home, root cellars were the chosen, and indeed the only, way to preserve produce outside of the relatively short harvest season. Up until the 1950s when the refrigerator became a ubiquitous feature in every U.S. ![]() You can imagine someone, thousands of years ago, digging a hole and feeling the temperature of the earth, and putting two and two together. Put your hand on the wall, feel its coolness, and you immediately understand why they were invented. Step into an old root cellar, even one that stands empty and abandoned, and you can sense the power and integrity of the space. One such technology is the root cellar-that solid, grounded space where generations past preserved their food through the long winter months. Not for nostalgia’s sake, but for the wisdom and practicality behind it. There are times, though, when the technology or tool we are in danger of losing, is one that we ought to save. After all, evolution and innovation are often positive processes-if we come up with a tool that does the job better, we ought to use it. ![]() In some cases, the things we lose become obsolete or no longer make sense for our needs and our culture. Butter churns, horse-drawn wagons, stone foundations and cast iron cook stoves faded first from use, then gradually from memory. ![]() By Anne Dailey & photography by Jennifer MayĪs we evolve as a society, various tools and technologies disappear from our daily lives, rendered obsolete by modern innovation.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |