Growing Up Poor on a 1-Acre Farm

Reader Contribution by The Mother Earth News Editors
article image

This story is from Gene GeRue, submitted as part of our Wisdom From Our Elders collection of self-sufficient tales from yesteryear. 

Gene GeRue is also the author of How To Find Your Ideal Country Home and the inventor of the chicken moat.

Growing up poor can be very healthy. My parents married in 1934. Living conditions during the Great Depression had hurt their families and shaped their late childhood. Dad was raised in northern Michigan on a small farm. He was fourteen when his father died. He had to quit school and help support the family. He was sent to a northern Michigan logging camp to work for room and board and a few dollars to send to Grandma. Mom’s father had lost the house that he had built for the family. Family stories include Grandpa pulling a child’s wagon downtown and collecting produce trimmings from behind stores. All of which is to say that our family was of limited financial means. But though Dad made modest money, Mom knew how to stretch it, and when I was 5 years old the folks bought a tiny house on a one acre farm at the edge of town in Beloit, Wis.

Comments (0) Join others in the discussion!
    Online Store Logo
    Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368