re: I really wish I had listened more to the stories the old folks told, Let’s share some

My maternal grandfather was raised with 4-5 brothers in western LA. They were still small children for WWI. they farmed, had a few barnyard animals, and hunted those big deer, hogs, rabbits and squirrels. They had a lot of land, going back to the early 1800's, but were not especially wealthy. The depression hit them too, but farmers and hunters did better than most. Neighbors traded beans for potatoes, and shared the meat from their kills.

They all seemed to keep jobs, either for the gubmint, in forestry, or at paper mills. The land was taken by the US Army, who claimed they had to have it.