History: The Way We Did Recycling
Posted: Friday, September 27, 2013 by Paul Milan, Historical Society - for the (*former) Beacon paper
While attending a function I tossed a plastic water bottle into a regular trashcan. A lady retrieved it and said, “This bottle needs to go into a recycling bin for plastic bottles; aren’t you aware of ‘going green’?”
Unfortunately I really hadn’t kept up with all the details about going “green.”
After her free lesson on the whole concept of recycling I remembered how I grew up, which led to my ignorant behavior.
The first eight years of my life was a home attached to my family’s grocery store in Gallup. Groceries were packed in paper bags or cardboard boxes. The paper bags were used to cover books and the boxes were used to store things as well as used for suitcases when we traveled. Milk and coke [Coca-Cola] bottles were returned to the store for a few cents and were reused by the bottlers. We were given a penny for the milk bottle caps at the store, my mother would scream when she found the bottle caps missing from the unused milk bottle. There were no lawns to water and the hot water heater was part of the cooking stove.
We had no heat or cooling system to waste electricity. All unused newspapers were used to ignite the fire and the few magazines were passed around and some saved to take to my grandfather’s home in San Rafael to wrap apples to store in the basement for the winter. This was during World War II so all metal was hauled to the schools to be picked up for the war effort; we would seek aluminum foil and wrap pieces into a ball for the war metal collection. Clothes were handed down within the family members and all holes were patched, socks were darned, shirts, and dresses were tailored.
The local lumberyard gave us scrap lumber to make toys.
We were even more conservative when we moved to the Milan Ranch in 1942. We had no electricity to waste; a windmill provided the water, so we were dependent on wind power. The only heat that we had was provided by solar power, which was very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. The only utility bill was for kerosene for the lamps, wood was acquired from the trees on the ranch. A kettle on the stove provided hot water.
My father who had a five o’clock shadow by three o’clock shaved religiously every day even at the sheep camp. One should try to shave now with a cup of hot water every day. The cow provided milk and since we had no refrigerator the excess milk was churned into butter and used to make pastry. Sugar was rationed; friends and relatives would bring sugar to my mother in exchange for the many types of homemade candy she created.
All scraps were fed to the hogs and their waste was used for the victory garden, which provided a variety of vegetables for canning.
My father grew up in a Meat Market so we had a “matanza” every year only it was not the traditional “matanza” festival with beer and music.
He would butcher three to four hogs at a time; nothing was wasted. He smoked hams, rendered lard, made “chicharones”, bacon, “chorizos” (sausage), blood and brains, which was fried and eaten with eggs, and the intestines, which were used for the sausage and the rest fashioned into a braid (borinnates) fried with chile and eaten immediately.
Nothing was wasted. The sausages were stored in lard. Friends would bring rationed cigarettes as a gift. When they got ready to leave my father would offer them a ham or bacon, it was a barter system without talking about it.
During the hunting season hunters would bring their kill for him to dress and they would give him a portion.
I never developed a taste for wild meat after eating the variety of meat (beef, lamb, pork, and chickens) at our house. Extra lard was made into soap.
The cans for a few of the canned goods were used to store nails, screws, bolts, washers, and other items as well as smashed and nailed to the holes of floors and walls of the farm buildings. Jars were used to can everything that was grown, which included meat, fruit, and vegetables. Our pantry was like a Seven-Eleven. Since it was wartime most everything was used for the war effort and there were stories about people starving in other countries. Therefore there was an effort to store as much as possible. My father calculated that we had a two-year supply of food in the pantry. We used a large amount of flour for bread, tortillas, and pastry. The flour sacks were used to make bed sheets, shirts, and even underwear. Clothes were washed by hand, hung out to dry, and ironed by heating the ironer on the stove. In the winter the clothes were taken to relatives in San Rafael that had electricity and they would let my mother wash them there. It was a great excuse to visit and gossip. We had two pairs of pants and a pair for Sunday with three shirts, socks and underwear, which were inspected every night to determine if we could use them another day.
Christmas shopping was done by ordering from the Sears and Montgomery Ward Catalogue. The used catalogues were taken to the outhouse and dispensed a sheet at a time. Evidently this new quality of life that makes everything easier is causing more problems and concern for the future of this planet than the old-fashioned way of life.
Happy recycling!
Editor’s Note: Paul Milan contributes to the Beacon’s history column and is a longtime resident of Cibola County. Milan’s father, Salvador Milan, was the Village of Milan’s first mayor.
Posted: Friday, September 27, 2013 by Paul Milan, Historical Society - for the (*former) Beacon paper
While attending a function I tossed a plastic water bottle into a regular trashcan. A lady retrieved it and said, “This bottle needs to go into a recycling bin for plastic bottles; aren’t you aware of ‘going green’?”
Unfortunately I really hadn’t kept up with all the details about going “green.”
After her free lesson on the whole concept of recycling I remembered how I grew up, which led to my ignorant behavior.
The first eight years of my life was a home attached to my family’s grocery store in Gallup. Groceries were packed in paper bags or cardboard boxes. The paper bags were used to cover books and the boxes were used to store things as well as used for suitcases when we traveled. Milk and coke [Coca-Cola] bottles were returned to the store for a few cents and were reused by the bottlers. We were given a penny for the milk bottle caps at the store, my mother would scream when she found the bottle caps missing from the unused milk bottle. There were no lawns to water and the hot water heater was part of the cooking stove.
We had no heat or cooling system to waste electricity. All unused newspapers were used to ignite the fire and the few magazines were passed around and some saved to take to my grandfather’s home in San Rafael to wrap apples to store in the basement for the winter. This was during World War II so all metal was hauled to the schools to be picked up for the war effort; we would seek aluminum foil and wrap pieces into a ball for the war metal collection. Clothes were handed down within the family members and all holes were patched, socks were darned, shirts, and dresses were tailored.
The local lumberyard gave us scrap lumber to make toys.
We were even more conservative when we moved to the Milan Ranch in 1942. We had no electricity to waste; a windmill provided the water, so we were dependent on wind power. The only heat that we had was provided by solar power, which was very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. The only utility bill was for kerosene for the lamps, wood was acquired from the trees on the ranch. A kettle on the stove provided hot water.
My father who had a five o’clock shadow by three o’clock shaved religiously every day even at the sheep camp. One should try to shave now with a cup of hot water every day. The cow provided milk and since we had no refrigerator the excess milk was churned into butter and used to make pastry. Sugar was rationed; friends and relatives would bring sugar to my mother in exchange for the many types of homemade candy she created.
All scraps were fed to the hogs and their waste was used for the victory garden, which provided a variety of vegetables for canning.
My father grew up in a Meat Market so we had a “matanza” every year only it was not the traditional “matanza” festival with beer and music.
He would butcher three to four hogs at a time; nothing was wasted. He smoked hams, rendered lard, made “chicharones”, bacon, “chorizos” (sausage), blood and brains, which was fried and eaten with eggs, and the intestines, which were used for the sausage and the rest fashioned into a braid (borinnates) fried with chile and eaten immediately.
Nothing was wasted. The sausages were stored in lard. Friends would bring rationed cigarettes as a gift. When they got ready to leave my father would offer them a ham or bacon, it was a barter system without talking about it.
During the hunting season hunters would bring their kill for him to dress and they would give him a portion.
I never developed a taste for wild meat after eating the variety of meat (beef, lamb, pork, and chickens) at our house. Extra lard was made into soap.
The cans for a few of the canned goods were used to store nails, screws, bolts, washers, and other items as well as smashed and nailed to the holes of floors and walls of the farm buildings. Jars were used to can everything that was grown, which included meat, fruit, and vegetables. Our pantry was like a Seven-Eleven. Since it was wartime most everything was used for the war effort and there were stories about people starving in other countries. Therefore there was an effort to store as much as possible. My father calculated that we had a two-year supply of food in the pantry. We used a large amount of flour for bread, tortillas, and pastry. The flour sacks were used to make bed sheets, shirts, and even underwear. Clothes were washed by hand, hung out to dry, and ironed by heating the ironer on the stove. In the winter the clothes were taken to relatives in San Rafael that had electricity and they would let my mother wash them there. It was a great excuse to visit and gossip. We had two pairs of pants and a pair for Sunday with three shirts, socks and underwear, which were inspected every night to determine if we could use them another day.
Christmas shopping was done by ordering from the Sears and Montgomery Ward Catalogue. The used catalogues were taken to the outhouse and dispensed a sheet at a time. Evidently this new quality of life that makes everything easier is causing more problems and concern for the future of this planet than the old-fashioned way of life.
Happy recycling!
Editor’s Note: Paul Milan contributes to the Beacon’s history column and is a longtime resident of Cibola County. Milan’s father, Salvador Milan, was the Village of Milan’s first mayor.
