Women and the Depression by Mary Tesdahl

Women helped families survive.  They worked harder, endured further sacrifices, and created unlimited  “ingenious  strategies.”    In  1929,  routine  life  on  the  farm  had  three  parts:  daily  farm chores; family responsibilities, and constant financial worries.  Farm Women were accustomed to carrying heavy loads due to the many types of work for which they were responsible in everyday farm life.  Caring for the chickens was on that list.  Eggs were carefully washed and put into crates until there were enough eggs to take to town to trade at the store.  That egg money helped buy groceries and other supplies.  Farm women took care of the children and the house and often helped in the field.

Farm gardens were large and canning became very popular.  Preserving produce cut down on the amount  of money spent on food. Home grown produce was good for the health of the family and added to the family income.  In the early 30’s it is estimated that home canning increased 40%.  It was recommended that 70 quarts of fruits and vegetables be canned for each family member.  In addition, meat, pickles, jams, and jellies were all preserved.  Canning transformed summer growth into winter survival and was the knot at the end of the family rope.  Farm families often shared with relatives who lived in town. The depression made people thrifty.  Women made apple pies with no apples and meat pie with no meat.  Chicken feed came in cloth bags in a variety of patterns.  Women made shirts, dresses, nightgowns, and aprons from these bags when they were empty.  The trick was to have enough of the same print to make the item.   It took three to four sacks to make a dress.  Bags of feed were carefully selected with an idea of who in the family needed what new item of clothing.  Wooden orange crates became cupboards or dressing tables.  The most desired appliance for the farm woman was a stove; the second was a washing machine.  Even with a washing machine, washing clothes was a time consuming task.  Water had to be hauled in and heated in a boiler on the wood stove.  The washing machine and rinse tubs were filled with this water.  Bluing was added to the last rinse water.  Whites were washed first and overalls and darks were washed last.  The soap used was often homemade from lard kept when hogs were butchered or Fels Naptha.  The wringer had to be moved as the clothes were moved from one tub to the next.  Clothes were hung outside in all seasons.  Shaking the items before they were hung up helped to get the wrinkles out.  Monday was considered wash day.  If it were raining, clothes might be hung from a rope strung around the house.  After the washing was done, the wash water had to be carried out. 

It might still have one more use – scrubbing the porch and steps.  When clothes were brought in, items that needed  to be ironed were sprinkled and rolled up and put in the clothes basket.  The collars and cuffs on men’s shirts and other items might be starched. Because of the labor involved in both washing and ironing, Tuesday was designated as the day to iron.  Ironing was done with a heavy iron heated on the stove. Some irons had the handle permanently attached and some handles were separate from the base and when the iron cooled, that base was put back on the stove and the handle could be attached to another heated base. Farm women, with their many tasks and creative solutions were everyday heroes.

Mom’s apron kept a dress clean while covering a missing button, or a dirty dress.  There was always a clean apron handy in case someone drove into the yard.  Aprons brought garden stuff into the house and  held eggs gathered from the chicken coop.  If it was a bad day, Mom could throw the apron over her face to cry and no one would know it. Lots of women who lived in rural  Iowa  didn’t get out much. If  a  farm  wife  had  a  radio,  she was  probably  listening  to  “Up a  Country  Lane”  on  KMA  in Shenandoah,  where  she  could hear of the outside world.  Radio programs  became  the  support system for farm women.  KMA had 14 women broadcasters.  The broadcasters  became  personal friends.    Letters  from  listeners, recipes  and  tips  were  shared.  KMA was started by Earl May in 1925.  KFNF was started by Henry  Field  in  1924.   Kitchen Klatter was a popular magazine that filled this same role.

In Eagle Grove, families were allowed to pick up coal that fell along the tracks.  Sometimes people who lived in town would go out to the country to get corn cobs from farmers to burn in their cookstoves.  They put them into the baskets that fruit came in from stores.  Those same baskets were lined with oil cloth and used as clothes baskets.  Homes that did not have running water had to depend on hauling water from the pump or water came from the cistern in the basement.  With no refrigerators, butter and milk were put in a flowing well or down in a cool basement. If you wanted curls, you heated a curling iron in a lamp chimney and then rolled your hair around it.  The heat would make the hair curl, but you needed to be careful that you didn’t get it too hot and singe the hair.  Curls could also be obtained by tying wet hair up on rags.  Since the hair was wet when it was rolled and tied, when it dried, the hair curled.  Braids were also popular.  Women were creative and resourceful and played an important role in keeping things together during the Depression.

 

 

October 2018