Thursday, November 29, 2012

NC Home Demonstration Report, November 1938

“The Woman’s Touch or What Club Work Means to N.C. Farm Women” by Jane S. McKimmon, state Home Demonstration Agent and Assistant Director of Extension, as published in the November 1938 issue of the Carolina Co-operator
Save Your Children’s Eyes
If you wish to provide a good legacy for your children, see that they have the right kind of light when they are studying and working, and you can do much to bring them into manhood with good eyesight.
School days and night study are here again and with it the lighting problem. In Chatham County women are concerned both with the type of lights they have at home and school lights, and they are preparing to visit the school room to see what measures are used to protect the child’s eyes from direct sunlight and what is done on cloudy days. The single drop cord with bare bulb sometimes found is not enough and can do much damage to children’s eyes. Where there is no electric line good kerosene lamps can be made to serve the family well if there are enough of them and they are kept in good condition.
Inexpensive Style
Miss Mildred Bell Edwards of Winterville, Pitt County, will go to Chicago early in December to attend the national 4-H Style Show at the 4-H Club Congress. The trip was awarded Miss Edwards because she won out in the final competition with three other group winners at the annual North Carolina 4-H Club Dress Review. Miss Edwards, as well as 42 other county winners, designed and made her complete ensemble, which cost $19.40 and included a heavy, interlined woolen coat, lingerie, and accessories.
The other three group winners included Miss June Dunn of Stonewall, Pamlico County, who designed and made a wash dress ensemble costing $4.95; Miss Iris Herring of Watha, Pender County, who designed and made an evening gown for $9.65; and Miss Jonnie Faye Barnes, whose lovely fall outfit, embracing four changes of accessories, cost $15.85.
Master Farm Homemakers
North Carolina sent several of her 18 Master Farm Homemakers to the annual meeting of the National Master Homemakers Guild at Lexington, Kentucky, recently, and Mrs. W.C. Pou of Elmwood, who is president of the North Carolina Guild, headed the North Carolina delegation.
To be designated a Master Farm Homemaker, women are recommended by their neighbors as notable homemakers and receive the honor after an exhaustive questionnaire has been answered and a work sheet filled out, examined, and passed upon by judges. The final approval is by the county and district home agent.
North Carolina can boast a distinguished group of farm women who have been awarded this honor. Here are their names:
Mrs. Annie C. Hay, Jones County
Mrs. Henry Middleton, Duplin County
Mrs. J.F. McKnight, Rowan County
Mrs. L.E. Barnes, Vance County
Mrs. W.B. Lamb, Sampson County
Mrs. J.E. Corriher Jr., Rowan County
Mrs. J.S. Turner, Rockingham County
Mrs. J.J. Forbes, Currituck County
Mrs. W.E. Moore, Craven County
Mrs. L.E. Peel, Wayne County
Mrs. D.B. Castor, Cabarrus County
Mrs. A.R. Poyner, Currituck County
Mrs. Lydia Ashworth, Buncombe County
Mrs. B.N. Sykes, Hertford County;
Mrs. W.D. Graham, Rowan County
Mrs. J.F. Homewood, Alamance County
Mrs. R.J. Ledbetter, Buncombe County
Mrs. W.C. Pou, Iredell County
Mrs. W.T. Whitsett, Guilford County
Plant Bulbs Now
Do you look at the lovely profusion of flowers in your neighbor’s yard every spring and sigh dolefully: “Oh, I meant to plant bulbs and sow seed last fall for my garden flowers, but I just forgot it?” So many of us are in the same boat that I am reminding you that now is the time to plant for spring blooming.
Most hardy bulbs should be planted in late summer or early fall and they usually require a well-drained and fertile soil. As a general rule bulbs should be planted approximately two to three times their length beneath the surface of the soil in the shade under trees, where ferns and violets will follow. They thrive in a wild garden with half shade also.
The narcissus, snowdrop, hyacinth, tulip, and Madonna or Regal lily all bring satisfaction. For details of cultivation, write Mr. John Harris, Division of Horticulture, State College, Raleigh, N.C.
Improved Roadsides
Three years ago there wasn’t a roadside in Camden County which was planted, but the home agent recently drove through the county and scored 54 roadside plantings.
Husband, wife, and children are all interested and Mr. Robert Stevens, a farmer of Camden, said he spent more time this year working on the yard and roadside than he had spent on beautifying the premises all of his life before. Mr. H.N. Leary of Old Trap felt that it was his job to keep the weeds and grass from the flowers along their stretch of roadside and there wasn’t a better kept roadside in the county.
Keeping Up With Farm Women
First place in clothing exhibits at the State Fair held in Raleigh went to Wilson County, second to Jackson, and third to Catawba . . . . From a flock of 400 barred rock baby chicks bought last spring, Mrs. R.W. Hardin of Ashe County has already sold enough birds to pay all costs of chicks and feeds consumed and have a cash balance of $75 . . . . Poke weed, spring cress, lamb’s quarters, purslane, dandelion, and sea kale are among the edible wild plants which grow in North Carolina . . . .  The home of Mr. and Mrs. Solon Braswell in Union County is called “The House That Chickens Built,” since it was paid for from cash income with their poultry flock.

No comments:

Post a Comment