For the past few months, I’ve found myself asking the same question over and over:
Why does modern life often feel so hard?
Not just expensive. Hard. We have grocery stores on every corner. Delivery apps. More gadgets than any generation before us. And yet somehow, many of us still feel like we’re constantly planning meals, losing stuff, re-buying the things we lost, cleaning up messes, and wondering what the heck is going on.
So I’ve been thinking about the way people used to do things. (I’ve always been a history nerd.)
Not because I believe the past was better.
And certainly not because I want to romanticize hardship.
But because I keep wondering if we may have thrown away some genuinely useful ideas along the way.
This summer, I want to find out.
My Vintage Summer Experiment
I’m planning a summer series of real-world experiments here at Maker Farm where I test some old-fashioned approaches to home life, storage, food, and cooking to see what actually holds up today.
Questions like:
- Were there better methods for storing things?
- Does buying in bulk save money, or does it mostly lead to waste?
- Is it better to line dry your clothing, or is that just inefficient?
- Is growing your own vegetables worth the time and effort?
- Is canning food to eat later doable, or too much work?
- Are chickens actually a smart way to get eggs, and how difficult is it really?
- Do old kitchen workflows make cooking easier?
- Should we make our own clothes, or just buy what we need?
- Was it better to fix and mend, or is it just not worth it anymore?
- Were there ways to clean things that actually worked better than what we do now?
- Which traditional habits genuinely reduce stress, and which ones only sound good in theory?
I’m not interested in nostalgia for the sake of it.
I’m interested in results.
I want to know what actually makes life easier, what saves money, what reduces waste, and what is worth keeping in a modern home.
So I’ll actually be TRYING these things this summer so I can evaluate them. And then sharing the completely-honest results — good or bad or disastrous — with you. No sugar coating the truth.
And I’d love your help.
If you could pick ONE thing you’ve always wondered about – one old-fashioned skill, habit, system, or practice you’ve heard people recommend but never knew whether it was truly worth it – what would it be?
Let me know in the box below.
My Little Vintage Corner
I’m setting up a corner here at my studio to work on my summer experiment and also to share what I learn with you. I’ll still share shots around the farm and studio proper, of course, but this gives me a dedicated spot to chat and share results with you. I got lucky on Facebook Marketplace with a few old cast-offs that I re-homed here to help me test my ideas, like an old cast iron sink with a built-in drainboard (right), an old porcelain-topped table (center), and an old kitchen cabinet with pull-out top (left) — all of which have interesting features I will use. I’d date each one to approximately 90-110 years old. This in itself is an example of mending, rather than buying new, because I had to fix up each one a bit, but it was worth it because they are all good things that do not belong in a landfill.
Here is a shot of what I have in my corner so far, and I’m sure it’ll change as I use it, but even right now I’d love to spend time here. Can you imagine sitting down to some tea and fresh-picked fruit with me at that cute little table?
My Current Traditional Skill In-Progress
An “old-fashioned skill” I’ve been working on a lot on lately is home cooking from scratch, as feeding ourselves is the one thing that happens multiple times a day, so you’ll see me talk about that a lot.
I’ve been cooking a lot and sharing my recipes as I go along. In the past few weeks, I’ve shared TEN new recipes — all super easy, all delicious, and all using basic ingredients and cooking tools most of us have already at home and in our pantries.
Here are my latest recipes:
I hope you’ll try making one.
Perhaps you’ll even consider experimenting along with me? You don’t have to to try ALL the things I try, but pick one that interests you — like more scratch cooking — and give it a try and then report back YOUR findings. You can even let me know here in the comments what you plan to experiment with, as I’d love to know what you’re doing alongside me.
Love,
Jennifer
Meet Jennifer
Jennifer cooks and experiments in the kitchen at Maker Farm, where she focuses on simple pantry cooking, homemade staples, and practical recipes that make everyday meals easier. Over the years she has tested many ways to make cooking simpler and more dependable, and shares the methods that work best in her own kitchen, occasionally showing them on her Heart to Home at Maker Farm vlog.
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