attachment to material objects. We were going to do overnight camping trips once a season- as we were in Southern California nights in winter are usually in their 50's or 40's- so doable for an overnight. They were going to learn how to build fires, shelters and cook on those fires with local ingredients.
It was a lovely concept but the two of us were already extremely busy and knew we needed some additional adult help if we were to pull it off. We put out our feelers to the local community and in no time had together around 30 girls, and no parents. We dropped the idea and the two of us and our own children headed out for weekly hikes after school instead. But I still yearn for a group like this for my girls. I know it's unrealistic right now as we're not staying in one place long enough for this to happen...so I just want to put the idea out there for anyone else who might pick it up.
In our research for what we wanted to include we pulled up a lot of vintage scouting books for both boys and girls. Here are excerpts from my favorite- a vintage Camp Fire Girl's Handbook found at a thrift store.
From the Home Craft section:
*Cook meat in four ways: roast, broil, fricassee, boil.
*Cook left-over meats in four ways.
*Cook three common vegetable in three ways each.
*Make two kinds of soup with milk, and two with meat.
*Prepare eggs in four different ways
*Prepare four desserts: one gelatine, one boiled, one baked, and one frozen
*Prepare a gruel, a cereal, an eggnog, and milk toast and arrange an invalids' tray attractively. (OMG!- an invalid's tray!)
*Gather two quarts of wild berries or fruits and make them into a dessert.
*Can or preserve three different kinds of fruits, at least one quart of each kind.
*Use a fireless cooker successfully on cereals, meat and vegetables.
*Write out an appetizing balanced vegetarian diet for a week.
*Write out a menu for three weeks suitable for a school girl who is inclined to be too stout. (love this one!!)
*Write out a menu for three weeks suitable for a school girl who is inclined to be too thin.
*Make two pounds of butter a week for two months.
*Market for one week on one dollar and half per person, keeping accounts and records of menus.
*Know the way flour, sugar, rice, cereals, crackers, and breads are sold- packages, bulk, etc.- prices, dangerous and common adulterations (they couldn't have imagined the adulterations that were to come in the future.)
*Laundering: Do a family washing, using modern labor-saving devices if possible.
*Remove three common stains from washable material, two spots from non-washable material.
*Use two agents for softening water, two soaps for different uses, two kinds of starching methods, two methods of bluing and two household methods of bleaching. (I don't even know what bluing is!)
*Repack a faucet.
*Entertainment: sing weekly in chorus or glee club for not less then three months
*Play from memory five piano pieces of the difficulty of Schumann's 'Scenes from Childhood."
*Commit and recite five hundred lines of standard poetry.
*Know and tell five standard folk stories.
*Write and give a play
*Make six visits a month for three months to sick in homes, hospitals, or other institutions.
*Know and describe three kinds of baby cries and what they mean.
*Make a set of practical playthings for a child three years old.
*To sleep out of doors or with the windows completely open for at least one month.
*To refrain from chewing gum, candy, sundaes, sodas, and commercially manufactured beverages between meals for at least one month.
*To know what a girl of her age needs to know about herself- including knowledge of personal hygiene including the best use of hot and cold baths, care of the hands, cleanliness of the hair and its appropriate dressing, the encouragement of good teeth and a sweet breath. The girl should know the care of the eyes in respect to good light and occasional relaxation by glancing to a distance when reading or doing other close work. She should know the normal requirements of sleep and out of door exercise for her age, the suitable dress for cold or wet weather, the proper care of the feet and proper selection of footwear, especially for school, work, and tramping, simple preventives of constipation through regularity, exercise, and attractive laxative foods. She should know those intimate things which careful mothers tell their daughters about the personal life of women and something of the delightful results of a happy attitude to all about her.
Girls who complete 15 of these (this is a small sampling) receives her honor bead. It strikes me how much was asked of girls long ago for so small a reward. Over the years we've asked less and less and have offered larger and larger rewards. Now, I believe one visit to hospital at Christmas time will earn you a badge. The focus has definitely shifted dramatically from becoming proficient at a task to just doing it to get the badge. Schools have become the same and self care is usually learned in the context of vanity, rather than health. Our lives have become so easy allowing us to accomplish so much more, but many of us use that time to simply sit in front of a TV. I often imagine Ma Ingalls walking into my house and looking at the huge fridge, double oven, big sink with running water and a stove that lights by turning a knob and then look at what I'm preparing for dinner and saying, "Are you kidding me?" You don't have to gather wood, light the fire, kill the animal, pick the vegetables and this is what you're making?
So, for fun these days we've been picking things off of the list to do. We've slept with our windows open for over a year now and love how in winter my face is cold and my body warm under the covers upon waking. And the girls had the assignment of making dinner for eight with a $20 budget the other night. Their menu cracked me up as it was very midwestern in nature. We are not really a meat and potatoes kind of family but their menu was:
turkey meatloaf (needing two packs)
baked potatoes
2 artichokes for appetizer (they wanted it for the green veggie but was too costly)
green beans
sauteed mushrooms
strawberries and whip cream for dessert
Here in Arizona there is an unbelievable farmer's market shop that has rock bottom prices so this was possible. 2 packs of strawberries for $3. 2 packs of organic blackberries for $1. (!!) 3 cantaloupe for .99. It's nuts. They also did all the cooking. I let them use anything from the pantry so they did not need to buy butter, salt, seasoning, etc. I only assisted when asked and in the market would help with the math and letting them know how much money was left. A protein, a starch, and a green veggie were my only requirements. Their cousins were coming over for dinner and the 8 year old helped with the cooking and the 2 and 4 year old helped to snip the beans and stir the mushrooms. I was impressed with the whole lot of them and it also made me realize they can do a lot more than they have been. Their next task is going to be all the meals for the whole day for $10. Just for the three of us. That's actually a realistic amount for our daily budget. Although, it's not so easy to isolate one day since the key to budget cooking is to stretch foods- use the carcass from the roast chicken for soup in two days- the day in the middle is for stock making.
"In these tough times" (ehem- so tired of this phrase!) we could all learn a little something from old school scouting. Many mothers I know do not know how to do most of the things listed. Some of the tasks are truly outdated but others really are not and many women, I believe, would be much happier mothers if they knew how to do some of those things. I think it would bring more balance and peace to their lives as they would feel like more confident mothers. Much of this whole blogging world responds to these concepts. Looking around at many of the most popular mom blogs it is hard to not notice that many revolve around home making and crafting. It went so out of fashion for a few generations and the current generation of young mothers I think is craving its return. A recession could be a good thing. Having people fix a pair of pants rather than throw them away and buy a new pair will benefit everyone- except the big corporations, which not helping them, also helps the whole world. So it is an all around win/win.
