The Stubborn CROP
It’s easy to romanticize rural life 200 years ago. Old lithographs show bucolic farm scenes of horse-drawn plows, blacksmiths at the forge and women running spinning wheels. In reality, it was a time when literally every aspect of life demanded inordinate and nearly relentless amounts of labor.
Things we take for granted today – say, clothing or bedsheets – were rarely purchased. Although modern consumers are enticed by the word homespun, that word once described the cloth of daily life. And until the late 1800s, much of that cloth was linen, produced from farm-grown flax, in a complicated, lengthy and labor-intensive process.
