Monday, April 21, 2014

Making Do





My mama came from a family of ten kids, two girls and eight boys. She grew up in a close, knit family that believed in working fer ya keep and learning early on how to survive and get by. Many times she told how they survived the depression and made do with whatever they had.

Back then everybody grew their own food but the basics were hard to come by. During the depression they gave out coupons and they’d pick em up at the little local store. The storekeeper would hand em out each month according to how many was in a family. He always had to keep records of what he handed out fer the government. He helped people out a lot too. They’d bring their canned goods in and exchange em for something they needed. There was always someone in need and he knew he would be able to get rid of it all.

Mama said most of the time they’d just get a couple pounds of coffee to do a month or five or ten pounds of flour, and a bucket of lard with their coupons. If they were lucky to get an extra coupon they’d get a small bag of sugar or an extra five pounds of flour.The flour came in cloth sacks and their mother saved them up and sewed them into dresses and shirts.

 Mama said that grandma would boil the same coffee grounds over and over till that coffee was so thin ya could see through it. Even after the depression started easing up and grandpa went to work fer the WPA and they had a little more to live on grandma was still in the saving mode and kept boiling the coffee grounds over and over. My grandpa got tired of it and told her one day, now Sarie (Sarah) stop boiling them coffee grounds over so much. What  ya doing, straining it through a white rag, you can stop now I want some real coffee not stained water. It was hard for grandma to change, she’d been in the saving business to long.

They always had plenty of cornmeal for bread since they grew the corn and grandpa carried big toe sacks to my other grandpa’s old grist mill every week. She said they only used the flour for breakfast cause they sure did love them cathead biscuits and gravy.  There was many a morning they had to eat cornbread cause they didn’t have any flour. Of course cornmeal gravy and cornbread is just as good and my mama and her mama made the best there was.

She and her brothers used to trap rabbits and take them to the little country store in exchange for some of the basics they needed. This was after they cleaned the rabbits up good and the head had to stay on them. My grandma knew exactly what the rabbits were worth by how many they had caught. He paid by the pound and she knew it. She’d make out a list of what she needed and send them to the store to fill it.

One time she and one of her brother’s that was the closest to her in age caught ten rabbits and took off towards the store with the rabbits on a stick and grandma’s list. On the way to the store her brother told her we’re gonna get us somethin good today. Mama told him, no we can’t cause mommy knows exactly how many rabbits we got, she’s made her list. He stuck his hand up under his coat and pulled out another rabbit. He said, I told you we’re gonna get us somethin good today. The only problem was the rabbit didn’t have a head. Apparently, while they were cleaning them one lost it’s head someway and he’d stuck it under his coat. The storekeeper always wanted them with their heads intact. He had a little shed over to the side of the store building that people hung their rabbits in.

When they got to the store and hung their rabbits they went in and told him how many they had and gave him their list. He walked outside and went in and looked at the rabbits from the door and counted them. He said, well,  somebody’s counted wrong this time, you’ve got eleven instead of ten.  Mama said her brother spoke up and said Alrighttt,  we got enough to get us something good this time. The storekeeper told him ya sure do , so pick out what ya want. Her brother pointed to a big jar of candy sitting on the counter and said we want a whole, little bag of that candy. He filled their list and the bag of candy and they headed home. The candy was  chocolate drops and can still be bought today, especially around Christmas time and they’re rich as can be.

On the way home they eat the whole bag of chocolate drops and by the time they got home they were sicker than a buzzard. They started puking and they puked all night. My grandma didn't know what in the world to think. She was up with em all night trying to clean up the messes and do what she could for em.
The next morning they felt and looked like death warmed over. When grandma seen they were on the mend she asked em what did they eat to get so sick. They’d been taught all of their life not to lie and knew if they did they’d be in worse shape than they already were so they told her the truth. She marched them back over the road to the store and made em tell the storekeeper what they’d done. He just stood there and looked at em fer a bit and then he spoke up and said, well I guess they've been punished enough this time but it better not happen again.
From that day forward they didn’t take another rabbit without its head and they never eat another chocolate drop as long as they lived.

To say times were rough is an understatement but they survived the best way they knew how and mama said they never went to bed hungry a night in their life. They always had something to eat even if it was an old possum baked in the oven. I wonder why mama never did care much for possums either.

                                               © Susie Swanson, 2014

17 comments:

  1. Great story, Susie! Sometimes making do is the only way to get by. Those chocolate drops are good and rich. I can see why they would get sick on a whole bag!!

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  2. Our grandmothers were good at saving! Mine was a wonder, too, both of them for that matter. I wonder how well we'd survive in the same circumstances, especially those of us who live in cities?

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    1. Yes they were. We'd fail miserably Elaine. LOL.

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  3. A great story Susie! My mother was very frugal like that!

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  4. Hi Susie, this is an amazing story. It was so interesting. I grew up eating a lot of cornbread too. I just love it. We ate leftover cornbread for breakfast many times and considered it a big treat. I especially love a slice of warm sweet cornbread and a glass of cold buttermilk. Boy is that good! :)

    How do you make cornmeal gravy? I have never had that before. Do you make a rue out of it in the frying pan, like with chicken gravy, or is it stirred up with a little water or milk to and then added to the stock like with beef gravy?

    You are going to laugh at me Susie when it comes to rabbits. Growing up in the city we never ate rabbit, and I only ever saw them as pets like cats and dogs. One really, hot summer day when I was about 35, Tony and I and my friend Eunie were traveling in Florence, Italy. We wandered into what we thought was a food market to get out of the heat for a little while. As we went down the isle the pungent, sour smell of raw meat became very strong. It turned out that we had gone into a meat market, but all the different kinds of animals were skinned and hanging up on hooks. We turned the corner and I saw all the rabbits hanging there. The next thing I knew I fainted dead away. Thankfully Tony caught me before my head hit the floor. When I woke up, Tony had me under one arm and Eunie under the other and they were literally carrying me out of there with my feet dragging on the ground. :) That is the only time I ever fainted in my life. Thank you for your wonderful story today Susie! Rest well tonight, and have pleasant dreams, with love, Delisa :)

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    1. Thank you Delisa and I love your memories. I can't help but laugh though. Thanks for sharing this. Hugs, xo

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  5. LOVED the story. WE children had a few rough spots for a couple of years but we for through them the same way. You made do with what you had, the best way you could. xxo

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  6. So very good, Susie! This must have been somewhat like the way my mother grew up. I imagine most of us would find it difficult to have to go back to the way things used to be. I don't remember ever eating rabbit; my folks were always afraid we'd get sick with rabbit fever, which was something like tick fever I think.

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    1. Thank you Charlotte. It probably was. They all had it rough.

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  7. It seems like another life to have lived that way. But I admire those who suffered through it (though I'm sure they'd describe it differently). Thanks for this. I hope you are feeling better! Hugs:)

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    1. Thank you Lise. I have good days and not so good.

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  8. Susie,
    This is a great story about the good old days and how your grandparents made do with what they had. It was rough, but our mountain folks survive and know how to get through the tough times. This reminded me of my grandparents, too. I hope you had a wonderful Easter and are feeling better.

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    1. Thank you Brenda. Yes they did in spite of the hardships. They were so rich in everything else.

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  9. Susie, I like this story about your mom and uncle. When you said that your g.ma made cornmeal gravy....I know what that taste like...mommy made it before when we were really scrapping by...she called it 'TomSop" I hated that stuff. I would have sooner had a buttery cornbread. We have ran all the way for lunch from school for soup beans, or that gravy. Yuck. I am not a big fan of eating things I had to eat growing up. As time went on and things got a bit better, we had things like fried chicken, the best mommy ever make and her potato salad..But you know, I would go back and eat that darned old gravy, just to hug my mom once more. Blessings, xoxo,Susie

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