written by the youngest son of Raymond and Rowena Biddle.
In the years I lived at home, everybody worked. My father worked six days a week. He left for work at the furniture store at 7:30 a.m. and arrived home at 5:30 p.m. He pastored three churches as well. On Saturday nights he worked until 8 p.m. He did get Thursday afternoons off. That was the day they went to town to buy groceries. I was in school, so I didn't get to go except in the summer. We had two church services every Sunday morning, one service on Sunday night and one on Wednesday night and one on Thursday night.
My Dad always had two sometimes three gardens which he dug up by hand. They totaled usually one half to one acre. The ones not on the home place were done on shares with the land owner. Dad grew almost anything that would grow. He mulched, composted and fertilized if he could afford it. He watered, and he weeded. Of course I got to help once I was big enough. He had early, midseason, and late crops. We all helped with the picking. During the days while Dad was at work my mother canned anything and everything. We all knew we were in trouble if we didn't have about 500 quarts of fruits and vegetables canned by October.
The only times we ate out were when someone invited us to their home. I must have been ten or eleven the first time I ate in a restaurant. You guessed it, someone invited us out to eat. I was seventeen years old the first time I went to McDonalds. I took a girl on a date. The first time we had pizza Al took us to a "drive in." I bought the pizza. I think I was a Freshman in high school.
My parents tried to have meat on Sunday and one other weeknight. We did buy milk, bread, flour, sugar, etc., but we didn't buy vegetables, fruit, or processed foods. If we bought fruit, it was the drops from a farmer or orchard. We were often allowed to glean the leftovers at a church members home orchard. Therefore, we ate alot of applesauce, pear sauce, rhubarb sauce, etc. We raised our own strawberries and grapes. Mom made every kind of pie on the planet.
To supplement the meager meat ration, my brother and Dad would go squirrel hunting. I would go rabbit hunting with my Dad. I usually was the rabbit dog since we didn't have one. I would scare up the rabbits, and they would run towards my Dad and his 12 guage shot gun. I was about six years of age when I became the fish provider. My Dad liked to fish, but he seldom had time. There was a small pond near our house with plenty of bluegills and the occasional bass. Four about six years I fished that pond to near death at least three days a week. Sometimes, I would only bring home enough for a taste for everybody, but other times we would have a regular feast and the meat budget went for something like a popsicle for everyone. I didn't know about anything other than worms and a cane pole until I was out of college. We also went into the woods and hunted nuts in the fall. We cracked hickory nuts by the stove for a winter snack or popped pop corn in a metal pan.
I don't recall anyone every mowing the grass but my brother or I. My parents were assigned the ever important task of putting food on the table. Both of us started early mowing the neighbors yards. One summer I used the push mower to mow five different yards. I believe I was eleven. Al had gone to college, and I stepped up and took his jobs along with my own. Al made extra money with a paper route. When I was twelve I began working for farmers helping with hay season. My parents liked this because the farmers usually fed me while I worked at their places. More than once my parents "borrowed" money from me to keep things going.
My mother had a routine to everything. Monday was wash day, Tuesday was ironing day, Wednesday was cleaning day, Thursday was shopping day, Friday was baking day, Saturday was picking and canning day. During the winter Saturday was food processing day. She made stews, soups, casseroles, etc. These had the intended purpose of making everything go a little further. If a local farmer was butchering we could sometimes get the ingriedients for scrapple, head cheese, or chitlins. I more than once was sent looking for a cheap tongue, a "dog" bone or pigs feet for pickling.
Several summers my mother organized VBS, but she never taught a Sunday School class or regular Bible study. Father with work only preached five times a week. I'm not sure he ever had much time to prepare messages until we moved to Westville. I only lived there for two and half years. We still had a garden, but we could actually buy ice cream once in a while and have meat more than twice a week.
My favorite memories were the couple Thursday afternoons each year that my parents would plan to do something special. We would sometimes go on a picnic, go to a state park to swim, or go to a parishoners pond to fish. I remember less than a dozen of these, but it was time I knew my parents focused on us kids and having fun. When we went on a vacation we went to visit family. We knew better than to ask for money. If we didn't have our own money to buy something we didn't get it. Other than socks or underwear, I only remember getting one fun birthday gift as a child. I only had two birthday parties growing up. One I invited my whole first grade to without telling my parents. The other was when I was in high school. My mother did manage to have a cake of some kind each year. We carved pumpkins, we dyed Easter eggs, and we celebrated Christmas. We just didn't spend much or have much. Decorations were homemade. Looking back I know the finacial pressures on my parents were great. We didn't know about many things the world had to offer. We didn't have TV until well after everyone else had one. We didn't have a telephone until I was in high school. We didn't have indoor plumbing until I was in junior high. I never experienced air conditioning until I was out of college. If I wanted to get somewhere I walked or rode my bicycle until I was in college and then I split my time between hitch hiking and working to get a cheap car (a VW bug).
After we were married, we knew that visiting family was what my parents expected, it was what we were raised on. They made a big event of seeing you boys. They had never had money in the past and now for the first time in their lives they could spoil their grand children a little. They planned feasts for the few holidays they could share with you.
My Dad always had two sometimes three gardens which he dug up by hand. They totaled usually one half to one acre. The ones not on the home place were done on shares with the land owner. Dad grew almost anything that would grow. He mulched, composted and fertilized if he could afford it. He watered, and he weeded. Of course I got to help once I was big enough. He had early, midseason, and late crops. We all helped with the picking. During the days while Dad was at work my mother canned anything and everything. We all knew we were in trouble if we didn't have about 500 quarts of fruits and vegetables canned by October.
The only times we ate out were when someone invited us to their home. I must have been ten or eleven the first time I ate in a restaurant. You guessed it, someone invited us out to eat. I was seventeen years old the first time I went to McDonalds. I took a girl on a date. The first time we had pizza Al took us to a "drive in." I bought the pizza. I think I was a Freshman in high school.
My parents tried to have meat on Sunday and one other weeknight. We did buy milk, bread, flour, sugar, etc., but we didn't buy vegetables, fruit, or processed foods. If we bought fruit, it was the drops from a farmer or orchard. We were often allowed to glean the leftovers at a church members home orchard. Therefore, we ate alot of applesauce, pear sauce, rhubarb sauce, etc. We raised our own strawberries and grapes. Mom made every kind of pie on the planet.
To supplement the meager meat ration, my brother and Dad would go squirrel hunting. I would go rabbit hunting with my Dad. I usually was the rabbit dog since we didn't have one. I would scare up the rabbits, and they would run towards my Dad and his 12 guage shot gun. I was about six years of age when I became the fish provider. My Dad liked to fish, but he seldom had time. There was a small pond near our house with plenty of bluegills and the occasional bass. Four about six years I fished that pond to near death at least three days a week. Sometimes, I would only bring home enough for a taste for everybody, but other times we would have a regular feast and the meat budget went for something like a popsicle for everyone. I didn't know about anything other than worms and a cane pole until I was out of college. We also went into the woods and hunted nuts in the fall. We cracked hickory nuts by the stove for a winter snack or popped pop corn in a metal pan.
I don't recall anyone every mowing the grass but my brother or I. My parents were assigned the ever important task of putting food on the table. Both of us started early mowing the neighbors yards. One summer I used the push mower to mow five different yards. I believe I was eleven. Al had gone to college, and I stepped up and took his jobs along with my own. Al made extra money with a paper route. When I was twelve I began working for farmers helping with hay season. My parents liked this because the farmers usually fed me while I worked at their places. More than once my parents "borrowed" money from me to keep things going.
My mother had a routine to everything. Monday was wash day, Tuesday was ironing day, Wednesday was cleaning day, Thursday was shopping day, Friday was baking day, Saturday was picking and canning day. During the winter Saturday was food processing day. She made stews, soups, casseroles, etc. These had the intended purpose of making everything go a little further. If a local farmer was butchering we could sometimes get the ingriedients for scrapple, head cheese, or chitlins. I more than once was sent looking for a cheap tongue, a "dog" bone or pigs feet for pickling.
Several summers my mother organized VBS, but she never taught a Sunday School class or regular Bible study. Father with work only preached five times a week. I'm not sure he ever had much time to prepare messages until we moved to Westville. I only lived there for two and half years. We still had a garden, but we could actually buy ice cream once in a while and have meat more than twice a week.
My favorite memories were the couple Thursday afternoons each year that my parents would plan to do something special. We would sometimes go on a picnic, go to a state park to swim, or go to a parishoners pond to fish. I remember less than a dozen of these, but it was time I knew my parents focused on us kids and having fun. When we went on a vacation we went to visit family. We knew better than to ask for money. If we didn't have our own money to buy something we didn't get it. Other than socks or underwear, I only remember getting one fun birthday gift as a child. I only had two birthday parties growing up. One I invited my whole first grade to without telling my parents. The other was when I was in high school. My mother did manage to have a cake of some kind each year. We carved pumpkins, we dyed Easter eggs, and we celebrated Christmas. We just didn't spend much or have much. Decorations were homemade. Looking back I know the finacial pressures on my parents were great. We didn't know about many things the world had to offer. We didn't have TV until well after everyone else had one. We didn't have a telephone until I was in high school. We didn't have indoor plumbing until I was in junior high. I never experienced air conditioning until I was out of college. If I wanted to get somewhere I walked or rode my bicycle until I was in college and then I split my time between hitch hiking and working to get a cheap car (a VW bug).
After we were married, we knew that visiting family was what my parents expected, it was what we were raised on. They made a big event of seeing you boys. They had never had money in the past and now for the first time in their lives they could spoil their grand children a little. They planned feasts for the few holidays they could share with you.
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