About a year ago (in the context of ice storm coming-having to cut some tree limbs to lessen the risk of losing power), I lamented that the "cowgirl" model for modern womanhood seemed to have kind of got swept under the carpet, that you don't see it being promoted the way the "celebutante" model or the "fruit-cup girl" models are.

Well, I've found at least one book trying to combat that.

It's called "The Prairie Girl's Guide To Life." Jennifer Worick is the author. I bought it on a whim with my last Powell's order - it was on a good sale and it sounded kind of fun.

It is fun. It's one of those little how-to books that hints at different things that can be done, gives the basics, and then lets you take off. (It's kind of like "The Daring Book for Girls" - which I also have - but with a more "Laura Ingalls Wilder" inspired focus).

See, the Prairie Girl, according to this book is feminine - she can appreciate things like rosewater, and can do embroidery if she wants to, and even knows how to court (and those are all things the book describes. Yes, it even gives a very thin outline of "how to court."). But she also can pan for gold, saddle and groom a horse, predict the weather, and put her hair up in braids (because braids are practical if you have long hair).

It's a fun book. As I went through it I kind of classified the tutorials into different categories:

stuff I already know how to do:
knit a shawl (there are instructions for a very simple garter stitch shawl)
piece quilt blocks
make applesauce
embroider pillowcases

Stuff that sounds like fun, if I had time:
learning to spin
making homemade lemon verbena or rosewater lotion
learning to predict the weather from watching the sky (I can kinda sorta do that now, but I'm not perfect.)
square dancing
making popcorn balls and rock candy
making soap (yes, it's also a survival skill, but it sounds kind of fun. Applied chemistry and all that.)

Stuff I have not done, but could, were my survival to hinge upon it:
laying a fire
making soap from oil and lye
saddling and grooming a horse
making candles
pasteurizing milk
smoking meat
roasting a turkey (never have done it, but I could).

Stuff I know how to do, but would rather not have to:
take a sponge bath (most recently during the hot water outage)
milk a cow (yes, I know how to do it.)
making a lattice pie crust (nothing against pies but it's just a bit more fiddly than I care to do)
ice fish

Stuff that made me go "???"
lacing a corset (the various subcultures of American dress being what they are, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. But as for me? I'd rather either take up Pilates or invest in a good set of "Spanx.")

making boiled coffee (I don't like coffee but even among the people I know who do, it seems like "boiled" is the option you go with when the choices are "boiled coffee or no coffee," such as when camping. I realize it's a historical thing and all that. [They also make no mention of putting egg or eggshell in the coffee to "mellow" it, which was an oldtimey trick]).

how to court (not so much that I think it's odd that's in the book, it's just that what the author talks about is really no secret - even someone as socially inept as I can and does do what she suggests. And no, the outcome ["He'll be yours by the time the ice cream social rolls around"] is not nearly as assured as the author suggests.)


Of course, it's entirely possible (seeing as the author also wrote one of the "Worst-Case Scenario" books) that the advice is all totally tongue-in-cheek (that last bit about "courting" makes me wonder a little) and it's really a big joke, that we're not meant to look at the skills promoted in the book as worthwhile or something to be respected. That all the urbanites who read this book are snickering over the idea that someone might actually WANT to make stew with cornbread in it or make their own lemon verbena cologne.

But I'd like to think that the book IS for real. I like the idea of celebrating the little useful skills of life - things that go beyond us being consumers, beyond people who pull out our cell phones and call for help at the smallest inconvenience. We need to be capable people. Even if you never need to actually MAKE a fire, or saddle up a horse, or pasteurize milk, there's something reassuring (to me at least) about knowing how to do it.