A really cool farm series from the BBC: The Wartime Farm!

**Terri** · #1 10/03/12, 05:46 AM

Before WW2, Great Britain imported 2/3 of her food. So. of course the Germans put up a blockade to prevent them from doing so. Therefore, rationing was imposed and the farmers were ordered to DOUBLE the amount of food they produced.

Here is a historic re-creation of those times:

bluegg · #2 10/03/12, 06:31 AM

Thanks! I hope it stays up for a while until I can see them all.

Jennifer L. · #3 10/03/12, 09:45 AM

Very interesting! Thanks, Terri!

Ruth looks VERY like my 1st through 3rd grade teacher.

I am amazed that those older women in the Women's Institute scene that NONE of them had done home canning. Is that more of a North American thing?

FarmboyBill · #4 10/03/12, 12:09 PM

Considering clothes washers wernt prevaliant on farms till 60, as they said, I imagine they canned with crocks late in time.

**Terri** · #5 10/03/12, 12:09 PM

Well, one had said that she had bottled fruit before. I suspect that they were all talking about not having used metal cans! Though, only the one woman spoke of having bottled fruit.

I had one show posted twice and I had left show number 4 left off: I have fixed that now!

HOTW · #6 10/03/12, 04:18 PM

My Mum was raised inthe UK an deven having a washing machine was not common. My Nana got her first wringer washer in 1961, before that all clothes were washed by hand on a scrubbing board! My GDad worked for the Gov't during the War building and whenever his guys had to go out he would give them money to buy veggies, fruit anything under the cuff so the families of the guys he worked with would have decent food, They woould have gone to prison if they had been caught with unsubstantiated rations!! Scary eh? My Mum can remember the War even though it was over when she was almost 4. After the War the rationing got even more stringent when she went away to school in 1952 she took her ration cards! I will ask ehr to write down what they were allowed each week

FarmboyBill · #7 10/03/12, 04:28 PM

Why was rationing worse AFTER the war??

Kazahleenah · #8 10/03/12, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

Why was rationing worse AFTER the war??

I'm guessing because of bombing destroying crops/railways etc. I imagine Britan also wanted to keep their farmer's food production in a forward motion.

**Terri** · #9 10/03/12, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

Why was rationing worse AFTER the war??

Because after the war was won, the dockworkers and many others in vital industries went on strike! They were able to keep on going for as long as they did because they were under threat of invasion, but, after the threat was over all of the stored up resentments apparently came into play.

Also because the various nation they could import from were half-starved and trying to re-build their own agriculture. Remember, even the USA had to ration food for a while, and we were better off in that department than almost anybody. So, there was the problem of who were they going to import food FROM?

mekasmom · #10 10/03/12, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terri

Well, one had said that she had bottled fruit before. I suspect that they were all talking about not having used metal cans! Though, only the one woman spoke of having bottled fruit.

They literally meant home canning in metal cans. Bottling is similar to what we call home canning in the US.

FarmboyBill · #11 10/03/12, 08:21 PM

Lehmans sells a metal can sealer.

HOTW · #12 10/03/12, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

Why was rationing worse AFTER the war??

I'll ask my Mum and get back on this question

Callieslamb · #13 10/03/12, 09:32 PM

I watched a different eposide than listed. I loved it. I have to wonder why if England as importing 2/3 of their food and it caused trouble for them. How much are they importing today and what did they learn? And then I wonder what we are not learning today. The episode I watched dealt with refugees being sent to the farms for their safety. That would be very difficult to be assigned so many people to come to your home to live and you had to find a way to accomodate them. City people didn't have any idea how to live in the country, even then. Such a difficult adjustment for everyone. How they made Christmas decorations and gifts and a Murkey (mock turkey) for Thanksgiving per the govt's directions. It seems the govt had lot of ideas on how to get by with less. I wonder how helpful our govt would be today in the same situation.

EDDIE BUCK · #14 10/04/12, 01:08 AM

Thanks Terri,I love these kind of videos. A really cool farm series from the BBC: The Wartime Farm! - Homesteading Questions

I_don't_know · #15 10/04/12, 06:28 AM

I am now on # 4. If I could get BBC on the TV on the dish I might even consider getting dish. Nothing worth watching as it is now.
Thank you it is a GREAT series.

hippygirl · #16 10/04/12, 10:58 AM

After watching #4, I was a bit shocked that one could lose part/all of their farm if the WarAg inspector graded their productivity/use of land at grade C or lower.

While I understand GB's plight during WW2, I have to wonder how that would fly over here, then OR now?

FarmboyBill · #17 10/04/12, 02:12 PM

They said that in #1. Sad bout the guy who wouldnt give it up till they shot him. Why, Do these guys lose the farm??

Jennifer L. · #18 10/04/12, 04:40 PM

One thing that is very sad about the whole "grow grain and nothing else" idea was that so many heritage breed livestock varieties were lost. And what makes me angry about that is, they said bread was never rationed. Well, obviously they had so much grain that they didn't need to do in all of the livestock! Of course, I know this is in hindsight and they were facing a bad situation, but I still feel bad that the livestock were lost. I can't imagine what the farmers felt like to lose their animals that way.

Wayne02 · #19 10/04/12, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hippygirl

While I understand GB's plight during WW2, I have to wonder how that would fly over here, then OR now?

It would be a non-starter I would suspect.

FarmboyBill · #20 10/04/12, 07:08 PM

IF the dummies had HAD husker shredders back then, which they didnt as there farming was back yet in the 1800s by 1940, they could have gown corn and sold it to the government to make ethanol out of, then put up the shredded corn stralks to have parially fed their cows. Then, had they the small 5 hole walk behind grain drills and one horse, they could have planted wheat in the corn in the mid summer, which I understand makes no difference as to rain, whether its summer or not, and after the corn had come out, they would have had a stand of winter wheat for next years grain allotment, and planted corn next year in a different field.
It seemed like they went to lengths to make things harder. A 2 bottom walk behind plow being pulled by a tractor. A beet harvester that was pulled by a beet cutter. 2 different machines to do a job, and barely moveing, as the back one was walk behind.

The cows they show are insainly big bagged. I felt sorry for them. They hadnt been hand milked in years.
The boys went and hauled beet topings and put them in a pile to partially dry? while they built a (silo) to put it in. The cows got out and ate it. 1 trailer load. Bet those cows could rap through a keyhole at 30ft for most a week lol. Maybe thats why the much the COs were scooping was so soft and wet and mushy lol.
I dont know why they didnt go heavy on the chickens. Yes they ate grain, BUT, they ate alot of outside stuff also, AND Every VET knows that his scrambled eggs has been made from dyhidrated eggs from WW 1 up till now. AND, the feathers could be chopped and made into those mattresses and covers for the displaced.