In 1942, my Grandpa Mac (Dr. Archie Justice MacAlpin, 1907-1996) was living in Canyon Texas searching for oil for the Government and helping institute the Geology Department at West Texas A&M. He and my Grandmother, Marian Love-MacAlpin (1910-1991), also helped the war effort by growing a big Victory Garden at their West Texas homestead.

The property was on an old chicken farm that they resurrected on the small scale. And, like the heroine in Betty MacDonald's The Egg And I (a hysterical book about an urban woman thrown into life on a Pacific Northwest chicken farm during The Great Depression (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The...)), my pampered grandmother learned how to earn her keep; something she did with surprising ease considering her background.

She grew up as the only child of a respected University of Michigan Mathematics Professor and author of Bridge Books, Clyde E. Love (www.bridgesqueezescomplet...). Her upbringing was one of privilege and etiquette (she bestowed her sense of etiquette upon her children and grandchildren liberally and resolutely). One illustrative detail, which never fails to amaze me, is that she did not wash her own hair until after she was married at age 18. Instead, she was taken to the beauty parlor several times a week. Still, she learned to love nature at their lakeside summer cottage in northern Michigan, and my grandfather's grandmother, Luella MacAlpin, had a beautiful flower garden that Grandma Marian adored. These experiences must have inspired her to embrace gardening and farm life with zeal.

Their Texas garden was birthed on a "virgin" site where the chicken droppings had been dumped for years, so it was friable, nutrient-rich and yielded monster crops. This helped considering the land was arid and my grandparents were two green northeasterners with only a well for water. They began by sending away for Government pamphlets on gardening and relied on the help of a local extension agent for tips and guidance.

The plot was big enough to feed a family of four. They grew tomatoes, squash (winter and summer), beans, peas, carrots, okra and cucumbers for pickles. A small chicken house supplied them with eggs and meat, so they ate well despite the wartime rations. The long southern growing season also helped them produce more for longer. From all accounts, their big, bountiful garden was admired by all who saw it.

One of their biggest tasks with the Victory Garden was not raising the food but preparing and storing it. Grandma learned how to can and pickle produce. They had an old-fashioned icebox, so freezing was not an option. Grandma killed, feathered, gutted and canned the chicken herself. She canned hundreds of quarts of vegetables each season and produced the best pickles ever, according to my mother. Once again, the local extension agent taught her how to can properly, which illustrates the importance of local extension agents then and now (find your local agent at: www.csrees.usda.gov/Exten...). 

By 1946, my grandparents moved to South Bend, Indiana where gramps was the head of The Geology Department at Notre Dame until 1973, but they never forgot about their great West Texas Victory Garden.

Two of Grandma Marian's Favorite Pickle Recipes:

(To learn how to properly prepared and seal home canned goods, please go to: www.foodsafetysite.com/co...)

Grandma Edna MacAlpin's Dill Pickles (my Great Grandmother)

Wash the small cucumbers and pack in clean pickling jars with dill, allowing on head of dill for each pint jar or 2 heads per quart.  Mix 2 qts. Water, 1 qt. vinegar and 1 cup salt in a large sauce pan and bring to a rolling boil.  When boiling, pour over the cucumbers to cover and seal the jars. 

Mrs. Sheffy's Bread and Butter Pickles (a friend of Grandma Marian's Mother, Georgina Love)

Start with:

1 gallon crisp medium-sized cucumbers that are not too seedy

10 large onions

2 green peppers

Slice and soak the cucumbers and vegetables for 3 ½ hours with ½ cup salt and cover with ice cubes. Meanwhile, combine 4 cups vinegar, 5 cups sugar, 2 tsp. mustard seed, 1 tsp. ground cloves, 1 ½ tsp. turmeric and 1 tsp. celery seed in a large sauce pan and bring to a rolling boil. Drain the soaking cucumbers, onions and peppers and pack them in jars. When boiling, pour over the mix to cover and seal the jars.