Inspired   by stug's  food writing,  I am also going  to talk  about   food.
Pre-refrigerator/supermarket food was always a mystery to me, given how what
you  get  from  the  supermarket  goes bad after   a  week  in  the  fridge.
Shockingly,  historic  foods are cheap, easy, delicious,  reliable  and stay
good without a fridge (generally because they are living ecosystems,  unlike
supermarket sterile nutrient slurries). I am going to mention country wines,
bread starter and sauerkraut. 

To make a country  wine, chop up fresh fruit that has been rinsed as opposed
to thoroughly washed.  Its yeasts live on its skin while the fruit is fresh.
Fill a big pot with such. If the fruit wasn't very sweet (lemons), add a cup
/ few cups of sugar  or raisins to compensate.  Fill it up with water.  More
fruit is better than more water.  There  should  not be much air at the top.
Cover  the top tightly  with some kind of plastic  wrap.   Even though  it's
plastic  I like this because you see it inflate  dramatically  over the next
3-5 days.  A jar also works.  Give it a shake or open it and give  it a stir
morning and evening, resealing carefully.  Mixing up the surface stops mould
from  successfully  invading.   Once you notice the plastic   wrap  swelling
dramatically  I stop mixing it since the yeast culture must be very dominant
at that point. Around days 5-7 strain the liquid into another  pot, and then
pour it into glass or plastic screw-top bottles and stow them in your fridge
or  another   cool place  they can relax  long term.   They will  still   be
fermenting  so the lids will have to be loosened to degas them every  day or
so for the first little while.  Start drinking immediately upon bottling and
get  to  know the country  wine as it matures.   Lovely   sparkling   mildly
alcoholic country wine/lemonade/etc.  This is why we have those artificially
carbonated  fruit sodas / wine.  The reason wine is not always fizzy  and is
clear  is that the yeast  is generally  killed  and removed  and the wine is
agitated  to remove its natural  carbonation  before its final bottling.   I
regard   country  wine/home-made  lemonade  as the real deal and the bizarre
artificially  carbonated sugar drinks or clarified alcohols anathema.   When
exposed to air the country wine will gradually become more acidic/turn  into
vinegar.  As long as the surface is small or regulary disturbed  mould can't
invade.   Nectarine or peach makes a nice champaigne.  Lemons  need a lot of
extra sugar/lots  of raisins, but real lemonade is lovely.  Grapes ferment a
bit slower in my experience, but are great. 

Bread  starter  is just flour that has been kept wet and refed new flour  so
its endemic  yeast ecosystem  is thriving, not dormant.   Mix some flour and
water into a paste, then every day replenish  one half of it with flour  and
water in a different jar, and clean away the rest/first jar. After two weeks
there will be a very reliable yeast ecosystem and instead of discarding half
you can use it to raise doughs.  It won't mind if you miss days. If there is
a thin liquid on the top pour it off before scooping  your next-jar half.  I
use wholemeal flour normally, but variety won't really hurt.