On The Victory Homefront: In The Clubmobile with Jamie S.

Give us the simple life! This week we're joined by Jamie from On The Victory Homefront podcast, and we're talking all about life at home during wartime. Jamie, who's own podcast focuses on the goings on and management of life for those who remained at home during the war, brings her knowledge and expertise to The Clubmobile! How did a few simple changes make a big impact on the health her family? We're talking about the benefits of canning your own vegetables, the simplicity of wartime clothing and of course, the always familiar Victory Gardens! Is the 1940s simple life for you?  Grab your coffee and a fresh sinker and join us in The Clubmobile to find out!  

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Hey guys, here come the dolls. They got freshest sinkers, hot coffee, and the sweetest smile.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Welcome back to the Club Mobile, everybody. We are so happy to have you joining us today. Hi guys, welcome back. We're so excited to be joined by Jamie from On the Victory Home Front podcast. We're so excited to sit and talk to you. I'm so excited too. It's so great to see you all this morning.

SPEAKER_03 0:36

I feel like we've been joining us.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Yes, thank you so much. I feel like we've been following each other on Instagram for probably over a year at this point. And I'm always like, we have to have her on. We have to have her on. And now we're here. That's right. Finally. Finally. Finally.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Very exciting. Well, time's coming. Happy to be here.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Absolutely. So I mean, the first thing that really stood out to me when we found you on Instagram was that I said, Oh my God, she's, you know, she's got such beautiful vintage clothing. And you seem to live almost not simple, but like less is more in that 1940s type vintage lifestyle. What kind of pushed you into that type of style clothing wise?

SPEAKER_00 1:23

And I wish it was just an easy answer, like, oh, was this boom? But it was just a multiple things just across um my lifetime, really. Um my grandparents were part of the greatest generation. I used to listen to their stories. Um, and my mother, even though she was a baby boomer, she was born in 47, with them as her parents, she would also share their stories because it wasn't like a switch. The war was over. Oh, we're now living this way. They carried on that lifestyle, raised their children with that lifestyle. So I actually got pieces of it as a child, and I was just fascinated with that time. And I would watch the old movies, and I'm like, I want to live that, or I want that, or why can't why doesn't it look like that outside when you meet these ladies in beautiful dresses? And I'm like, I want to wear I would dress up. Who doesn't dress up as a little girl?

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Oh my gosh, all the time.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

So um, but I kind of push that back, you know, as you grow up and you you start your life. Um, but it kind of came back to me, shoved, pushed me through the door, really, of dressing like that because I do have a special needs son, and he absolutely adores the past. I think it's because it's slower. Um, it's very flashy now, very loud, very quick. Yeah. Boom, boom, boom, boom. And so he started watching silent movies and 30s movies and 40s movies, and he started listening to music and collecting the records and you know, Frank Sinatra. And I'm like, oh, kiddo, I love that. And having him get into that kind of reopened that door of my childhood, of how I longed for that too at one time. The good stuff, obviously, you know, the visual stuff. And um, I went on social media and I'm like, oh, you know, let me just see if anybody else loves this kind of dress. And it turns out across the pond and our allies in the UK, there are a lot of women that dress that way. And I saw that on social media. I'm like, wait, what? You can dress that way? And that was it. That was it. And I've been dressing this way for over 10 years now.

SPEAKER_03 3:52

So you look great. You wear it very well. You do.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

It's you suit it, it suits you. And I feel like there's something, I mean, there's a lot of now you can go online and buy a lot of vintage style clothing, but I feel like there's something to be said about it in this kind of era of like fast fashion, right? You have like Zara and Sheen, and you know, you can get a t-shirt or just like a going-out shirt delivered to your door the next day. Yeah. And you're like, oh, but I only paid ten dollars for it. If it falls apart in the wash, it falls apart in the wash. Right. Whereas there's so much something, something so much more sustainable, too, about yeah, these older style clothes that really have stood the test of time and held up so well.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Right. And I love that they have a story. Like every dress in my closet, when I put it on, I'm always just wondering, what did this dress see? What that the woman who wore this dress previously, what was her life? What was she doing? Um, you know, what was she thinking? I just I love that. And because these clothes, like these clothes are a lot more delicate than the clothes now. Like you said, the clothes now, if it ruins in the wash, it's no big deal. Everything I have, I have to hand wash. And because I have to put care into it, it's almost makes me more self-aware when I'm wearing the garment as well, and how I care for the garment. So I don't want these things that have lasted 80 years. I don't want it to end with me. So I want to take care of them. So it definitely has changed um my thought process and the way that I think when it comes to purchasing items and what I'm wearing. And then also when I'm wearing something that has this history that comes from the past, I'm also aware how I act in it. I don't know if that sounds funny.

SPEAKER_03 5:51

No, no, I understand that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

When I'm wearing um the full thing, like I can't wear obviously a suit and a hat and heels at home. I'm on a homestead, I'm out in dirt, I'm chasing chickens. So and I do get to go out in it. I see such a change in demeanor from how people react to me. In some ways, they'll just stare. And I'm almost oblivious to that now, wearing this for 10 years. I don't notice that. But I get a lot of really warm smiles, and I get to meet people because they come up and talk to me, and I see manners, and because I see that, it just makes me even more self-aware wearing these kind of garments. So there's so much to it than just dressing up and looking pretty, which I wasn't love that. But there's such more deepness to it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:54

One of the things I was really interested in is where are you sourcing the clothes from? Are you finding them and then adjusting them to your size, like by sewing them? Or is it a case of going to say a thrift store and you find the piece you need and you are then creating from that?

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Well, I lucked out that I did start 10 years ago because you could find a lot more items, what we would refer to as out in the wild. So, like at a thrift store, um, and they weren't high priced. So you could find them at estate sales. You can still find them at state sales, but you're gonna have to um get a little elbowing in there. I don't go to I don't like going to estate sales personally. I would love to go. Um but um generally right now, if I get anything new, I'm either sourcing them online like eBay or Etsy. Unfortunately, prices have gone up because um I don't know if the demand is more or there's just not many items out there because there are more women and men that are wearing these pieces. So I do source them mostly online. I do sew my own pieces. I have a crazy collection of 1940s patterns, and I'm actually finding myself now sewing more of my own pieces because my lifestyle has changed this past year, and I'm out in the country and I'm I'm walking the walk of trying to live like my grandparents did, and I'm not gonna put on my 80-year-old dress to go out and garden it. I don't want that story to end with me. I'll wear that when I'm just doing like housework inside, but so I'm finding myself sewing more pieces, but the pieces are out there, it's just a little harder to find. And as for sizing, I usually don't change my garments, the true vintage ones. I have shortened some, um, but I'm very careful how I do it so I can be let back out. Um, I'll go to a professional to have that done. But for the most part, I'm just aware of the different sizes from the 1940s to now. So, like right now, in again, I'm an open book. So right now I'm like a size four in dresses. In 1940s, I'm a size 16.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Wow, that's this that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

The sizing it's really just a numbers game. Yeah, the measures are the same. It's just that numbers game, and it changes throughout. So in the 40s, I'm a 16, in the 50s, I go into a 14, and then around the probably around the 70s, I'm a 12. And then from the 80s, I'm like an eight. So it's just going down as we go.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

I feel like it's also like you can kind of see the trend with fashion and like women's sizing, and how your size was like smaller is better. As we went like further in into time, like you know, by the time we got to the early 2000s, women that were wearing probably like a size four or a size six were being called plus size. So it really is you're it's really a numbers game. It really is. It's a numbers game. You go out, you buy a pair of jeans, and I god, this is like my pet peeve. I'll go out, I'll buy a pair of jeans, and I'll go, I like these, and I'll see it in another color, and I'll just grab the same size off the rack in another color, and that pair doesn't fit. Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

And I'm like different now, like back then it says for uniform, like uniform, exactly. 16. Yes, that's it. I can tell you the measurements right now that a 16 is, I can tell you what a 14 is, I can tell you exactly what those measurements are. So if I know my measurements, I'm gonna grab that and I can grab a different design or I can grab a pattern and it's going to be the same. It's gonna fit period. So I do uh I mean there's that's a I think that's kind of a perk when you're getting vintage stuff. Is if you know your measurements, you can get those measurements, and usually sellers that are selling vintage items they will list the measurements because they know like my shoe size. There was no seven and a half back then, it was by measurements. So wow, yes, that's so interesting. I'm a seven and a half in today's measurements, but in the 1940s, I'm a nine and three-fourths because it's the measurement of the inside of the shoe.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

That's wild. I didn't know that. I didn't know that shoe sizes went by measurements as well.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

I can tell you how to measure your glove size, your hat size. You have to know all these if you're gonna go in that direction.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

Yeah, that's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Yeah, that's so incredible.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

We should go visit, we should go visit Jamie on the on the homestead. Yes, and correct. You see, sourcing. Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

I'm working on my victory garden right now. I'm gonna need some extra hands.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

Speaking of, speaking of, uh we would love to ask you about that. How has the experience of um the memories of your childhood and then getting back into this kind of thing sort of helped you make what was known as a victory garden?

SPEAKER_00 12:44

So it's gonna go back to my grandparents again. Um, I spent a lot of time at their house. And um my grandmother did garden. She gardened until she decided to be a snowbird. And so we as kids, her grandchildren and her children when they were young, but then her grandchildren, we would have to go out and we would have to help her harvest what we were gonna have for dinner. So we would go and pick the corn and we would shuck it. We would get the beans and snap them. And so that's something that was in my childhood that I can remember doing. And I've never, sadly, I never saw her. I mean, I was very little, I don't remember seeing her planting, I just remember seeing the finished garden and going out and going, oh, we're gonna go pick the green beans today. And I'm like, yay! You know, kids, it's fun for kids. So um, until it's not right. But then I remember she had a scary part of the basement and I didn't go in there very often. But when I did, it was the dark area, which is why it was scary. And she would have these jars of preserves, and I never sadly I never saw her preserve them, but I remember seeing the wall of jars, and they're in the dark area because that's the best way to preserve them for the long hauls. You want them somewhere dark, and that's why you'd see the root cellars and like the dark, creepy basements, and all the preserves are in the basement because of temperature and darkness as well. So that's actually played a huge role as I grew up. And I've always done some gardening, but this year takes the cake. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

That's incredible. Yeah, I find it so interesting. It is. Do you find that growing your own fruits and vegetables and can like canning food and preserving it? Do you find that it's changed? Like be very honest, like let's be honest. Not all food in the grocery store is great, even fruits and vegetables, right? You have to we have to be very careful. I'm always very like mindful of what I'm buying. But do you find that it's changed the way you feel, like physically, like just growing your own, less of the you know, preservatives on them, less of the pesticides on them that it's yeah, yes, less of the yuck, really. Cause I mean, even vegetables I buy in the store, I find like I have to like fully wash, even if I'm gonna peel it, like right. You have to fully, it's like fully washing a zucchini or a bunch of asparagus before I even put it in the pan. It's like I'm doubling my work and I'm tripling my chances of getting sick. It must be so much of a relief to know that the food you're growing is just the food. That's it. It's just the food.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

It really is. Um and I'm gonna open up a little bit on really kind of what even the what really threw me into doing the extensive gardening that I do now. Not only I mean, first off, if uh, you know, I know you you probably see my podcast, but I try to bring in the 1940s lifestyle as much as I can into my life because I love how it was um, you know, reusing things and doing a lot of things on your own, you know, the make do the men, the victory gardens, everything like that. So, but what really tipped me into this, and it's because of what you brought up, is because of our current day worries about what is in our food. Um, I, as I mentioned, I have a special needs son. So, very as a very young mother, right away, I was aware of things that were creating his personal situation worse depending on what we were feeding him. And so that opened the door into us learning about what is all in our food. And so I would garden here and there and I would do some canning, but it really wasn't until, and I can put this all into like we can compare it into World War II too, so which is great. But in 2020, and I know that's everybody's gonna think some of this, and this is part of it, right? We did see um shelves empty, and we did have problems with getting certain items maybe in our grocery store, right? Not carrying toilet paper, you know, can't grow that, but but um I also got really sick, and then not from what you think, I actually had cancer, so yes, I did. Oh my god. Um, I was diagnosed with cancer in September 2020. And I was in bed for a very long time. I had a lot of procedures done to take care of it, and um I couldn't get up to feed my kids, and my husband and my sons were just doing all this takeout, and that kind of opened the door for me. I'm like, gosh, I need to like I wish I had stuff for them to to eat, and I don't. And so that following year, my husband bought me my first pressure canner. I've always water bath canned stuff, but he bought me the first pressure canner, and that went off. That was it. I I couldn't stop, and that's where my canning journey and my preserving journey really took off. But not only that, um, because I am growing my own food or I'm getting I'm preserving food from locally, not just you know, farmers, but also stores if it falls in the guidelines that I specifically look for, and then I can preserve that food, and I am finding myself to feel better, not just mentally, but physically. Yes, I'm clear now. But wonderful, that opened my eyes to also, I'm like, why would I get sick? That doesn't make sense to me. I'm an incredibly healthy person, I'm probably the healthiest person I know with my lifestyle and everything that I do. And so for me to all of a sudden come down with this, I'm like, something's gotta change. And so this is the direction that we went and um canning my food and knowing what's in our food, I think has really played a crucial part, and it keeps driving me to do it because it's a lot of work, but I'm driven to do it, so yeah, yeah. That is you can't you can't put a price on your health.

SPEAKER_03 19:51

So, I mean, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

It's a lot of work, but it's worth it's worth it, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 19:57

Yeah, for those that are in like the beginning stages of wanting to learn how to can and preserve, what has what have you found is the easiest place to start? And what would be the easiest thing to can and preserve for beginners?

SPEAKER_00 20:11

So the easiest thing is fruits like making jams and jellies. Number one, the easiest thing that you can start with. It's pretty unforgiving, and you don't need a lot of fancy equipment to do it because it's a water bath can.

unknown 20:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

So you can use if you've got a stock pot that's just tall enough to cover your jars, you can use that to water bath can. You don't have to buy a special canner. So there's ways to do that. You can just stick a towel in the bottom because you don't want your jars hitting the bottom of the pot. Just stick a towel in there of the water, cover your jars, and like strawberry jelly, it's in the boiling water for like 10 minutes. Boom, take it out, lids pop. You got strawberry jelly. That is just strawberries and sugar, and you know, that's that maybe some pectin. If you know, some of the fruits do me pectin, blackberries, literally just blackberries, water, and sugar. Boom, done. That's amazing. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_03 21:16

I'm always I'm always worried that when it gets to because I've I've always been interested in it. I've never had the means to do it or like the apparatus or anything to do it. I'm always worried that the jars are gonna smash and I'm gonna get glass in my eye when I put it in the boiling. I'm worried that it's just gonna burst.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

They won't. They won't. We do no, my parents do, and I'm we do the tomatoes every season. Oh, the big Italian big Italian families that do the big tomato event outside in the yard every year. That's what we do. So we'll buy the bushels of tomatoes and we boil them first, you know, clean them, wash them. And then once the skins peel, you know, either we either peel the skins off and just put the tomatoes. Tomatoes whole with some fresh basil into the jar and then the jar in the boiling water and wait for the lid to pop, or we'll run them through the mill and make like a just a sauce and then jar the sauce and wait for the lids to pop. So you they don't break as quickly as you think they would. You lose you lose one or two, but you know, you always run the risk of losing one or two.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

I mean, there's there's certain steps that you do take to help prevent your jars from breaking because the biggest thing and why they would break is such a difference in temperatures.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

So a lot of times, anyway, if you're water bath canning, you need to sterilize your jars anywhere, or at least you should. And so you're already putting those jars in hot water while you're getting your jelly ready, your sauce ready, and then you take those jars out, they're already hot. You're putting your hot ingredients in and you're just sticking it back in the hot water. Back in the hot. Yeah. I have had jars break, but um they don't usually break out, they break in.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

That's what I'm worried about. That it's just gonna explode. And then I'm I've got like it's all in my face. That's just a random thing.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

The pressure canner my husband got, you should have seen the first time we did that. Pressure canners are a little scary because that is the pressure that's in it. Water bath canning, there's not really any pressure, you're just boiling water and something's sitting in it. The pressure canner has the pressure, and so, but there are safety measures in place to avoid that. So, and all the pressure canners come with you know instructions and you just follow it, follow along. And um, it really limits it. Only one time did I have a jar just go. Um, and luckily I wasn't like looking over it. Looking at it. Oh god.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

You've just described Winnie's biggest fear.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

That wasn't a canner issue, that was a lid failure. So, and that can happen. Um, but for the most part, it's it's not bad. But oh, but I was going to say is when we first bought the pressure canner and it was going up to pressure, my specific pressure canner ticks. So it sounds like a ticking time bomb, which you have in your head that it's like a time bomb because it's like so. I remember it ticking, and my husband's like, Why is it ticking? I said, That's just a noise. Now we use it. Now when it ticks, he's like, but yeah, I'm the first time staring at it, like get everything away from it. Just stay back. Oh, yeah, that's really I love that. But you know what's great about canning, and that's great about like modern day technology is there is a lot of information out there for people who want to learn to can and preserve their food. You know, even on social media platforms, like such as um, I learned how to pressure can a lot. I guess I'm gonna give this social media uh a little like thumbs up, but believe it or not, TikTok. I learned a lot from TikTok. And what helped me is that they were quick. It wasn't like prolonging this is a jar. This is what you do. You're gonna do this, you're gonna do this, you're gonna do this, and you're gonna put it in here. You're gonna wait the song, you're gonna let it come down to pressure, you're gonna open, take it out, boom. And I was like, I can do that. Yeah. So there is just so much information out there now. And there are still even places around here. Since we moved here, I've noticed that there are places around our area that also has classes or discussions for people who want to learn to preserve their food.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Really cool.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

Something that was the same during World War II. There was along the lines, you know, there were canning centers and um there were gardens everywhere, and there were programs to help women learn how to preserve, and it was in magazines and there were step-by-steps, and so it's still available to those who want to learn. And I feel like these days it's even more convenient. We don't even have to leave our house to learn.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

You can find the old online to that is the benefit of social media. I mean, as dangerous as dangerous as it could be, as much as it could suck you in, it is actually you find some pages and some people are very uh well educated and and beneficial, and you can learn something there. Yes. But that doesn't mean everybody should sit and don't do scroll on TikTok.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

Don't do scroll.

SPEAKER_02 26:42

That's never a waste your life doom scrolling on TikTok.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

But if you do have like garden and preserving food that's gonna keep you from scrolling on your phone, I'm just telling you because it's a lot of work.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

Keeps your hands busy, yes, it does.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

It keeps your thumbs busy.

SPEAKER_03 26:58

That's right.

unknown 26:59

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

It does. So, how did this kind of is push you into doing your own podcast? I mean, you have a podcast that's called On the Victory Home Front. How did that start? Where did you kind of find the idea to say, you know what? I think I'm gonna open this door and go down this avenue with it.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

I think it was mostly because I love to share, I love to inspire. And I have had a lot of people in my personal life come forward and want to ask me questions, or they were following me on Instagram under my personal, you know, they would be asking me questions. And I thought, why not just share the knowledge that I've acquired and be able to maybe inspire somebody else to want to do the same thing? So my podcast, it's kind of a mix of two things. I talk about my personal life, where I'm at, at trying to bring in that lifestyle into my life. But then I also like to tie things to World War II and teach about the home front. I'm very, very passionate about the home front. Um, it's something as I got involved with other um activities or events, I've noticed the home front is kind of overshadowed. And I get it and I do understand, but there's so much to it. There's so much to it, and it always blows my mind the more I learn about it. I'm like, oh, I gotta share this. I have to tell people about this. People need to know, or they'll be inspired. Or, and so that's what got me starting to do my podcast, and it's been hard getting it off the ground because it's a commitment, as you both know. It's a commitment, and I already feel like I've committed myself to a lot of places already. I have a habit of overcommitting. You can ask any of my friends. Um, but I'm passionate about it, and so I just want to share. And so, right now, you know, I like I said, I'm working on my my victory garden, and it's the biggest victory garden I've ever had. I feel like all my other gardens were just hobbies compared to the garden I'm having today, which is ironically the size of a traditional victory garden.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

That's amazing, that's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

So um the average victory garden during World War II was around 1,100 square feet.

SPEAKER_03 29:34

A thousand.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

I did not know they were that big.

unknown 29:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

Where they could where they could have them, right?

SPEAKER_02 29:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

So I'm sure those in personal backyards, depending on where they lived, was smaller, but there would always be other gardens in the community. So that would be like the average is or that's the that's the size that they recommended for families to try to have.

SPEAKER_03 30:02

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

And I feel like during the during World War II, you know, if you had a bigger garden than let's say I had a bigger, like, you know, whoever had a bigger garden, you would swap, like, you know, oh, I have extra of this, or oh, I have extra of that. And you would share with each other. It was like it was really just a community of making do during that time.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Yeah. A hundred percent. That would have been without a doubt, what would have been going on in the town. Um, because what was great about World War II and the home front is that there was a mindset that they we were all in it together. You know, it wasn't like I'm in it and then you're in it. It's like, no, we're all in it. And so communities came together. And gardening is one of the many things that they came together over. And so there were gardens all over town, and they they were schools were doing gardens, churches were doing gardens, families were also doing their own gardens, and so it was all over uh the each area. So yeah, it, you know, it was they were all in it together and they would obviously swap food. And you know, have you ever read the book I know you guys do a book club? Um is it called Once Upon a Town? Oh, we need to find it. I believe it's called Once About a Town, and it's about a canteen in Nebraska. The oh my goodness, North Platte Canteen. And in there gives examples. Okay. In that gives examples of even how farmers would bring their extra stuff in. And that's how how the canteen was able to be productive and be able to serve all the servicemen that came through the town because it just brought it in. They were they were growing and they're like, Oh, I have this many eggs because they had birthday cakes every day for the service. So it kind of goes a little bit in there now. Granted, those are farmers compared to victory gardens, but it's right along the same lines.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Still the same lines, it's the same type of lending a hand, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 32:08

I think we have it, we have it on our list, Gabby. Because I remember I sent you something like that. And I think ironically, Damien, it was something that you had posted about it. And I was like, wait, we have to read this. This was months ago.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

Well, we're gonna fit it in. We're gonna fit it in this year, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

We'll fit it in for sure. Great book. I cried, I cried all those books.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

Oh, please. Oh, so do we. I've lost track of how many of these books that we've had on book club that have left me just snivelling.

SPEAKER_03 32:37

Just yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

At least you can snivel in the privacy of your own home. I that's very true. I can't I will t I will read on the bus going and coming to work because I'm like, oh, I get like an hour and 20 minutes in the morning and an hour and 20 minutes on the way home, so I pack in a good amount of reading. I have finished so many books on the bus where I'm like, oh my god, look at me. Oh, my stop is next. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 33:02

Oh no, I have to clean up. Yeah, that's true. At least I can do it.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

You could do that at home where nobody can see you.

SPEAKER_03 33:09

Correct, apart from my kids. Just sit there and cry on the book. Let's see if you got an opportunity to share it.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

You get up, you're like, This book, everybody, this book. Yes, everyone. I think Goodnight Irene might be the one that really took me out the most so far. So far.

SPEAKER_03 33:25

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

If you haven't read Goodnight Irene, that one, oh god. Can't even talk about Else but Cry again.

SPEAKER_00 33:33

Oh no, okay. I'm gonna look that one up. Oh my god, it's so good.

SPEAKER_03 33:38

We we it was me, Gabby, and our book club correspondent Sage all messaging each other at the same time because we'd all got to the same part relatively at the same time. Like one got it one night, somewhat, and um, we were all crying, we were all weeping. And I believe one of the messages was if we ever lose each other, we have to find our way back. And I'm like, especially it really is, especially in this day and age, it's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

Yes, it is really friendly, it's really rooted in friendship, but it was one of those books where you you call your friends at the end and you're like, I just want to tell you I love you. Thank you so much. Absolutely, absolutely very, very good. But we're gonna I want to read that book about the canteens and the I I want to read it, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

About the North Platte canteen, which is unbelievable. I mean, personal stories and letters from servicemen. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

It's uh yeah, you never have to twist my arm to read a book, so I'm in. No, absolutely not.

SPEAKER_03 34:42

Definitely add it to add it to the list. Um, a lot of the things that you make and cook, do you have a lot of recipes from wartime cookbooks specifically? Or is it a case of you've found them online and sort of adapted them to your taste now?

SPEAKER_00 35:00

So I'm I'm actually glad you brought that up because that's I've been thinking about this this week. And uh so most of the stuff that I can is not specifically what they would have canned back in World War II, only because our diets have changed. So also um the USDA and other organizations have changed what safety for canning. So how they can then is very different than what they suggest on how you can or what you can can today. Um, I'm not gonna get into what I think is right or wrong, or if you know anything's missing the mark, but it is different. So I do can a lot of the basic stuff, right? I can tomato sauce, um, whole tomatoes, I can whole vegetables, but then there's jars that I'm making that I guarantee they didn't make back then that are whole meals and jars. And so it's kind of a mix of the same stuff you want to see on the shelf in a family in 1943, for example, like the green beans, you know, the corn, the tomatoes, and the the jellies and the jams. Um, so a lot of that I do, but then there's other things these days where, you know, as time has progressed and canning has changed and our diets have changed, I now can do whole meals in a jar. So like um burritos in a jar is one thing. It's uh it's so delicious, too. So in a day when I'm tired, I can just pop open a jar, it's already cooked. I'm just heating it back up and I give it to my family. Oh my god it saves time, it's a lot of time doing it, but then it saves time for you down the road. So yeah, I need that. I need yeah, I need that recipe.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

Thank you so much. That was amazing. I feel like I'm gonna send you guys all the burritos in a jar.

SPEAKER_02 37:05

Yeah, and there's me after work. It's late tonight. I think I'll just you know order takeout. Order the burritos, order the burrito, and I'm like, but it's a lean, it's a clean Mexican kitchen. Like, you know, it's one of those lean kitchens. I'm like, it can't be that bad. It's probably still not that great, but it's better than it's better than Taco Bell. I'll give you a Yeah, it's better than Taco Bell, but it's you know, at the end of the day, what might also be better is just two scrambled eggs.

SPEAKER_03 37:32

Exactly, correct.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

Which I also have a habit of doing.

SPEAKER_00 37:38

So we don't really eat out much anymore. We have completely changed our lifestyle, and it was a lot of work, yeah. You know, and we did it gradual, and it can be very overwhelming for somebody who wants to try to do more like the Victory Garden and preserving their own food. Um, so it was very gradual for this. I'd been, you know, canning uh like apple butter or strawberry jelly or something for years. And it just this past five years, I've slowly started building up where we're at now. I mean, even I even now just make our bread from scratch. I don't buy bread items anymore. Everything that we eat bread wise is also and it's it took a long time to get here.

unknown 38:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:27

So, but people can everybody can start small, just bringing small things in, like the tomatoes that you said that you do with your family, Gabby. You know, it's um it's just something along those lines. It's just small things, and maybe next year you're gonna go to the farmers market and you're gonna see all these green beans and you're like, oh, I'm gonna do green beans. Now you do need a pressure canner for green beans, but you know, you'll go to the next step and it's just a yeah. World War II, they didn't have much time to get into that.

SPEAKER_02 38:58

I know they really had to hit the ground running. Do you find that now that you do all this at home and you have such a cleaner lifestyle with your with what your food consumption, do you find that if you do go out and eat somewhere that you just don't like it? It's just like uh doesn't sit like you know, doesn't sit right, doesn't taste the same or too salty, because that's what I find. I'm like, oh yeah too salty.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

It's loaded in salt. Sweet for me or too much sauce. What are they covering up? Or um, but I do find it now. We still do go out to eat, but it's just there's a lot of times where I go out to eat, or you know, we're traveling and I don't have anything with us, and I have to grab something, and it doesn't settle very well in my stomach. No, yeah, yeah, so it usually feels very heavy. Um and yeah, I just usually feel yuck just yucky afterwards. Yucky. Not always, not always. Let's get some really good foods still out there, but um, you're talking about, you know, the grocery store and how you go in and you see all these items. I mean, we don't eat like 98% of what you see in the grocery store. There's very few things I'm getting from there, and it's usually um items I can't do myself, like sugar and um salt. Right, right. And uh do get half and half at the grocery store. So that's fine. That's fine. Yeah, exactly. So, but it's literally what I get from the grocery store will maybe take up half a one side of an aisle. Right. Maybe if that.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

Right.

SPEAKER_03 40:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:51

Oh, and so yes, my um, my system has definitely changed with tolerance of other foods out there.

SPEAKER_03 41:00

Yeah. Only because I know that we're trying to make a real effort uh in my family to eat out a lot less. We eat out once a month or for a special occasion. Like, for example, it was my daughter's eighth birthday a couple days ago, and she wanted McDonald's. She has always loved McDonald's. I obviously partook in the birthday meal, and I have felt crappy ever since it's been three days, and I still feel so yuck. Um, so it doesn't sit right with me anymore, and that's just me not eating out regularly like I used to, and that is still me buying from the grocery store and making things at home, and I still feel yuck. So I it doesn't sit right. It I don't think it was ever supposed to sit right, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 41:47

Yeah, yeah, and I'm I'm very careful too when I I mention this even to like my family. Like, I'm not dissing getting stuff from your grocery store or not eat. This is just something that we have just kind of morphed slowly into and going the direction of this lifestyle, it's definitely changed our outlook, it's changed what I can physically handle food-wise. Um, I do have more energy, which is good because I need it.

unknown 42:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

Um, you know, I do find um, I don't know. I just feel like I I have my strength and energy back that I used to have like a long time ago. Like I'm I'm turning 50 this year. So, and I feel like I'm 30. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 42:45

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

That's you also don't look no.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

I would have gone way.

SPEAKER_02 42:50

I would have said you were probably my age. Yeah. I would have said you're probably my age. I'm 37.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

Thank you. That's fine. We're such good friends now. Exactly. Correct. Um, and you know, I'm very I feel very blessed to be turning 50. It's hard mentally as a woman to be like, oh, 50.

SPEAKER_03 43:10

Oh my god, I'm 50, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:11

Um, but at the same time, I'm like, yeah, I'm 50.

SPEAKER_03 43:14

Darn right, I'm 50. I felt very similar when I turned 30. I was sort of 29 was the kicker for me, and I was like, oh my god. And then I turned 30 and I wasn't that bothered.

SPEAKER_00 43:25

Yeah, I'm not really that bothered turning 50 now. Yeah. Here I would have been like, oh.

SPEAKER_02 43:30

I did all right turning 30. I did all right turning 35. When I hit 36, I said, oh my god, I'm on the other side of 35. God.

SPEAKER_03 43:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

Right? I'm on the the side I'm on the side that's closer to 40 now. What just happened?

SPEAKER_03 43:45

But both of us have had front front row seats to each other's um then I said returning an age.

SPEAKER_02 43:51

Oh, but I'm like, for some reason, and we've talked about this a lot 35, 36, now 37 seem to be the years where Where I'm like, this is where I'm happiest. This is where I feel healthiest. I feel happiest. I mean, we've talked again, Winnie and I, we've talked about this. We really health wise, food journey-wise, have done a complete 360. Yeah. I mean, you've lost a lot of weight. I've lost a lot, a lot of weight. And like you said, things don't sit the same. Certain foods don't sit the same. But like the energy, the feeling, I'm like, yeah, I might be older, but I feel my best. This is where I feel my best.

SPEAKER_03 44:31

I feel better now.

SPEAKER_02 44:32

But maybe 37 is not like closer to 40. It's just this is another really good year to do really cool things.

SPEAKER_00 44:38

Exactly. I have never heard anybody well, and I'm not saying that no one has, but I personally in my circle, you know, I used to before I turned 40, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna turn 40. The year I turned 40, I think was one of my best years ever. I did so much. I was like, yeah, I'm 40. I don't know. And I've heard this from other people too. So don't be afraid to turn 40. I feel like 40 is like a turning point for a lot of people. And for the people that I've spoken to personally, a lot of my friends are younger. They haven't hit 40 yet either. But those of my friends who have hit 40, I've heard nothing but like, yeah, when I turn 40, all of a sudden I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna start doing this. And so they would start doing that. And I told you that I've been dressing this way for like 10 years. That was when I was 40, was this whole change? There it is.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

So 40 is the magic number, basically.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

I feel like 40 is where you're like, you really start to know who you are. You know who you are, you know what you want, you know what you want to go for, and you're not comfortable with it. You're comfortable with it, yes. I don't care what people think, I don't care if people are gonna stare at me, I don't care if you know, blah blah blah. Um, and you just go for it. Now I'm not saying it always ends up right, but you're in that mind. I feel like once you turn 40, you're like, boom, you hit the road running, just trying to do something or going a direction, or you're like, this is the year I'm gonna do it because now I'm 40.

SPEAKER_03 46:16

So I feel like I hit that early. I feel like I hit that at 30, and it is a lot of it is because me and Gabby started this. Okay. I think you know, I'm not gonna, I think I will still feel the the same at 40, but I think us doing this has been the the the the point, like the turning point for I think for for both of us for sure. Absolutely. Um, do you have a favorite recipe that you like to make for your family or that you like to make for yourself?

SPEAKER_00 46:47

Let me think. I'm always trying new things. Um I would have to say, oh gosh, I don't know if I have a favorite because a lot of the things that I canned, I can specifically for my family that I didn't necessarily eat myself. Because up until this last year, I was a vegetarian. Okay. So um I would make things for my family and be like, is it okay? How does it taste? What is that? And so, you know, and as a mom, I think a lot of women can relate to this, not just women, I'm sure there's men out there too, but I'll just, you know, speaking as a woman and as a mother, um, you always put everybody else first. So you're like, what can I make them? What can I have they like? And then I'm like, what am I gonna eat? I'm just gonna make a sandwich. So I don't particularly have yet a specific recipe that either I can or I do love my meatloaf. Oh, I make delicious meatloaf, which is was a very popular dish. World War II, which is very true. It was. It was but um for canning for them, I feel like the biggest thing that they really love are just some of the vegetables I can. Um, they're not as salty, like I make like a um a green bean, and it's like a garlic green bean, and they love it. I can't keep it on my shelves, so I'm planting a lot of green beans this year. In order to in order to do that. Um, there's a dish called uh cowboy candy, it's like candied jalapenos. My husband loves it.

SPEAKER_02 48:33

So I've never heard of that.

SPEAKER_00 48:34

I've got 20 jalapeno plants right now.

SPEAKER_02 48:38

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 48:39

Oh my god. Love that.

SPEAKER_03 48:41

I've never heard of that.

SPEAKER_02 48:43

I have heard of it. Me personally, I don't do yeah, I don't do spicy like that. Like if I make chili, I take the seeds out of the peppers. But I'll be the first one to order a jalapeno margarita. A spicy margarita. Like that makes no sense.

SPEAKER_00 48:59

It's how does that happen? It makes sense to me, so that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:04

Makes sense to me, okay.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

So um, because I've been kind of going down the rabbit hole. I just am a natural researcher. I hear something, I'm like, I need to know everything about that. Yeah, we do that. Research, research, research. Yes, and so um, and here's some just interesting facts from World War II with Victory Gardens. So, as you know, um the America entered the war in December 1941. In March of 1942, is where where they really started to talk to people and get information out there about Victory Gardens. And so um, I do have some numbers. I had to write them all down because numbers just don't stick in my head. So here's an estimated number for Victory Gardens. Um, pre-Pearl Harbor, there was about five to six million gardens in America, and that's because before Pearl Harbor, don't forget America was in the Great Depression. Come the 30, we were still kind of coming out of that. We weren't really in the depression anymore, but we were still dealing with the after effects of the Great Depression. And I think a lot um of people don't remember or realize the timing of that. And so there were gardens before that um for those that were gardening because of the Great Depression, food shortages, but we were also helping feed our allies before we joined the war. So we were sending food over to the UK because as you know, their home front was also the war front, it was literally at their doorstep. So we were already sending food where we could. It was called like bundles for Britain, and we would be sending them items, including food items. So there were already gardens going. Um, come 1942, there was a big government campaign as we entered the war, and we had about 15 million victory gardens. So you went from five to six million to 15 million in 1942. 43, that jumped to 18 to 21 million. Wow. Wow. 43 was definitely the biggest year for victory gardens, and I think a big role that played that is March 1st of 1943. The second book, ration book, came out. And in that book was the blue and red stamps. So we're all familiar with, right? If you see ration stamps, you're more familiar with the blue and the red. The red was for meat. That didn't happen until later in March. March 1st was the blue, and that was canned produce. So that is what really kicked everybody into doing Victory Gardens because that canned produce was now rationed. You were not going to be able to get as many of those items. And it wasn't so much that America was running out of food, it was bottlenecked because in 42, sorry, we were we're on 43, but in 42 was the gas ration. And the gas ration was in place to help preserve not just gasoline. Um, I literally just did a podcast on gasoline because the gas ration was really to save rubber. And so you couldn't move food from one area to the other because of this rationing. So there were certain areas, like we talked about the North Platte uh canteen, where the farmers around there they had an abundance of food because it wasn't getting anywhere else. They couldn't move it from A to B. It had to stay in the area. So there were some areas that were doing very well, and there were some areas that really needed to amp up their victory gardens. And certain items just disappeared. There were no bananas. Check it out. No bananas in World War II.

SPEAKER_03 52:59

There wasn't. I was I find that I'm reading Five Came Back at the moment. And there was a part where I believe the director, Frank Capra, he went to a pantomime in London while he's waiting for orders to go to a base in England before they go to the front. And he goes to a pantomime because it's the holiday season, and he remembers that the Brits in the theatre sang a song called Will I Ever Get a Banana Again? Yes, there is a song. I think it's called something, Will I Ever Get a Banana Again? Or Will I Ever Eat a Banana Again?

SPEAKER_00 53:36

And there's another song where it's like the guy's like, I'm going to war. What do you want me to bring back? I want a banana. It's literally like that. Yeah. I just want a banana.

SPEAKER_03 53:47

It's so funny that I read that literally before I fell asleep last night because I will sit down with this humongous gargantuan book. Um, it's so big. And um, yeah, funnily enough, I read that part last night. I believe it's Frank Capra while he's overseas in England. He's waiting for orders.

SPEAKER_01 54:04

Wild.

SPEAKER_03 54:05

Um, if I'm wrong, I'm very sorry, everyone. But that's what I remember in my half asleep haze right now is that I believe it was Frank Capra and he goes to a pantomime and they sing a song, and it's Will I Ever Get a Banana again? And apparently he says that everyone was joining in and having a one at a time and singing about this banana.

SPEAKER_00 54:26

Isn't that so funny? Insight, right? And things you're like, wow, no bananas, and maybe you don't think it's a big deal, then of course we can just go to the store and get a banana. So yeah, but we're not looking at it back then.

SPEAKER_03 54:38

Yeah, back then in England, that was a very hearty breakfast with bananas and cream. So when there's no bananas, they had obviously lost one of their main breakfast foods and one that would sustain the kids while they were at school because it was so filling. It was actually fresh, fresh cream and a banana. Um, I don't believe it was like anything like oatmeal, porridgey. I believe it was bananas and cream because it would like keep the kids full up until lunchtime. So, of course, when things are rationed, there's no bananas. They're already losing one of the hearty breakfasts that kids and and parents would eat. So, wow. Thus, birth of the song, will I ever get a banana again?

SPEAKER_00 55:22

Now everybody needs to go like find that song, listen to that. Please, yeah, I'm gonna have to go look it up.

SPEAKER_03 55:28

Wow, you're gonna have to look it up. I'm gonna probably open the book in just a second and find the actual name of the song and find it because that's gonna bug me. But I find that so funny that I literally just read about that.

SPEAKER_00 55:40

Yeah, it's very, very funny.

SPEAKER_03 55:42

Very often about it.

SPEAKER_00 55:44

They couldn't grow bananas so much here. I mean, nowadays I think we can figure it out, but back then it was like boom, there's one of the things that are gone. So um, granted, you know, the victory gardens weren't growing bananas, but they were growing other things to make sure they didn't run out. And actually, um it says so total over the war years are about 50 million gardens planted at some point. Wow, and they produced about 40 percent of the produce that was consumed in the US.

SPEAKER_02 56:19

Wow, wow.

SPEAKER_00 56:20

So that shows, you know, they were incredibly important. I don't think gardens get enough credit. Like even to this day, you can use that information, and that's what I love to share, you know, um, why I love to share the information about World War II. I mean, World War II wasn't the first time we saw Victory Gardens, we saw it in World War I too, but um, you can learn so much from these past times to really incorporate into your life now, and I'm trying to do this not just to eat healthier, but I'm trying to bring down our grocery bill. Yes, yeah, felt yeah, and so maybe it's not the same reason that I'm doing a victory garden that they did, but it's still in my sense of survival, because nowadays our biggest thing that we feel things in is cost, and back then it was supply.

SPEAKER_01 57:17

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 57:19

So I think that's the main big difference, right? But you can still utilize it, you can still learn from it, and um that's why I love sharing this because there's it's just good information to know and to pass on to your children and other generations, so it's it's timeless, it is even though it happened 80 plus years ago at this point, it is still timeless information that can still carry through to today, which I find incredibly fascinating that it started World War One and went through to World War II.

SPEAKER_03 57:54

It's still valuable information now.

SPEAKER_02 57:57

We as a society will always, you know, we will always need food to sustain us. So why not what better way that to do it? Why not sustain ourselves with clean, good products? I know it has stood the test of time, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 58:14

I mean, I just used an example, and I hope you don't mind um saying it, but as you know, um we had last year we had a uh a government shutdown that shut down for a while, and a lot of people were losing their benefits, and a lot of those benefits, of course, covered food. Yeah, and so I was like, take that and learn to grow something, you know. A lot of these foods, these plants can be in pots on your balcony. I know we don't all have the space that um, you know, many generations may have had beforehand. Um, you know, I think a lot more people are now living in urb living in urban areas that are very populated compared to back then. Obviously, our population has changed. I mean, we had a baby boom where our population is much bigger, which means we're in we're in more confined spaces because of the population. But there is a ways to have, you know, a few plants on your balcony or have a small hobby garden and just help yourself out, or you know, find community uh in your in your neighborhood of those that do have bigger gardens. There are community gardens still to this day that you can um help, you can volunteer at, and in return, you get some of the produce that's created. So there are a lot of ways to be able to do this kind of lifestyle that those might be others that might want to do it. So it took us a long way to get to where we are now, to where I have property in order to have a typical victory garden size. But it wasn't that way. I'd go to the farmer's market and I'd be like, Do you have go to the farmer's market at the end of the day when they're ready to pack up and go, is there anything you want to get rid of for a deal?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:11

That's a smart idea. I've never thought of that. That's always gone right now. I got lots of them. That's incredible. That no, that's a smart idea. I've always gone right at the beginning and I've cringed at the price of a sourdough loaf.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:24

So there's but there's just ways, there's creative ways. They got creative back then, and there's no reason we still can't get creative now. We just to find where those areas are that we can go, hey, I noticed this. You know, if I helped you harvest, do you think I could bring home a couple uh boxes of XYZ or something? And a lot of, especially the small farmers will be like, yeah, you know, it doesn't hurt to ask, they can only say no. Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:58

Say no, and then that's that direction. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:01

So there are ways to still, you know, bring this kind of thing into your life. And yeah, um, it's just fascinating. Again, you know, what they had to do during World War II for Victory Gardens for food, because of rationing, because of bottlenecking, and um the skills that they had and they were able to pass on, you know. Sadly, I didn't get to learn directly from a family member, but there's still information out there right at your fingertips.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:31

So far from any kind of episode I think we've ever done. It's so educational. And it's so educational and it's so yeah, open and honest. I'm really excited to share this one. I'm excited to share this one.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:42

Yeah, this has been this has been excellent.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:44

This has been so much fun.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:45

I'm glad I had a lot of fun too.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:48

Good. That's what we like to hear. That's that's the whole point, is that everybody has a good time.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:52

Everyone has a great time. Well, do you need anything, any other conversations in the future of anything home front related? I'm kind of obsessed. I've got a problem.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:03

That's why you can keep coming back. Thank you, Jamie, so much for joining us today. We had a wonderful time. We had great time. This has been so fun, so interesting. For all of our listeners and our viewers, get out there and get some get some fresh veggies and start canning.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:21

Be healthy. Yeah, be healthy. Now is the time to start. Now is the time.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:26

It's never too late to change anything. So get out there and make a good change.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:32

Okay. Thank you everyone for listening, and we will see you next time.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:36

We'll see you guys soon.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:37

Thank you, Jamie. Thank you. Bye.