A LETTER TO MY BFFL

Hey Paula,

What kind of peas do you serve with that okra gumbo - black-eyed, or green? I've been reading so many great blogs lately about people who are trying to lead a simpler, more hands-on, crafty and frugal life - finally realizing that buy, buy, buy doesn't really make you happy. They are trying to grow a few vegetables, or buying from someone local who does, keeping a few chickens, learning to knit or sew, hanging clothes on the line to save energy, etc. So much of it reminds me of stories you have told about your grandmother. In fact, somewhere just the other day I was reading about making tomato chutney or chow-chow, and serving it over black-eyed or purple hull peas, and it hit me - "That's exactly what Paula always served us when she made one of her granny's down-home style meals! So many people are talking about the financial crisis and peak oil and global warming and we're all doomed, yada, yada, yada, but these simple-green-frugal folks are saying "Just use some common sense people!" I can't tell you how many times I've come across someone saying how much they were inspired by reading the "Little House on the Prairie Books" as a child, and I'm thinking maybe that's what's wrong with my family - no one ever read those books, and if any ancestors ever actually lived a simple, self-sufficient life, it's so far back that no one remembers it. So I'm going to stop in at the bookstore this weekend, and see if I can't pick up the whole set. I'm going to start at the beginning and work my way through them, see if I can't learn something!

Love,
Becky

P.S. Many thanks to calangil for the "Little House" image.