Thanks! My grandparents on the Duck side farmed - raised 3 children during the depression. Gpa did it all - cured hams and bacon, pressed and fermented his own ciders, saved and shelled out black walnuts and made their own soap. He paid for a rick of split and seasoned hickory wood every year. He smoked meat with it in the Fall, then collected and saved the hickory ash to leach the caustic out of it to make the next year's batch of soap. In the Fall right after hog slaughter and rendering, soap was made. Cider was usually about ready then, so we got a first taste of that then also. >Man, the shit I didn't appreciate as a kid because I did not understand the deeper purpose. Same. As a kid I kind of knew that the parts were interrelated, but didn't understand exactly how/why until much later. Now that info is two generations gone and all I can do is try to pick up and implement the parts I can. My advice to ALL YOU FAGGOTS: Talk to your parents and grandparents as much as you can now about their roots, memories and traditions, because while you may not have the time to do so now it will be impossible to do so when they're gone. I was a VERY inquisitive child and have an excellent memory for details, but even then you just can't be aware of everything a-priori. It takes prompting to ferret some of that shit out - hence the need for more conversation. And this is a time of increased electronic and decreased interpersonal communication - a double whammy...