As you probably know this is a program on the Science
channel telling us how labor intensive life would be. I
watched it today and realized that my early life was what
they were picturing.

We raised most of our own food and canned it. My mother
went so far as to make vegetable soup and can it in quart jars. It was very welcome in the winter as were all the
vegetables. We planted popping corn and shelled and dried
it. What stands out in my memory was canning pumpkin because we had a cat who loved it and we enjoyed watching
her eat it.

There was a smokehouse for curing ham and the rest of the
meat was canned beef or pork and chicken.

My father did not have a tractor in the early years of the
depression and farmed with two horses, named Tip and Snip.
When he came to the house at noon, he fed them a big
meal also. They had to be fed and cared for at night and
in the morning as well. When he got a tractor, Tip and
Snip were cared for until their death's from old age.

Until World War II, we had no knowledge of antibiotics.
Sulfa drugs were the first in common useage and if you
took them you had to force fluids or they would kill you.
The science channel showed people hoarding antibiotics.
I can only remember going to the doctor twice since we used
home remedies first.

My sister, who is five years younger than I and who married
at age sixteen escaped a lot of the labor. My cousin
and I remember it well.

Life has changed a lot since then but some of the changes
have not been for the better. Unoccupied teen age kids can
sure get into trouble and it wouldn't hurt them to have
something to do.