Posted on 11/18/2011 7:47:54 PM PST by blam
My dad always would tell us this story about the depression. He was one of 13, lived on a farm, and when he’d go to school, grandma would send them sandwiches on the biscuits left over from breakfast. But they weren’t meat sandwiches...many times they were collard or turnip green sandwiches.
He was often ashamed to eat his lunch in front of the other kids who had store bought bread, and regular sandwiches. In the fourth grade his teacher everyday would ask if he brought one of those “delicious biscuit sandwiches”...and of course he’d reply, “Yes.” She’d then ask if he wanted to trade her for her peanut butter and jelly sandwich (on sliced bread.)
As a fourth grader it never dawned on him that this was his teacher’s kindness and gracious act toward a child...he really believed, at that age, that the teacher like collards on biscuits.
Nothing beat my grandmas homemade bread. She's been gone almost 30 years now, and my cousins and I STILL talk about her bread when we get together. Their kids are probably tired of hearing about it.
She made really good homemade bean soup. And between my uncle, grandfather, grandmother and myself, we knock off an entire loaf of her bread with the soup.
Buttered bread and soup. Who needs a spoon.
When she'd bake bread in the morning, and when my grandfather and uncle would come in from the fields for lunch, she'd have to stop them from eating the fresh bread.
She'd spend the morning making bread. Something like 5-6 loaves. And after lunch 1 loaf would be gone. She'd get so frustrated. ALL that work, and in about 1/2 an hour 1 loaf is gone. She did it all by hand. Five foot nothing and maybe 100lbs, that was TOUGH work for her. Kneading that bread by hand.
I type this with tears welling up. 49 years old and I still miss them. Probably the 2 people I respect the most.
My grandma, when she wasn't cooking or doing housework, she was in her garden. And when time came, she was in the fields with my grandpa. My grandpa was 61 when I was born, my grandma a few years younger. So I never knew them as "young" people. My grandma was a hard worker until she died at 75. My grandfather was a hard worker until he died at 93.
I consider myself a pretty hard worker (so do my coworkers) I think my grandfather would have done a pretty good job keeping up with me in his 80's (at least his 70's)
Lived in Detroit, the ice was delivered by a horse drawn wagon, you put either 25 or 50 pound sign in window so he would know how much you wanted..as kids we’d sneak up to the wagon when the guy was delivering and grab a piece of ice to suck on. milk was also delivered in horse drawn wagon. The horse never stopped, just trudged along at a slow pace so the milkman could catch up after delivering milk to your front porch...The sheeny man came down the alleys blowing a horn and you took out any big stuff or furniture you didn’t want and he’d pick it up....Sanford and son without the truck..he had a horse drawn wagon also with a hat on the horse..
My father’s grandparents owned farms outside of his Mississippi hometown during the Depression. His father had been laid off from the railroad and no one had any money to speak of, but they were able to eat well enough which was something to be very grateful for during the Depression.
They had fare typical of the South: white corn, crowder peas, blackeyes, beans, grits, okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, ham, fried chicken, and lots and lots of iced tea. I know, because I was fortunate enough to be served the same at my grandmother’s home when I was growing up.
I really wish I had recorded my dads stories. I don’t recall nearly enough of them.
You’re one of my many cousins, aren’t you?
;)
176 posts and no one has mentioned grits?
Runny egg and grits.
Butter and grits with sugar and milk.
Fried grit or fried cracked wheat pancakes?
I must be older than the rest of you.
lol.
My dad lived out in the country I guess. Most of the time they didn’t even have their own property. They rented, share cropped or whatever they needed to do.
Of course it was a LONG time to the end of WW2 when things started improving. I am sure their situation changed a lot.
another underground veggy is potato...loved digging them up on the farm...you can even use a potato you have had so long they develop eyes. each eye will be another plant. just give each eye some potato and burying the eye just below the ground level...nice plant also...
I LOVE brown sugar and grits.
Ask her questions, have her reminisce....and YOU document it all.
Something I wish I’d have done...please do it while you can..
Great thread. Read every post and don’t regret a minute of it...
bump to that
My late father shared a story about his earliest child memory.(he was born in 1932) His father was a potato farmer and made extra money in the winter driving a sleigh taking kids to school using his draft horses, my dad went with him. The annual snow fall was over 10 feet. After he brought the kids into town, my dad was treated to a banana at the local market.
This was a delicacy to a 4 year old.
Strange! I don’t see any wagyu or arugula in those recipies.
I think they call those ‘one eyed susans’
We’ve never stopped eating most of that stuff.Who knew people had to be told about baked apples except now you can do it in the microwave in a few minutes and save energy.
Pan fry white bread (garlic butter both sides). Set aside.
Same pan, pan fry burger, garlic, onion, green pepper till brown. Spoon off the grease. Add 1/2 coffee cup of water with dissolved beef bullion, basil, parsley to taste... stir till absorbed/ nearly burned off. Add one can of mushroom soup... stir till hot.
Serve on top of the bread.
A REALLY good breakfast, which I am sure came down in my family from hard times:
Boil a pork liver (thoroughly), wrap it in tinfoil and refrigerate overnight. using a potato peeler (peel off the dark rind of an area first) slice the liver very thin, and roughly according to what is needed today. Buttered toast... lay the sliced liver in one layer covering the toast. Salt according to taste.
Keep unused slices with the liver in the tinfoil wrapper (back in the fridge). One liver will last about a week to 10 days with a family of 6.
A really good lunch or light dinner, which again, came from hard times:
Peel eggplant, slice 1/8 to 1/4th " pieces. Dip in egg wash, dip in bread crumbs (I like Italian). Pan fry (low/med) in butter till golden brown and a fork will not lift. Serve on open faced white bread w/ butter... salt accordingly, and if in season, a big slice of tomato on top.
Don’t let the shade stop you. Grow in containers and you can move them as needed to sunny spots. Peas, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes and more all grow well in containers. You can still grow things in 6 hours of direct sunlight.
My grandmother was a widow with 5 children. Mother said they ate corn meal mush twice a day. Grandma would cook it fresh in the morning and then after the leftover had set up they would slice it and fry it for supper. Lunch was usually beans, Sunday dinner was usually spagetti- rarely with meat in the sauce.
My aunts were older than my mother and one year they were really upset about not being able to have a real Christmas dinner so they stole two chickens from a neighbor. My grandmother was very angry with them and by the time she knew they had killed and were plucking the chickens. Grandma made them go to the neighbor and confess and work off the chickens. The neighbor let them work off the chickens but grandma made them cook them and take them to another neighbor that was hard up.
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