Koralee Jaspers

A Daisy in the Wheat Field Koralee Jaspers

In the autumn of 1929, the stock market crashed. A decade of Great Depression lay ahead for America. Half of the banks in the USA failed. A quarter of a million Americans found themselves unemployed as towns and industries dried up. Severe drought turned the land into a dust bowl and locusts finished off any crops that had survived. It was a time to be conservative and nothing was thrown away. A time to be inventive and creative with whatever you had. Mothers learned to "make a silk purse from a sow's ear." In the kitchen, they turned almost nothing into something to eat. They became skilled at turning rejected clothing into something that looked brand new. Food was as scarce as money. People learned to survive for days on bread and milk gravy. Corn meal was a staple and mothers turned it into an all-time favorite, Buttermilk Johnny Cake. Meet Alice. Alice was one of those Depression mothers who did whatever it took to help her children survive. She grew all of her own garden produce. She sewed feed-sacks into clothes. Alice taught by example that caring and sharing was a way of life. Alice raised three remarkable children during the Great Depression. This is the story of Alice, her love, her loss...her life.