Possom for Supper?

On this episode of Our American Stories, Our American Stories listener Joy Neal Kidney shares the story of what her family ate during the Great Depression.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habibe and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Up next a story from our regular contributor out of Iowa.
A listener Joy Neil Kidney, and she listens on who
in des Moines a great iHeart Station. Joy is the
author of Leora's Dexter Letters, the Scarcity Years of the

(00:33):
Great Depression, and today she shares the story of a
unique meal her family ate during those tough financial times.
Take it away, Joy.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
When I heard about someone having to eat raccoon or possum,
I thought of poor folks in the Deep South. Dad
wasn't a hunter, and having grown up on an Iowa
Hogen cattle farm, I couldn't imagine having any kind of
wild meat instead of good old pork and beef. But

(01:07):
from old family letters, I learned that both raccoon and
possum showed upon the table of my mother's family during
the Great Depression. Some family members reported enjoying them. Clay
and Leora Wilson had seven children, five sons and two daughters.

(01:27):
Clay taught his sons to trap and hunt pelts could
be sent to Sears, Roebuck and Company. In exchange for
food and clothing. Clay insisted that his boys wait until
they were twelve and could demonstrate safe handling of a
gun before he was allowed to carry one to go hunting,

(01:47):
and no animal was to be killed just for sport.
Squirrel and rabbit were their main sources of protein during
those days. The saying was that Leora would cook any
thing the hunters brought her, as long as they were
already skinned, cleaned, and ready for the skillet or the
roasting pan. Clave taught the boys how to do that

(02:11):
and to stretch pelts to cure. During the hard weeks
of winter, Clay hung carcasses on the porch, where they'd
freeze until they were needed. Dinner and supper also included
fruits and vegetables from their big garden. Fresh during growing season,
leoricnned hundreds of glass mason jars filled with produce anything

(02:35):
she could put up for winter. Because of the depression,
Claive had no steady job. The two oldest Wilson brothers,
Delbert and Donald, graduated from Dexter High School in nineteen
thirty three. No jobs for them either. A classmate had
joined the Navy and was happy having a full belly

(02:57):
days filled with activities and an income. Leora said that
the boys with not enough to do would probably get
into trouble, so she and Clave okayed the plan, only
asking them not to get tattoos. Those boys in the
navy were so good to write home. Young siblings followed

(03:20):
their world travels on a map. Their mother saved all
those family letters. What a joy for me to read
through and transcribe them decades later. One was from Leora
on her forty fifth birthday, dated December fourth, nineteen thirty five. My,
what a wonderful present from my navy boys. Thanks a lot. Boys.

(03:44):
They had sent a card in some candy. We had
roast coon two years ago today, remember, Leora went on,
that would have been just before Dilbert and Donald enlisted
in the navy. You caught the last one on December third,
and the folks that would be her mother and brothers
from Omaha came and surprised me. But the next day

(04:07):
was the fourth, and we had that nice fat coon.
Their next brother, Dale, age fourteen, wrote about a football
banquet and added, today we had possum and sweet taters. Boy,
it was sure good. Dale's twin Darlene, enclosed her letter

(04:28):
in the same envelope. The sun is shining beautifully this morning,
she wrote, Dad and the boys are out trapping this morning,
so Mom and us girls clean house and get dinner
ready for the hungry hunters when they come. They come
in with two possom yesterday and today we're going to
have a possum and sweet taters. Yum, yum. She chatted

(04:52):
about her twin playing football, older sister Doris playing basketball,
younger brother Danny being old enough to hunt with their dad. Well,
I'll write more after having a piece of good old
opossum with the fumes just oozin out, and some gravy
and some sweet potatoes. A possum were good for something

(05:18):
else than food. Clay wrote just before Christmas that he'd
shipped eight skunks and five opossum to Sears in trade
for goods from the Male Order catalog. Two years later,
in November nineteen thirty seven, Dilbert rode home from the
USS Chicago. You boys coming home with all that game

(05:39):
makes me sort of hope sick. I thought for a
while you boys weren't going to take to hunting and
trappin so well, But it looks as if you boys
will break dawns in my records. Go to her boys.
It's good outdoor exercise and a lot of fun. Sure
like to sink my fangs into some coon meat for

(06:01):
a change. In spite of Dale's and Darlene's comments about
how good Powesome and sweet taters were, and even Delbert's
memories of coon meat, I'd have to be desperate as
they were during the Depression to try Annie. Just in
case you want to try roast coon or possum with

(06:23):
the fume zoosan out. You can find recipes for both
of these these days on the internet.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
And great job is always by Monte Montgomery on the
production and a special thanks to joy Neil Kidney, a
fan of the show and also one of our best contributors. Hawesome, raccoon,
and rabbit all showed up at the family dinner table
during the Great Depression years. The kids they all knew
how to trap and hunt, and Mom well, she'd cook

(06:53):
anything that was shaved and clean. Dinner and supper included
food from the garden they came and any and everything.
The story of Joynil Kidney and her family during the
Great Depression their food measurement here on our American Stories.

(07:30):
Lee Hibibe here the host of our American Stories. Every
day on this show, we're bringing inspiring stories from across
this great country, stories from our big cities and small towns.
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(07:53):
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