Living Like the Past

Since we have been studying the years during the great depression I want to talk about meals to fill the belly.This is not a nutrition post or a certain diet post. This post is about what people did and how to get through financially difficult times.My mother did not talk much about the Great depression years but she did say that they were hungry many times and sometimes all they had was a cold biscuit. As I researched food budgets during the great depression years, I found many articles but I had a difficult time finding articles that were not being backed by a food industry, even long ago if possibly even more so. Newspaper articles during this time had articles& ......

We continue with the diary of Rose. The year 1932. Rose is a thirty five year old school teacher in a country school. She is unmarried and lives at home with her parents and family in a rural area in the state of Iowa. The season of winter. We left off last week on Monday, January 11th and the entry on the 11th was Warm, windy day but no rain. I washed & mopped, Adrian and Mildred out. Mama better Grace hung clothes. This weeks reading.Tuesday, January 12th, 1932. Foggy, misty day turned to rain about supper time. Helen and I sewed and Baked. Harland sick headache. I ironed.Wednesday, January 13. Good day but clou ......

We continue this weeks diary reading of Sarah. When we left off last week Ernest was there for supper and Sarah had made Cherry Tapioca.Sunday, January 17, 1932. Rain, Rain, Rain the whole day through and heavy at that - don't know if I ever saw so much water fall in one day. Arose almost 5:20 as usual & attended to the breakfast work - then devoted my time to dinner preparations. We entertained to dinner. Mr. & Mrs. Henry Cooper and fam, Mr. & Mrs. Ellison Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Green and Esther, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Dickey and daughters, Mr. and Mrs. Harry A Sutter & family, Sarah Farmer & Edwin Harbach. The dinner was quite a success in every way. ......

This has been quite a week at our house, the new forum started with the new study. Here on my end there were many technical issues which showed up on your end. We have been trying to iron it all out.The forum front page looked very confusing I am sure but it is cleaned up now and new topics have been added.More topics are coming and if you do not see a topic that is important to you, there is a button up top to add a new topic.Here below are the new discussion topics listed under The Gathering PlaceLace Making & TattingThe LaundryPetsHand sewingHouse Maintenance & cleaningCanning and Food preservationGrocery PricesGardeningRecipes and CookingCrochet, MendingKnittingWeather ......

We are starting two new diaries today for our 1930s History study. I write the diaries as they are written, misspelling and punctuation included. Both of the diaries, the diary writers are from Iowa, no relation that I can tell. The diary of Rose is the year 1932 and the diary of Emma is the year 1933.The diary of Rose is a one year diary. The space is very small to write and I have to use a magnifying glass with my bifocals. The writing space for each entry is 2&1/2 inches by 3/4 inch. Rose is a thirty five year old school teacher in a country school. She is unmarried and lives at home with her parents and family in a rural area in the state of Io ......

If you are new to this blog, we have just started a History Study of the Great Depression. You can join in at any time or read along. My husband Charles and I have been doing history studies for years and living more like the past because we feel that it makes sense. My blog is not just about this study but living a simple life and how to do things the old way.It has been quite a flurry inside our home this week with the new 1930s study started. The new study will settle when we get all of our ducks in a row so to speak. Anyone can do this study of learning all we can about the home in 1930s and learn about how the great depression affected the family and home life.The firs ......

This is second post on Sarah's diary. January 10 - 16I am posting ahead on Sarah's diary since some of you are following Sarah's dairy at home during the study with cooking and household work. I will be posting ahead so you have time to plan and shop for groceries for the next week should you want to cook or bake something that Sarah is making. Also so you can make your weekly household schedule ahead of time. Keep in mind to follow her days, because her dates are two days ahead. Let Sarah's diary be a guide but fill in what is needed for your household. Many people are simply reading along Sarah's diary and we all can enjoy learning more ......

I want to introduce you to our two new Study Diaries.Emma's diary is a five-year diary and the entries start in 1934. Rose's diary is a one-year diary from 1932. The three diaries we will be following are Sarah, Emma, and Rose.We have already started Sarah's diary and after much thought about this, I will post Sarah's diary separately on another day than Rose and Emma's diaries. Emma is a recent widow, and has been without her husband for one year and 4 months when she started this diary. Even though there is only a small space to write each day, Emma packs it in and she has a very busy life. I picked this diary because it is very interesting ......

HAPPY NEW YEAR!Here we go, 1,2,3,..... Jump!Hum, that looks different, what happened to the clock? That doesn't look like our clock.Why are we already in the New Year? Oh that's right, we are going around the world starting with Christmas Island / Kiribati.What happened to our hats? It looks like we have woken up somewhere in the 1930s.... Humm... What a strange day this is....What is that on our table?..... Reading a note.... You have earned the game Mancala since you have been doing so much math lately with all the figuring out kilowatt hours, pay scales and what it costs to turn on your stove. Thought you would like to enjoy something more fun this year ......

We are beginning the Diary of Sarah and her family. They live in the United States in the State of Ohio, the year 1932.In Sarah's writings she addresses her husband as Father. Many people did this in the past, when children address their father as Father often their mother will start addressing her husband as Father. Sarah commonly will say usual morning tasks, I think about my own morning tasks after brushing my teeth and washing up, I get dressed and don my apron. There are many small things to do in our home in the morning such as turning on the kettle, preparing the food for the doggies and feeding the feral cat, Mr. Bingley, while the water is ......

I want to say first that my post will get shorter, these are too long right now but so much information just like always when we start a new study year. They will become normal soon. LAUNDRY TIMEIt is time we start talking about the nitty gritty. Here are few things about laundry that some of you might not know. I didn't know until I got deep into research. I will start by explaining laundry in the early 1900s. Many of us have heard stories about the struggles and hard labor of doing laundry long ago, and it was very laborious. But there is another side about laundry other than the large cast iron pots over a fire and hours of laboring over lau ......

Burr it has been cold!I just wanted to let everyone know that the new forum is up and the new mailing list where you can get a notification when I do a new post. The Forum is located in the menu section on phone or tablet etc. On a computer look at the top bar where it lists living like the past or cooking from scratch and just below those you will see Forum, next to Old Well.For the mailing list it is also in the menu section and at the bottom of a post. The forum is for everyone to post a comment, you can talk with one another, I can talk with you, (message, type) and also post pictures if you want. I hope you like the new changes, I am not good wi ......

I am tickled about the excitement about this new 1930's study, this study will be different because we are going back further in time and further away from knowing how it was in the home during these difficult years. Above is our Portiere to help with our cold weather.It was not difficult for everyone, some people did not lose their jobs but many did. Some very wealthy, lost much money and became destitute, and some struggled to hide how bad off they were by trying to remain in the society level they once were. Then strangely, many people went on with life, shopping, going to movies, and living life as they had always done. Surely it had to aff ......

We continue to get our information together for the New great depression study. I am trying to get this information out to you as fast as I can and it may seem to be a lot but we need to know to understand the time. We also have to look into the 1920s because this is the time they would have purchased many of the things they had in the 1930s.For those of you that are packing away items in your home that would have not been in the 1930s, I will be posting on things we might need to know before the study starts. If there is something that you cannot find in your research, please email me to ask and I will see if I can find the answer for you since I have a lot ......

For anyone just finding my blog, my husband Charles, and I live a old fashioned simple life and we enjoy studying history. We do one year studies and live like the year we are studying. We try to live the way they did as much as we can so we can learn what it was like. There are diaries that go along with the study and are in separate posts. Charles and I are considered Seniors now, Our Grandchildren are now adults. Our new study in 2023, we will be living like the early 1930s and going through the great depression. We have been moving furniture in our home (again) so that we have sitting areas positioned in a way to do some of the same activities ......

Charles and I research most anything that pops in our heads and we also like to keep journals and we do our best to keep records by calculating our usage. This new study is making us realize how important this will be during the new history study of the great depression. I have tried to dip into the 1930s twice now but it was not time. Last study year of 2021 there were many problems that hijacked our study again. Main thing was my vision. I was having a very difficult time with cataracts that suddenly got worse to a point I just could not see even with a magnifying glass. I also had a bleed/clot in one eye and then eye surgery, a complication an ......

The last reading of Lena and Richards 1943 diary.Friday, December 10, 1943. Today is very comfortable Went down to P.M. and got potatoes and one lb of steak all the points I had 10. Cam home and made a chicken stew & dumplins then had enough to have a chicken soup with rice for his supper he said it was good. Went over street and ordered a coconut cream pie I wonder if Ill get it at the Somain Resturant but he said he would do the best he could So Ill go down and try. Got oranges and grapefruit among other groceries Had enough to carry. They had boxes of Pimento cheese it is 20 points for 2 lbs. Saturday, December 11. Only 6 above wi ......

This is the last readings of Lil and Bob's diary. I am doing separate diary reading posts for this last reading since we are reading out the month of December. This diary shown above Lil wrote each day for five years.Last weeks diary reading we left with storm damage all over their surrounding area.Now starting this weeks reading to the end of December.Friday, December 10, 1943. Fine day - Done some cleaning up of debray after yesterdays storms-Saturday, December 11. Cold day - Cleaned up house a bit = Bob home - 1-30 - Up town to shop.Sunday, December 12. Fine - Bob up for a chronicle - spent day reading & resting.Monday - SickTuesday - SickWednesday, December 15. Ver ......

We are at the last part of our 1943 study, I hope that all of you that have been living like 1943 have learned many new facts about this time in history. There is always much more to learn and why we go back many times to study.We have learned with our history studies that often we need to back up and gather new information further back in history and I mentioned in my last post we are moving into the great depression years for a new study on January 1, 2023.Charles and I have jumped into 1929 as of today as I am writing this, December 1, 2022. We felt we need the month to get things ready for the history study and work out our plan.We are ending our study of 1943 and there is st ......

We continue the 1943 diary readings of Lil and Bob and Lena and her son Richard. I type the diaries as they are written including mispelling.We are getting close to the end of these diary readings. We will be starting our new History project taking us into the great depression times starting January 1, 2023. I will be doing readings from new diaries for the new study.We continue this weeks reading with Lil's diary pictured above.Friday, December 3, 1943. Nice day - Worked Nuco and hashed up the last of the turkey - Up town with Bob to shop.Saturday, December 4. Some sun and light sprinkle of rain at noon - then sunshine. Bob home at 1:30 Done some mending o ......