Learn how many rural families avoided waste and found ways to stretch every dollar during the Great Depression in this video from Iowa Public Television. 

Although the Great Depression made farm life even more difficult, many rural families found creative solutions to their problems. When an animal was butchered every bit of it was used.  Chicken feed sacks were used to make dresses for the women and girls.  Water was used sparingly. For many, baths were once a week in the winter with family members sharing the same water to conserve. Many of those who lived during the Great Depression retained their thrifty ways as they grew older.

This segment from Iowa Public Television's documentary "The People in the Pictures: Stories from the Wettach Farm Photos" features original photography, filmed recreations, and first-person accounts of farm life in rural America during the Great Depression and early twentieth century.