Keepers of the Health

Wives and Mothers as "Keepers of the Health"

blog post over at Nourishing Days

From the day their children are born mothers have a natural instinct to care for these little people that have been gifted to them. It is not only our job but our deepest desire to feed them, clothe them, bathe them, and shower them with affection, love, training and, when necessary, discipline. This has been the role of the mother since Eve.

Somewhere along the way, however, the role of wife and mother as "keeper of the health" has gone out the window. Perhaps it was when the majority of women left their home careers for a career elsewhere, or when we blindly accepted large companies as the source of our food, or maybe when we were backed into a corner of fear by the medical community.

Which ever way we got here, it is clear that we need to get back to being the "physic" for our families, as Laura Schenone writes in A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove:

During the 17th century, food and medicine did not reside in the separate spheres they do today. Before the rise of professional medical schools (exclusively for men) during the 19th century, the job of healing, or "physic," naturally belonged to women. Most doctoring came from the kitchen and its gardens, and you were as likely to eat or drink something for your ailments as to take a specialized medicine.

Much of the knowledge that our foremothers held has sadly not been passed down. If you are like me you get married, have children and then wake up and realize that you are either too afraid or uninformed to help heal your family of even the most minor of ailments.

That needs to change.

The first step is prevention and with a nourishing diet we can give our families a head start. But there is so much more that we can do for our families, with the right knowledge and support.