Life on the Prairie

 

Grace

Though times were hard, young Grace was not sad,

Each day she found reasons to be glad.

 

Families and friends would closer be

If they survived dust and no money.

 

Scarred from losses, humanity would mend,

When the Great Depression came to an end.

 

 

This blog changes on the first and third weeks of the month.

Prairie Girls

Grace

This is Grace again, and I am excited. Momma and Daddy said we are moving to Wichita! The aircraft industry in that town is hiring workers. Daddy will find a job there I’m sure.  I will miss my friends here and especially Christine, our boarder, but I know I will make new friends.

After we move to Wichita we will be closer to my cousin Ginny and her family. Momma said we might see them more often. I would like that. We will live with Daddy’s brother until we find a place of our own. Uncle Alan’s house is big enough I will have my own bed again.

 

Cemetery Wall

                                        by Collette

 My grandfather on my mother’s side worked for the WPA for a short time. The agency provided construction in this part of the state. Nearly every dirt road in the county had a low water bridge or at least a concrete culvert in place over creeks or areas where water collected. At one time there were two rainbow bridges built over rivers near town. Only one remains. Most of the surviving structures are stone and can be found around our local park and zoo.

The cemetery wall remains the most striking feature of this stonework. It begins at the outskirts of the town and continues for blocks as one drives into the residential area on the main street of the city. It surrounds the cemetery on four sides and runs beside the park, as well. It is one of the longest cemetery walls in the state. On closer inspection, one can see the patterns and artistry in the placement of the rocks. When I discussed this wall in my American History classes, I was amazed how many students actually studied the wall and commented on what they had seen.

The WPA construction in my hometown provides a legacy and an historical record of what the local men, including my grandfather, did to survive the Great Depression.

The History Fact

The WPA

                                       by Collette

The Works Progress Administration became one of the largest and most successful welfare programs during the New Deal days under President Franklin Roosevelt. Enacted by Congress in 1935, the program provided job for mostly unskilled, unemployed men. At its peak in 1938, more than 3,000,000 men worked at various jobs and projects. The public projects included the building of highways, roads, bridges, courthouses, libraries and schools. The local or state work also included swimming pools, bookmobiles, recreational areas, hospitals, post offices, sidewalks and even hot lunches at schools. Nearly 40,000 new structures were erected and 85,000 were improved.

A much smaller project, but one of the best, was the employment of artists, performers, musicians, actors and writers to bring the arts into areas where people had not been exposed to culture found only in larger cities. Writers chronicled the Depression and wrote instruction or guide books for people’s use.

Artists painted murals on public buildings often depicting the lives and struggles of people in the region. Songs were written and performed across the country, and actors brought plays to the people. Oral history became a part of recorded history as writers travelled around the nation. These recordings stored in the Library of Congress included the only live recordings of what life was like in the South as a slave.

More information about the impact the WPA had on Americans can be found at the following sites:

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration
www.wpamurals.com
www.vintagraph.com/collections/wpa-posters
http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/works-progress-administration/15175

 

 

 

 

 

Depression Cookies

Depression Cookies

              by Collette

The following dessert recipes belonged to a friend of my co-writer and were used during the 1930’s.

Caramel Chocolate Treat Cookies

¼  cup cocoa                                                        ½ cup brown sugar
¼ teaspoon baking soda                                       ½ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ cups flour                                                      1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt                                                    1 egg
Package of caramels                                            1 stick of butter, softened

Mix dry ingredients. After mixing wet ingredients well, add to flour mixture. Blend until combined. Before dropping the dough onto the cookie sheet, place a caramel inside each mound. Then cut caramel into pieces and place on top of each cookie before baking. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned.

Pecan Shortbread Cookies

1 stick of butter, softened                                     ¼ teaspoon vanilla

¼ cup granulated sugar                                        1 cup flour
pinch of salt                                                         ½ cup chopped pecans
pinch of cinnamon

Mix ingredients well; roll into a 9 inch log. Cover with paper and chill for two hours or overnight. Cut into ¼ inch slices and place on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned.

Carrot Cookies

Cream together:
2 sticks butter, softened                                       2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar                                               1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup granulated sugar

Add the following to the creamed mixture and blend well:

1 ½ cups flour                                                      ¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda                                        1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder                                    ½ to 1 teaspoon ginger
2 cups rolled oats                                                 1 ½ cups of grated carrots
1 cup raisins

After mixture is blended chill for 30 minutes. Then drop by teaspoonful onto baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Icing:

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened                   1 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick butter, softened                                       enough powdered sugar to make
                                                                            icing spreadable

Spread icing when cookies have completely cooled.

 

 

 

 

 

Storyteller's Corner

Flying

                                   by Collette

My husband lived near Wichita and worked for Cessna Aircraft after high school and one summer during college. His job included building the trim tabs on the smaller trainer jets known as T38’s. Another man and he also worked on the leading edges of the ailerons sometimes. These jets were designed for training, but could be fitted with guns, bombs and were used in Viet Nam. Work began at 5:00 A.M. and ended at 4:00 P.M. each day.

Convinced he didn’t want to work on an assembly line ever again, my husband did develop a love for flying. Some of our cheaper dates included going to the airport to watch planes come in to land. When the boys were little, their dad got his pilot’s license and flew a Cessna 172. I even took ground school with the intention of learning to land the plane if he became ill during a trip although, but I never followed through with the actual flying.

It seems ironic that presently Cessna has located a plant in my hometown right where my husband learned to fly. When the price of aircraft fuel took a hike as did regular gasoline, he dropped out of the flying club and gave up flying. I know it is something he still misses doing.

Time to Move?

 

Time to Move?

           by Judy

It has been almost four decades since I have moved. One quick look in my closets will confirm that. A lot of very important, meaningful, exceptional items and keepsakes have accumulated in my home over the past years. It has been suggested by some of my family I might sort and perhaps even discard some of my prized possessions. Well, those family members didn’t exactly refer to my possessions as prized, but I knew what they meant. Perhaps a move would be a good thing to happen because I surely am lazy enough I would discard rather than move all I have accumulated.

During my college years and before my marriage, my life was filled with moves. I moved between semesters and usually at the beginning and end of the summer school sessions. Fortunately most of the apartments I lived in were furnished and all my earthly belongings fit into my 1964 Ford Falcon. Old Blue was not air-conditioned so if sometimes an ironing board hung out a back window a little, it wasn’t an issue.  

While I have now lived the majority of my life in the same house, my children followed in my footsteps and made numerous moves throughout their many college years.

“Mom, the dorms are so crowded my roommates and I are renting an apartment for next fall…” and so it began.

“Mom, can Dad and you help me move next weekend? The lease is up on our apartment, and my roommates and I are moving into an older home close to campus. Oh, and can you bring some cleaning supplies?”

One of my sons is a CPA, and he might be able to total up the times his three siblings and he moved during the course of their combined college years, but that type of computation is far above the capabilities I acquired in the basic business math class of my long ago freshman year at college.

I’ve been blessed to have these children and their many moves in my life. I’m grateful, too, for my strong back and the quality and variety of cleaning supplies now available. Still, I probably won’t get my closets cleaned without a move on my part. Care to guess who is going to help me move?