a friend of mine was reading a book and came across a term she had never heard before. Immediately upon reading the term she recognized it to be "her", even before learning the meaning of the term. This was in a book that took place in the Appalachians [sharyn mccrumbs ,'the songcatcher']. The term is "Cosmic Possums", and it refers to the people whose parents were the first generation who left the mountain (or the farm, or the woods, etc.) and who went on to college and professions in the city.

But these children had been exposed to the old ways, had seen their grandparents do canning, soap making, all the various ways of being self-sufficient.

So these people might use cell phones and laptops, but could still tell you how to make Poke Salad. And in this story child came home to the mountain to live and make use of this old knowledge to make a life!

gee, sounds familliar doesn't it? with weather changes, new equipment, new veggies available, new farm animals, new ideas of what makes a comfortable home [insulation! ;) ], it is no wonder that we need to find other 'like minded' folks to ask questions of to see how they have done it & if they have ever even seen it done succesfully before!

-- bj pepper ,in central MS. (pepper.pepper@excite.com), April 26, 2002

Answers

Egg-zactly.

-- B. Lackie - Zone3 (cwrench@hotmail.com), April 26, 2002.

:) !!!!!

-- Cindy (ilovecajun@aol.com), April 26, 2002.

Sounds good! Where I'm from, born, was the Bad Lands of North Dakota. No possums there, but they do have a hairless tailed animal - a musk rat in some parts. I have been called a pack rat because I am always picking things that WILL be useful in the future; however, that is a genetic trait as my father & grandfather did the same. I tend to think of myself as a desert rat, but maybe I am a cosmic rat!

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), April 26, 2002.

Hmmm. that sure fits a lot of us I'll bet, me for one! I will ask my "Possum Posse" if they feel " Cosmic" today! LOL Mostly they don't look beyond the next earthworm or hard cooked egg! LOL LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), April 27, 2002.

That was why Y2k didn't concern me while working in the computer industry. I learned truck patch farming and food preservation and putting back as a child. In the words of Hank Jr. "A country boy WILL survive".

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 27, 2002.