Tuesday, December 29, 2020

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 rode buses but 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.  She would take the older children in the woods and teach them which plants and berries were safe to eat.  She knew which bark to use and how to make tea from flowers and roots.  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.

Early in the morning, her older sons would go out and kill a couple of rabbits for supper.  Grandma Maggie would cook the 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 fire wood was placed in the woodstove all day to make sure supper would be ready by six.   

After the stew was on, she would send the boys out to the woods to collect greens to be cooked in bacon grease to go along with supper. By supper time, the rabbit was so tender it would fall off the bone.  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 come in later 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 times.

Until then,

Simply Farmhouse

13 comments:

  1. There are like stories in my family as well~ I also see it as a reminder to be grateful.
    1 more thing: you must have lots of cousins :-)

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    1. I laughed at you must have lots of cousins...indeed :) thank you for your visit!

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  2. What a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing.

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  3. I would say your grandmother was richer than most folks are today. Maybe not in money, but in the ability to live well without it. Most folks nowadays would panic if they were in the same situation.

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    1. Hi Leigh! It is so good to see you on here. I believe you are right, many today would have no idea how to make do and live without. Thank you for coming by!

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  4. My grandmother wrote a book filled with stories about the sacrifices made during the depression. Sure makes the big deal about wearing a mask pretty sad. Thanks for the story.

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    1. Bonnie did your grandmother have her book publish? Oh how I would love to read it! Thank you for coming by!!

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  5. Hello Sweet Teri! You are so welcome! I think a lot of folks are taking note to prepare ~ We just never no when a natural disaster could take place. Blessings to your home and hearts!

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  6. I loved reading this. There is such wisdom from our grandmother's day. Thank you!

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    1. What a honor to have you here Miss White, thank you!

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  7. My mother grew up during those times. On top of that, she lived with her family in North Dakota and they also lived through the Dust Bowl... 7 years with no rain. I don't see how they made it, but they did. There were dust storms. They had to sell all of their cattle. There were 7 children. It was rough. My mom never wasted anything. She was very careful and frugal... not stingy, just careful. I miss her so much.

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    1. O my goodness, how I would love to have a cup of coffee with you as you share more of her stories !
      take care


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Once upon a farmhouse