I am a child of the 50's. My grandparents lived through the Great Depression. Both sets of grandparents owned farms and grew, made, or canned almost everything they had. Consequently, one of my grandmothers said that if there hadn't been news reports on the radio and in the newspapers, they wouldn't have noticed there was a depression.
My idyllic childhood was actually a school of living frugally, and taught me how to do many things and to enjoy hard work and clean living. I learned much of what I'll tell you about by watching my maternal grandmother do things. I spent many hours at her house watching. She lived within walking distance and I was there nearly every day. After school I would stop to visit with her and she would give me a graham cracker and a glass of milk. She could have given me sauerkraut and I would have loved it because it came from her. Since she was Gram to me, I naturally thought those graham crackers were "gram crackers".
Gram and Gramp lived in a big old 1917 farm house with a wrap around porch. Behind the house was a smoke house for curing meat. There was a large garden plot that was fenced to keep out animals. Plum and peach trees rimmed the garden. A cistern captured rain water and cold drinking water could be drawn from the well on the back porch. Gram often worked on the porch in the summer to take advantage of any breeze that happened to be blowing. None of us had air conditioning in those days, though some may have.
The ceiling of the wrap around porch was painted sky blue. I assumed that was because Gram's favorite color was blue, but later I learned it deters wasps from building nests there.
One of my favorite things to watch Gram do was laundry. She had a wringer washer and a metal wash tub on legs to rinse clothing in. I mentioned that because not everyone had a special rinse tub. Some placed a chair beside the wringer washer and put a galvanized metal tub filled with rinse water on the chair. People learned to make do with what they had.
Wash day was a major chore; back breaking work and it took hours to do. A hose was attached to the kitchen faucet and run out the window over the sink into the washer to fill the washer and rinse tub. Most women designated a certain day of the week for this task. I don't know what kind of laundry detergent Gram used or what made her wash smell so good, but that was part of the allure for me.
It couldn't have been the scary washing machine of the day. I am sure that after washing clothing on a wash board, this looked like the latest and greatest to women, but my grandmother had a cousin whose wife lost her hand in a wringer washer. Can you imagine??? If the wringers were that tight, the clothing must have been almost dry when it came out the other side.
Gram strung her clothes line back and forth on the wrap around porch to dry clothing. When the laundry was dry, the clothes line came down with the clothes, and the wrap around porch became a beautiful place surrounded by yellow chinese roses, and rosey crepe myrtle. A big cushioned swing and a chaise lounge plus some big chairs invited visitors to sit and sip a glass of iced tea while they visited away an afternoon.
Another use for the electric washing machine was an ingenius contraption that saved a lot of time and energy. This container with it's paddles fit down inside the electric wringer washer and when filled with cream and turned on, became a butter churn extraordinaire.
Once the butter was churned, Gram pressed it into wooden butter molds like this:
The butter was packed in tightly. Inside the bottom of the mold was a design to make the finished block of butter beautiful to place on a plate and serve at the table. The handle on the bottom of the mold is to push the block out once it has been chilled and set.
At the end of summer, the garden produce was canned and placed on shelves lining the cellar. I only went down there a few times. It was an earthen hole with dirt walls that creeped me out. A lone light bulb dangled from a string on the ceiling. Shelves lined the space and kept food cool, which preserved produce as well. Gram said that apples wrapped in newspaper and placed in the cellar would last a whole year. I suppose it could have doubled as a tornado shelter, though I don't remember tornadoes in that part of NE Arkansas during those years. Maybe no one mentioned it because they didn't want to scare a child. The cellar might have been creepy to a child, but it was a practical space and the neat shelves lined with canned tomatoes, tomato juice, green beans, peaches, and other home grown produce provided food for the rest of the year. When Gram and Gramp went to the grocery store, they only bought a few things because the farm supplied the rest. The grocery list consisted of things like tooth paste, toilet paper, coffee, sugar, and soap. Gram made lye soap, but used it for cutting grease and removing stains. It was good for getting grease off Gramp's hands after he had worked on the tractor, but not so good for bathing because of the smell.
With so much being done by hand, Gram had all sorts of tools. I always loved to watch my mother wind bobbins on the sewing machine and to watch Gram grind things in her food grinder. It clamped onto the table and a bowl or pan was placed underneath. Food went into the top opening and when the crank was turned, came out the front and fell into the bowl. Ground meat came out in long red strings. Gram always made cranberry salad at Thanksgiving and Christmas and the cranberries and nuts were coarsely ground on this handy gadget. We use a food processor much the same way these days.
Remember these? Meringue didn't just happen!
It took a lot of work for those fluffy white clouds on top of your pie.
What kid wouldn't want to turn this crank? It's almost as gratifying as cranking the ice cream maker.
My grandmother was an excellent cook. Her Parker House Rolls, home made German Chocolate Cake, homemade caramel candy that was so decadent and my grandpa's favorite, still make my mouth water.
There were always dogs and cats around on the farm and she made food for them too. I always wanted to taste it because it smelled so good. I never did, but I think it was a mixture of cooked oatmeal with meat drippings and left over vegetables thrown in. The animals loved it and slurped it down.
How long has it been since anyone used one of these? If you don't know what it is, let me explain. The red top has holes in it. You put the cork end into any bottle: a soda bottle, a vinegar bottle, a wine bottle - whatever you have on hand. The bottle is filled with water and the clothing is sprinkled with water before ironing. See, they didn't have steam irons back then. Their irons had a flat plate with no holes, so the moisture to get the wrinkles out came from one of these handy dandy tools that you could buy in any dime store. (In case you are wondering, the dime store was sort of a combination drug store/dollar store. You could buy hot toasted nuts, hand lotion, plastic flowers, shower caps, gadgets, and gee gaws there. My favorite thing to buy at the dime store was bubble bath)
When I visit my grandparent's house in my mind, it was a wonderful place. I never heard any conversations about how they were going to make ends meet. There was that huge old oak tree whose branches nearly reached the ground. I clung to them and swung through the air with childish delight. My cousin, Linda, and I met at Gram's house to play. We dressed the cats in doll clothes and then had to chase them to get the dresses back. We sat on the porch swing and wiled away the hot summer and in the fall, planned our own future floor plans by raking leaves into connecting squares and rectangles. We didn't need a lot of toys. We made our own entertainment.
So in my mind, hard times weren't hard at all. They were magical. I hope I can remember that when times get rough. I've always felt that with God, a prayer, and a bubble bath, I could get through almost anything. Faith and a sense of humor will get you far. Always remember to be thankful whether your glass is half full or only has a spoon full left. Someone else's glass may be empty and that makes you very fortunate.
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