Memories of our depression gardens
Jun 6, 2009 18:23:40 GMT -5
Post by ozark on Jun 6, 2009 18:23:40 GMT -5
To survive the winter during the depression required the spring and summer be used wisely. Our family was large and our fruit cellar had to be stocked full to insure that our bellies didn't grow to our backbones. My parents were good managers when it come to making hay while the sun shined.
It started early in the spring gathering and canning poke greens that for flavor had sour doc, lambs quarter, crow foot, dandalion and some other greens that I don't recall the names of. Wild plumbs made excellent jelly and anything that could be preserved was preserved.
The garden was broke in the fall and barnyard manure was spread over it during the winter. It was again broke with a plow in the spring and on St. Patricks day the potatoes went into the ground. A wide bed of earth was prepared for green onions, radishes and leaf lettuce. Regular onions, tomatoes, beans, peas, corn, beets, cucumbers, squash, cantalopes, watermellons and other things had special sections of this large garden.
Every child worked witht he grownups to keep the weeds, grasses, insects and to keep the chickens out of the garden. If a particular chicken became to much of a problem it was transformed into a batch of dumplings and we had a feast. From the woods we could gather huckleberries, dewberries, blackberries and these made fine jelleys.
Sometimes we all sing while we worked the garden. You could hoe pretty fast to tunes such as: "Give me that old time religion". Papa would sometimes sing funny songs but Mama always scolded him for being silly.
I remember waking up one morning to discover it was raining. I knew it would be to wet to work in the garden so I figured it would be a day of play. Maybe get to hunt all day with my sling shot which I called a bean flip. It didn't happen. Mom thought it was a perfect day to get all the fruit jars out and wash them until they sparkled. She wanted them washed with soapy water until clean and then put into boiling water to santitize them. We usually had about three hundred. Mostly half gallon sizes but a few quart and pint sizes for jellies and such.
As things matured they had to be gathered and canned. There was a couple days used for making kraut, and even more for making and canning soup. There were peaches to gather, peal and cook for canning. Apples and plumbs required the same treatment. Some apples and peaches were dried and believe me those fried half moon dried fruit pies were a treat. A lot of tomatoes went into soup but there were also many half gallon jars filled with tomatoes or just tomato juice.
Before winter came our fruit cellar would be full of canned goods. There would be canned pork, canned vension and enough corn would be in the corn crip to fatten a couple hogs and keep the chickens healthy. Naturally, to old milk cow got her share of food because from her we got milk and butter. It became my job to do the milking and believe me I fed old Brendy more than her share. She would give us four gallons of milk pre day.
Mama like flowers and the boundry of our garden had Holly Hawks and she had a flower bed with all types of flowers in it. I didn't see the purpose of this, can't eat flowers and therefore they could not be justified.
Sometimes we could work for neighbors and take such things as mollasses as pay. They kept through the winter well. Sometimes they would turn to sugar but still tasted pretty good.
This spring my wife and I decided we needed a garden in our yard. We bought treated 5x5s that were sixteen feet long and had a frame built up to about 30 inches high (It is four feet wide) .
This was filled with garder soll and we have us a fun garden to watch and work. All this cost in excess of a thousand bucks but the plants are looking great. Got little green tomatoes as big as marbles. Cucumbers, Squash, peppers and naturally she had to have some old flowers. Newrby are a patch of Holly Hawks which we keep in memory of out Mothers. Come by about the end of July and we will slice you a tomatoe and a cucumber. I am going to send some pictures to Chuck and see if he can post them for you to have proof that we are crazy. Ozark
It started early in the spring gathering and canning poke greens that for flavor had sour doc, lambs quarter, crow foot, dandalion and some other greens that I don't recall the names of. Wild plumbs made excellent jelly and anything that could be preserved was preserved.
The garden was broke in the fall and barnyard manure was spread over it during the winter. It was again broke with a plow in the spring and on St. Patricks day the potatoes went into the ground. A wide bed of earth was prepared for green onions, radishes and leaf lettuce. Regular onions, tomatoes, beans, peas, corn, beets, cucumbers, squash, cantalopes, watermellons and other things had special sections of this large garden.
Every child worked witht he grownups to keep the weeds, grasses, insects and to keep the chickens out of the garden. If a particular chicken became to much of a problem it was transformed into a batch of dumplings and we had a feast. From the woods we could gather huckleberries, dewberries, blackberries and these made fine jelleys.
Sometimes we all sing while we worked the garden. You could hoe pretty fast to tunes such as: "Give me that old time religion". Papa would sometimes sing funny songs but Mama always scolded him for being silly.
I remember waking up one morning to discover it was raining. I knew it would be to wet to work in the garden so I figured it would be a day of play. Maybe get to hunt all day with my sling shot which I called a bean flip. It didn't happen. Mom thought it was a perfect day to get all the fruit jars out and wash them until they sparkled. She wanted them washed with soapy water until clean and then put into boiling water to santitize them. We usually had about three hundred. Mostly half gallon sizes but a few quart and pint sizes for jellies and such.
As things matured they had to be gathered and canned. There was a couple days used for making kraut, and even more for making and canning soup. There were peaches to gather, peal and cook for canning. Apples and plumbs required the same treatment. Some apples and peaches were dried and believe me those fried half moon dried fruit pies were a treat. A lot of tomatoes went into soup but there were also many half gallon jars filled with tomatoes or just tomato juice.
Before winter came our fruit cellar would be full of canned goods. There would be canned pork, canned vension and enough corn would be in the corn crip to fatten a couple hogs and keep the chickens healthy. Naturally, to old milk cow got her share of food because from her we got milk and butter. It became my job to do the milking and believe me I fed old Brendy more than her share. She would give us four gallons of milk pre day.
Mama like flowers and the boundry of our garden had Holly Hawks and she had a flower bed with all types of flowers in it. I didn't see the purpose of this, can't eat flowers and therefore they could not be justified.
Sometimes we could work for neighbors and take such things as mollasses as pay. They kept through the winter well. Sometimes they would turn to sugar but still tasted pretty good.
This spring my wife and I decided we needed a garden in our yard. We bought treated 5x5s that were sixteen feet long and had a frame built up to about 30 inches high (It is four feet wide) .
This was filled with garder soll and we have us a fun garden to watch and work. All this cost in excess of a thousand bucks but the plants are looking great. Got little green tomatoes as big as marbles. Cucumbers, Squash, peppers and naturally she had to have some old flowers. Newrby are a patch of Holly Hawks which we keep in memory of out Mothers. Come by about the end of July and we will slice you a tomatoe and a cucumber. I am going to send some pictures to Chuck and see if he can post them for you to have proof that we are crazy. Ozark
