Living during the depression

 As I placed apples in the storage closet, my mind was thinking on these uncertain times for 2020.   I began to think of my grandmother Maggie and how she raised 9 children during the great depression. Times were very hard for them and others.  My grandmother was born in 1889 and she married in 1909.  These were the days of wagons, horses and yes, she lived a life much like Little House.  She saw hard times, death, war, the first car, planes, lived on a river boat one time and she rode buses because she never learned how to drive. 

Source unknown

 My grandparents were poor before the depression hit and living during the great depression life became even harder for them. 

My grandmother had no choice but reuse, save and make do with what she had been given to work with.  However, she knew her plants and berries in the woods to help feed her family.  Many times she and the kids would gather walnuts to store for later.  She would pick flowers to dry and use for teas or just brighten up their home. She always had a large garden and a kitchen garden.  She raised turkey's to sell and she had meat hens for eating and hens for eggs to eat and to sell.

Grandma Maggie would cook rabbits along with carrots and potatoes from the root cellar that was located under her house. She would pinch a hand full of dry herbs that hung on her kitchen wall and toss it in the rabbit stew.  She placed the stew in a cast iron kettle and cooked it all day on a wood cookstove. Kindling and firewood was placed in the wood stove all day to make sure supper would be ready by six.    She always served it with homemade biscuits and a pat of butter. Nothing was wasted.  She would save the last spoonful of food and the last biscuit.  She would always say, "someone may by  and be hungry."

 I thought I would share with you the struggles and life during the depression of my grandmother Maggie. Who knows maybe we can learn from it in these uncertain time

Simply Farmhouse  ( more on my grandma coming soon)