Come learn important self-sufficiency lessons from someone who grew up during the Great Depression. We can all learn a thing or two from those who have come before us!
A few years ago, my dad came onto the Pioneering Today Podcast (episode #81) where he shared 17 self-sufficiency lessons from the 1940's and the Great Depression. That podcast was so special to me, but now he's also come on film, taking us on a tour of the Homestead where he grew up, without electricity, without plumbing, and raising almost everything themselves.
Listen to the podcast or watch the video below to be inspired by one of my all-time favorite people in the world! And be sure to tune into the video where he shares an old green bean preservation method that my grandma used to use!
The Homestead is the house that is still standing in the photo above which still doesn’t have electricity. It’s wired, you can hook up a generator or battery but it’s not really wired for electricity.
There is no electricity that runs out there, there’s still no indoor bathroom or indoor plumbing other than the sink that has the hand pump. We refer to it as The Homestead because when he and my grandparents moved out here from North Carolina in the 1940s, they purchased their property and lived there during his childhood years. (But he revealed a new twist on the property in the video above… they didn't actually own the property for years before finally getting a deed!)
In the podcast and video, I also mention how my grandma used to use cornmeal in much of her baking, and she would only use the white cornmeal, not the yellow! So I created a special download for you of my Grandma's cornbread and biscuit recipes, you'll notice her cornbread recipe doesn't use eggs, making it even more frugal and allergy friendly.
The buttermilk biscuit recipe uses real homemade cultured buttermilk (not the fake kind with milk and vinegar… this is the real deal!) and you can learn how to make cultured buttermilk easily right here.
17 Self-Sufficiency Tips from the Great Depression
Without further ado, let's jump in to some of the questions I asked my dad about Great Depression era living, and find out what his answers are…
Where would you live if you knew another Great Depression was coming?
Question: If you knew that there was another Great Depression coming, or worse, where would you choose to live if you could?
Dad: Probably, right here! (In the Pacific Northwest)
What's one thing you would want for another Great Depression?
Question: If you knew another Great Depression was coming, what’s one thing would you make sure that you have before it hits? What would be some things that you would make sure you have lined up or in place?
Dad: Well, I think you should have a cow for milk, butter from the milk, and a pig or two, and chickens. And you pretty much have everything there that you would need, besides growing a garden in the summertime.
For more info on these topics, check out the following posts:
- Raising a Milk Cow
- Raising Pigs for Meat
- Raising Backyard Meat Chickens
- Raising Backyard Egg-Laying Chickens
- 13 Basic Steps to Starting a Vegetable Garden
Using an Outdoor Toilet
Question: Rachel asks, what was it like to use the outhouse during the different season of the year?
Dad's Answer: Very cold! The Sears Roebuck catalog pages got a lot stiffer in cold weather.
Dad mentioned how they used old catalog pages as toilet paper! That was all they had, so it's what they used!
Melissa: With the outhouse, how often did you have to move it? How deep was the hole dug where it was at?
Dad: They moved it around. It was probably moved for at least 10-12 times for I could remember when we lived there. Then they would dig down a hole probably 3 or 4 feet underneath, and then, they’d saved the dirt. Then when we move the outhouse, we took that dirt and put it on top of the remains of the outhouse.
Melissa: Yes, you just cover it up and then moved it around. How often do you move it, like once a year.
Dad: it depends on how many people were using it, and it could be once a year, maybe twice a year
Melissa: So not really often?
Dad: Yeah. And you put lime in it to keep it from smelling.
Protection During Tough Times
Question: Patricia has another question. She said, were there any dangers from other people, or did you need guns to protect your family?
Dad: Well, you always had a gun. And that was for hunting also. And there wasn’t that many people coming through, not like now, but there’s still a few that we considered outlaws. You’d want to protect your family from them, and that was one way to do it.
Favorite Activities
Question: What was your favorite thing to do as a child? Anything that you did get caught?
Dad: Probably going out, and, as my grandson Landon says, having a campfire. We would cook up potatoes and different things. Occasionally, we’d catch a fish and roast it over a fire.
Melissa: So, they didn’t have really the hunting and fishing seasons or restrictions they do now?
Dad: They did what they did without having to worry too much about the Game Warden because it was quite a ways to come to The Homestead. As long as you didn’t waste anything you killed, people didn’t think too much about it. Go ahead and kill it, if you use it, that was fine.
What Did You Do For Fun Back Then?
Question: What did you do for fun back then without electricity or other forms of entertainment?
Dad: Well, we have a battery-powered radio and in the evening we get to listen to the Lone Ranger, and Gene Autry for 30 minutes. The kids were very quiet then, because all you had was the voice coming over the radio. You could hear the horses galloping, and coming through the radio, stuff like that.
We played cards, such as Go Fish and Checkers, different things like that.
Kids Chores in the 1940's
Question: What were your parents' big rules? Did grandma and grandpa have any hard fast rules?
Dad: We had so many chores we had to do every day. One of them was, we had to get wood for mom, for the wood-cook stove, and have kindling for each morning. So when she got up, dad used them to build fire, and cook breakfast. We always had a big breakfast like biscuits, eggs, gravy, and oatmeal.
Melissa: So you always had a pretty big breakfast?
Dad: Oh, yeah.
Melissa: Was breakfast the biggest meal of the day, or did you have a big supper, or a smaller dinner?
Dad: There’s a big dinner, we always had lunch, because it’s always like a pot of beans or stew setting on the stove and they kept it just above the boiling point. A lot of times we just added to it and kept it going for a few days.
Melissa: So you just kept adding to the pot?
Dad: Yes, because there’s no refrigeration, so we’d keep it hot.
Keeping Food Cold Without Refrigeration
Question: How did you keep food cold without a refrigerator or even electricity?
Dad: We had what they call the “cool room”. Instead of having windows, it has screens where the window was, and it would let the cool air in.
Melissa: And that was in the kitchen or outside the house?
Dad: No, it was on the outside wall, usually at the end of a row of cupboards. Now, some like Grace Owen, Howard Stafford's grandma and grandpa, they had theirs in the kitchen and you just open up the door, like in the cupboard. Usually, the one on the end or next to the wall.
Melissa: On an exterior wall?
Dad: Yes, it had the screen in it and it would let the cool air in, and that’s where they put the butter and the milk. Although, we did have, over at the backside of the homestead house, we had a hole dug and there was water that stood in the hole. We would set the milk and stuff in the hole to keep it cool.
Keeping a Milk Cow
Question: Did you have your own milk cow that you guys milked?
Dad: We usually had two or three milk cows. When one was dry, getting ready to have a calf, the other one you could milk. You just changed back and forth so you'd have fresh milk all year long.
Melissa: So basically, you’re getting fresh milk everyday?
Dad: Oh yeah.
Melissa: You just used the milk that you’re usually gonna use for the meal time, or turn into butter, and what was left will go either in the cool room or out in the little hole with water to keep it cold?
Dad: Yes, and the same way with the lard, although, you just butcher the pigs probably once a year and rendered that down into lard. (How to Render Lard). We used Mortin salt and salt-cured (How to Salt Cure Your Own Meat) a lot of it.
We had the lockers at Rockport, in the general store, you had lockers that were refrigerated, and you rented a little cage-like thing in the big room of the locker. Then, when you go over to get your mail, if you needed meat, you go and get a package or two out of the locker and bring it home for dinner.
Melissa: They had electricity and refrigeration there, so if you needed to store something big like your meat you just kept it in the locker?
Dad: Either that or we'd can it. We ate a lot of canned meat.
Melissa: Grandma canned a lot of it?
Dad: Yes.
For more info on these topics, check out the following posts:
Shopping for Groceries in 1940
Question: Today, a lot of people just run to the store whenever they need groceries, sometimes even every day. How often, back then, did grandma actually go to the grocery store and go grocery shopping?
Dad: Well, our basic things for going to the grocery store were for flour, salt, sugar, and lard. Stuff like that. But when we butcher the pig, then we rendered the lard and it was good for gravy and different things. She usually bought groceries in bulk, like 50 lbs. of flour, 25-50 lbs. of sugar, etc.
Learn how to make jam like my Grandmother with this low sugar no store-bought pectin Strawberry jam recipe
Frugal Recipes from the 1940's and Great Depression Era
Question: What kinds of food did grandma make a lot of during those times?
Dad: She made a lot of cornbread and biscuits. Occasionally she would make what we call “light bread”. Other than that, until I started school, and when they finally got a cafeteria in Rockport school, it was quite a treat to get a piece of, I guess you call it, factory-made bread.
Melissa: Right, so when you say light bread, you mean like a yeast bread that rises. It’s like the right kind for sandwiches. She didn’t bake that very often, was it because she hadn’t purchased the yeast and yeast was an expense?
Dad: Yeah, and it took more time. Homemade had no additive to keep the shelf life. It was just easy to make so many biscuits, say you have 6 or 8 people that’s gonna have dinner, that’s what’s easier to keep than bread and not let it spoil. You have to be very careful of the food that you throw away, all of what came off the table went to the pigs.
Favorite 1940's Recipes
Question: What were some of your very favorite things that grandma cooked?
Dad: Ah, rice pudding! It just melts in your mouth, rice pudding!
Basic Food Menu in 1940's
Question: What was an average meal that grandma would cook. I know you said you liked biscuits, and gravy, and eggs. What were some of the typical lunch items, that you’ve had when she does not do the sandwich, what will you have for lunch, then?
Dad: We always had biscuits, there were beans, like I say it’s always on the pot, boiling. Occasionally, dad, he was quite a fly fisherman and he would catch trout and you know whatever is handy, we cooked up.
Melissa: So when you have a pot of beans, do you mean like green beans or the shelly beans, or dried beans or both?
Dad: Well, we can have green beans, if we want, we opened a jar. Mom always canned a lot of green beans, and the shelly beans, she was pretty good at that.
Melissa: Pretty much, what you ate for lunch was not really a different meal. It is pretty much the kind of food you cook for dinner or supper, what you call back then.
Dad: You might want to say leftovers.
Melissa: Lunch was more leftovers from day before.
Dad: And biscuits like from breakfast. They were still good at noon.
Melissa: So she just made double batch of the biscuits or cornbread or whatever from breakfast to carry over until lunch?
Dad: Well, we didn’t have cornbread for breakfast, that was always for supper or dinner.
Melissa: Pretty much, you had a bread item, be it cornbread or biscuits or something like that with dinner or with breakfast?
Making Biscuits 1940's Style
Dad: I remember she never used the bowl to mix up the flour in, for the biscuits.
Melissa: Oh, really?
Dad: She would just make a hollow, a little spot inside the 50-pound sack of flour and she would pour the milk, and stuff the buttermilk right in that and mix it up. She made the batter right there.
Melissa: Right in the bag of flour?
Dad: And then she’d take it out, put them out, with what she calls, the spoon bread and she would put that on a pan that was set on top of a stove. Of course, biscuits, they’d go into the oven and bake. Same way with pie crusts, she would just pour whatever she’d mix up there to make a pie crust, she would pour right in on top of the flour, she’d roll the cloth of the flour where it was in…the sack and she roll that back, and it was like a little bowl itself.
Melissa: She just put it right in there instead of having another bowl to wash. Oh, that’s cool. I didn’t know that. You haven’t told me that story before.
Dad: I can see her, when she mixed it up, she’d wash her hands, then she would dig in there. She made a hole up, and then the flour, she mixed it up. When she felt that she had enough milk in her dough and it was mixed up well, the rest of flour is there.
Melissa: And she would just bake it up.
Dad: And she would pick it up, and probably we have a cupboard. She aways calls it a cupboard, and it had a sifter in it. You could put the flour in the sifter, because a lot of the flour then wasn’t as refined as what we are used to today. It have different, maybe kernels and stuff on it and you turn that sifter and it would sift the nice and fine stuff. Then you would take that sifter out and dump it out and give it to chickens.
Melissa: Oh, OK. I know grandma is quite particular about her cornmeal, she only used white cornmeal.
Dad: She said the yellow cornmeal was for cows, and ducks.
Melissa: Yeah, I remember her saying that.
Dad: Yeah, she had her way of thinking and you wouldn’t change it.
Melissa: Do you think white cornmeal is better because of its texture or does it taste different?
Dad: It has a different flavor. I prefer the flavor and taste of the white better.
Melissa: Yeah! Did she cook grits or just mainly oatmeal?
Dad: No. Not very many grits, I like the oatmeal and she always seemed to have a bucket of raisins around.
Melissa: To put in the oatmeal? She pretty much cooked every meal and most of the food, she was also preserving. And that she’s cooking what she put up herself.
Dad: Absolutely!
Melissa: Was there ever a time that the harvest really failed and you guys felt that you were really low on food?
Dad: Oh, we always had plenty to eat. Because we always had meat, and dad always had 3 or 4 hives of bees for the honey.
Melissa: Oh grandpa was a beekeeper? I didn’t realize that.
Dad: And there’s nothing better than honey on a hot biscuit or piece of cornbread. That was really a treat, and we have a lot of that. We didn’t go hungry. Sometimes our clothes wore a little bit…
Melissa: Like they got tighter or were getting a little smaller… but there was never a problem with food.
Dad: Yeah, no.
Melissa: So fresh vegetable-wise, and until it was time for the garden to come back on, you didn’t really have a lot of fresh vegetables. All have to be pretty much canned or dried. I mean, you didn’t go to the store and purchase the head of lettuce every week for salad or something.
Dad: No, that didn’t come in until the later years. It was a different lifestyle. And you gotta plan ahead.
Melissa: It’s kind of a natural way of preserving it without a fridge.
Dad: And she would make cottage cheese, and different things but I think on the cottage cheese, you have to use a sweet cream.
Melissa: Did she make any hard cheeses, like the aged cheeses?
Dad: Not that I remembered.
Melissa: Just the soft cheeses, so that wouldn’t take as much time or resources.
Dad: And she would churn a lot of butter. She would take the butter over to Rockport to Mrs. Presentien and milk to Ellen Osborne and she would trade that for different things in the store.
Making Dairy Products
Question: So Grandma, how often did she make butter, did she churn every day or would she just save the cream?
Dad: No, not every day. I don’t know exactly how long the butter would keep. But she used buttermilk for biscuits and different things. When she ran out, then it was time to churn again.
Melissa: She’d just make it again as you went through it?
Dad: Yeah. And she used a lot of sour cream buttermilk. And myself, I like the sweet cream much better, especially for cooking with. Dad would take the butter and he would fry potatoes and different things in it.
Melissa: Yeah, well, I think with the sour cream, that, it naturally sours without refrigeration, but it also creates like a culture so it keeps longer, which is probably why she is used it, to preserve it longer.
Dad: Yes, that was part of it.
Raising Livestock Before Feed Stores
Question: Did you guys do your own haying? Or what did you feed the animals? Did you raise your own feed for the cows through the winter?
Dad: Well dad, he worked around. We got a lot from Albin, which is a place I own now…the hay would get a little damp, and when they have plenty of hay, they let people take it because they didn’t want it left in the field to mold and rot.
Melissa: Right.
Dad: Although dad did that, he did cut some hay on The Homestead.
Melissa: Did they hand cut it or use a mower?
Dad: By hand, they would cut it with a scythe.
Melissa: And did you have a big barn that you put it in to store?
Dad: Well, to start with, they stack it outside, like they do back East. They put a pole at the ground and stack around it. And it was like a thatched roof and the water run-off. There was a lot of waste here because of the moisture. Like in eastern Washington, it was dry and you can get away without putting it inside the barn.
Melissa: And here it mildewed more.
Dad: And dad, he built a pretty good-sized barn over there. We put the hay in the barn, which was much better.
Melissa: I bet, the hay will last a lot longer. Did you have the chickens in the coop or they just free range?
Dad: No, no, we have a big chicken pen, and probably, I would say, 10×20 foot chicken house and it had nests in there for the chickens to go lay in.
Melissa: Did you have a lot of predator problems with them, like anything getting in and killing the chickens?
Dad: Well, there were some foxes who would try to get the chickens.
Raising Chickens
Question: How many chickens did you guys keep?
Dad: Oh, probably 50-60 chickens. We always had plenty of eggs and plenty of chicken to eat. If company came, we’d just go out and butcher one.
Melissa: And that was dinner.
Canning & Preserving During the Great Depression
Question: So grandma pretty much only bought staples from the grocery store, then basically your fruits and vegetables would have been just what you guys grew yourselves and preserved?
Dad: It was nothing to mom to have probably, in the fall, she would probably can 300 jars, quarts, some half gallons. It was a whole different thing than what most folks do today, and like fish, she always canned a lot of fish and a lot of canned meat, especially deer meat. It was much better canned, and it is still today.
Melissa: You prefer the canned flavor or texture of the meat?
Dad: Oh, yeah! You can open up a can of deer meat, and you get the gravy in the meat right there. All you got to do is heat it up, and have some biscuits and you got a good meal there.
Melissa: With fruit and stuff, she would just can it and dry it or what kind of fruits, like apples?
Dad: Yes, she canned everything — peaches, pears, apples and prunes, and just a lot of things.
Melissa: Just anything you can get here, then she would just can it to preserve it and to eat throughout the wintertime?
Dad: Right!
Canning During the 1940s
Question: In the summertime, even when it’s hot out, you still had a fire to cook on?
Dad: Absolutely, we canned outside, it was too hot inside. She put a big tub over a fire, and we had this framework with three legs. It stood up so high that you can light a fire under it. She would save can lids from the winter before and she put the can lids in the bottom of the tub and she would set the jars that she was canning down on that. Then she would take towels and wrap it around. So, when it got to boiling they wouldn't rock together and break.
Melissa: She just made her own canning rack and she used towels and canning bands to keep them up off the bottom of the pot? That's great!
Hourly Pay in the 1940s
Question: What was the hourly pay back then?
Dad: Because there was no unemployment, and back then wages – I still remember when dad just made $8.00 a day, and then he got up to $12, and literally, he thought he was getting rich.
Melissa: That was $8-12 dollars a day?!
Dad: Yep! That was a day’s wages, maybe 10-12 hours. There were no 8-hour shifts back then.
Melissa: And that was in the woods.
Dad: Yes, that was in the woods. And they did work. I don’t know what they got when they worked in the shingle mill up at Marblemount when we first came up. We lived up there. And then we moved to Mount Rainier. He was froze on the job, that’s when the war broke out.
Melissa: So he was froze out, so he wouldn’t leave his job or he’d be drafted?
Dad: Right, they made the piling and stuff for landing ships, stepped on the shores over there and he was a good timber faller. He was froze on the job there. When that ended, then we moved back up here and went to The Homestead.
Melissa: How many kids did grandma and grandpa have at that time when you guys moved over into the Homestead? There are only two rooms there now.
Dad: Well, it did actually have 3 or possibly 4 with the attic.
MKN: Oh, back then there were more rooms!
Ways to Earn Extra Money During the 1940s
Question: What were some ways to earn extra money during that time? If work wasn't very steady, how could a family make ends meet?
Dad: Upstairs we had some extra space and mom would keep boarders from time to time. Uncle Ralph, boarded with us, too… mom’s half-brother. She took in people and got a few bucks that way. Maybe $20/25 a month and she did the washing and cooking for them.
Melissa: So what was a yearly salary back then?
Dad: I don’t think there was any… just what you could earn.
Melissa: So grandma would sell the eggs or take the butter to help barter for groceries and stuff, and taking in boarders. But, as a whole, back then, the women really didn’t work. They were staying home, right?
Dad: That’s right! They had a full time job, just keeping the house going and canning, and taking care of the milk and different things. Although mom didn’t milk much. I mean, that was my job and one of my other brothers that is two years younger. And dad, he kinda oversaw the milking.
For more info on these topics, check out the following posts:
- How to Make Money Homesteading- Cash from Your Farm
- How to Use Homesteading Skills to Make Money
- Community Sufficiency vs. Self-Sufficiency
How Old Were You When You Married?
Question: I’ve got one more question here, this one is from Lisa. How old were you when you got married?
Dad: I was 18.
Melissa: Well same here, I followed in your footsteps. And how old were you when you guys had your first child?
Dad: 18 or 19.
Walking to School
Question: How far did you have to go to get to school? And how did you get there?
Dad: When we lived at The Homestead, we had to walk to Rockport, which is about a 3-mile-walk. We had to cross on the ferry.
Melissa: And the creek, there was a creek that ran across the driveway.
Dad: Yes, it was there. We had to cross it on the way.
Melissa: And you guys didn't thump each other on the way?
Dad: I’m sure there was some of that. That school house would sure look good though when your pant legs just froze half way to your knees and there was coal fire over there. We would stand over the heat register there, and we would let the warm air come up our pant legs.
Melissa: Until you were thawed out!
Dad: And in the later years, I did operate the ferry, off and on, until they put the bridge in.
Clothing During the Great Depression
Question: How many outfits or shoes did you have? I mean, now, we’ve got closets full, but back then…
Dad: Well, we usually had a new pair when school started, and the other pair that you had were work shoes.
Melissa: So, you just had two – your nice pair and the work pair.
Dad: You got your butt warmed when you got up there and your new shoes got dirty and scuffed.
Melissa: I can imagine grandma, whooping you!
Dad: And we usually have boots in the wintertime, rubber boots.
Melissa: Obviously, you ordered the shoes or went in the store to buy…
Dad: Sears Roebuck's.
Melissa: The toilet paper catalog!
Dad: And Presentine’s usually had shoes, and Frank McGovern's had some, too.
Melissa: What about your clothes, did she order them?
Dad: She made a lot of them, especially shirts. Pants were usually bought.
Melissa: And most of the items you got them from the catalog, too, or was there a store you'd go to?
Dad: A lot of times we'd order them, yeah! And sometimes we got them down in the little store in town.
Washing Clothes Without Electricity
Question: Did you have to wash clothes by hand, or did you have a washing machine?
Dad: When dad finally found the little motorized washing machine, he really went around for that. It had a little ringer on it and had a little motor underneath and that was a big improvement from using the scrub board.
Melissa: I bet. Because when you do laundry, obviously, with just a tub, and water and soap and scrub board, how often did you wash? Did you just have a wash day once a week?
Dad: Whenever there was a pile of clothes there to wash. There was a line hung upstairs, there were two chimneys up there. They’re still there, and some of the lines are probably still up there. And mom would hang them up there. There’s a wire stretched across in the living room around the stove. And she would hang clothes we'd need to be dried quickly. If we needed a pair of socks, then she would hang socks on it, or a pair of pants, and they would dry quickly.
Melissa: Now we just open a lid, press a button, and throw our clothes in there and away she goes. I like to line dry our clothes in the summertime, though. I prefer line-dried myself.
Was Life Better in 1940?
Question: If you look at the average society as a whole, do you think that the way of life back then was better than it is today?
Dad: Well, I do. We didn’t have kids then sitting on the… what do you call them?
Melissa: A cellphone?
Dad: Cellular phones and different things, the kids have something to do. They kept their minds active. They didn’t have the trouble that they do today. There were no drugs, not like you see today. I guess you can say, there were no drugs, but there was alcohol and cigarettes.
Melissa: Do you feel that families were closer as a whole because you were working together or not necessarily?
Dad: I believe so. It was a good life. You might say it was a hard life, but it was a good life. If you want heat, you got your firewood up during summer time, and stock them in the woodshed.
Melissa: Now, we’re spoiled. We've got automatic wood choppers and chain saws, back then everything was done by hand. It was the hand that cut the saw or axe.
Dad: To start with, yes, and then later on dad got a chainsaw. It was a lot easier with the chainsaw. A lot of the guys would put it off and get into the woods during summertime because they felt they could go up there with chainsaw. Back then there was a lot of old growth lying around, because when they logged, they only get the best part and you could go up there, and in about 3 hours you could cut a pile of wood.
Melissa: Hey, Pioneers. Welcome to episode #312. Today's episode is a very special episode because I am bringing my dad back on to the podcast. But this is from the video that I just released very recently on YouTube that many of you have caught. It's quickly becoming (laughs) one of most popular videos for a good reason.
Melissa: So this is where I actually got my dad to come on camera, which I have been trying to do, I'm not kidding, for years. But this is Great Depression-era living, including towards the end, lost off-grid preservation technique for green beans. So this actually lends itself very well to audio, which is obviously this podcast format.
Melissa: But if you wanna actually see the homestead house where my dad grew up, then you're gonna wanna make sure that you head over and check out the video. So you can go to the blog post that accompanies this episode, and the video is actually embedded in there. You can go to melissaknorris.com/312, the number 312, so just numerical there, melissaknorris.com/312 'cause this is Episode 312 where you can actually watch that video.
Melissa: Now, if you have been a podcast listener for a while, thank you very much, but you may have already listened to an episode with my dad. I have my dad on the podcast, it's actually been years ago now, but he did come on and do a podcast episode with me. And so if you wanna hear that one, he tells different stories. I asked him some different questions, um, and that type of thing than what you're gonna hear on this one.
Melissa: So this is definitely not a repeat, um, though he may talk about a few of the same things. But episode #81, oh, my goodness, you guys, episode 81 was that past episode where he was on. I cannot believe it's been that many episodes ago. Wow. Well, time certainly does fly.
Melissa: But I just wanted to let you know as you're listening to this episode, that it did come from the video in case there's some places where you're like, "What?" Uh, because we're talking about something specific that is in the video. Though we did our best to edit this so that it would flow very nicely, as you may be listening to it obviously as a podcast episode.
Melissa: But I have to say out of all the videos and the content that I created, aside from that previous episode that I did with my dad, I feel like this is the most important video or the most special video that I have ever done and probably likely ever will, um, on a personal level because it's my father. But not just because of that, but because we are preserving firsthand accounts from that era where a lot of that information and the stories have been lost from the firsthand accounts.
Melissa: And one of the most touching things was how many of you watched this video and told ... I'm gonna try not to cry. (laughs) You can hear it in my ... I can feel myself. I can feel tears coming to my eyes. But how many of you watched this video and you were as touched as I was, even though it's- it's not your dad, and it's not your family's history. Because so many of you, it brought you back to people and times that you have lost or they have- have passed on. And so this episode was not only a bridge to my past and history, but for many of you it was a bridge to your past and your history as well.
Melissa: And so just for all of you who sent me messages and told me how much it touched you and how many of you told that it brought tears to your eyes, just know that I felt the very same way. In fact, when I got done filming this video, I actually came back to the house and I cried in a good way and a happy way.
Melissa: Because I knew ... Not knowing, and I, and, you know, I still don't; I have no idea how many people this will end up touching or watching it, but I just knew that we had just captured something very special. So without further ado, I want to share that with you.
Melissa: So my dad was born during the Great Depression. He was a child during the Great Depression, but it really didn't change the way that his family and the way that he grew up even after the Depression ended. They were still fairly poor and had to depend upon everything that they put up themselves and raised in order to eat.
Melissa: And I have wanted to get my dad to come on camera to share his stories first person with you guys rather than just through me, and a few years back was able to get him to come on the podcast. But I've not been been able to get him to come on video. He is, um, (laughs) ...
Melissa: He doesn't use computers. He doesn't use a smartphone. He is as old-fashioned as you can get, but I finally got him to agree that we could go on video. So I'm hoping that once he sees the cameras, he still lets us get this on video, so I'm on my way.
Melissa: We're gonna go pick him up and take him over to the original homestead that he lived at as a kid. Except we have to see that the creek isn't too high 'cause we've had a lot of rain, and that it's actually passable. So I'm hoping, one, he'll come on camera with us, and, two, that we can get over there.
Melissa: So we've always called the place the homestead.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah. So what year did you guys ... Be- because when you first came here from North Carolina, right, with Grandpa and Grandma, you guys didn't first come to the homestead, right? Didn't you guys go somewhere else at the very beginning?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, we lived at Marblemount for quite a, or a year or so.
Melissa: For a little bit. And then during the war, weren't you, wasn't Grandpa at a mill that he had to stay at? Was that down at, around Mount Rainier?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah? And so that was during World War II that he had to stay there, and if he did then he wouldn't get drafted in? Is that right?
Tommy (Dad): Right.
Melissa: About how long were you guys down there?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, probably a couple of year. I went to school down there. I started to school down there in, uh, when I was, uh, six years old.
Melissa: So once the war ended, then you guys came back up here and you settled at the homestead where we're going right now.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. Yeah. And I used to walk from the homestead to Rockport to go to school.
Melissa: That's a long ways. Do you know how many ... How many miles do you think that is?
Tommy (Dad): It's about three miles.
Melissa: About three miles?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: And how many miles ... How far back do you think the house is from the road right here on the gravel road? How far do you think that is?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, it's close to a mile.
Melissa: Is about a mile?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah. So when you guys first moved in here, was that highway even here or was that just a small little road?
Tommy (Dad): No. No, no. It was just a ... Seattle City Light, uh, called it the transmission line or ...
Melissa: Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): From Rockport. They only had three wires, cable, on the wooden, uh, posts that- that went to Seattle.
Melissa: Oh, wow. And Seattle from here is about, oh, it's about two hours. I'm not sure how many miles it is.
Tommy (Dad): Oh, yeah.
Melissa: But it's about a good two-hour drive.
Tommy (Dad): Oh, yeah.
Melissa: There wasn't even the bridge. It was just the ferry at, until ...
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: 'Cause the bridge didn't come in until quite a ways later.
Tommy (Dad): '61.
Melissa: Is when the bridge was put in? So prior to that it was all just on the ferry.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. I used to run the ferry there. And then I drove a- a gravel truck for the County for s- eight hours, and then I run the ferry till midnight.
Melissa: You didn't get much sleep back in the day, did ya?
Tommy (Dad): No.
Melissa: No?
Tommy (Dad): You had to do a little bit of everything to make ends meet then.
Melissa: Am I remembering right? When I was ... Didn't you say when you were little and there was the other families living out here that you had a little, you opened a little store or something out here?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. It was set right up on the bank there.
Melissa: And so what'd you ... How old were you then?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, I was about 14, 15.
Melissa: So you've always been an entrepreneur.
Tommy (Dad): (laughs)
Melissa: So what did you have in your store?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, a little bit of everything.
Melissa: Was just a-
Tommy (Dad): Candy mostly. Pop.
Melissa: (laughs) So did you just buy it from the other store, and then you just would sell it here?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, they give me a special price.
Melissa: Oh, you were a charmer too. So you charmed the store to get it at wholesale, and then you sold it he- over here, huh?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. They, at one time they was one, two, seven families lived in here.
Melissa: Now, did they own all pieces of the land?
Tommy (Dad): No.
Melissa: And then Grandpa bought the land from them later? Or he just ...
Tommy (Dad): No.
Melissa: Grandpa owned the land and then they had- had that land?
Tommy (Dad): Well, uh, your, uh, great-grandpa, er, gra- uh, great-grandpa, he, yeah, never owned any land in here.
Melissa: Oh.
Tommy (Dad): No.
Melissa: So who owned it? It was just like a leasing agreement or rent or how did that work?
Tommy (Dad): It was, uh, squatters.
Melissa: Really?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Oh. I did not know that.
Tommy (Dad): And then I, uh, uh, had, uh, surveyed 40 acres all the way around here, all around this property here.
Melissa: Oh.
Tommy (Dad): And then I finally got a deed for it.
Melissa: Wow.
Tommy (Dad): You can go on the upper end if you want.
Melissa: Wanna go ... And then we'll just circle back to the house?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Okay. So when all the other families were living over here back in the day, did you guys just kinda like help- help one another? Or everybody just kinda had their own garden and their own livestock? Or did you guys share resources? Or how did that work?
Tommy (Dad): Well, like when we lived here, they was a Chapin cabin which I'll show you where it stood. And, uh, that was the ... And then there was the honeymoon cabin that was behind us back there.
Melissa: Okay.
Tommy (Dad): Where you took a left.
Melissa: As we went awen- where, right, it would've been over there?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. Yeah. And then right on the, just back of that little tree right there.
Melissa: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Tommy (Dad): That little apple tree, uh, that's where the Chapin cabin, uh, was built, and it was seven-and-a-half-foot logs stood on end.
Melissa: Oh, really? Instead of being laying down horizontal they were upright?
Tommy (Dad): Right.
Melissa: Wow. Now, was that ... Did they build that while you were here or when you guys came here it was already built?
Tommy (Dad): No, it was already built.
Melissa: It was already there.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: And that was right here on the knoll right behind the tree?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. Right where those ferns are.
Melissa: Now, were there other houses out here?
Tommy (Dad): No.
Melissa: Or was the Chapin one the furthest one out?
Tommy (Dad): They was one, two, three, four, five, six, seven houses that, uh, was occupied before we moved in.
Melissa: Okay. So when, by the time you guys moved in here at the homestead house, how many of those homes were there still people living in when you guys lived here?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, about three.
Melissa: Okay. So like the Chapin cabin was one?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah. Now, with the way that the river's changed since then, has the river moved this way? Or was this about the way it was back then that you had all of this forest and stuff?
Tommy (Dad): No, it's moved this way.
Melissa: So you, there was actually more area to hunt than there is now.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: On this piece.
Tommy (Dad): Then you'll take a left here.
Melissa: Left?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Okay. Well, back then didn't- didn't Grandpa like during the winter months ... Like, trapping was still a trade at that time, right, when you were little? Did Grandpa do trapping?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. Him and Ralph, er, uh, Buchanan, they, uh, walked in. It was a nine-mile walk into Illabot Lake, and they went up there and trapped marten.
Melissa: Wow.
Tommy (Dad): A good pelt, uh, then on marten, uh, would bring about 80 bucks.
Melissa: Wow. Really?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Well, that was some good money back then.
Tommy (Dad): Oh, yeah.
Melissa: I mean, 80 bucks still isn't something to sneeze at, but back then that go- I don't even know what the equivalent would've been. Well, aside from the hunting and Grandpa doing the trapping, what ... Did you guys do very much like foraging or wild harvest? Like getting food from the forest? Or was it more just what you cultivated in the garden?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, we raised, uh, three or four pigs a year, and, uh, we had, like I sa- told you before, we had four or five milk cows and we staged them so we'd have fresh milk all the time.
Melissa: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Tommy (Dad): And then we raised our own beef. We had a locker in Rockport, and you could rent a- a, oh, a little space about, oh, 4 x 3, and, uh, that's where you kept your meat.
Melissa: So you could actually just rent refrigerator space in a cooler locker at ...
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Was it part of the general store or a different ...
Tommy (Dad): No, no.
Melissa: Or was there power on this side of the river at that point?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Just not to every ... Everybody just didn't have it yet.
Tommy (Dad): Right. It went up the Marten Road there.
Melissa: Okay. And so then if you were further out than that, you didn't have- have access to it.
Tommy (Dad): Mm-hmm (affirmative). Things were quite a bit different then.
Melissa: Do you think for- for better or worse or just different?
Tommy (Dad): Well, I think it was for better. It was a hard times then. I can remember when Dad, uh, he worked for about five or six bucks a- a day.
Melissa: A day.
Tommy (Dad): A day.
Melissa: So that's less than a buck an hour.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah. Well, you guys back then because you said you had ... Didn't ... You guys had chickens too, didn't you?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, yeah.
Melissa: Big chicken coop?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. We basically raised everything we ate, except salt, sugar, stuff like that.
Melissa: Yeah. So now, did you ... Did Grandma grind her own cornmeal from the corn? 'Cause I know Grandma did a lot-
Tommy (Dad): No.
Melissa: ... more with cornmeal and cornbread. She'd somewhat flour biscuits and whatnot, but she didn't really make a lot of bread itself.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: So you ... She did buy the flour and cornmeal too then.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. And she would not use yellow cornmeal. She said that was cow feed.
Melissa: (laughs) So she'd only use the white?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah. Boy, went Grandma had her mind set on something, that was that. So the house never, this house never has had electricity other than there's a little bit of way we could hook up to a battery, right?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. Yeah, you could, uh, put a generator right on those wires and light that. But you'd have to change the, uh, bulbs in the ... See, it's got DC bulbs in it now.
Melissa: Okay.
Tommy (Dad): And, uh, I had it fixed at one time so you could just pull in and plug in to the front of the car.
Melissa: To go off the battery.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah. So it, yeah. There didn't, there's never been any electricity lines out here then.
Tommy (Dad): Uh, the County says it was built back in the, uh, 1900.
Melissa: Oh, okay. So it's 120 years old.
Tommy (Dad): Oh, yeah.
Melissa: There's not many of them around here still standing.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. I'd put the metal roof on it.
Melissa: So originally it had shake, a shake roof on it?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. See, uh, and then the, uh, right over the hill there, uh, there was a- a hole dug and Dad fixed it up pretty good. It was water, and it was about so deep. And that's where Mom kept the milk.
Melissa: Was right over this hill here?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: So it's kind of like a little springhouse then, like a dugout springhouse 'cause it had the water in there.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah, that's right.
Melissa: Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Is it locked?
Tommy (Dad): No.
Melissa: No? We can go on in?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, you can go in.
Melissa: Well, she doesn't even stick. Pretty smooth opening.
Tommy (Dad): (laughs) Huh?
Melissa: I said, "She opened pretty smooth."
Tommy (Dad): Oh, yeah.
Melissa: Yeah. So was the- the woodstove always right here? I mean, there's ...
Tommy (Dad): No. Uh, the-
Melissa: Where- where was that originally?
Tommy (Dad): ... The chimney that's there was right about here, and this was a bedroom.
Melissa: Oh.
Tommy (Dad): And then they were three bedrooms, uh, going in ... I put that door in.
Melissa: You did?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: So where originally, how did you enter into that bedroom?
Tommy (Dad): Uh, you had a door in the kitchen there.
Melissa: That went into there instead?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa: Okay. So then that part you opened up to be as part of the living room later.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. Right.
Melissa: Okay.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah, and then, uh, there was two bedrooms upstairs. Well, actually, one. It was all-
Melissa: It was kind of like the main, uh, a main attic there?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah. So the wood- then originally the woodstove went right here, so this was just the living room part.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: 'Cause that was a bedroom, and then there was this part.
Tommy (Dad): Well, at one time this was the kitchen.
Melissa: Oh!
Tommy (Dad): And then, uh, Dad changed it 'cause Mom, she got tired of people coming through the kitchen to get to the living room.
Melissa: Oh, okay. So then you guys flipped it.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa: I see. I didn't know that. Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): Oh?
Melissa: I'm getting a good history lesson here.
Tommy (Dad): Hmm.
Melissa: If I ever get my house plumbed for propane instead of electricity, I think this stove would look really good in my kitchen.
Tommy (Dad): Mmm.
Melissa: Don't you think?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. Probably would.
Melissa: Probably would. Probably look pretty good. I got that on camera. That's on record, y'all, so ...
Tommy (Dad): (laughing)
Melissa: So did they have to put the chimney in or there was already a chimney back here?
Tommy (Dad): No, that was already here.
Melissa: Okay. 'Cause though they already had two- two stoves for the house.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah. Grandma did all the cooking on a woodstove? Or did you have ...
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. It was a-
Melissa: Yeah. Everything was done by [crosstalk 00:19:08].
Tommy (Dad): ... She had a big, uh, stove. It was called, uh, Kalamazoo.
Melissa: Oh, really?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. And it had a 10-gallon water tank on it.
Melissa: Oh. So that was what ... How you- you could just heat your water from right there?
Tommy (Dad): And that's what we took a bath in.
Melissa: Was from that 10 gallons of hot water?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. So ...
Melissa: And wasn't that your chore? That was your chore, you kids, is to have all the kindling and stuff ready for Grandma in the morning to cook with?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, yeah. We had to carry the wood in.
Melissa: Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): Which was through that door.
Melissa: Now, when you were growing up, obviously you guys didn't have television here.
Tommy (Dad): No.
Melissa: 'Cause there's no electricity. But you did listen to the radio, right? So that was kinda your only form of entertainment was- was that.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Or just your imagination? Right?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah, the Lone Ranger and different ones.
Melissa: The Lone Ranger?
Tommy (Dad): Old Tonto. (laughs)
Melissa: Yeah?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. They, uh ...
Melissa: Did Grandpa have, did you just listen to it by battery? Was just battery operated 'cause there wasn't electricity at all.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. No.
Melissa: Yeah. So it was just battery operated. So you probably only turned it on, right, when you knew a specific show was coming on, for the most part to conserve the batteries?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. Well, we got about, oh, half hour in the evening we could listen to the radio.
Melissa: Yeah. Hear that Landon? Half hour of entertainment only.
Landon: 'Cause it ran on batteries.
Tommy (Dad): (laughing)
Melissa: He's not in agreement with this. I think that was pretty good. (laughs)
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, one time, uh, Dad didn't come home, and he was, he was, uh ... Mom said, uh, she come in. That was my bedroom in there.
Melissa: That one was? That room?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah, and Mom's was right there. They was a door right there that went through. And, uh, she said, uh, "Your dad didn't come home last night." And, uh, I said, "Well, what- what does that mean?" "Well," she said, uh, "your horse didn't come home either." So I went out looking for it, and they was probably two foot of snow on the ground.
Melissa: Oh.
Tommy (Dad): And, uh, I got out to where the highway, uh, 530 is now. I could see something black down there, and, uh, course they was, like I said, two foot of snow. And I kind of, I knew enough that, uh, bears and stuff did not come out in, uh, wintertime. They hibernate.
Tommy (Dad): So, uh, I- I kept looking down there, and then I got brave enough till walk on down the, uh, little gravel road to see what it was. And Dad had got the horse down, and it was curled around him. So, uh, I got him up and, uh, I- I finally got him to walk home.
Melissa: Got the horse to come home?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: So the horse curled around him is what saved him because he got the horse [crosstalk 00:22:25] and-
Tommy (Dad): Oh, yeah. He was just as warm as could be.
Melissa: Wow.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): And the wind blowing over top of him, and he was sitting curled up re- uh, r-right on the belly of that horse.
Melissa: Right. Yeah. Yeah. How old were you then? Remember?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, I probably was 12, 14.
Melissa: Yeah?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Is it still solid enough to go up the stairs upstairs? Or not?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, you probably could.
Melissa: Yes.
Tommy (Dad): All you gotta do is open the door and go up there.
Melissa: So your bedroom was downstairs here for the most part that-
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah?
Tommy (Dad): And Mom, she kept boarders here. And they slept upstairs.
Melissa: Oh. So that was the way she made extra income was that she, people came and boarded here?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah. Is there where you guys hung the leather britches? For the fall for the beans? Or was that downstairs?
Tommy (Dad): It was downstairs.
Melissa: Was downstairs. So this was just pretty much bedroom space or if you had boarders for sleeping.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. They was a- a bedroom, I mean, a bed here and then one on that end.
Melissa: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Tommy (Dad): That's where the guys slept.
Melissa: Oh.
Tommy (Dad): It's hard to believe that, uh, we lived in here. (laughs)
Melissa: Yeah. Where did Grandma store all the canned goods, like when you guys put up all the food for the winter?
Tommy (Dad): Well, that was a rent house out there.
Melissa: Oh, this was?
Tommy (Dad): And there was ties all the way around like, uh, on that wall?
Melissa: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Tommy (Dad): And, uh, then, uh, they was ties across the front here. And the, uh, windows, double-pane windows was, uh, on the opening out there.
Melissa: So that's where she kept all of the- the food at then.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: The majority of it. Gotcha.
Tommy (Dad): See, that's cement in there.
Melissa: Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): Cement floor.
Melissa: Okay. So that was the, that was the storehouse.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Now, I know Grandma did some canning, but you said one of the main ways that you guys preserved the green beans was doing leather britches. Right?
Tommy (Dad): No. Yeah.
Melissa: Or one of the ways? Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. And then she canned a lot.
Melissa: Yeah. So for people who don't know, what's a leather britch?
Tommy (Dad): Well, you, uh, pick the- the green beans and then you- you strung them, and then you put, uh, took a- a needle and a- a long thread and, uh, you, uh, run the needle through the beans.
Melissa: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Tommy (Dad): And, uh, then you hung 'em up and dried 'em. And then when the, in the wintertime, uh, you soaked them and they would almost come back to the original color. And, uh, that's what they call leather britches because they were kinda chewy.
Melissa: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Tommy (Dad): And which had a pretty good flavor.
Melissa: Yeah. So did Grandma just string 'em up over, like over the- the stove areas where the heat would rise to help 'em dry faster?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah. So it's kinda like a bean garland, basically.
Tommy (Dad): Pardon?
Melissa: It's like a bean garland.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah. And just dr- dried that way. Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): Oh, yeah.
Melissa: So where outside, where was the garden spot then from that?
Tommy (Dad): Right over there.
Melissa: Just right out the front?
Tommy (Dad): Right across the road.
Melissa: Oh. It was over across the road in the field?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. But see, uh, when this house was, cabin was built, it was only come to right about here.
Melissa: It did?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: And then that part was added on?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. And I didn't know that until, uh ... See, the- the door used to be here? See that?
Melissa: Yeah. I see that.
Tommy (Dad): Goes all the way down.
Melissa: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I do, actually. Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Huh. Who built that on then? It ... 'Cause it was before you guys came here it was built back on.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Melissa: Yeah. You guys didn't add it on.
Tommy (Dad): And they used to be a window right there.
Melissa: Hmm.
Tommy (Dad): And Dad, he, uh, later changed it.
Melissa: Yeah. Sure is peaceful.
Tommy (Dad): And- and if you gotta go to the bathroom, you use that little house right there. (laughs)
Melissa: What'd you guys use for toilet paper?
Tommy (Dad): Uh, catalogs.
Melissa: (laughing)
Tommy (Dad): Sears and Roebuck.
Melissa: Nobody's wanted advertisement for a year. Nothing's changed. (laughs) The Sears Roebuck catalog was-
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Was it? Yeah? Yeah. So there was no toilet paper shortages.
Tommy (Dad): Uh, Montgomery Wards too.
Melissa: Yeah. (laughing) That's funny.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. It's a lot different now.
Melissa: Yeah?
Tommy (Dad): Life. And, uh, it's easier right now. Russ Taylor and I was talking the other days, and he's two years older than I am. And, uh, he said, uh, they never owned a- a car until he was, oh, 20, 25 years old.
Melissa: Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): They just had horses.
Melissa: They just had the horses?
Tommy (Dad): Yeah.
Melissa: Did- did you guys have a vehicle? Or just a horse? When you were growing up, must've just been a horse.
Tommy (Dad): Well, we had horses to start with.
Melissa: Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): And then Dad, uh, he had a '29 Chevy and, uh, then he upgraded there and, uh, had a- a '31 Model A sedan.
Melissa: Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): Boy, we thought we was really going to town. (laughs)
Melissa: You got your upclass then? Yeah?
Tommy (Dad): Oh, yeah. And then he got a '41 Chevy five-passenger coupe, and I've always wanted one. And I would buy one today if I-
Melissa: If you come across 'em?
Tommy (Dad): Look at that.
Melissa: Cottonwood.
Tommy (Dad): Cottonwood.
Melissa: Uh, looks like it's snowing.
Tommy (Dad): And, uh, yeah. I would buy one even today.
Melissa: Yeah. Well, when you guys had the horses, did you have a wagon then? Or did you just ride the horse if you had to go somewhere? But if it was the family, you guys just walked?
Tommy (Dad): Uh, no, we rode the horse.
Melissa: Just rode the horse.
Tommy (Dad): Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): We usually had a team.
Melissa: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Tommy (Dad): Bess and- and Bob-
Melissa: Yeah.
Tommy (Dad): ... was the horses' name. Yeah, it was a- a different time.
Melissa: Yeah. You miss it?
Tommy (Dad): Uh, it was hard work.
Melissa: Well, I hope that you enjoyed that (laughs) episode, uh, as much as I did. And I want you to know that I am working on my dad to come back and be on camera and do a few more videos. So we shall see if he does so.
Melissa: I wanted to share with you a verse of the week. So this is from Proverbs, and it's Proverbs 16:16: "How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver?" I thought this was a very appropriate verse, being as we have talked about the Great Depression and the war and times where people didn't have very much money or a lot of material things, but how they still had a very good life.
Melissa: And I feel like in this world, there is a lot of information that is shared, but there's not nearly as much wisdom that is gained or shared with that knowledge. I mean, we have knowledge at our fingertips like no other time in history, honestly, with- with the internet, right? But unfortunately, it seems that we have less people who are exercising wisdom with that knowledge.
Melissa: Now, of course, (laughs) I would like to think that if you're listening to this podcast and myself, that that is not true of us. But I also wanna take a moment to reflect and gain that wisdom and insight from others who have went through and experienced a lot more than I have, my dad being one of those people, people from that generation.
Melissa: And so I leave that with you, and I thank you for sharing these moments and stories right along with me. And I look forward to being here back here with you next week, so blessings and Mason jars for now, my friends.
Sign up to receive email updates
Enter your name and email address below and I'll send you periodic updates about the podcast.
More Articles on the Great Depression
- 10 Things Our Grandparents Reused During the Great Depression
- 6 Things Our Great-Grandparents Did Better Than Us
- Time & Budget Saving Tips from the Great Depression & this Homesteader’s Kitchen
- Handmade Gift Bags & Tags from the Great Depression Era
- 5 Life Lessons from the Great-Depression
- Great Depression Era Money Saving Tips w/ Potatoes
- 7 Depression Era Tips to Stretch Your Food Budget
- 8 Depression Era Tips to Save Money Now
- Building a Great Depression Era Pantry
- How to Stay Cool in the Summer Naturally & Old Fashioned Tips
- How to Keep Your House Cool in the Summer without Electricity
- Surviving Winter Without Power & Great Depression Christmas Traditions
- Time Management Skills for the Homestead
- A Military Wife’s Look on Homestead Preparedness
Want to grow a year’s worth of food?
Get my FREE planting chart!
Oh my – that was sooooo much fun! Please thank your Dad for being such a good sport! Made me extra miss my Granny! Loved each and every story! Thanks!!!
Thankyouu grandpa!!
Thanks for this. I grew up at the end of depression, officially, but it didn’t just end. Many things here I remember and so interesting the differences. Different parts of the country different ways and different foods. Thanks again I enjoyed it.
Hi Lanna,
So glad you enjoyed this and it is really fascinating how regions affect the foods and the way we do things.
We want more of Grandpa. Tell him we want videos. He is a celebrity among your subscribers.
Wonderful! I asked the first question. Tell your dad thank you for me.
That podcast was so good. My parents’ life, when they owned their first sugar plantation in coastal Queensland, Australia, paralleled your father’s story so much. Even when I was growing up I can remember washing day with Mum’s large copper boiler bubbling with grated homemade soap above an outdoor fire with sheets and pillow cases from our beds being prodded with Mum’s prop stick. She used outdoor lines except in the rainy season when they had to be hung under the house initially and then, if the river rose too high, she had to transfer them onto our verandahs. Our house was built up on fourteen feet large tree trunks because of the river we lived beside, flooding. We had no electricity but we had large galvanized fresh water tanks on high posts, higher than the floor of our plantation house so that the water could run freely downward into containers for washing up and for drinking. We had an outhouse which was prone to be a meeting place for many of those venomous spiders and snakes that we have in Australia. At night we had a large chamber pot under our beds we could use without having to venture down the back stairs and over the back lawn to the outhouse. Hanging outside our back door on the back landing Mum kept a gauze sided safe in which she kept a container of milk from our cows standing in a tray of cool water alongside our meat. Like your parents Mum did a lot of preserving in jars and she made Ginger Beer from a plant that she fed to keep the process going. Many a bottle exploded in the fermenting stage.
Thanks so much for that! It was so interesting. It makes me want to go back in time and see what life was like! I think I am so spoiled in keeping house and taking care of my family. I really enjoyed that talk. Bring your dad back again sometime!!
Thank you so much, Melissa & “Dad”. So many times, we don’t appreciate the past, we are so busy planning for the future. We think that we don’t need that knowledge because of new technology. WRONG! I wish so much I had questioned my grandparents while they were still alive about growing up in the early 1900’s. Or even my parents growing up in the 30-40’s.
I think back to the few memories I have of grammie doing laundry in that round washing machine with the wringer on it and the hose out the back garage door. (that was in the summer, in the winter, it ran into the sink she had opposite the cold room.)
They came from the LA area of California when mom was 3. (grampa left after their first earthquake to Oregon.) He built their house which they lived in all their lives until they passed away. I can still drive by it…it was built that well….grampa was a perfectionist. he built some of his own furniture, was a Posse member, worked for a mortician for awhile until he couldn’t stand it anymore. So many memories.
If you take away anything from this, PLEASE! talk to your parents and grandparents. Ask them about growing up. You will learn so much. You WILL regret it if you don’t.
This is one of the best blog articles I’ve ever read! Please have your dad back again sometime.
Jenna,
Thanks, I will! It was my favorite one. 🙂
I really enjoyed this. I would love to have you pick your dad’s brain for more. A LOT more!!!
How feasible is it to consider a milk cow with no previous cattle experience? Also, your dad stated the Pacific Northwest would be the best place for a 21st century Great Depression. What about volcanic activity, and living in the Ring of Fire?I think many of us aspire to the life your dad talks about, and I know you personally have experience, but what is realistic this late in the game?
Thank you so much for that wonderful interview. What a blessing to hear your Dad tell us about how it used to be! We like you are striving to return to simpler (yet more labor intensive) practices, the work is so good for us! I grew up in Mendocino County which I think is relatively near the old homestead? Please tell you Dad thank you from me too, I would love to hear more about anything he has to share. 🙂
Thanks, Alli. It is more work, this simple living, lol, but I agree, it’s worth it.
Tina,
It would depend on your set up for the milk cow, your acreage, barn or milk shed, how many people you need the milk for, etc.
I believe anywhere you pick has pros and cons, you just have to choose what works best for you and your family. Where we live, there aren’t any active volcano’s in our exact location, but earthquakes are possibilities.
I think any of it is realistic to the degree you choose to do it. Of course, that’s going to depend on the land you have available, time, etc. We manage to do quite a bit and both my husband and I work regular jobs on top of it. Most people are able to can their own food, even if they can’t grow all of it, and that’s a great place to start.
I really enjoyed listening to your father today, brought back so many memories of my own dad talking about the depression, and putting up for the winter etc. Dad is gone now so it really was heartwarming to be reminded. Thank you
Your interview with your Dad is lovely; made me miss ours and his adventures parallel your Dads life here in Iowa. Your Dad is a great guy! I need to talk to him about the river and Barnaby Slough; if I get my questions together maybe you can help me?
Thanks, Beth!
I’m sure he would talk to you about that! 😉
Precious memories from your father! I enjoyed your article very much. Brought back many memories of my own parents and grandparents. Thank you for sharing.
Oh that was fun to listen too! Thank you for sharing it!!
I enjoyed listening to it all! I particularly found the part about grandma just mixing dough or whatever in the bag of flour she was using interesting. I don’t think my grandma did that but both she and my parents are gone now so I don’t know for sure.
I think my parents would agree, life was hard during the 30’s depression but I do think they had some good times and life was much simpler with less distractions and families were closer.
It was very enjoyable to listen to your father, what a trip down memory lane. My grandmother & mother were the ones who told me about how they grew up. As I child I was fascinated by my grandmother’s button box. As your father said people threw very little away during those times. The ‘button box” were buttons from years of saving them from worn out clothes. Clothing was passed on or “recycled”. Buttons were removed and put into a button box to use when needed. Zippers(which came later) were also removed and put away for use another time. Lace and fancy trim, again was removed and saved. The rest of the cloth was used for patching, rags or stuffing for toys, pillows, mattresses.
I inherited my grandmothers darning egg, this was wood. One of the first things, I learned from my grandmother was how to darn socks. Until she died, no one dared to throw away a sock with a hole. You darned it. My brother also learned how to darn socks, and when he got married, he was the one who would darn the kids socks. I taught my daughters and son, but in today’s world I doubt they do it. But if the world suddenly goes wrong, they at least know how to do it, if needed.
i’m finding all these posts and the whole interview so interesting. i read this from a different yet similar perspective. i am first generation american (no depression for me), but my parents have taught me a lot of these skills as they came to the us from countries/families that were struggling. the values are the same. waste not want not. i used to darn socks. not sure if i can still do it, as it is easier/cheap to buy new and i fell out of practice; i still feel a little shame as i throw a sock or underpants with a hole away!
Hi there,
Just a note of thanks. This was the best post I have ever read !!
Thank you for sharing.
My father was born in 1921, number 9 of 10 kids and number 3 of 4 boys, on a homestead 120 miles north of Fayetteville Ark. in what is now a national forest. A 7 room, 2 story log cabin was home. His 10th birthday present was a double bit axe ( I still have it ) as he was expected to join his father in supplying wood for the winter. No electricity, running water in the kitchen came from a pipe stuck into the stream uphill of the house. Their existence was every bit as hard as you could imagine. The closest “town” was Red Star ( pop. 9) with Boston (pop 14) being about another 5 miles. Jobs were nonexistent. Dad once told me the worst whipping he ever got was when his father caught him drinking the juice off the top of the fermenting cabbage barrel or when he was given an old telephone magneto and using a small copper wire he created quite a flurry when his sisters used the seat in the out house – lol.
Moving to another hardscrabble homestead in NE Oklahoma in 1936 he finished high school in 1938 and joined the Oklahoma National Guard to provide additional income for the family.
In 1959 when I was 14 years old my dad & I camped two nights at the old 2 story cabin in the national forest. we enjoyed wild strawberries for supper, decedents of those my grandmother had planted. Her pear and peach trees still bearing fruit after all those years.
Ron,
I had to laugh on the magnet and wire story, he sounds like a loveable rascal! Thanks so much for sharing your memories with us.
I am 60. When I was growing up we didn’t have freezer for awhile. We would render lard and we would butcher a hog and all the chops and loins, mom would fry them up. With a #30 crock, we would put lard on the bottom, about 2 inches of it. Yen a layer of fried pork then a layer of lard and so until the pork was gone. Then a thick layer of lard and on top of that a piece of plastic with a cover that fit inside the crock. And 2 heave cement blocks were placed on top, to force the lard and pork down, releasing any trapped air. And when we were having pork for supper, us kids would go down the basement and get however many mom wanted and she’d warm them up to eat.
Yeah, I know, everybody says I am full of BS, but that’s how we got by not having a freezer.
I am 83. I rememer all those things. It was my job daily to empty the “slop jar” & weekly to scrub the toilet. We cured meat & canned many qts of food. I made the lightbread from the time I was 11. My dad always had a big beautiful garden. I wish I were able to milk. I would sure have a cow. I have considered a goat but I don’t want to milk twice a day. I do have chickens & just hatched some babies. Love it. I have 6 acres with a lake & I LOVE to fish. My kids think I should be in town in an apt. I was for 2 yrs & moved back home last summer. Now my kids won’t speak to me. I live by myself. It’s sad but I am where I want to be.
Carol,
Prayers for mended relationships but your set-up sounds awesome! A lake with fish, how wonderful. I’m with you on not being tied down to the milking yet. 🙂 From one homesteading girl to another, thanks so much for sharing your story.
Love your reflections on life during the depression
I just loved hearing your dad talk about the old days. We can learn so much from the elderly if we just listen. Thanks for sharing.
Maxine,
Totally agree and I”m so glad you enjoyed this episode.
Thank you for sharing these, it was great reading these, like I was talking with one of my grandmothers. They lived with so little compared to what we have now, but that’s what they knew. I cannot imagine what would happen if a depression happened in this day and age.
Thank you, and thanks to your dad too!
Cara,
I’m so glad you enjoyed this one. We’re very spoiled these days and I hope we never have to go through a Depression like time either.
My sister once bought a 100 year old place in the hills around around Danville, Va that still had an old stone and concrete cooler out back under the trees. It was built on top of an Artesian well, where the flowing water would constantly cool the stone, creating and old-world fridge. That gauzed-sided safe is a great idea, too. The water wicks up into the gauze and is cooled by wind blowing through it, cooling whatever is inside. I’ve seen videos of such things being used in Texas. They’re made with wooden frames about the size of a large dorm fridge; they have all 4 sides covered in t-shirt material, with PVC drip rails at the upper edges fed by a small solar powered pump to keep the material wet. The one I remember most was used to keep fruits and veggies cool and fresh, like a crisper in the fridge. It worked reasonably well on hot days but worked best in the shade, as under the roof on a porch. Thanks to you and Dad for the timely reminder and the wonderful insight.
I came across this on Pinterest and am looking forward to listening to a bunch of episodes. Thanks for doing it, I had a podcast and know how much work it takes to make one.
Joe,
Thank you so much… it is some work, but a labor of love. Hope you enjoy!
I really enjoyed reading this Melissa. I too grew up without electricity and an outhouse until I moved out of my parents home. I do miss the old pump for water, it seemed like that was the best water ever. I do some gardening and I hope to get some chickens later in the year.
I grew up during the depression, and would LOVE to get a copy of it if Possible. We lived in KY. and I know times were hard. I was the # 12 th child. Could I any way get a copy of what I have been reading? It brings back so many memories. my email add. is [email protected]. I will be 89 years of age in 5 months. If I cannot get a copy here, do you know where I can ? I appreciate what you are telling my grand and G grand children. I have so many of them I cannot count them.haha
I found you through Pinterest. What a wonderful find too!! I can’t wait to read more of your posts and listen to more podcasts. This one was excellent. Took me back to summers with my Gram and gave me ideas to simplify things too. Please thank your dad too.
Loved reading your article. I am 45, and my father was born in 1920, he was 50 years old when I was born. (He passed away many years ago.) It is great hearing stories similar to what he would tell. I was young when he would tell me, but I remember a lot of his stories. It was an incredible time. I sometimes wish would could go back to some of the simplicity.
I enjoyed reading this, very much, thank you for sharing!
Oh How I loved your Dads story I remember my Moms stories just like that. I wish she could tell me now when I would be way more interested then when I was young teenage girl my Mom has dementia and once in a while I’ll mention her childhood on there small farm and she has a spark of recollection thanks again
Lovely interview!!! I enjoyed it so much. I’m from Mexico, and my grandma used to live in a little tow in the country, so this made me think of her a lot. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve still got my pop .. farm boy .. raised during the depression .. so want to ask and record him SOON!
You should definitely do it!
Hi Lisa,
I am a retired Activity Director. I worked in the Long Term Care of a Hospital. I very much loved visiting with my old “Mom’s and Dad’s”. They have so much knowledge to share. I really enjoyed your sharing these stories. Thank your Dad for me. Bless his heart. 🙂
I just listened to your podcast with your dad. What a treat! I had not heard about making bread in the flour sack….what a great idea!
What about spices? Did she trade for spices?
It’s very hard to cook just ènough food not to have a lot of leftovers to refrigerate.
It sounds like a completely ďifferent way of life. Thanks for the info
Linda
I’m glad you enjoyed it too, Linda!
I don’t believe she used a lot of spices, not many will grow here, we can do herbs but not really spices, so usually seasoning was salt, molasses, sugar, honey, etc. But I’ll ask my dad if he remembers her trading or purchasing any and what kinds.
Depression era values were taught to us ’70’s kids on a MI farm daily as we collected eggs, milked cows, weeded, churned butter, plucked feathers, canned, stewed fruits, hayed, chopped wood, learned to sew/crochet/darn, hung laundry, and baked bread. All we wanted was Wonder bread, disco music, Gloria Vanderbuilt jeans and to see Zanadu at the local drive in. When I could I got as far away from manual labor as I could…and thought I’d never look back.
I now live in the burbs outside NYC and long for that 40 acres of farmland.
I’ve made a mini homestead here, where I can. I have a 110 year old house, ducks, a garden, and a connection to the past that’s teaching my children those ’40’s values and skills I ran from.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking me back home.
Cynthia,
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Isn’t it funny how a little time makes us appreciate things we didn’t think we would? Your home sounds lovely and I’m happy to hear you’re passing them on to your kids too!
I really enjoyed the interview with your dad..I can remember when I used an old wringer washing machine in the 60’s..I could have listened to the two of you all afternoon..thanks. Cheryl
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Cheryl, it’s my favorite. My grandma used a winger washer up until I was a kid.
I truly enjoyed hearing your dad talk about the old days and how they lived. Brought back some of my childhood memories. I’m glade some are trying to get back to natural ways of life.
[…] we shared in Episode #81 with my father and 17 Self-Sufficiency Tips from the Great Depression and 1940’s almost all of the food they ate was what they grew and put up themselves. This used to be a way of […]
I loved reading about your dad’s life on the homestead. My mom is nearly 97, and I always loved listening to Mom and Dad talk about the life they had growing up. Dad had 12 brothers and sisters and they lived in a 2 room house! They made molasses, and it was Dad’s job to keep the cattle out of the cane field. They got out once and got into the cane field, and several cows died. That was a huge tragedy! They ate lots of potatoes, beans, and turnips because they grew well. But they had asparagus growing wild and didn’t realize it was edible! They picked it to put in bouquets of wild flowers!
Being born in 1920 and 1921, can you comprehend all the changes that they’ve lived through?! You’re so fortunate to have your dad to learn from and enjoy! My brother and I were discussing the different food preservation techniques that used to be so common. Apple slices were dried on a sheet placed on the tin roof of the shed. My grandmother preserved sausage patties by putting the cooked patties in a crock and covering them with melted lard. When you wanted sausage, you dug into the lard, then covered it back up with more melted lard. And she canned everything in a boiling water bath before pressure canners were available. It’s a miracle more people didn’t die!
Jan, what an awesome heritage. Yes, the sausage totally scars me… but I think bacteria has evolved even since then. My dad strung up green beans and dried them by the chimney, called leather britches!
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this story down and share it with us. I really enjoyed it and learned a few things too!
Regards
Cherri
Great Podcast!
Did your folks can using a hot water canning process? Thanks!
I enjoyed so much the interview with your Dad. He radiates beauty and humbleness. It mirrored my own father’s background; as both parents were born in the early 1930’s, my mother a city girl, but my father, like yours, was born at the rural homestead without electricity or indoor plumbing, and the large family relied on the farm for necessities. It’s a lovely podcast I just discovered today via Jennifer and will be subscribing. Thanks for sharing it, and the yummy cornbread recipe. — my favorite!!
Hello Karen and so nice to meet you! I’ll pass that on to my Dad, he was shy in when we first started recording. 🙂 And it sounds like you come from a heritage as well.
really enjoyed this My mom grew up in the depression
Cindy, so glad you enjoyed this, I’m amazed at those who went through it and the lessons they have to share with us.
Melissa, Please thank your Dad for sharing such valuable knowledge. He mentioned the chickens were not free rangers. Also that the flour scraps went to the chickens. But other than that what were those 50 or so chickens fed? Our garden is a work in progress so we do not have a lot of scraps. And we are just starting out with a milk cow. I would love to be able to get our 30 chickens off of purchased feed. We live far North in Quebec so corn does not do well here at all. God Bless -Kathryn
I really enjoyed reading this interview. I was really surprised about your grandmother making the bread in the flour sack! But I remember very clearly my own grandmother having that exact kind of cupboard! No one seems to remember it like I do. By the time I came along, it seems she used that sifter part to store clean flour sacks and towels for drying dishes etc. I have lived some of this life myself and I believe there’s a lot of value in it. I plan to share this. Thank you!
How precious to be raised by a man like this. To have this family history and self sufficiency. Thank you for putting this site together and sharing so generously.
Hi Melissa,
I loved listening to your dad, it brought back a lot of memories for me. Although I lived mostly in the city, my grandmother lived in a small town. She had one of those funny washing machines, hers had a square tub, with a handle on it, and you moved the handle back and forth to agitate the water, then she had a little motor put on it. She used a coal and wood stove, canned everything, I (at age 18) helped her can whole chickens. Her house had a treasure trove of antiques, some of the items were the water barrel and wooden bucket, from the wagon train when she came to Canada, and a very large meat cleaver. Her pantry was I always thought the smell of heaven with all her spices. She had 2 100 pound crocks that she used in the past for her flour and sugar. There were so many more
So many memories, so many memories.
I just loved this podcast. So wonderful to hear about how things were from someone that was there. Lovthat he still has some stories to surprise you with. Thanks for sharing your family with us.
That interview is an absolute treasure! My mom and dad also grew up during the depression. My dad’s family was better off, so i didn’t get these kinds of stories… they had an ice box, and he talked about it being his job to drain the pan at night. But my mom grew up on a farm.She told me about crumpling up and uncrumpling and crumpling up again Sears & Roebuck catalog pages to try to get them soft for toilet paper in the outhouse, that she studied for high school by kerosene lantern (I have it), about milking, egg gathering, smoking meat, and so on. She taught me how to bake bread, make candles, make my own dye for fabric, sewing, and just generally not being afraid to try to solve problems or make what i need.
Thank you so much for sharing this!
Holly, that Sears & Roebuck catalog got a lot of use on farms back in the day. I’d love to hear about the items used for making dye for fabric, what a treasure of information she passed down to you.
I remember so much of what your dad told about. We have no idea about how spoiled we are. And, oh, how they could cook. My life is certainly a lot easier than back then but I love the memories.
Loved hearing your dad talk. Good things to know. I’ve tried to keep up on the older generation food preparation and preservation methods. Liked hearing how grandma would make bread / buskers right I need the bag of flower. I grew up on farm in Eastern Washington and I feel a connection with what he said. I watched my grandma make apple pies, mine are just like hers. I miss granny!
Thanks, Melissa; It was great listening to your conversation with your dad. Our family moved to Washington State from the east coast in 1967. My parents drove across the country with us three kids in the back of the pickup truck. Luckily we had a simple aluminum truck canopy over the bed of the pickup to protect us from the sun and the rain, but it was not a pleasant trip. I was the only one who could stand upright because I was the youngest at five years old (very few seat belts back then). My dad died nine years ago and I miss him a lot. He used to tell us stories of the past like the one your dad told. So many times now I wish that I had stuck a tape recorder down in front of him when he talked. Treasure these days with your dad, believe me you will miss them later on. Thanks again and thank your dad for us. God Bless.
Hi Laura, thank you for sharing your memories (and I’m really glad for more comfortable travel these days, lol) and I do treasure the moments. 🙂
I really enjoyed this, tell your dad thanks for sharing and thank you for sharing your dad with us. My dad also came from a similar upbringing. I always enjoy the stories and often think how spoiled we are. I tried to download the recipes but couldn’t is there another way I can get them. Thanks
I’ll shoot you an email with them!
My paternal Grandmother’s house had a cold cupboard. It looked like all her other kitchen cupboards. Open it up and the shelfs were wire screen to allow air to ventilate. It had 2 openings to the outside, one high and one low, to encourage air flow. The openings were screened to prevent anything outside from coming in. And on the outside of the house there were covers to keep out the weather. The covers were like a box shape with both the bottom and the house side open. She didn’t use it for cold as she had a refrigerator.
Delightful and fascinating! Thanks to your dad for sharing!
This was awesome! My husband grew up Amish and they did a lot of these things. Including using pages to wipe in the outhouse. They did have indoor plumbing, but with ten kids and only one bathroom, they also used an outhouse. They also had a cold room and used cold lockers in town. Even with the Amish, things have changed drastically since he grew up. I really enjoyed reading this post. I find that we have all the modern conveniences, my girls play with Lego friends sets (lol), but we still smoke meat in a smoke house, can food, and I use a ton of lard, etc…
I do have to agree with your dad…. Canned deer steaks are the best! Oh my goodness, I couldn’t ask for a better meal. And, for a real treat, if we are able to find some morel mushrooms growing, cook those right along with it. Better than any meal I could ever find in a restaurant. Especially the deer back straps…. Mmmmm….
going down to our canning cellar and seeing rows and rows of canned deer steaks is such a good feeling. Though they never last and are always one of the first things to be gone. They are so easy to cook and have the juices and gravy.. It’s probably the easiest meal to cook.
Thanks to your dad for sharing. I enjoyed it so very much. Hope you have a blessed day. God bless you and your family.
This was very special.
Thank you!
That was lovely, thankyou. :o) I am 61 and the proud Mom of 2 great kids, Gran of 5 beautiful grandies. In my family, we joke that I was born in the late 50s in British Columbia, grew up with the 30s and 40s mindset and training from both sets of grandparents and my parents, somehow ‘missed’ the 60s and moved right on into the mid-70s…kind of dodging a bullet. XD …not entirely unscathed, but loving the family pioneer and homesteading stories.
Now that I’m retired, I am leaning toward keeping my little, urban, 1928 Hudson Bay house on the Canadian prairies [renovated thoroughly in 2009], doing some further repairs and upgrades, making a Back to Eden garden of my yards and learning some more of the old ways…which are coming back into ‘style’, it seems! :o)
My Mom was born in 1925 and my Dad in 1922. Sadly Mom passed away at the end of 2018 and my Dad last month (March 2019) … So my connection with the Depression; WW1 and WW2 is now gone.
However, with my parents living into their 90’s, I captured a lot of information over the years. It definitely laid the ground work for my own ability to live a self-sustaining lifestyle. Hopefully, someday before it’s too late, my Son will have the desire to learn what I know and can share.
Enjoying the information sharing. Everyone’s history and memories are unique.
Thank you for the interesting podcast! I grew up in Europe and loved listening to my grandma’s numerous stories (she was born in 1908). My grandma passed away the year I got out of high school, so I feel like I hardly had enough time to spend with her, but her stories I still remember!
Wow, that was cool listening to you and your Dad talking about his childhood! That’s the 1st podcast I’ve ever listened too! Thanks Melissa!
Have a great day and weekend coming up!
That was so interesting but made me sad to think how simple life was then although not an easy lifestyle. Now we worry about gmo in foods, have to be gluten free, all the hassles with technology that keeps us indoors more than we’d like.
Food choices were simple, unlike now we don’t know which is healthy paleo, kept, etc. trying to avoid all the cancer and diseases like lyme’s.
People seemed to live a healthy lifestyle, no drugs, no worries about totally disrespectful money hungry people including politicians, trafficking etc
I would give anything to have a society like it used to be and would gladly take it with the struggles they had back then
It’s sad today that kids don’t know where their food comes from nor do they have chores to do but rather feel entitled to everything.
. My whole family sat around the dinner table as I. Read out comments. We don’t usually have electronics at the table but I had to pick it up for another reason and came across this interview. My dad also lived during the great depression and I grew up on his stories because my grandmother was able to feed many of the men who would come to their house. My dad as a young man was fortunate to sit on the back porch and have his soup and sandwiches with the hobos. I’ll never forget when he told me the story of how when talking with one of the man that the man turn to my father and ask him by his first name how his schooling was going. My dad was so shocked by the visitor behind the beard knowing his first name. It was then that the visitor identified himself as one of my dads former and favorite teachers.
Quite a moment in our history.
Wow, that’s amazing and so wonderful you guys can pass it along and that your father’s family was able to provide food to so many.
This was great! My dad grew up on a farm and passed two years ago. Listening to this was like hearing him tell all of his stories of growing up. I enjoyed it so much!
I loved this! My grandpa said his mother also would make her bread or biscuits right in the flour bag. I was shocked when I heard that but wow! So smart!
Wonderful to listen to!!
As all my Grandparents lived the similar life, they being born in 1898, 1900, 1910 & 1915. My Paternals from West Texas and Maternals from Colorado, who came out west looking for work with the railroads up in Northern CA. The Texans remained there with plenty of work helping neighbors till because my Grampa was one of the first in their little community to buy a tractor that would out work many many horses and not eat when it wasn’t used 🙂
My Wifes Gramma, born in 1900 was spooked by a flushing toilet, stayed at the homestead in VA where she was born, without running water and an outhouse until she suffered a stroke at 90 and moving into a care home in town for her last year.
Question for your Dad, no mention of keeping the calves coming, Bull Service barter with the neighbors??
Thanks So Much, David/Cayucos
Wonderful to listen to!!
As all my Grandparents lived the similar life, they being born in 1898, 1900, 1910 & 1915. My Paternals from West Texas and Maternals from Colorado, who came out west looking for work with the railroads up in Northern CA. The Texans remained there with plenty of work helping neighbors till because my Grampa was one of the first in their little community to buy a tractor that would out work many many horses and not eat when it wasn’t used 🙂
My Wifes Gramma, born in 1900 was spooked by a flushing toilet, stayed at the homestead in VA where she was born, without running water and an outhouse until she suffered a stroke at 90 and moving into a care home in town for her last year.
I also thought I’d mention how it seemed like yesterday, growing up in the 60’s/70’s from parents that lived in the era of your Dad, where the Biblical concept of no work/no eat was in full force, and was reminded of reusing twist ties over and over, washing and reusing tinfoil and Brown paper lunchbags and baggies, Prior to the foldover ones; then later, the kids/folks that were wealthy had the ziplocs when they were available.
Question for your Dad, no mention of keeping the calves coming, Bull Service barter with the neighbors??
Thanks So Much, David/Cayucos
Hi David,
My dad keeps a bull for his herd but we don’t, we barter to use his bull or the neighbors, works great for all of us!
What a strong stock of homesteaders you come from!
Oh this brought back memories!
My dad, now 91 years okd, spent part of his youth living in a cabin with gas lighting and a pump in the yard.
Before my grandparents retired, they bought about 200 acres of strip logged land dead cheap on Hwy 101, North of Brookings, Oregon, and started going down there from Eugene as often as possible to camp, plant trees, and dream of retirement. Grandpa built the m a lean-to and dug an outhouse, that was where they stayed. Water was fetched from a spring around 15 minutes walk up the hill.
When they retired, ( he was a sociology prof and she was a high school English literature teacher) they bought a couple of horses, and a couple of ponies for us grandkids. They used the horses to check the fences, because it was too steep and uneven to use a vehicle.
Later on, they built their own house, which is still there, piped water from the spring, and got hooked up with electricity from the huge pylons that crossed their land. They never had a telephone for a good 10 years, but grandpa became a ‘radio ham’ and loved talking to his friends 10 miles away in town.
Before the house was built, grandpa had a garden up and running and quickly found strategies for keeping rabbits, ground dogs and deer out! Grandma canned everything, and like your grandma, bought in flour, sugar and so on, in bulk.
They had a huge freezer ( could have hidden a couple of bodies in there) for fish and game that grandpa shot, caught or traded, and cupboard all the way across the back of the 2 car garage for grandma’s canned goods.
Grandpa bought a boat and would go out fishing for Chinook salmon and anything else that took a fancy to his bait. The pro fishermen soon learned to respect him, and as he went back home, you could see them heading for his spot!
My favorite meal in the world, is still fresh caught broiled Chinook salmon with freshly harvested edible pod peas and new potatoes with butter. Sooooo yummy!
Going to stay with them for a couple of weeks in the summer was always my idea of absolute Heaven.
My parents grew up during the depression. They never recovered. They continued their thrifty and conservative ways for the rest of their lives. Needless to say, I learned a lot from them.
Oh how I loved this episode! (I read it rather than listening to the podcast.) My parents were both Depression Era children as well and told some of the same stories. (My Mammy didn’t use a bowl for her biscuits either!!!) I was privileged to be able to glean old-time knowledge from them and my grandmother (born in 1906). I grew up milking our family cow, gardening with my Daddy, and putting up corn, tomatoes, and jams and jellies with my Mama and Mammy. What a huge blessing all that know-how is in these precarious times! I never knew I was learning skills that others didn’t know…it was just life, and spending time with the people I loved.
Thanks Melissa for the trip down memory lane. I too lived like this, but didn’t have the food necessary in the Depression. The Lord supplied and we survived. WWII began and we had work and money, but it was instrumental to the division of family that we have ultimately come to. Those who recognize the importance of family relationships and a gratitude to God are much the richer for it – especially as it was in the youth of your Father and for me. I have followed you for some time now and believe that you have grasped that concept yourself. One who can do so is truly blessed by.
Thank you for sharing! What a treat to listen to your dad and his experiences. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I have had a lot of those experences when i was growing up but we did have electricty
Love reading this i was born 46 thats the way we lived share cropers
That was a very enjoyable read. Please thank your dad for sharing his stories of old. It’s so important that the stories of our ancestors don’t die with them.
You have a special family and I’m sure a whole lot of love!
Loved the interview with your dad,especially the part about using the bag of flour to make the biscuits!
wow….thanks Mr Tom..
You awoken alot of my own childhood memories of Depression.
Hunting , setting Fishing nets, Trap lines were a huge part of our survival in Northern Ontario..We never had the Homestead animals like you mentioned in your experience..but we did alot of fur trading for canned goods, and ammunition.
We weren’t allowed farm animals / it was against the law for us northern First Nations to have farm animals…so we were dependant alot on our traditional ways for survival.
If there was a Native family whom wanted to start up a homestead with animals..the laws back then required that family to give up all their native rights and become fully assimiliated into white man’s society. All future children would have no native rights.
Collecting wild edibles was a must-do activity and smoking meats and lots of barn building for our staples of flour, Sugar, coffee, lard etc…
It wasn’t till the late 1960’s that farming was introduced for many natives and it took off….we excelled in apple orchards, grains, potato production and many other crops…but we were still not allowed to have access to machinery till 1970’s ..
I recall the times of the outhouse..and fish camps, hunting camps, seasonal activities well…thanks again for awakening some of my own memories through your recollections.
Great job Melissa with the questions.
I appreciated listening to your father tell about his experiences as a young boy during such a difficult time. I am in my seventies, and my mom and dad spoke about the Depression and how different life was back them. I hope he will join you again to speak because what he shared was so valuable for young and old to hear. My parents understood the responsibility of providing for their own family rather than depending on the government to take care of them. When I grew up the larder was always stocked, not because my parents were preppers, but because it was just common sense. Blessings to you and your family.
Boy this was a flash back of my mon telling us about how she grew up and what they had to do just to live. Thanks to both you and your dad for the memories.
What an amazing treat! This reminded me of my grandpa, he grew up in similar times during The Great Depression. I was fortunate to grow up next to him most of my whole childhood. Your Father is a lot like my Grandfather was. I love homesteading, and all of the awesome content you have on your website, and YouTube. I´m so glad I found your channel, and website; such a gem! Keep up the Great work, God Bless your family!:)
I really enjoyed listening to your dad! What a sweet man! I love history and hearing how people used to do things and live and I still learned things I didnt know from him! It was so much fun!
That was an incredible interview. It is so good to have your dad’s voice and listen to his story. Wish I had done that with my own father before he passed. Lovely interview. Thank you so much.
I was unable to download the recipes. I clicked on it, filled in my info, clicked on Download Now – and it just sat there, with the timer showing.
It should have come via email, did you get it?
What a blessing to hear, thank you so much for sharing
That was so interesting! Good job! Could have listened to more.
Reminds me of my youth, bless you.
This was super fascinating to read! I didn’t want it to end! I loved hearing about how things were years ago. We really do have an easy life in so many ways, don’t we?
Love your website!
Please could I have your newsletter!
Hi Melissa!
I am a black indigenous person and I’m 54 years old. Reading your blog with your father brought me back! My grandparents on Both sides of my family didn’t have indoor toilets until 1976-1980. My maternal grandparents were the ones who didn’t get theirs until around 1980! We had out houses and chamber pots for at night! My maternal grandparents had a wood and gas stove but grandma mostly cooked well n the wood stove! We had a pot belly wood heater that kept us warm! Both set of grandparents had hand pumps for water but also had running water in the kitchen ( the only room in the house with running water until they got indoor toilet! My maternal grandma is the one who taught me to can and preserve along with my mama. We had large gardens and what we didnt grow, we picked out of someone else’s field or orchard! Grandma would say, “ you wanna eat don’t you?” She would also make us homemade ice cream! My grandparents were born in 1909 and 1910 (maternal). I don’t know about the other side but I believe around the same time! They lived frugally all their lives! My grandparents didn’t go to the store for nothing but dry goods as well because we grew everything else. We only started going to the store for sugar after my grandda died because we no longer planted sugar cane. There was a river on the back of our property and my grandda cut a tree and made his own canoe to fish! I’ve helped him skin deers and we ate chicken off the yard! There’s nothing like it! We’ve had horses, ducks, rabbits, turkeys and goats! My paternal grandparents always raised turkeys and we’d have one for thanksgiving and the other for Christmas although we don’t celebrate Christmas but it’s a time when our family gathered because everyone was off from work!
I went to Israel a few years ago and I wanted cold water. An African lady said to me that I was a spoiled American for always wanting cold water! So I told her how I was raised and told her to stop judging the book by the cover! I had to explain to her that the water that came up out of the ground from the hand pump was cold enough to frost your glass over! She was surprised! Again, I’m 54 years old now but I raised my daughter in the old ways! When I had my house built on my grandparents’ homestead, I had a wood heater added to my home. Though I have a gas stove, I still like cooking stews on it in my cast iron pots. There’s nothing like it! I wasn’t born in that era but my grandparents and my parents reared me with those values! Reading your father’s words brought me back to remember my grandparents! I had tears in my eyes because they’ve all passed on now but I’m here to keep their memories and wisdom alive! Im canning some pears right now from my pear trees in my yard! This was a blessing to me and hopefully others! Tell your father thank you and thank you for doing this! I wish I had recorded my grandparents before they passed!
Enjoy him while you can! He’s a blessing! Have a blessed rest of your day!
Loved this episode! Tried to open the cornbread recipe link though and it was un able to open.
Can I pay you by phone
Thanks for that wonderful memory session!