A Whole Lot of Nothing in Saskatchewan

"No one had any money," the tall, handsome senior tells me. He was a teenager through much of the thirties. The thirties, not the depression, that's how many of the seniors I talk to refer to the depression, only as the thirties.

"What did you do for fun?" I ask.

"Nothing."

"No dances?" I prod.

"I played the fiddle my Dad bought."

"You didn't have any money," I remind him.

"We bought it before the thirties, when we still had some money."

"Did you play at dances?" I ask again.

"Wasn't that good," he says in his cryptic manner. "The neighour taught me. We had musicals at different homes. I played at them sometimes."

"And dances?" So give me credit - I'm persistent!

"Yeah. I played at a few. But usually we had a real orchestra come out."

"Orchestra?" Now I'm puzzled. What about the no money thing?

"Yeah, my cousin played banjo, his wife played fiddle and a friend played saxaphone. They came out every Saturday night."

Nothing is sure becoming an interesting term. There's a whole lot of nothing going on. But I press on.

"From the city?" I ask.

"No, from the farm." He looks puzzled at the question. "They came into town."

"So you danced every weekend?"

"When we didn't have money. Sometimes we had money you know."

He eyes me like everyone should know this fact and continues,"then we went to Disley and bought beer."
"Beer?"

"Yeah. But we got rid of the empties."

"So you returned the empties?" I ask assuming poverty stricken as they were they would want the cash on a bottle return.

"Oh no." He shakes his head. "That would mean we'd have to take the bottles home with us. We threw them away so our mothers wouldn't find out we'd been drinking beer!"

Life is Unexpected - Safe travels

Ryshia

“A farmer who loves the classics and plays the piano like a maestro. Interesting.”
Tate Prescott Brown - "From the Dust"

Eat or Go Hungry?

In the 1930’s poverty did not necessarily mean you went hungry; eggs, noodles, potatoes and other root vegetables were a staple. One elderly lady told me that their large farm family went through a 100 lb bag of flour every two weeks. Potatoes and noodles with fried bread cubes, potatoes and cabbage with fried bread cubes, onion and pumpkin turnovers were some of the dishes I heard about.

One youthful senior, who was a child during the depression, described her traditional Christmas present; no toys or books, just a stocking with one orange, some hard candy and peanuts.

A recipe book from the 1930's depicts a few recipes that you still see today and many that might be considered unique. Yet some of the old standbys, like a morning cup of coffee, existed then as they do today.

Coffee with a twist - Try measuring your morning coffee into a cheesecloth bag, add a scoop of crushed eggshells and set the pot over the fire on the wood stove - Coffee in 20 minutes!

Here is another recipe that made me pause:

Milk Toast
“Toast stale bread, butter it and cut in cubes. Pour over it very hot milk, to which are added salt and pepper and if liked, a little more butter.”

And above is a page from that same cookbook featuring the following recipes; Onions and String Beans, Onions Au Gratin, Potato Cakes, Potato and Onion Casserole, and Peas in Baskets

““Well I surely won’t convince him of my value sitting here and moping.” It was almost suppertime. She squared her shoulders. She’d start her campaign by feeding him a good supper.”

Eva Edwards - “From the Dust”

Safe Travels

Ryshia

One Thousand Dollars and a Tractor

The depression of the 1930's was worldwide but in the midwestern parts of Canada and the States, the depression was even more devastating. Drought, dust storms, infestations of locusts, poverty and despair were common. When I spoke to people who had lived through that time in history I expected grim tales. My first conversation surprised me. The 1930's seemed to bring back happy memories. One 93 year old woman was married in 1937. Her wedding was complete with "store bought" wine and a $10 wedding dress. It was a big wedding at a time when wages could average $30 a month. But imagine, the only car at the wedding was the groom's father's. Everyone else arrived by horse drawn sleigh.
When the young couple finally bought their own farm, they got four sections of land which originally cost $3,000 a section. But after a $1,000 deposit the seller tried to swindle them by telling them the title was clear. It wasn't, a loan for a new tractor was now a lien on the property. So, the deal was $1,000 and the tractor for four sections of prime farm land. Not bad, even in Saskatchewan in 1939.

“We’re going to be okay Maggie girl. You wait and see.”

Eva Edwards - "From the Dust"

Safe travels

Ryshia

The Great Depression - Saskatchewan 1935

Today the journey I am on is different from any other trip I have taken before and likely any trip I will take after. Firsts usually are.

My first book is about to be published!

I’m so incredibly excited that I’d like to share some of the journey with you. I’ll begin at the beginning with an excerpt:

“He died with liquor on his breath and poison in his soul. Doc MacPherson claimed that between the alcohol and the arsenic there were enough chemicals in his body to keep him pickled to the second coming.

It was a terrible way to die. Eva wouldn’t wish that on anyone, even him. She shivered. The last twelve hours had been awful. She pulled a bobby pin from her hair, rearranged a stray piece and secured it again. She hadn’t reacted well. She knew that. She regretted snapping at the child. She regretted a lot of things. None of them could be undone. Like Mr. Edwards, the time was gone, over. The damage had been done.”

And so begins the saga of Eva Edwards, a new widow and mother to a child not hers. Three steps ahead of one disaster or another, she struggles to survive on a Saskatchewan farm. It is 1935 and dust storms and poverty are rampant. But it is Tate Prescott Brown who becomes the biggest obstacle as he arrives from Ontario with wealth and status and a claim to her farm. It is a poignant battle against each other and the elements as two independent individuals face off.

“From the Dust”
A December release published by Black Lyon Publishing.

Stay tuned as the journey continues.

Safe travels

Ryshia

Travel Away to Where?

Do you ever feel like travelling, far away, to another place? I don't just mean travelling for a two or three week vacation but travelling indefinitely.

Do you ever think of moving to another country, another continent, another world and culture?

I do, all the time. Interesting, since I live in the same city where I was born in. While I do travel regularly, I've never moved away. Some day I know I will - but not now. In the meantime I think about what it would be like to live in another culture far from everything that I was familiar with. Exhilerating, for sure, scary, yeah that too. I've dreamed of doing just that for years. But for now I have a career, family and friends that hold me here and I have my vacation travels to hold the dream. Speaking of vacations and travels, I'm getting excited, the maps aren't out, as the destination isn't confirmed, but by the end of this year I'll hopefully be on the road to somewhere new and exotic. I can hardly wait. In the meantime, I have the map of the world pinned to my wall and am adrift in possibilities.

Safe Travels


Ryshia

"I suspect it's impossible for some people to stay in one place for good, once they've left the city of their childhood."--Stephen Vizinczey

A Journey of a Lifetime

A couple of things happened this week. One, I was scanning old family photos and trying to piece together family history. I am uncomfortable with how many faces are unknown to me. Who is that pretty baby or that elegant couple posed so earnestly for their portrait? On some there are dates, and it is oddly poignant to realize that many of these people are long dead. What were their dreams? What was their life journey like and what did they leave that we might learn from?

It was on the CBC show, The Hour, where I first learned about a 93 year old blogger. A man who discusses his own mortality and has collected a following of readers that is impressive. Unfortunately, by the time I stumbled on his site he had stopped posting for a time. No, he assures us, he's not dead and he's still blogging. But he's had a family emergency. Many of us, me now included, wait for further words of wisdom, and hope things are well with him.

In the mean time we can only wait and ponder the fact that this is a rare opportunity, an opportunity to learn from a man who is closer to the end of a long journey than the beginning. A man who has had time to reflect and to learn lessons to problems that many of us have not yet encountered. I think many of us in western society have revered youth to the detriment of losing the knowledge of our elders. This man reminds us of what is important and what it's really all about.

The blog is called "Don to Earth" and it's worth your time to give it a look: http://dontoearth.blogspot.com/

"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."

Abraham Lincoln

Safe Travels

Ryshia