Tasha Tudor ~ 1915-2008

[Cowgirl]

Tasha Tudor passed away on June 18th, but I just found out today.

 

She lived the life of self-sufficiency. She lived in an 1830's way. She was a model for many of us. In addition to being an artist and author, she was a homesteader. And she was a gifted gardener. She was, in some respects, a Renaissance Woman.

 

Bless you Tasha. May your soul continue to find all the great joy and beauty that you saw all around you in life. You were and will continue to be an inspiration to me, and probably to countless other homesteaders.

 

Rest in Peace.

 

"Einstein said that time is like a river, it flows in bends. If we could only step back around the turns, we could travel in either direction. I'm sure it's possible. When I die, I'm going right back to the 1830s. I'm not even afraid of dying. I think it must be quite exciting." ~Tasha Tudor

 

 

[BiscuitMaker]

Cowgirl, I think I read her obit in the Dallas paper. I can't remember where she lived?? New England??

She sounded so interesting, loved to teach school children about the old ways and did all of her life.

Every once in a while a soul comes along to teach us, the sad thing sometimes we don't notice.

I wish I could have talked to her------

[Cowgirl]

She lived in Vermont.

[Momo]

They had her obituary in the Wall Street Journal the other day.

 

It was a well written piece about an interesting woman.

[MomM]

I was just thinking of her the other day, and wondering how she was doing. Her artwork was wonderful too.

[JCK88]

I had the chance to talk to Tasha Tudor a few years back. She was shy, wary of strangers, but my daughter, then about 9,

, drew her out. We met at a greenhouse in New Hampshire where I was buying herbs for my garden and she said she always stopped there on her way back to Vermont and had for years because she always traveled by car and that was the route home.

 

She dressed just like my great-grandmother did, with dark grey homespun hand knit sweater, long skirt, and long white hair braided around her head. She wasn't much taller than my daughter--and she seemd a fairy-tale character herself, like she had stepped out of one of those illustrations for which she was famous.

 

I asked her about her home and she sighed, allowed as how she had a fight with her daughter about installing electricty but that the daughter prevailed and she admitted to liking having heat all the time when she didn't feel like lighting the fire. And, she said it was nice at times not to fumble for the matches to light a lamp. But you knew the sigh was because she was getting older, and because the lights and electricity were the thing that kept her independent. You just knew if she hadn't agreed, the daughter would have made her move in with her instead. (they lived next door to each other)

 

She said she hated cameras and stiffened because my daughter had a toy camera she thought was real but Katy showed her it was fake and so she delightfully posed in front of the display of rosemary topiaries and hammed it up. Pictures that remain in my memory, for sure--but my daughter doesn't remember. Katy had to pose with her and I had to take a fake photo, too. Everyone laughed, and the greenhouse owners relaxed because they knew Tasha Tudor avoided that kind of thing.

 

It was a fun memory and I remember leaving there feeling blessed to have met this lady about whom I had read so much. But most of all, I will always remember her frail arm around my daughter's shoulders, and the twinkle in her eye when she learned that camera was just a toy.

 

[Cowgirl]

Thank you for sharing that, Judy.

 

It must have pained her to have to give up some of her way of life as she got old. But she was able to live to 92, and she died at home. And for many, many years she lived a simple life, hauling water and living as people used to live.

 

Yet, she was so amazingly talented. Her life exemplified the notion of voluntary simplicity.

 

I aspire to live the way she lived, in many respects.

[Jeepers]

Thank you for sharing your story, Judy!

[zzelle]

thank you for sharing your story it was a lovely story

[MomM]

Thank you Judy! That just confirms what a special person she appeared to be, and was. Whenever I would go to their website, I always felt such a calmness. Very special.