In the 1950s, rural women had many questions about building or renovating their farm home, selecting and adapting to new electric appliances, how to launder and remove stains from new types of textiles and how to plan healthy meals for their families, among a long list of topics. A young farm wife, Mrs. Emmie (Ducie) […] Read more
Betty Ann Deobald, BSHEc
Stories by Betty Ann Deobald, BSHEc
Rural electrification proved to be game changer in 1950s
The issue of farm families being isolated from neighbours, communities and services had been a concern since the Canadian Prairies were first settled. In the 1950s, many roads were still little more than trails and were often impassible during rainy weather, spring thaws and heavy snow. This didn’t stop farmers from purchasing automobiles. By 1951, […] Read more
New developments make food preparation easier
With the end of the Second World War, the rationing of foods, building materials and consumer goods lessened. Farming incomes improved and families on the Prairies began to rebuild their lives. As metals were no longer needed for the war effort, farm equipment, vehicles, pots and pans, and appliances began to come onto the market. […] Read more
Post-war years were a time of transition, hope, renewal
Through the years of depression, drought and war, governments had few funds to upgrade health care, infrastructure and highways. In 1945, outside of the major cities, hospitals and ambulance services were primitive, electrical power was limited and highways and country roads were often closed by blizzards, rain or the spring thaw. Rural homes had received […] Read more
Creative solutions found for wartime shortages in 1940s
The shortage of certain foods because of food rationing during the Second World War led to innovative recipes in many kitchens. Farm women and government home economists shared new recipe ideas and food saving preparation tips in newspaper columns, at club meetings and in cookbooks. Many unidentified readers submitted suggestions to The Western Producer that […] Read more
Families preserved, conserved and recycled in wartime
These are the minimum daily requirements of the foods necessary to protect health:
For rural prairie families who had endured the crop failures, economic depression, unemployment and drought of the 1930s, the rationing, recycling and preserving that were demanded during the Second World War were not much different. With the declaration of war in 1939, there was an immediate demand for food, soldiers, workers and military supplies. Many […] Read more
Trying to keep farm families fed in 1930s was a struggle
During the 1930s, an almost decade-long drought affected much of the Prairies along with infestations of grasshoppers, gophers and cutworms. With the lack of rain, the dry farmland blew away, creating terrible dust storms. A worldwide Depression, which led to a rapid decline in global trade and rising unemployment, occurred at the same time. Prairie […] Read more
Loss of dreams in 1930s required resiliency to survive
In the late 1920s, crops had improved and farmers were receiving better prices by marketing their grain through the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. The 1930s were ushered in with stock market crashes in the fall of 1929. The world-wide demand for wheat dropped, causing a drastic fall in the selling price and stockpiles of grain accumulated. […] Read more
Exploring Northern Canada for the fireweed jelly
In June, we checked off some items on our bucket list, travelling to two of the three Canadian territories and touching the Arctic Ocean. We have now been to all the Canadian provinces and territories except Nunavut, and we have travelled from sea to sea to sea by road in Canada. It was a wonderful, […] Read more
Feeding the thrashers was a never-ending job in the 1920s
In the early 1920s, one of a farm woman’s biggest challenges would be feeding the threshing crew in autumn. Crews of 10 to 20 men and teenage boys would need to be fed three hearty meals and two or three coffee break lunches each day. These meals were prepared on a coal and wood stove. […] Read more
