Chicken Soup - just like Grandma made!

Grandma's Chicken Soup: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18825647

I get so many people asking me who that picture is on the label of Grandma's Chicken Soup. So I figured it was time to blog and tell the world that YES! That IS my Great Grandma.

My Great-Grandma Morris was the sweetest little lady - my personal memories of her include that she was quiet and small, very non-imposing. She always invited me to sit on her lap while she read me a book. However, my mother and her cousins have many different stories to tell.

Grandma and Grandpa Morris farmed in south-east Nebraska until their retirement. They were hard working, good hearted people who weren't afraid to get their hands dirty or to help a neighbor in need. Some years the crops brought in a profit, but other years the budget was stretched as thin as can be. A huge vegetable garden was kept to help feed the family throughout the year. Most everthing was canned or kept in the fruit cellar for later use.

Times were especially hard in the early 1900's and one year was the coldest anyone could recall. The siblings recalled having to form makeshift beds in the kitchen one night so the cookstove could keep them from freezing in their sleep. Even with this extra bit of heat the family woke up unexpectedly in the middle of the night to glass breaking and popping. Upon investigation, they found that some of the mason jars in the pantry got so cold the contents inside were freezing, causing the jars to break. Everyone hurridly brought the rest of the panty contents into the kitchen with them in order to save the rest of the food.

That story always comes to mind in the frigid cold days of winter, like most of the country is experiencing right now. While I will probably still complain about the icy roads and my cold fingers I do count my blessings for our furnace - and of course for all the sacrifices and hard times my Great Grandparents faced in rural Nebraska that many years ago.