gifts afther the shtf and pre ww2 economy.

[rockriver]

my mom is visiting and i'm asking her about the family pre ww2
she was born in the 1920's
==
her older sister, my aunt e worked at sears and roebuck
aunt e married the local figidaire repairman, uncle h. i thought wow! that would have been 2 very stable jobs... NOPE.
aunt e lost her job, mom adivsed. why i asked.. and mom gave me this look of "son, you just don't understand!"
the depresssion was on..
i then said well i know uncle h had a stable job. someone had to fix appliances... NOPE...
there was no money! uncle h. lost his job too.
so i asked ... well how did they get by.

answer ...
they lived in a very tiny 2 room apt. in an old house.
for a wedding present, granddad gave them a cow. the landlord let them stake out the cow in the yard. the cow provided milk and butter..(the thought occurred to me that i know how to milk a cow, but i don't know how to get butter from the milk!
uncle h. went dooor to door looking for work. fixing appliances.. adding rear steps to houses.. doing
additions..

i asked what about a gift for someone..
what would have been a good gift? during that time?
answer...
a settin' hen would have been a highly valued gift.
this was one hen that was "settin'" eggs.
so you would be giving 1 hen and a dozen fertilized eggs to the recipient.
the hen would care for the eggs until hatched and the recipient could end up with
several roosters for the frying pan
and several hens for future eggs and eventually the frying pan.

there are sources of info out there i've been ignoring.
uncle h and aunt e have died, but it just dawned on me that
even though they lived in the city that they always had a garden. a big garden.

have you got an exra milk cow or an extra settin' hen to give for gifts?

what else would have made a good gift in the 1930's or after the shtf?

[Grantmeliberty]

I make my own colloidal silver with a generator I have. That CS is extremely valuable as an anti-viral, anti-bacterial solution, both internally as well as topically. I expect to be giving and trading lots of CS when things go south.
All that is necessary to make CS is a couple of silver coins, a source of 6 volts dc, distilled water, an aerator and fish tank air stone. http://www.zakairan.com/CosmicCookie...akeyourown.htm
The website which has the instructions is a bit newagey, but the article is good, used to be posted on a site which is no longer active.

[kappydell]

my parents were born in 1929 & 1930 and told me a lot. The more useful the gift the more valued & appreciated it was. My father valued the red wagon he got. It was 2nd hand (they were poor) but repainted it was new to him and he could haul things for Mom and use it to carry the bottles he'd pick up and sell for a penny or two. He could haul his disabled brother places more easily, haul found wood home & gleaned cull apples & potatoes home to can. Permission to glean was a treasured boon; a treasured gift my mother recalled were new packages of trimmings for dresses, so hand me downs could look new and different. Even city folks had as large a garden as possible and canned any surpluses. Zoning must have been different, their city neighbors had chickens, and a one had a pig to fatten up all summer. In the late fall they would preserve half the meat, and half went to the landlord against the rent. Food was a valued gift. A cast iron skillet was considered an excellent wedding gift. Many married women lost their jobs - they were given to men with families to support.

[MJC]

I think if you could knit or crochet anything would be a comfort such as mittens, scarves, afghans, caps and booties/slippers.