From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Thu May 09 2002 - 08:11:22 MDT
Brian D Williams wrote:
>
> >From: spike66 <spike66@attbi.com>
>
> >I am surprised at how often I *still* hear people talk about
> >times being simpler in the past. I see the Frontier House
> >families using every fiber of muscle and every brain cell
> >just to make a reasonable attempt at survival, and still none
> >of the families would likely have survived the harsh
> >Montana winter on the frontier.
>
> This was largely guarenteed by the conditions of the show,
> specifically the no hunting clause. Vegans wouldn't have lasted
> long.
That was what I was thinking. I did note that a local tribe (Oglalas?)
donated two deer they shot on their reservation, which they can do out
of season under Montana law, which they gave along with a talk about how
Frontier Valley wasn't "free land", that his tribe was forced out of
there at gunpoint in the year before settlement by whites.
I don't think, though, that the Californians, the Clunes, truly
understood the caloric demands of frontier living, especially for the
main beast of labor, the adult men. An adult male farmer can burn from
4000-8000 calories a day doing the most strength demanding work (fence
building, digging, hoeing, and haying), even going over 10,000 calories
in cold weather (a lb of human fat equals approximately 12,000 calories,
I believe). I don't think the Clunes appreciated how much they needed
more carbohydrates, they kept focusing on getting more protein instead
under the modern popular fitness dieting that stresses minimizing
carbohydrate intake. This is the exact opposite of what they should have
been doing.
The other two men seemed to be adapting to the environment much better,
and I think were less concerned about their health than Mr. Clune was.
I was impressed and amused to find that the Clunes' son now hunts
rabbits in the hills of upper crust Malibu. Makes me wonder how much
that is freaking out the locals...
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