By Al Prehodka

The young people of today have no idea of what it was like living, or should I say trying to survive, during the Great Depression. They only know what they are taught in school. What follows is my own personal experience of living on our family farm during this great hardship. I hope this article will give the reader insight into what it was like farming during these tough times. In the span of a decade or two the people who lived during this epoch will have moved on and our story of this era will live on only in the history books. The Great Depression was truly one of the worst times in the history of the United States of America. Certainly the toughest time I ever experienced in my life.

My father, Gregory Prehodka, came to America in 1910 from the Ukraine to escape the hardships and political upheaval that were fermenting in that section of the world. He immediately went to work for the Lehigh Valley Railroad as did almost all the other immigrants in the South Plainfield area. It took my father two years to save enough money to bring his wife, Frances, and their six children from the old country. In 1914, he purchased land and built a house on New Market Avenue in South Plainfield. Shortly thereafter, he quit the railroad and went into business for himself as a farmer and butcher. Between our own land and an adjacent area that we leased from the Lehigh Valley Railroad, we farmed about forty acres. I was born in 1915 and would be a member of a family that would eventually have eleven children.

Our house was built of cinderblocks and stucco. Downstairs were two bedrooms, the kitchen and a small room off the kitchen where we took baths in a galvanized tub. Upstairs were three large bedrooms and in the attic were two smaller bedrooms.

The kitchen had a cooking stove that used wood and coal. We were one of the first families in the area to have a new innovation of the time, a sink with running water. All social life took place in the kitchen. Years later, we had no radio but we did have a phonograph that supplied us with music. Believe me, we were sure thankful for that old phonograph.

For heat in the house, we had a huruba, which is sort of like a fireplace built into the center dividing wall. It warmed the downstairs and upstairs. Unfortunately, my brother and I slept in one of the rooms in the attic. How I still remember to this day how cold it was up there in the winter. I used to jump in bed and pull the covers over my head. Then I'd breathe heavy for a couple of minutes to get heat down to my feet.

The family used kerosene lamps for lighting. Electricity arrived in our area about 1921. For transportation, we had a horse and wagon and later on my father purchased a used 1921 Buick.

As stated previously, we farmed forty acres. Back then many people in the area had their own gardens. When the Depression hit, almost everyone grew their own vegetables. Thus, you can see there was no market for local produce. We basically raised cattle and just about all our neighbors came to us for meat. About one third of our property was in field corn and two thirds was livestock pasture with a small somewhat swampy area that we used for hay.

Also on our property was a butcher shop, a barn for the animals with a hay loft, a slaughterhouse, hen house, pig pens and one acre kitchen garden for the family. We had an outside well which we used to provide water for the animals.

During these tough times my father would go to what we called, "The rich farmers." After they took off their hay, my dad was allowed to make what was called a second raking. This hay we stored in the barn loft as winter feed for our animals. It wasn't of the best quality, but it was free!

Almost all of our neighbors had a cow for milk with the exception of our Italian friends who had goats. We had the only bull in the area and my father used to make a handsome $2 every time he used our bull for mating. That was considered big money back then.

We had all the manure we needed for fertilizer and allowed our neighbors to take all the droppings they wanted in our pasture. I still vividly remember to this day seeing our Italian friends tramping around our fields filling buckets with cow manure for their gardens. To show their thanks they used to give us some of the grapes they prized so much. One other interesting note is that the Italians had to blend their grapes with California grapes to make wine. At that time, they couldn't grow all the types of grapes they needed to make wine like they did in the old country. Our growing season in South Plainfield just would not accommodate them.

Our family couldn't afford a tractor. We used horses to pull our plows. We had an iron plow for the field and a homemade wooden plow which was weighed down with stones for the garden. My father also built a wooden device for making furrows to plant our corn. It was also weighed down by stones and had wooden pegs in the bottom to open the soil. It could make three furrows on one pass. Many a time I was the one elected to walk behind, place the field corn in the furrow and then kick the soil over the seed.

We used to save the seed for our field corn, but unfortunately I can't remember the name of the variety we grew. I do recall the yellow sweet corn that we had was Golden Bantam from Burpee. We'd buy our vegetable seedlings from a feed store in South Plainfield called Nishwitz (I'm not sure if this is the proper spelling).

During the Depression, all families had a kitchen garden for food. Unlike so many gardeners today who grow for a hobby, we were growing for survival. I remember my mother saying, "You don't plant flowers because you can't eat flowers." And she never did. The things we grew in the garden were schav, beets (to make borscht), string beans, cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet peppers, horseradish, onions, garlic, sweet corn, radishes, carrots, and dill (for pickles). We didn't have any money to spare for candy, so we raised sunflowers for a snack. Around the perimeter of the garden we had peach trees, gooseberries and a few grape vines. Potatoes were still cheap during the Depression. You could purchase a 100 pound bag graded a little below top quality for fifty cents. We would sort through the bags and take out the good potatoes for the family. The remainder would serve as feed for our pigs.

Every year my mother would put up one 55 gallon barrel of sauerkraut, another of dill pickles, one of dill cabbage and still another of dill green tomatoes (that you would eat like pickles). Mother used Mason jars to put up tomatoes, schav and beets. We also had butter from our cows milk, sour cream and country and cottage cheese. Fresh eggs could also be had from our chickens. If you think putting up all of this involves a great amount of work you would be right. It had to be done to get us through the winter.

Running our farm always involved an enormous amount of work for all the family members. Just about the only break I would get was when my mother would take me with her to my older sister Lucy's store in Metuchen. It was called College Town Food Store and her customers called her Lucy College Town. The store was located at 451 Main Street. My mother used to take me with her once a week since I was ten years old. It was always a trip of both business and pleasure. I used to fill our wagon with the wooden food crates to be used for firewood back home. Meanwhile my mother would visit with my sister. It was just about the only break my mom would get being a farm mother with a large family.

In finishing this story I would like to mention one last item. Today kids work part time jobs such as newspaper delivery, supermarkets, department stores, etc. It creates money that they can spend on themselves. Not so during the Depression. All income earned off the farm had to be handed over to our parents. Every penny of it! This was common in just about every family. I remember working on Hollets' Farm, New Market Avenue, and New Market. I picked asparagus, string beans, spinach and carrots when in season. My favorite though was picking strawberries. Although we were only paid two cents a quad, we were allowed to eat our fill. And eat my fill l most certainly did! I also worked on the Garry Farm, Kowalski Farm near the present day Edison-South Plainfield border and another farm on South Clinton Avenue. I can't remember the family name. I might also add that I always had to walk to these farms.

Well, there you have it. The Depression was a terrible thing to have lived through. Out of it came a generation that was willing to work very hard. People who would never look back. Only move forward. It developed a nation that had character and courage. Courage that would lead us to victory in World War II. I do believe that the things this American generation experienced during the Great Depression helped to make the United States the greatest nation of the 20th century.

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Revised: December 20, 1999