Culture is the means of production. Whoever controls the means of production controls the world. People try to downplay culture as though it’s a matter of style. That’s a small part of culture. Really culture is the sum total of a group’s way of getting things done. That includes art and music, but it also includes how food is produced, how illness is treated, how things are made, how problems are solved. . . . I was born just in time to learn about whitewashing. If i had come along a decade later, the old folks who grew up in pre-industrial appalachia might have been dead, or too old to show me. I would have read about it in Tom Sawyer, but not really known how to do it. . . . This paint is made from the bedrock of the town i live in. I took the crushed gravel and built a special fire, with layers of charcoal and layers of rock in a pit, and burned the rock to white, white ash. Then i mixed it with water to a thin consistency, and added two egg whites (which keeps it from being dusty when it’s dried). It makes the wood look nice, and also helps harden it to make it more durable. . . People who live in limestone or chalky areas have been making whitewash since prehistory. It has its pros and cons when compared to other forms of paint, but i feel like the look is really classic. These crates and boards are going to be storage/display for the medicine wagon’s apothecary section. . . . #crates #whitewash #limewash #meansofproduction #culture #primitiveskills #medicinewagon
