Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I Guess We Were Poor...

I never knew we were poor.
I thought every kid was raised to know how to fix things. Drywall, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, stone, we did it all as kids. I did my first sweat fit copper plumbing job at @8 years old. It never occurred to me, we had to money to hire it done.
Mom could cook just about anything, and make it edible. We had more than a few strange meals, but we ate. I now know pickleloaf goes bad in a freezer. I just thought it tasted that bad to start with. I do know I will never eat it again.
The smell of fried bologna sandwiches will drive me out of the house now, but it was breakfast every morning.
We all learned to hunt, fish and garden about as soon as we could walk. We all learned to shoot, even my sister who can't stand to kill anything with a face (her words). But she could give lessons in shooting. She can out shoot me. My dad wanted to make sure we would never starve, so every kid had to learn how, after 18, they could decide for themselves if they wished to continue hunting, fishing. Everyone worked in the garden.
I signed the first contract of my life with my folks. When I got my first real paycheck, they felt that if I could work for a paycheck, I could help the family. 40% of whatever I made was to go to the family budget. (Same contract my sister was already on, being older than me).
At first it felt like my whole check! (Looking back, I'm now sure it didn't cover what I ate.) But as I wanted more for myself, I looked for better and better paying jobs, and my 40% grew as well. I moved out of the house, when it was actually cheaper to live on my own, than under thier roof. (This was also part of the plan.)
It taught me how to budget, and work toward a goal. It also taught me trade skills I have used my entire life, and skills I fall back on now, as we dropped down to one income and massive medical costs. (One 30 day shot is 12k, and she's on a dozen medications). If I CAN do it myself, I do.
I may have grown up with no money. But without the training of being poor. I'd be in serious trouble now.
Thank you mom and dad for teaching me self reliance, and responsibility.

has anyone mentioned mayonnaise sammiches yet?

Never ate that, but did eat something called a sandwich spread. Which was nothing but salad dressing and pickle relish.

Salad drasslin, that's just what 'Boos call mayo

Haha


so ya...youve ate a mayo sammich

lol

.

Mom grew up in the coal fields of SE KY and SW PA. Said they never knew they were "poor" because everyone else was the same way. Meat was whatever her older brothers shot, trapped, or caught out of the river. Girl's bloomers were made out of fabric recycled from flour sacks. There was a specific brand of flour she preferred because their sacks were made out of a higher quality fabric that didn't chafe as much.

Dad was the youngest of 12, but, still dropped out of school at 14 to go to work to help support the family. Enlisted in the Navy at 17. Spent 4 years in the Pacific During WW II. Would never talk about it. Eventually landed a job in a local steel mill. And like above, worked as many "doubles" (16 hr shifts) and holidays as he could to earn the extra $$$'s. In the world's eyes, he was just a common laborer. If I could be half the man he was...

Nuff said...

I tell folks I didn't know we were poor until we finally accumulated together enough money to buy a TV. Seeing all the fine houses and cars showed me just how poor we were. Although in school all the kids were dressed alike. There were no designer clothes there. Mom worked in a "shirt factory" and dressed us in irregulars and commissary purchases. We got new jeans every year, but mom bought them too big on purpose. We had to cinch up the waist and turn up the cuffs. As the year went on and we grew, there would be rings around the pants legs where they used to be cuffed. All the boys had them. When the jeans were finally ripped or stained they became work clothes or summer shorts.

Dad said "we live within our means". We weren't poor we just had low income in our house. Dad was a 7th grade dropout and Mom was a high school dropout.

We rarely ate out, we didn't have much of the "entertainment" that the world seems so dependent on these days. I felt cheated because kids I knew would go out for burgers or something called "pizza" that sounded like heaven. We had a small 15 acre farm that Dad worked on after his day job. A couple dairy cows, a few Angus, pigs, chickens, ducks, fruity trees and a big garden. Mom canned, fixed our meals, took care of things around the house and loved us. Bread and milk was a regular nighttime snack. I wore K-mart or Stan's Merry Mart clothes, my friends got stuff from Sears and I was really jealous of the Pro Keds shoes. Dad'd put empty bread sacks over my socks to keep my feet dry in my boots.

In hindsight we had it all. I never once wondered where our next meal was coming from, we ate like rich folk. Dad and I'd dip the cream from the milk to put on our wheat chex or over a bowl of fresh peaches...that was eating at its best. Hard work was how we lived. We had a pickup, travel trailer and little fishing boat. Since I was the product of a 3rd marriage Dad retired (the 1st time) when I was 10 and we spent weeks every summer fishing in BC.

It's funny how my childhood turned out to be the roadmap for my life. My wife and I live within our means. If the weather breaks we'll hook up the trailer and head to Valley of Fire this next weekend to warm up for a few days.

Can remember when I was little, Dad, before he went to bed, would sometimes open up a can of tomatoes and sprinkle sugar over them. The he and I would polish them off. It doesn't sound too appetizing to me now, but that was " Depression Dessert". Mother said canned tomatoes back in the Depression were one of the cheapest things you could get to eat. After Dad died, I would go with Mother to the grocery store. Every time she'd pick up a dozen eggs out of the cooler, she look at the price and lament the fact " Eggs were only a nickle a dozen in the Depression". How those folks out in West Texas survived the Depression along with the Dust Bowl was amazing. Mother said a lot of peoples teeth got ruined back then because everyone's food had sand in it. She said my grandmother had to sweep the house out about 3 times every day.

I remember dad would get a glass of milk , put in a slice of bread and a half can of peaches.

That was his late night snack.

Supper was corn meal mush with a pat of butter in the middle and sprinkled with cinnamon 2/3 times a week. When there was steak it was round steak. Breakfast cream of wheat or oatmeal. When a hog was butchered there was the scrapple and head cheese.

Wow, that description of jeans brought back a flood of memories.

Thanks Leon.

My dad entered and won a cereal eating contest. First prize was our first black and white TV and a "Pong" video game. Played that game until we wore it out.

One of the most frequent meals at home was spam in scrambled eggs with pork n beans

Those were good eats.

So was navy beans and ham hocks. Don't be last in line.

REAL poor leaves a person never wanting to remember it or even talk about it.
Nothing about it is nostalgic.

Our version was hotdogs cut into little pieces and fried before adding the eggs. My brother & I would compete to see who got the chunk of "pork" from the can of pork and beans.

Dad came from eastern New Mexico and grew his own chilies. We'd roast, peel and grind them, then he'd freeze it in baby food jars and ration it to get through the winter. It was the condiment served with every meal. Ground up green chili with scrambled eggs is still one of the best breakfasts I've had. We also ate lots of pinto beans cooked with a chunk of salt pork and biscuits were on the menu several times a week.

One of my favorites was field corn on the cob. But you had to catch it at just the right time.

Remember when chicken was considered poor man's meat? We ate so much that I got burnt out on it, and couldn't stand to touch it for several years after I was grown.

While Dad was a civil engineer, as a young man, he did well - but I am the oldest of seven kids. Cash was spread sort of thin, if you get my drift .
While we never starved, money was tight, as he bought farms and ranches, while providing for all those mouths.
We ate, but not extravagantly, slaughtered our own beef, and after the 2 youngest got into school - started a dairy, where Mom ran the show, while waiting on folks.
She used to cut the legs off the back of holey blue jeans, and sew them over the front of a pair getting thin. Those were nice on cold days, but especially when bucking hay bales - pretty resistant to stickers!
All of us worked hard, and have done pretty well (me) up to VERY well (some of my siblings).
The next generation seems to be doing just fine, also. Can't beat that!