Old Ways May Resurface as Survival Becomes Key

The Great Depression deeply scarred many who lived through those awful times. Are we about to see a replay of those difficult years?
Admittedly, some had it better in the Depression than others. Some were dirt poor yet didn’t realize they were deprived. They didn’t know what poor meant, because most of the people around them were all the same. Life went on for them. If they lived on a farm, chickens still laid eggs, hogs were butchered each fall, vegetables were canned in season, and wood stoves warmed a room or two.
Clothes were made at home and passed down, not thrown out. Mending was the norm, not the exception. Patches lovingly sewn on knees and elbows were not a fashion statement; they were just “done.” Socks were darned. Shoes were repaired.
Children had few toys, but cherished the ones they possessed.
Deprived, many went to bed
saying prayers that someday they would live in plenty, be warm, not hungry, and have some money to call their own.
Around the nation there seemed to be a philosophy that was etched into the collective mind: Waste not want not.
We so-called Baby Boomers, who lived through boom times of post-World War II, through the Cold War, Vietnam and the last of the Twentieth Century, never knew hard times.
Nearly everyone, it seemed, had a relative who survived the Depression selling pencils, apples, or, this is true, ladies underwear.
Pride was something few worried about preserving back then. Survival was the key.
We “boomers” never lived that Depression experience. For that reason, it was foreign to us why grandparents saved “stuff.” Why would anyone want to horde anything?
Why keep little pencils or paper bags? Why not buy a new winter coat each year? Why worry about squeezing all the toothpaste from the tube, or getting the last bit of peanut butter from the jar?
We may soon learn the answers to these questions the hard way.
It is ironic that in the midst of an economic downturn, Jack Fichter wrote a story last week about a “growing” (no pun intended) fad known as “slow food.”
Behind that fad is the notion that produce grown locally is better for one’s health since it contains only what the preparer puts in, helps the local economy, and may help unite families by bringing back the lost art of home canning.
My mother in law, the late Betty Kern, would smile at this “new” idea. Many nights, when she least felt like preserving food, she would be found in her Goshen kitchen blanching lima beans, sweet peas, or string beans.
When produce was “ripe,” a day or two delay in canning makes a difference between a spoiled batch of food or “putting it up” for winter.
There were long nights into the wee hours of the morning when apples turned into sauce and peaches were sliced and placed in jars.
Aside from the labor and lids for the Ball jars, sugar, salt and a few other relatively simple ingredients, the food was really low cost, and it was good.
Would today’s younger generation be willing to toil through the night to put up say, 50 quarts of tomatoes or 45 packs of beans? It may happen.
Given the push toward “slow food,” and the woeful financial picture on the horizon, late nights in the kitchen putting up local produce may become something Cape May County households will again learn.
Does it seem far-fetched in a world of microwave ovens and instant food that amid a faltering economy, the old ways are resurfacing?
Should the economy really go south, and “slow food” is the only food, will we see fewer lawns replaced by “victory” gardens? Will many learn the simple delight of corn meal mush fried for breakfast?
Instead of paying for gas to mow a lawn that produces nothing but aggravation, will we see gardens growing squash and cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes and peppers?
This could be one way the local economy reshapes itself into a future that will be far different from anything we have seen in this “boomer” generation.
What impact will this recession have on each of us? It may reshape the way families exist. Perhaps it will force more extended families under one roof. With foreclosures on the rise, maybe crammed rooms and busy kitchens will again be the centers of family life.
If the economy sours further, and many lose their jobs, what will they do to survive? Will we live to see county and municipal workers paid in script? Will wages go down instead of up?
Will there be more folks willing to take in laundry or do odd jobs for a few dollars? Will there be more domestic helpers seeking household work, like cleaning?
Can we expect more children to ride a school bus rather than be driven to school? Will having a car at 17 years of age be an attainable goal for high school students?
As the economy dwindles, will we see more young people head into military service as a viable means of beginning a career? At least they would be getting three meals a day and have good clothes.
Since we are standing at this great, dark, open door I understand how living through it would scar someone for the rest of their days. Old ways don’t seem so odd anymore.