"Hoarding" is a harsh word to me. I was 10 years old when WWII began and I plainly remember my Mom using ration stamps with much concern and care to buy sugar, shoes, gasoline, tires and other rationed things for our family. I feel my mother was thrifty to "hoard" the extra sugar and deserved a reward of some sort for the way she utilized it. There were months when she had extra sugar and then times she was short. She carefully planned the use of her stamps so they would last through the month or until you could get more stamps. Sometimes she had a little sugar left over, but still got more when it was available and this continued on until she did have an emergency amount left. I call this being wise. Tires, gasoline and even shoes with rubber soles were rationed. Mama buried the extra sugar we did not use in large jars in the dirt floor of our cellar. The reserve sugar was sometimes used for a seldom reward of sinful desserts, like a cake or pie... nothing extravagant. She canned during the garden season with dad's help from a large garden that she and dad put out each spring. We had vegetables, fresh in summer and canned for the off season months and enough to get us through winter. We let the tomatoes set on the vines until just before the first frost or freeze, then we picked all of what was left to ripen later. We wrapped them in newspaper and spread them out in a flat box so they would not bruise and then placed them in a dry place to ripen. Mama’s favorite place for storage was under the bed. We often ate tomatoes until almost Christmas. Squash and pumpkins were stored there too, if not placed in the cave/cellar. Cabbage was hard to grow in Oklahoma, so mom bought heads of cabbage, shredded them and placed it in a big stone jar to ferment along side of other crock jars full of cucumbers set in brine (Salt) water and sprigs of dill for dill pickles. Mom was one of these "waste not, want not" people. She did not to buy much at a store. Back then, women didn't plan the day's meal on what they picked up at the store that day. We have gotten so used to jumping in the car and going to the store when we want something for cooking. If one did not have an ingredient that you could not adapt to the recipe, you just waited until you did. We cooked what was on hand. There were many large families back then and the women canned in large quart or one half gallon jars according to how many they cooked for and type food needed. When the families got smaller they used pint sized jars. Nothing was really wasted. We should be so lucky to have "times" like that when there was more family and neighborly togetherness. Yes, I should be as wise and thrifty as my mother was and I feel my children should be as wise and thrifty as I when we raised our large family. I am sure they will give their children the same advice as we have.

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Created December 27, 2020

Updated: 14 June, 2021

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