The coastal women
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How do you keep a community alive when the man is at sea for weeks, or perhaps never returns? The coastal women of the old days had no time to call themselves heroes, but that’s exactly what they were. They cared for the children, cleaned the house and clothes, cooked meals, and fed the animals. If necessary, they chopped firewood, repaired the boat, and weeded the fields. They knew how to read the weather, mend fishing nets, and sew clothes from sailcloth. When the storm raged, they went out with the lantern, searching for the boat, and prepared to receive those returning from the sea. When death came, they carried their grief in silence and carried on with life. In many places, it was also the women who made sure the children got to school, the potatoes were planted, and the barn was tended before sunrise. Often, it was the women who could write, do arithmetic, and negotiate. The lives and work of coastal women were two things inextricably linked. Without their labor, knowledge, experience, and versatility, the old coastal communities could not have survived.