This is a true story of a family struggling to survive during the depression of the 1030s. They farmed with two mules and crude farm implements. The land was rocky and the topsoil thin. The boys wore shirts and slept under sheets made from fertilizer sacks, and the mother and the only daughter often wore dresses and underwear made from flour sacks that came with print designs. But they were proud of their independence and didn't want charity. The book gives details about how they farmed in those days and about the families of relatives and friends.