If you had to grow your food or make your clothes, which would you choose?

i’m going to have to go with my ancestral roots and say grow my own food. the story goes like this.

when my parents first came to america from the “campania” region of italy, they settled in a home owned by a woman that was affectionately known in the neighborhood as “Zi Bette” or “Aunty Bette” (“Bette” being short for the more formal “Elizabeth”). well, Zi Bette’s story was a good one. a hard one, but a good one. having landed here in america with her husband “Nicola” (aka “Nicholas”) after a long, seemingly-endless, and, at the time, dangerously uncertain boat ride from the “Puglia” region of italy, Zi Bette’s husband found work in a nearby quarry. well, while her hubby “nicola” worked hard at the quarry, Zi Bette independently concerned herself with the daily grind of running her household like a flawless stop-watch and meticulously tending to the promising, raw land outside. this included attending to “boarders” that she took in out of pity, keeping the house always mirror-like and spotlessly clean for Nicola, of course; and, all the while, ’tilling with primitive but functional tools the precious soil that comprised her land and that which ended up being a gateway to a self-reliant prosperity here in america- similar to the familiar one she left behind. in fact, it was precisely this dedication to the land, her land, that helped her and hers successfully weather and survive the American economic depression of the early 20th century.

it was during this hard economic and spiritually demoralizing era that the ever-strong Zi Bette kept her boarders satisfied, kept her community- neighbors and neighbors’ children- afloat and always nourished, clean and well-fed and that kept her in full legal control and posession of her three or four homes that she and nicola purchased “out-right” with money sacrificed prior to the united states’ depression era of the 1930s. there’s no doubt that Zi Bette’s spirit and hands were full of authenticity, non-discriminating care and hard like the land. a good lesson to learn, even for today. 

well, you may ask, what did happen to Zi Bette?? well she died with all her faculties intact at a full, spirited 100 years of age. always sleeping with a wooden, authentically american-made baseball bat- a true kentucky slugger- by her side and always within reach. a senile, paranoid depression to some. yet, for others, a symbol of protection and control in an un-protected and, at the time, uncertain time of life.

how did she die, you might wonder?? well, she died peacefully in her sleep. a death without artifice. a characteristic that even God long recognized in Zi Bette and, as you can see, one which he maintained even up until her physical end.

although now gone many years, her courageous and bold spirit of hard work and dedication, especially dedication to her land,the land, still lives on in our family memories.

we love you Zi Bette!!! cheers to a personal parable of sheer, raw strength that comes from a long life of tilling and understanding the land, growing your own food and food for others- and to the great, raw know-how learned from it, love.

rip forever, our true friend. xoxo 

Hi Adam, Hi everyone 🙂 I would LOVE to have a piece of earth in which to  grow a garden. Oh goodness*,  nothing like fresh lettuce, tomatoes, corn, and fruits and more oh YUM 🙂

You can always wrap a sheet around you with a safety pin 🙂 I’ll take the growing anyday! Take care all~ Lee

Hi Adam,

It would have to be growing my food.  I can’t sew. So, when all my clothes wear out I guess I will have to find a fig leaf.

I would grow my own food. This way I could make my clothes……..like a corn husk dress or a pepper bra and a wheat skirt. LOL

I can sew and enjoy gardening so I would sew my oats! 

i would choose “grow my own food’;  i can live without clothes, but need food to survive! although i would be naked then everyday!!! :smileytongue:

Food is a greater necessity over clothes, so I would choose food. In fact, I do grow tomatoes, cucumbers and get corn that is grown at my parents home. Dad grows it all, fruits on vines, pears and apple trees, lettuce in summer and fall, watermelon, cabbage, peppers, onions, potates and on and on I could go.

It is satisfing to know the seed sown by your hands and nutured by yours and God’s means, grows and gives fruitful labor to provide nourishment to not only your family, neighbors, church members, and even strangers at times.

My Dad is very giving and he loves to call up people and have them come and gather up supper for their families.

I have enough clothes, so this is why I choose food.

I spent nine years of my life growing up on a farm so I have actually done both! Given a chance I would happily do both again. Not to mention that you can use things you grow to dye cloth. And you can also incorporate things you’ve grown into sewing crafts. 

Side note: My paternal grandmother always had a garden, even in the city. She had a hand plow that she used to furrow the ground. I loved helping her in her garden. She allowed me to plant such things as lemon drops, peppermints, and marshmellows to humor my desire for plants that would bear such treats. 

Come harvest you would find many women in our family gathered on the porch, in the kitchen, or around a picnic table prepping fruits and vegetables for canning. 

We may have been poor but we were never hungry! 

Grow my food

Definitely grow my own food!!! It took me a whole semester to make one blouse in High School. I’m not a fan of sewing  so I would be nude if I had to make my clothes. :womanembarrassed:

Grow my own food ! I love to garden I grow basil and herbs and tomatoes!

I grow a bountiful garden every year.  There is no place on the planet that grows better tasting tomatoes and sweet corn than the State of Michigan!  However, I don’t care for canning so my fresh foods are seasonal.  I know how to sew and like to sew but sewing takes a lot of time that I don’t have enough of in order to sew an entire wardrobe.  So I guess I flunk on both points!

I would choose to grow my food, you have to eat in order to survive. I would be the modern day Adam and Eve wearing leaves for clothes. lol

I would grow my own food and trade with the seamstress for clothing.

I would grow my own food, if I had to make my own clothes I would be wearing shapeless bags as clothing for the rest of my life because that is as far as my sewing skills extend.