TRANSCRIPT

Ron: Do you remember anything specific about the dirty thirties and how it affected farmers and how it affected yourself?

Mabel: Well, you were short of money and short of clothes. I said we didn't starve because we milked cows and raised chickens and pigs. You could sell a little pig for about a dollar a piece then. We ate pigs back in the 30's that were as good as your turkey. Well, they'd maybe be a couple of months old but you couldn't hardly sell them. We cooked them just like a turkey.

Ron: Grandma, I hear people tell stories about eating dandelions and greens like that in the 30's. Is that right?

Mabel: Well, I never did. Father used to eat some greens.

Ron: They'd go out and collect dandelions...

Mabel: No. Pigweed or something. Father used to eat that. Boil it.

Ron: You never got into pigweed.

Mabel: No. We didn't starve but we didn't have all the money or all the clothes. I think Herb bought me a coat for $5 once at McRorie's that had hung in the store for years; it was a tweed coat that had hung in the store for years. The Throwers used to get a few clothes... Mr. Thrower had a sister married to a policeman in Toronto, that had a couple of sons. And they used to send Throwers clothes but they were always too big for their boys. I remember Harold getting pants and coat from Mrs. Thrower that these folks from Toronto would send out.