Much to be learned from the great depression!

[Wildthang]

We can probably learn a lot just by reading the old timers account of the great depression. Just thought I would share this with you guys. Okay Hunter, get ta readin Brutha!

http://www.aging.ohio.gov/news/great...nstoryproject/

[Sparky93]

People from that generation are one tough bread, my mom watched my great grandpa take some bologna out of the fridge, wipe the slime off of it and make a sandwich one time. He also used to eat an onion a day like an apple and never got sick, although his buddies told him it was because nobody would get close enough to him to give him germs lol

[hunter63]

Looks like it will be interesting........from what I've seen so far.
Thanks.

Sorta like the Foxfire series of books...Also a good read.

[kyratshooter]

No, the Foxfire series was about people that never realized there was a depression!

[randyt]

My grandparents didn't know about the great depression. I remember as a kid and learning about the depression in school. I asked my grandpa about the great depression. He didn't know what I was even talking about, he never heard of it. But by golly he knew about prohibition.

[Wildthang]

People from that generation are one tough bread, my mom watched my great grandpa take some bologna out of the fridge, wipe the slime off of it and make a sandwich one time. He also used to eat an onion a day like an apple and never got sick, although his buddies told him it was because nobody would get close enough to him to give him germs lol

Yeah and that is probably why it will be all different this time if things get bad. Todays people will just try to take what they need because they will either be too lazy to survive, or they wont know how to begin with. The people back then just carried on any way they could, and got tough when they had to!

[Sparky93]

Yeah and that is probably why it will be all different this time if things get bad. Todays people will just try to take what they need because they will either be too lazy to survive, or they wont know how to begin with. The people back then just carried on any way they could, and got tough when they had to!

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[hunter63]

When reading or watching "accounts" of events like this, it is wise to understand that they may have in fact become more anecdotal than factual over time.

So it may be entertaining, maybe not a blue print of how to live.

One of my favorite activities as a young paper boy was the visit to the "old railroad guy's home" on Saturday, collection day, to listen to all the stories these retired guys told.

Most likely some of them were just that...."stories" ....But were fun to listen to.

[LowKey]

My grandparents, God rest their kind souls, never left the Depression Era. Going to visit was always like stepping back in time. They lived frugally. Nothing went to waste. Their house had a parlor with a coal stove that had a grating over it to warm the upstairs (the only source of heat up there!), a cold room with 2 Hoosier cabinets and the kitchen had one of those great old gas stoves with a side heater. Grandma was always canning in the fall and making pies and cookies for church (and us kids). There was always a Sunday dinner at 1 but meals the rest of the week might be just a sandwich or soup. And always sausage gravy at breakfast (that was strange to a kid growing up today).

It was all from a different time. And quite honestly that time is pretty much gone now. My Grandpa's fine garden is now a parking lot. The house next door became a crack den. The neighborhood is in decay. The whole village is pretty much deserted. It made me very sad to drive through there a few years ago. Haven't been back.

It's fine to get all nostalgic about the Great Depression. But it was a rough life. I could tell there was never any glamour to it. Not for them. And I learned some life lessons from them that I never realized I was learning until I was much much older, and too late to thank them.

[Winnie]

+1 Lowkey. My Parents lived through the Depression and WW2. Food and domestic commodities were never wasted.I once asked my Dad about the Depression, he was born in 1922, he said him and his siblings knew no different. Back then when you were one of 12 frugality was the norm regardless of the current economy.

[Northern Horseman]

I remember the first time I heard the word depression, my grandmother came over to babysit us and she was about to cook us dinner, so being a naturally curious boy I asked her what she was making, she replied "Depression spaghetti"
Turns out that consisted of a can of crushed tomatoes and some boiled spaghetti.
Mot sure if she was just kidding us, or she was just a bad cook.

[Wildthang]

I remember the first time I heard the word depression, my grandmother came over to babysit us and she was about to cook us dinner, so being a naturally curious boy I asked her what she was making, she replied "Depression spaghetti"
Turns out that consisted of a can of crushed tomatoes and some boiled spaghetti.
Mot sure if she was just kidding us, or she was just a bad cook.

Horseman, that is the only way my mom ever made spaghetti, but she would put a little tomato paste in it to give it slightly more flavor. I didn't know how good spaghetti could be until I left home and got ahold of the real stuff!

[Rick]

At 94 Clara is still kicking and still making videos, bless her heart. We've posted on her before. She's done a lot of videos on depression era foods and cooking. She has some really great stuff.



Here's her web site:

http://www.greatdepressioncooking.com/Welcome.html

[shiftyer1]

I grew up on hotdishes (casseroles) and things like mac and cheese with hotdogs. You sure can feed a bunch on a budget that way.

[Sparky93]

My great grandpa I mentioned earlier worked at the family feed store until he was 80, if somebody would try and help him get a sack of seed he'd slap their hand and hoist the 50lb bag onto his shoulder. Hi is till alive and living by himself at the age of 94. He only drives around town to get his meds or go to the store, but he does that rarely. His memory is still sharp as a tack, he can tell you when his family got their first car and how they went on a trip to visit their family in Kansas and it took two weeks to get their from southern Indiana and how all the roads were dirt or gravel. I'm am one of the few people my age who got to know my great grandma (on my moms side) and my great grandpa (on my dads side). My great grandma passed away about 6 months ago, but I will always cherish the time I had to spend with her. During WWII she farmed while my great grandpa was away at war. She also lived on her own up until 2 weeks before she passed.

[Allen Currie Author]

Widthang and all
Another good source is what the pioneers, who were Severely limited in weight, found most useful as they migrated west. Sharp edges, (axes, saws, etc.) things that multiplied their strength (block and tackle, etc.) Things for warmth.

[Rick]

Those Conestoga wagons hauled a lot of stuff. Pianos, dressers, trunks, what ever their worldly possessions happened to be were generally taken with them. Most didn't have all that much but they took what they had. I'm not saying weight wasn't a consideration but only to how many oxen or horse they had pulling and what kind of wagon they had. Some could easily haul a ton of weight. Here's a clever site someone put together for loading your wagon. it will give you an idea of what some of the items weighed. No plastics, carbon fiber or aluminum back then.

http://www.laurasprairiehouse.com/cr...eredwagon.html

[hunter63]

Thats a cool site, gotta be a pretty big dutch oven @70 pounds, but cool site never the less.

After packing and toting a primitive camp for over 25 years, I gonna guess the horses or mules as pack animals were used a lot more than protrayed in the movies and such....
Just a bed role of canvas and horse blanket is of considerable weight.

So the idea that moving any amount of weight on your person for any length of time/distance would require some sort of cart....I you have the space, you will fill it ....for a while.
And it will be slow........