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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Recollections of Growing Up on a Farm during The Great Depression
  • Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 07:25:14 -0600


Recollections of Growing Up on a Farm during The Great Depression

By Al 89

Al is the breeder of Al's Large Cherry open-pollinated tomato. Now in
his mid-80s, Al told his story to Joe, director of the Garden State
Heirloom Seed Society. Joe very kindly offered to share Al's
recollections here, since Al's tomato was among those grown out by
members of the Internet Tomato Gang in the Spring 1999 trials.


The young people of today have no idea of what it was like living, or
should I say trying to survive, during the Great Depression. They only
know what they are taught in school. What follows is my own personal
experience of living on our family farm during this great hardship. I
hope this article will give the reader insight into what it was like
farming during these tough times. In the span of a decade or two the
people who lived during this epoch will have moved on and our story of
this era will live on only in the history books. The Great Depression
was truly one of the worst times in the history of the United States of
America. Certainly the toughest time I ever experienced in my life.

My father, Gregory , came to America in 1910 from the Ukraine to escape
the hardships and political upheaval that were fermenting in that
section of the world. He immediately went to work for the Lehigh Valley
Railroad as did almost all the other immigrants in the South Plainfield
area. It took my father two years to save enough money to bring his
wife, Frances, and their six children from the old country. In 1914, he
purchased land and built a house on New Market Avenue in South
Plainfield. Shortly thereafter, he quit the railroad and went into
business for himself as a farmer and butcher. Between our own land and
an adjacent area that we leased from the Lehigh Valley Railroad, we
farmed about forty acres. I was born in 1915 and would be a member of a
family that would eventually
have eleven children.

Our house was built of cinderblocks and stucco. Downstairs were two
bedrooms, the kitchen and a small room off the kitchen where we took
baths in a galvanized tub. Upstairs were three large bedrooms and in the
attic were two smaller bedrooms.

The kitchen had a cooking stove that used wood and coal. We were one of
the first families in the area to have a new innovation of the time, a
sink with running water. All social life took place in the kitchen.
Years later, we had no radio but we did have a phonograph that supplied
us with music. Believe me, we were sure thankful for that old phonograph.

For heat in the house, we had a huruba, which is sort of like a
fireplace built into the center dividing wall. It warmed the downstairs
and upstairs. Unfortunately, my brother and I slept in one of the rooms
in the attic. How I still remember to this day how cold it was up there
in the winter. I used to jump in bed and pull the covers over my head.
Then I'd breathe heavy for a couple of minutes to get heat down to my feet.

The family used kerosene lamps for lighting. Electricity arrived in our
area about 1921. For transportation, we had a horse and wagon and later
on my father purchased a used 1921 Buick.

As stated previously, we farmed forty acres. Back then many people in
the area had their own gardens. When the Depression hit, almost everyone
grew their own vegetables. Thus, you can see there was no market for
local produce. We basically raised cattle and just about all our
neighbors came to us for meat. About one third of our property was in
field corn and two thirds was livestock pasture with a small somewhat
swampy area that we used for hay.

Also on our property was a butcher shop, a barn for the animals with a
hay loft, a slaughterhouse, hen house, pig pens and one acre kitchen
garden for the family. We had an outside well which we used to provide
water for the animals.

During these tough times my father would go to what we called, "The rich
farmers." After they took off their hay, my dad was allowed to make what
was called a second raking. This hay we stored in the barn loft as
winter feed for our animals. It wasn't of the best quality, but it was
free!

Almost all of our neighbors had a cow for milk with the exception of our
Italian friends who had goats. We had the only bull in the area and my
father used to make a handsome $2 every time he used our bull for
mating. That was considered big money back then.

We had all the manure we needed for fertilizer and allowed our neighbors
to take all the droppings they wanted in our pasture. I still vividly
remember to this day seeing our Italian friends tramping around our
fields filling buckets with cow manure for their gardens. To show their
thanks they used to give us some of the grapes they prized so much. One
other interesting note is that the Italians had to blend their grapes
with California grapes to make wine. At that time, they couldn't grow
all the types of grapes they needed to make wine like they did in the
old country. Our growing season in South Plainfield just would not
accommodate them.

Our family couldn't afford a tractor. We used horses to pull our plows.
We had an iron plow for the field and a homemade wooden plow which was
weighed down with stones for the garden. My father also built a wooden
device for making furrows to plant our corn. It was also weighed down by
stones and had wooden pegs in the bottom to open the soil. It could make
three furrows on one pass. Many a time I was the one elected to walk
behind, place the field corn in the furrow and then kick the soil over
the seed.

We used to save the seed for our field corn, but unfortunately I can't
remember the name of the variety we grew. I do recall the yellow sweet
corn that we had was Golden Bantam from Burpee. We'd buy our vegetable
seedlings from a feed store in South Plainfield called Nishwitz (I'm not
sure if this is the proper spelling).

During the Depression, all families had a kitchen garden for food.
Unlike so many gardeners today who grow for a hobby, we were growing for
survival. I remember my mother saying, "You don't plant flowers because
you can't eat flowers." And she never did. The things we grew in the
garden were schav, beets (to make borscht), string beans, cabbage,
cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet peppers, horseradish, onions, garlic, sweet
corn, radishes, carrots, and dill (for pickles). We didn't have any
money to spare for candy, so we raised sunflowers for a snack. Around
the perimeter of the garden we had peach trees, gooseberries and a few
grape vines. Potatoes were still cheap during the Depression. You could
purchase a 100 pound bag graded a little below top quality for fifty
cents. We would sort through the bags and take out the good potatoes for
the family. The remainder would serve as feed for our pigs.

Every year my mother would put up one 55 gallon barrel of sauerkraut,
another of dill pickles, one of dill cabbage and still another of dill
green tomatoes (that
you would eat like pickles). Mother used Mason jars to put up tomatoes,
schav and beets. We also had butter from our cows milk, sour cream and
country and cottage cheese. Fresh eggs could also be had from our
chickens. If you think putting up all of this involves a great amount of
work you would be right. It had to be done to get us through the winter.

Running our farm always involved an enormous amount of work for all the
family members. Just about the only break I would get was when my mother
would take me with her to my older sister Lucy's store in Metuchen. It
was called College Town Food Store and her customers called her Lucy
College Town. The store was located at 451 Main Street. My mother used
to take me with her once a week since I was ten years old. It was always
a trip of both business and pleasure. I used to fill our wagon with the
wooden food crates to be used for firewood back home. Meanwhile my
mother would visit with my sister. It was just about the only break my
mom would get being a farm mother with a large family.

In finishing this story I would like to mention one last item. Today
kids work part time jobs such as newspaper delivery, supermarkets,
department stores, etc. It creates money that they can spend on
themselves. Not so during the Depression. All income earned off the farm
had to be handed over to our parents. Every penny of it! This was common
in just about every family. I remember working on Hollets' Farm, New
Market Avenue, and New Market. I picked asparagus, string beans, spinach
and carrots when in season. My favorite though was picking strawberries.
Although we were only paid two cents a quad, we were allowed to eat our
fill. And eat my fill l most certainly did! I also worked on the Garry
Farm, Kowalski Farm near the present day Edison-South Plainfield border
and another farm on South Clinton Avenue. I can't remember the family
name. I might also add that I always had to walk to these farms.





  • [Livingontheland] Recollections of Growing Up on a Farm during The Great Depression, Tradingpost, 04/30/2005

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