Having Fun in the Great Depression

In the Great Depression there was no internet, no video games, no TVs, DVD, Ipods or all the other technology we have today to entertain ourselves.

They had to make their own fun and they did just fine.

Children would play without expensive plastic toys. They would use their imagination, play hop scotch, tag, hide and seek, jump rope, and use their imagination to make up games.

Families would sing, socialize with friends and relatives, and tell stories.

Common family games were horse shoe and corn hole.

Of course there wasn't a whole lot of free time to play since many people were busy working just to survive. They grew their own food, raised chickens and livestock, and cooked and cleaned the old fashioned way. There were no dishwashers, vacuum cleaners or other equipment that makes household chores faster. Floors were swept and scrubbed on hands and knees.

Families arose at dawn and settled down for bed at night fall. There was no staying up late watching TV. Mothers would tuck in their children with a song or bed time story and when the parents went to bed, they blew out their candles or their kerosene lanterns.

It was a different kind of fun than we have today, but it was wholesome and it made them happy.

Christmas on a Poor Farm

Christmas was a great time on the rural farm, but there were no expensive gifts, nothing fancy, and nothing store bought. There was however, lots of family and friends gathering together for talk, laughs, and chit chat, lots of love, food, singing Christmas carols, and home made gifts.

When my grandmother was a child, none of the kids ever got any store bought gifts. Everything was homemade. Common gifts were things the kids needed anyway such as crocheted mittens, crocheted hats, and scarves. The mother would work throughout the year, crocheting, sewing, and knitting, to make gifts for all the children for Christmas.

Then when it was time to open presents all the children could except something such as mittens, a tobogan, or scarf.

A Common Supper On The Farm

Growing up poor on a farm in the 30's and 40's, it's pretty obvious my grandmother and her family were not eating shrimp, steak, lobster, or any restaurant food.

One of the most common meals they had was pinto beans aka soup beans and cornbread. Sometimes the cornbread was baked and sometimes it was fried.

This was one of the most common meals and out of nostalgia many who grew up on this food still love it today. The soup beans are actually very healthy for you, plus it's a vegetarian and a cheap meal.

I don't like pinto beans myself but I know a lot of people who will order soup beans and cornbread at Southern restaurants and Cracker Barrel. They also love onions in the soup beans. And some people love to put ketchup and mustard in their soup beans.

For a snack it was common for children to take left over cornbread and crumble it up in milk and eat it with a spoon.

Needless to say, people back then were a lot healthier than we are now and obesity was never a problem for poor rural folk.

Living Poor During The Great Depression According To My Grandmother

My grandmother was born during the Great Depression. She lived in the middle of nowhere, in the country on a farm. She grew up very, very poor. I have listened to many stories about living and growing up poor in rural America in the 30's and 40's and have decided to make a blog about it.

Needless to say, life back then was NOTHING like it is today. How time changes things.

To all the people of today it's very interesting to hear about how people lived back then, especially dirt poor, on a farm, at the edge of the Appalachian mountains in Kentucky.

Some of the things are almost humorous. Such as making underwear out of some kind of cloth sack.

I will make several posts so anyone who is interested can find out what life was like back then.