What can we learn from the brave individuals that struggled in the Great Depression? Actually, survivalists can learn quite a bit! Here is some wisdom to take away:
1. A jack-of-all-trades could often find work when others couldn’t. It paid to know a bit about plumbing, carpentry, painting, and home repairs.
2. Homemakers still took pride in their homes, keeping them as clean as possible, even those who lived in areas affected by the Dust Bowl. One mom made a couch from old bedsprings and stuffed homemade cushions with unginned cotton.
3. Hanging wet sheets over doorways was a way to cool down a room or house during the summer. Hot air was slightly cooled as it passed through the wet fabric.
4. “Depression Soup” was a real thing! It contained anything and everything you might have in the kitchen or was donated by others. To this day, some say it was the best soup they ever tasted.
5. Learning how to forage and find edible plants helped many families fill their dinner plates. Things like nuts and wild asparagus were treats and often entire families would grab a pile of gunny sacks and head to the good foraging areas for the day. Finding free food was how some families survived.
6. Families learned to shop at the very last minute on a Saturday night to get bargains on fresh produce that would go bad over the weekend. (Stores were closed on Sundays.)
7. Food prices at that time were fairly high when compared with wages. For example, a general laborer made $2 per day. The WPA paid $1 per day. But bread was 10 cents a loaf, milk 8 cents a quart, and eggs 7 cents/dozen.
8. Some towns had “welfare budgets”. Money was loaned from the town to individuals, but there was a strict keeping of books. Some towns even published in their newspapers how much each person owed and repayment was expected.
9. Unfortunately, loss of income wasn’t a good enough excuse to not pay rent or the mortgage, although some landlords, in particular, were willing to extend credit.
10. Many kindhearted farmers kept workers on payroll as long as they possibly could, even if meant paying them with produce.
11. When the soles of shoes were worn through, pieces of rubber tires were used as replacements. There was little choice but to repair them in any way possible.
12. Clothing had to last as long as possible and women (mostly) became expert seamstresses, especially at alterations. One creative woman used the fabric from the inside of a casket to sew beautiful holiday dresses for her children.
13. Life insurance policies were cashed in to try and survive for just a few months longer in their “normal” worlds.
14. During heat waves, people slept on their lawns or in parks.
15. When there was no cash, payment was made with eggs, fresh milk, or produce.
16. If possible, homes were very often refinanced in an effort to save the family residence.
17. Anything that could be freely collected and sold, was. Driftwood was collected, split and sold as firewood
18. In areas of the Dust Bowl, cattle were fed tumbleweed and moms learned how to can tumbleweed to feed their families. Some had to find food wherever possible to keep from starving.
19. Many men joined one of the government programs that were part of the New Deal. One group, the Civil Conservation Corps, built dams, roads, campgrounds, and were trained in fire fighting in national forests.
20. Stories from the Great Depression years are filled with incidents that illustrate one act of kindness after another. In spite of incredible hardships, people could still find ways to encourage others with words of blessing or unexpected help.
People did what they had to do in order to survive, as they could no longer rely on government assistance. Self-sufficiency was the only way to make it through, and this still stands true today. How inspiring to see these individuals still making an effort to band together and help one another. For more information about survival during the Great Depression, visit The Survival Mom.
Featured Image via young shanahan/Flickr