Lindsey Reneé Backen
We live in a world where our past is being erased and we are losing the skills and mindsets that helped our ancestors survive and thrive. When a button pops off your shirt, do you know how to sew it back on? When there are only 7 ingredients in the pantry, can you pull a meal together? When you’re driving and your GPS goes AWOL, do you even know which direction your car is pointing?
Would you like to develop the skills that helped our ancestors survive?
No, I’m not going to suggest you purchase 25 acres and a plow. I’m not going to warn you of impending doom and tell you how you can hide your supplies. But people throughout history faced the same challenges that we do today, and their lives became a handbook for us. By learning from them, you can stretch your supplies and dollars to offset a recession. You can repair an item instead of throwing it away. You can reintroduce your culture to polite behavior and tasteful dressing. You can navigate using a map instead of a device. Or you can just sew that button on and dash off to work. Your problems may be unique to your life, but someone, sometime has faced every one of them.
My goal on this blog is to help you enhance your present by reviving the physical and social skills of the past.

The latest from my blog
How to Make Ink Like A Medieval Monk
Have found yourself using a pen and wondering how medieval people created ink? After living through lock down, multiple hurricanes, and common short power outages, I often wonder how long I could go without access or money to purchase items from the store. As I begin...
How I Ruined a 1917 Dinner
I tackled cooking a typical 1917 meal for two. It would have worked…except for one little thing.
You put the rice in the salt and…
Does your salt clump in your shaker? Here’s what to do about it – and a story of the first rice farm in Matagorda Texas. What do they have in common? You put the rice in the salt and you shake it all up…
Swing – Book by Lindsey Renee Backen
When another orphan arrives in town, she seems to be the perfect partner for Trey—if she was allowed to dance. But the girl of his dreams is tainted by the war, hiding secrets far more dangerous than forbidden dance lessons.
Among – Book by Lindsey Renee Backen
Stepping back into her old life without her memories or the boy she left behind, Chloe tries to carve out a better version of herself, but her attempts are overshadowed by her growing suspicion that her killer is near and she was not his first victim.
Across the Distance
Dragged from New York to Texas by her newly-divorced father, Scarlet Beldon braces for a lonely summer in a Victorian house that allows only the faintest of wifi signals. A stack of letters dated 1910 introduces her to the house’s former occupant, Clara Castle, who lives with a strict and paranoid father. When a music box connects the girls’ worlds, their friendship turns into a mad scramble to unlock the secrets of Clara’s future and alter history itself.
Between: Book One by Lindsey Renee Backen
I don’t know where I was going, or why I was so dressed up. I can’t even guess who tried to kill me—or why he’d want to. I don’t even remember my name. All I know is I ended up in a world where you exist for as long as you are remembered. But how you experience life depends on what you can remember. Problem is, I can’t remember anything.