You know I guess I could write a book about life on the family farm as I have always lived on a farm and I am now 81 years old.
From 1934, when we got married, there were so many hard times. The dry weather, the grasshoppers, milking the cows and raising chickens and hogs so you could earn a living. We worked for a farmer in 1935 for $30 a month, a house to live in and milk and eggs. We bought a Model A Roadster and paid $15 a month for it.
We started to farm for ourselves in 1936. The dry weather and grasshoppers got our first crop. We had to mow the oat crop to have something to feed our cows. We sold eggs and cream each week to buy our groceries and gas for our car to go home and back to town the next week. There was no electricity or water in the house. How did we survive?
Anna L. Lammers
Red Cloud, Nebraska
Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then Capper’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from Capper’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.
