A CHILD OF THE DEPRESSION
When I say that I am ‘a child of the Depression’, most folk know what I mean. It tells them that I do not waste anything if I can help it; I buy hardly anything if I can do without it; and I get great satisfaction out of tastefully using left-overs that are in my refrigerator. My freezer is full of bits and pieces…surplus food that I have frozen and which comes in handy when I need a snack. Or when I do not have the energy to cook a meal. They are always a nice surprise, even though I label each container, showing contents and date. When I make scones, I do so because I have milk or cream remainders that should be used, and there was recently quite a lot of it, perhaps enough for several dozen scones that would need a large space in the freezer. Right! I must start eating the contents pronto! I have had savoury mince with frozen peas; boiled chicken pieces that I had with a salad from my garden; rissoles with gravy to which I added greens and pumpkin; pasta sauce that was added to fresh spaghetti, and there are four large frozen fresh prawns that I am eyeing off as they rest with the other forgotten items in the now half-full freezer. I can see two loin chops and some round steak just waiting to be cooked, as well as a container of apple strudel that I made some time ago. I am determined to get to the bottom of this…and I am eating well.
THE SILVER THIMBLE
We were leaving the district. Leaving the farm that had been home to four generations of my father’s family. The Great Depression still raged and times were tough for a small dairy farmer of 1937. They would try their luck in the city. A share farmer was arranged, a...
THE MEAT ANTS ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL
We walked barefoot to school at Logan Village. The gravel road near the Quinzy Creek bridge was sometimes covered in large meat-ant’s nests. These big red ants packed a powerful sting of which we were most aware. Joan and I skirted round the nests, but one day, Marty...