Back Road Wisdom: Time-Tested Treasures from Barefoot beginnings

Mnemonic Techniques

Back in the “old days” kids had to remember stuff because we didn’t have computers. How did we do it? We used to make up funny stories using the first letter of each thing we wanted to memorize. Today they call this Mnemonic technique. Why? Because it could help embed complex information in your memory by associating facts with vivid or familiar imagery.

Here’s why mnemonics are especially effective for geography:

• Ease of Learning: Associating a river’s name with a fun phrase or image simplifies retention.
• Enhanced Recall: Mnemonics create mental hooks, making it easier to retrieve information when needed.
• Universal Applicability: They can be adapted for any geographical feature—from capitals to mountain ranges.
• Boosted Interest: A boring subject becomes more captivating when linked with creativity and humor.

 

One of our elders shared this Fun Way to Learn How to Spell Geography! (or she suggested you can also use your imagination and make up your own!)

General Eisenhower’s Oldest Girl Rode A Pony Home Yesterday

Variations:

• George Eats Old Grey Rats And Paints Houses Yellow
• George Eliot’s Old Grandmother Rode A Pig Home Yesterday
• George Ellington’s Old Grandmother Rode A Pig Home Yesterday

Explanation: mnemonics for spelling the word GEOGRAPHY.

 

Or memorize the names of the Great Lakes!

Mnemonic Device:

• See My Horse Eat Oats

Explanation: to remember the Great Lakes in order from West to East

• Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario

Homemade Mud Pie Recipe:

1. Go wading barefoot in fresh rain puddles that have collected water over fine dusty dirt.
2. Once you have stepped in, preferably up to your ankles, you can squish the mud between your toes. Dance or stomp for a good time while it gets all worked up into squishy mud.
3. Use your hands or one of your Mom's garden tools to shovel the squishy mud into a pot, or pail, or bowl.
4. Carry your mud to your special outdoor play kitchen (could be a special rock, a tree stump, or a pretend table made of grass you have flattened out underneath your feet. Any place in nature will do, as long as you can imagine it's your very own play kitchen).
5. Now, a handful at a time, form the squishy mud into a pie pan, or any container you can borrow or find to place these carefully squished ingredients in an attractive pie-like manner.
6. Be careful not to scratch your nose or try to swat a fly or mosquito while you are in this phase of the process.
7. Squish it some more and pat it flat on the top until it looks like a pie.
8. If it's too squishy you may have to let it "bake" in the sun for a few hours until it is easy to cut into slices. Be careful not to let it bake too long.
9. EnJOY the process, but remember to NOT put the leftovers in your pocket even though your brother suggests this (remember? Mom was not happy when she found a frog in his pocket the last time you played in the squishy mud!)

This 89-year-old recipe contributed by Kate P.

How to Safely Store Your "Special" Stones:

When a stone speaks to you, and tells you it will always be there for you to support and advise and nurture your inner spirit – if you will just honor it and listen to it as it listens patiently to you - where might you safely keep it so that it does not get lost or "discovered" by someone who thinks it's "just a rock"?

More than 75 years ago, my younger sister and I would keep our stones "hidden" in our "underwear" drawer, but once discovered by Mom, they might be "accidentally" thrown out on the driveway while we were at school (for grown-ups often do not remember nor fully understand the importance of our wise and enduring stone buddies). So we spent many hours on the driveway reclaiming our stone friends, who always found a way to get our attention from the pile, be recognized, and gratefully picked up again, so that we could return them to our closer proximity as intended for our joy and good relationship with nature's ancient patient, silent, stoic wisdom keepers.

In casual conversation the other day one of our Hulett elders advised me that when she was a child, she used an egg carton to give her special stones a special safe and designated place to reside, ready at a moment's notice to be put in a pocket to spend the day with, and then later safely stored. She suggested the best place to keep her special stone collection was in an egg carton under the bed where it could not be lost, displaced, not readily discovered, with the added benefit of its energetic storehouse being able to keep you company and inform your dreams while you sleep.

As told by Kate P.

Do You Know What This Is?

A Captain Midnight Decoder Badge:

A secret decoder ring (or secret decoder) is a device that allows one to decode a simple substitution cipher—or to encrypt a message by working in the opposite direction. As inexpensive toys, secret decoders have often been used as promotional items by retailers, as well as radio and television programs, from the 1930s through to the current day. Decoders, whether badges or rings, are an entertaining way for children to tap into a common fascination with encryption, ciphers, and secret codes, and are used to send hidden messages back and forth to one another.

Secret Messages Revealed!

Ovaltine and other companies that marketed early decoders to children often included "secret messages" on their radio shows aimed at children. These could be decoded for a preview of the next episode of the show.

One of our elders recalls that he watched the mail for three weeks after he sent away for his Ovaltine decoder ring. When it arrived he was so elated, and immediately worked hard to figure out the message that he had saved from the decoder ring advertisement. After quite a while of struggle he FINALLY figured out the "secret code." It stated, coldly: Drink Ovaltine.

This 75-year-old memory was shared by Ted D.