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.