Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
by: Mildred Armstrong Kalish
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I tell of a time, a place, and a way of life long gone. For many years I have had the urge to describe that treasure trove, lest it vanish forever. So, partly in response to the basic human instinct to share feelings and experiences, and partly for the sheer joy and excitement of it all, I report on my early life. It was quite a romp.
So begins Mildred Kalish’s story of growing up on her grandparents’ Iowa farm during the depths of the Great Depression. With her father banished from the household for mysterious transgressions, five-year-old Mildred and her family could easily have been overwhelmed by the challenge of simply trying to survive. This, however, is not a tale of suffering.
Kalish counts herself among the lucky of that era. She had caring grandparents who possessed—and valiantly tried to impose—all the pioneer virtues of their forebears, teachers who inspired and befriended her, and a barnyard full of animals ready to be tamed and loved. She and her siblings and their cousins from the farm across the way played as hard as they worked, running barefoot through the fields, as free and wild as they dared.
Filled with recipes and how-tos for everything from catching and skinning a rabbit to preparing homemade skin and hair beautifiers, apple cream pie, and the world’s best head cheese (start by scrubbing the head of the pig until it is pink and clean), Little Heathens portrays a world of hardship and hard work tempered by simple rewards. There was the unsurpassed flavor of tender new dandelion greens harvested as soon as the snow melted; the taste of crystal clear marble-sized balls of honey robbed from a bumblebee nest; the sweet smell from the body of a lamb sleeping on sun-warmed grass; and the magical quality of oat shocking under the light of a full harvest moon.
Little Heathens offers a loving but realistic portrait of a “hearty-handshake Methodist” family that gave its members a remarkable legacy of kinship, kindness, and remembered pleasures. Recounted in a luminous narrative filled with tenderness and humor, Kalish’s memoir of her childhood shows how the right stuff can make even the bleakest of times seem like “quite a romp.”
From the Hardcover edition.
I tell of a time, a place, and a way of life long gone. For many years I have had the urge to describe that treasure trove, lest it vanish forever. So, partly in response to the basic human instinct to share feelings and experiences, and partly for the sheer joy and excitement of it all, I report on my early life. It was quite a romp.
So begins Mildred Kalish’s story of growing up on her grandparents’ Iowa farm during the depths of the Great Depression. With her father banished from the household for mysterious transgressions, five-year-old Mildred and her family could easily have been overwhelmed by the challenge of simply trying to survive. This, however, is not a tale of suffering.
Kalish counts herself among the lucky of that era. She had caring grandparents who possessed—and valiantly tried to impose—all the pioneer virtues of their forebears, teachers who inspired and befriended her, and a barnyard full of animals ready to be tamed and loved. She and her siblings and their cousins from the farm across the way played as hard as they worked, running barefoot through the fields, as free and wild as they dared.
Filled with recipes and how-tos for everything from catching and skinning a rabbit to preparing homemade skin and hair beautifiers, apple cream pie, and the world’s best head cheese (start by scrubbing the head of the pig until it is pink and clean), Little Heathens portrays a world of hardship and hard work tempered by simple rewards. There was the unsurpassed flavor of tender new dandelion greens harvested as soon as the snow melted; the taste of crystal clear marble-sized balls of honey robbed from a bumblebee nest; the sweet smell from the body of a lamb sleeping on sun-warmed grass; and the magical quality of oat shocking under the light of a full harvest moon.
Little Heathens offers a loving but realistic portrait of a “hearty-handshake Methodist” family that gave its members a remarkable legacy of kinship, kindness, and remembered pleasures. Recounted in a luminous narrative filled with tenderness and humor, Kalish’s memoir of her childhood shows how the right stuff can make even the bleakest of times seem like “quite a romp.”
From the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Delightful memoir
Delightful memoir about a time never to be experienced again. A real piece of Americana.
Rating: - This Book Gets A Gold Star
For months, I passed the shelf at the book store on which this book sat. I mean, I picked it up occasionally, I read the blurb on the back, and then I would stare at the front as if waiting for a sign to buy it. Finally, I would set it back on the shelf from whence it came. It might look like a deliciously interesting piece of literature, but it had the distinct smell of a history book in disguise. Everyone knows the books of which I speak, the ones that lure you in with the promises of a rich and ... Read More
Rating: 
- Little Heathens book by Mildred Kalish Armstrong
I'm very pleased by the expediency the books I'd ordered were received.I will definitely use Amazon in the future for my needs.
Rating: 
- Nostalgic tedium
I was really expecting this to be interesting. As it is, I would have given it two stars, except that I feel it has value as a social history. This is the sort of thing that would be a treasure for a family, and belongs in Iowan history collections.I don't really understand why it was published, let alone so well received. My opinion of of the New York Times's literary taste was not enhanced.
This is occasionally interesting, but at times fragments into a mishmash of scattered ... Read More
Rating: - Remembering the way it was
Whether you grew up on a farm and lived through the depression or just know someone who did, this is the book for you and for them.It paints a picture of a time and a place that was magical in spite of the difficult times.This is a trip in nostalgia, with humor in the reality, and it is definitely real.The hardships were dealt with and accepted.They 'made do' without fuss or self pity.You will recognize your Mom and Dad, your brothers and sisters, your cousins and neighbors on these pages. ... Read More
- Delightful memoirDelightful memoir about a time never to be experienced again. A real piece of Americana.
- This Book Gets A Gold StarFor months, I passed the shelf at the book store on which this book sat. I mean, I picked it up occasionally, I read the blurb on the back, and then I would stare at the front as if waiting for a sign to buy it. Finally, I would set it back on the shelf from whence it came. It might look like a deliciously interesting piece of literature, but it had the distinct smell of a history book in disguise. Everyone knows the books of which I speak, the ones that lure you in with the promises of a rich and ... Read More
- Little Heathens book by Mildred Kalish ArmstrongI'm very pleased by the expediency the books I'd ordered were received.I will definitely use Amazon in the future for my needs.
- Nostalgic tediumI was really expecting this to be interesting. As it is, I would have given it two stars, except that I feel it has value as a social history. This is the sort of thing that would be a treasure for a family, and belongs in Iowan history collections.I don't really understand why it was published, let alone so well received. My opinion of of the New York Times's literary taste was not enhanced.
This is occasionally interesting, but at times fragments into a mishmash of scattered ... Read More
- Remembering the way it wasWhether you grew up on a farm and lived through the depression or just know someone who did, this is the book for you and for them.It paints a picture of a time and a place that was magical in spite of the difficult times.This is a trip in nostalgia, with humor in the reality, and it is definitely real.The hardships were dealt with and accepted.They 'made do' without fuss or self pity.You will recognize your Mom and Dad, your brothers and sisters, your cousins and neighbors on these pages. ... Read More
