The Loewen family managed to live through 1921, when there was a severe crop failure in Orenburg. The winter of 1921-22 was particularly harsh. The crop was poor, and the government demanded that the farmers pay taxes “voluntarily” in produce. As a result, Abraham Loewen started already in the fall to ration their bread. They had enough potatoes until New Year, after which the pieces of bread became smaller, and the soup became thinner. Jacob writes, “We would leave the table hungry”. In the spring, when the fieldwork started, Jacob writes that they could hardly walk, and that the livestock suffered even more. They would often have to help the horses and cows stand up in the morning. A rope was put under their bellies and then they were lifted so that they could stand. All the buildings with thatched roofs became bare as the roof was fed to the livestock. During the spring, carcasses (and sometimes, human corpses) could be seen along the roadside.

     Things began to improve after the snow. The gophers started to wake up and come out of their holes, and the boys would successfully catch many. In the morning, one or two boys would go out and hunt them. They poured water into their holes (there was plenty of water after the snow) and when the gopher came out, they grabbed him by the neck, pulled him out and killed him. At home, the gopher would be skinned and then fried in his own fat. The meat of the gophers was thoroughly enjoyed. Since the number of gophers caught depended on the boys’ trapping success, they began gaining weight in the spring.