North Carolina's Bounty, 1943

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.

NC Farmers Increasing Production for National Defense, 1940

By F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, as published in the 1940 issue of The Southern Planter

Farm people of Caswell County brought to a realization of the need of a constructive program for their county by committee work in the land use planning effort, have decided that the best contribution they can make for national defense on their farms is to increase the number and size of the home gardens on all farms.

Robert Lee Neal has been selected as chairman of the garden committee with Mrs. John Buck as co-chairman, and the two of them have begun rigorous campaigns for more and better gardens throughout the county in 1941. Every farm family in the county has received this message from the two garden leaders: “The production of an adequate supply of vegetables and fruits for home use is more important to us now than at any time in the history of our country.”

ORGANIZE FOR DEFENSE

North Carolina’s Extension program in 1941 will be a defense program in that it will have for its fundamental purpose the preparation of farm life in the state for whatever the future may hold. This will mean in part the building up of a reserve of soil fertility; a planned program of production and conservation of food; attention to breeding stock and feed for all the livestock in the state; use of good seeds; extension of the rural electric lines; repair and renovation of farm equipment and buildings; and in general getting the rural house in order, should neglect of some of these things become necessary within the next two or three years. All these matters were discussed and decided upon at five district conferences of Extension workers in October.

MADISON COUNTY

Twenty years ago there was an acre of land on the Cargile farm in Madison County that was worth very little. Today that acre is worth about $3,000. The change in valuation has been due to the efforts of Mrs. J.V. Cargile who has built up a profitable business in growing and selling boxwoods. Starting with a few plants, Mrs. Cargile continued to set new ones; and although about 10 years are required for a box plant to grow into a value of $2 and $3, she now is reaping a reward for her patience and planning. She says other farm wives can take such an acre of unwanted land and make it yield similar returns.

HONEYSUCKLE BASKETS

Mrs. Ethel McFalls, home demonstration club woman of Whittier, North Carolina, says she has sold $143 worth of honeysuckle baskets, hot dish mats, and fans to local gift shops in Jackson County. Mrs. McFalls spends her “handicraft” money for clothes for her three children, for food, and she has made repairs on her home.

LAST THOUGHT

Our goal in the cotton mattress program is 300,000 mattresses. We need the support of all rural people in North Carolina if we are to reach all eligible farm families. May we have your cooperation? Won’t you see your farm or home agent regarding the program?

Haywood County Home Demonstration Achievement Day and Tobacco Harvest Festival, 1952

By Mrs. J.E. Burnett, Haywood County, From the January, 1953, issue of the NC Federation of Home Demonstration Clubs’ News Letter*

The 1952 Home Demonstration Achievement Day and Tobacco Harvest Festival was held in the Waynesville Armory on November 18 and 19. This event was an excellent culmination of the year's activities for the 26 Home Demonstration Clubs in Haywood County.

Each club used their allotted space of 10' x 12' to the best advantage possible to tell an educational story of their year's work, having chosen a theme early in 1952 and attempting to follow through with these plans. Judges from adjoining counties named the five top exhibits as follows:

1. Waynesville Homemakers—“Outdoor Fun"

In this exhibit club members had assembled a picnic table and benches, chairs, and all the equipment needed for serving an outdoor meal. Their exhibit also included manikins with dresses suitable for the hostess and children. These garments were made by club members. The pine cone design was featured in the salad bowl, salad spoon and fork and in individual plates and wood forks for serving, as well as salt and pepper shakers. A beautiful outdoor flower arrangement of native plants, fruits and nuts centered the table with wood plates showing the type of handicrafts which had been done by this club. Place mats featured Swedish darning. An outdoor furnace was built of brick and was ready for use except for mortar being added. Gourds had been used for flower arrangements and for serving of foods. The rug covering the terrace was restored grass rug which had been waterproofed and restored to use after it had been discarded by one of the members. The entire exhibit featured all phases of work for the entire year. Mrs. Joe Cathey was chairman of the Achievement Day Committee and Mrs. H. O. Champion is president of the club.

2. Good Neighbors of Center Pigeon—“When We're Green We Grow"

This exhibit featured the old and the new ways of ironing and laundering with the idea of club women gaining knowledge from their Home Demonstration lesson on improved ironing methods which leave leisure hours for some of the types of things every woman would like to do as handicrafts, Home Demonstration reading, etc. The space was divided by a low wall. The old way included a wind break of toe sacks,** wash pot, out of doors, and the wash woman sweating over a scrub board in a tub of water mounted on a rickety chair at a very poor height. The flat sad irons were also heated out of doors and ironing was done on a board resting on the backs of chairs. In the new, the electric washing machine, drier and ironer (of which this club has many) were featured. These women captivated the eye of the public by having club women in the booth at all times doing the washing and enjoying the pleasure of the automatic utility room. Mrs. Ray Haynes, Chairman, was dressed in a 1900 outfit of full skirt and bonnet, with amber*** oozing out the corner of her mouth and scrubbing on the hand wash board. She did an excellent impersonation of the old drudgery task while Mrs. R. G. Chason, President of the club, enjoyed crocheting as she watched her automatic washer and drier work in the other side of the booth.

3. Fairview--"Enriched Corn Meal"

An excellent educational exhibit was prepared by the Fairview Club women in their method of presenting the enriched corn meal story. The enrichment attachment was borrowed from Clemson College and set up by the women. Featured with this was a table of corn meal products, such as rolls, cookies, breads, etc., creating much interest in the use of corn meal. The exhibit was very neatly arranged and told a good story. Mrs. Joseph Migliarini was chairman of the Achievement Day Committee and Mrs. Fred Plott is president of the club.

4. Francis Cove--"Creative Hands"

Francis Cove Club women attempted to show some of the beautiful things which can be made by creative hands. A luncheon table was set with a dried flower arrangement, mats with pottery accenting the color of the dried flower arrangement and place cards done from seed pods. On the wall was a seed pod plaque. In the back of the exhibit was a shelf displaying what creative hands can do with discarded bottles and jars arranged most artistically with seed pods, dried flowers and vines. Other flower arrangements included the use of gatherings from the woods, mosses, weeds, lichens, fungus, etc. On a bamboo mat was arranged a cypress knee 'which gave the impression of the Madonna. A highly glazed wood plate behind it gave an excellent reflection and with an added touch of green a most impressive flower arrangement was done. Besides these articles there was displayed the many ways that Swedish darning, needle point can be used for attractive articles. Mrs. Troy Wyche was chairman and Mrs. R. C. Rickman is president of the club.

5. McKimmon--"A Good Sewing Center"

This exhibit was excellent and had assembled the sewing unit which had been developed by one of the club members and featured some of the work of this club for the year. Articles of clothing were on display and the story of getting more pleasure and profit from your sewing time was well told. Mrs. Logan White was chairman and Mrs. H. L. Morgan is president of the club.

*This issue of The NC Federation of Home Demonstration Clubs’ Newsletter online at http://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/bitstream/1840.6/13/1/0001_NorthCarolinaFederationofHomeDemonstrati.pdf

**Toe sacks are burlap sacks, which were used to carry vegetables (potato sacks) or collect cotton.

*** Ambeer is saliva colored by tobacco chewed or held in the mouth; tobacco juice.

Hard Work Paid Off for Thomas Family, 1940

From “Carolina Farm Notes” by F.H. Jeter, Nov. 1940 issue of the Southern Planter

One or two kinds of livestock, one of which should be chickens, along with ordinary crops will help young farmers to become independent landowners. That is the opinion of Tom Broom, oldest county agent in North Carolina from the standpoint of service.

Mr. Broom was led to make this comment by studying the efforts of Mr. and Mrs. E.P. Thomas of Wingate, Route 1. Mr. Thomas embarked for France on the morning of November 11, 1918, but the Armistice was signed that day so he was disembarked and mustered out of the army one month later. He married Fannie Price on February 5, 1919, and for five years they lived on a rented, one-horse farm.

They bought 20 acres in 1923 for $900 on credit. Recently they bought 88 ½ additional acres. Now they own this all, free of debt, and have a beautiful little bungalow in place of the three-room cabin into which they moved when they were married. They own their own car; the home has all modern conveniences of water, electrical power and labor-saving devices; and most of it is due to a flock of 300 laying hens, a herd of 10 cows and much hard work.

Their farm is terraced. They follow a crop rotation, including lespedeza. They live at home,* they have sent one girl through college and now have a son in high school. They say the cows and chickens helped them to pay cash as they went along, and the crops came along to furnish the built of the payments which had to be met. This is enough to inspire anyone who loves the land and believes in its promise.

*The live-at-home program encouraged farm families to be self-sufficient by growing as much food as they could rather than paying retail and purchasing on credit.

-=-=-=

Running Water in the NC Farm Home, 1935

“The Farm Home Water Supply” by Pauline E. Gordon, Extension Home Management and House Furnishings Specialist, N.C. State College, as published in the November, 1936, Carolina Co-Operator

There are thousands of farm women in our State who belong to the “Pump and Carry Brigade”—women who, annually carry tons and tons of water from the well, or the pump to the kitchen, the laundry, the bath, and many even have to carry it for the stock. Do you have to draw water bucket by bucket from the well? And when hot water is needed, do you carry pails of water to the stove, heat it, and then carry it to the bathroom or laundry? If you do, remember that there is danger of getting scalded, and of getting a strain from the lifting of pails of water.

There is nothing that adds as much to the convenience and comfort of a farm home as an ample supply of water in the kitchen, the laundry, the bathroom, the farm buildings, and the pasture. A good water supply is essential to the health and happiness of the family, and running water conserves the strength of the women, and does away with the drudgery of the back-breaking strain of the pump handle and the water pail. To be able to turn a faucet and have an ample supply of cool, clear, fresh water is the greatest convenience that can be had on the farm. Running water is the most important time-saving and labor-saving device in the home.

Necessity

Water is an absolute necessity on the farm for both the household and the stock. In the home, it is required for cooking, laundering, bathing. The health of every person on the farm depends upon the constant use of water. Dairy cattle that have access to water at all times produce more milk than those which are watered once or twice each day. All animals on the farm are greatly benefited by having fresh water at all times.

The amount of water used by each person in homes having complete running water systems averages about 20 to 30 gallons a day. In the homes where the water is carried by hand the consumption averages from four to eight gallons daily for each person. In these homes water is used sparingly. Increased water consumption results in improved sanitary conditions. An adequate water system in which the sanitary engineering principles are carried out is one of the greatest safe guards to health on the farm. A plentiful supply of pure, fresh water and proper sewerage disposal practically eliminates typhoid fever, diarrhea, and other diseases that may be traced to human waste. Impure water is often the cause of many diseases common to animals.

Do you have running water in your home? How many gallons of water are used daily in your home? If your home should catch on fire tonight, would you have to depend on the pump, the well, or the spring to supply water for the bucket brigade? A liberal supply of running water under pressure is an excellent fire prevention.

The first question that comes up when you discuss the possibility of installing a water system is “how much will it cost?” And whatever it may cost many farm owners says they cannot afford to install a a water system, and on some of their farms I have seen a reaper, a harrow, plows, tractors, and other pieces of equipment that represent hundreds of dollars, that are used only a few weeks each year. The owners thought nothing of the investment represented in the farm equipment, and even less of the depreciation of that equipment for most of it is not even kept in a shed. If you do not have an adequate supply of water in your home, then accept the expenditures for a water system with the same mind that you now do for other types of equipment, and you will find that you can afford to have a water system installed on your farm, and that the money you spent will give you greater satisfaction than almost any other investment. For less than $50 a year, you can have running water in the home, the barn, the poultry house and the dairy.

In many instances the failure to have an adequate water supply on the farm is due to the lack of knowledge rather than lack of money. There are many systems of supplying water in the farm home—electric pumps, gas engines, windmills, hydraulic rams, and the gravity system. The most simple system is the kitchen sink and drain with a pump which will draw water from the well or cistern.

Electricity

Thousands of farm homes in North Carolina are going to have electricity installed within the next few months. Is your home one of them? If it is, remember that one of the greatest benefits of electricity is that it permits the successful installation of a water system. Think what it would mean to have an abundant supply of water, running water in the kitchen, the bathroom, the laundry, the poultry house, the dairy, the garden, and the barn.

A deep well pump driven by an electric motor will assure you of an ample supply of water for your home and farm. If you expect to have electricity installed any time in the near future, investigate some of the many systems operated by the electric motor.

A farm water supply system should be simple in design, reliable in operation, and reasonably low in initial cost and operating expense. Did you have any difficulty last winter with your water supply? I know that many homes throughout North Carolina were without water for several weeks this past winter, because of the freezing water in the pipes. I have been in homes, where for days every drop of water used had to be brought from wells half a mile away, because of the frozen pipes. All water systems installed should have the pipes frost-proof and all pipes so arranged that they can be easily drained. Even pitcher pumps need to be protected from freezing.

All plumbing installed should have proper connections, proper size pipe grease traps, good drainage, adequate septic tanks, and frost-proof pipes. The Extension Division of North Carolina State College will be glad to send you information on the Farm Home Water System.

In closing, I would like to repeat that a water system is among the first conveniences that should be added to a farm home because it removes drudgery, saves energy and time, improves health, aides in farm protection, and provides fire protection.

“Now . . . if I was down there in Washington . . .” an ad from Republic Steel in the March, 1943, issue of The Progressive Farmer, not to get someone buy their product but to buy War Bonds and Stamps and to work hard together to overcome the nation's common enemy.

That’s Joe talking. Every night when he stops in for his coffee and sinkers he has plenty to tell the boys about how this war should be run. Maybe he’s right and maybe he isn’t.

The important think is that he can see what he thinks—out loud. Right in front of Tom Burke, the cop. He couldn’t do that in Germany or Japan or Italy . . . or in any of the nations have been “liberated” by the New Order.

But Joe is an American.

And because Joe is an American, he has more privileges—and more opportunities—than can be found anywhere else in the world.

If he doesn’t want to work for somebody else, he can operate a business of his own—anywhere. Joe is a free agent. His future is under his hat.

Like millions of other Americans on the way up, Joe can cash in on a way of life that has brought America the highest standards of living in the world—by a big margin.

It is a typically American way of life—based on American ingenuity, ambition, desire to get ahead. It gives every person a chance.

That is why today, after a comparatively short time, team work and cooperation in American industry and American agriculture are performing miracles of production in that would be impossible in a country weakened by years of regimentation and dictatorship.

American boys are fighting for the inherited right of all of us, wherever we live, or whatever we do, to live our lives the way we want to live them. And when those boys come home they want to find again, the basic rights and freedoms on which this country was built.

Over 13,000 Republic men are in uniform. Nearly 70,000 other Republic men and women are backing them up with record-breaking steel production. In 1942 they beat the 1941 record by 479,000 tons.

Every American has a job to do in this war. Buy bonds—donate blood—enroll in civilian defense—keep vital scrap metal flowing to war plants—work harder at the job—whatever it may be!

We Americans—all the Joes, the Tom Burkes and everybody else—130 million of us—have more to fight for than any other people I the world. Our stake in victory is our free way of life. Let’s guard it faithfully!

Republic Steel

General Offices, Cleveland, Ohio

Export Department: Chrysler Building, New York, New York

Woven Wire Fencing * Barbed Wire * Steel Fence Posts * Roofing and Siding * Bale Ties * Nails * Staples * Bolts, Nuts and Rivets * Pipe * Carbon, Alloy and Stainless Steel for Farm and Dairy Equipment

Waiting for Electricity in Vance County, 1936

“The Woman’s Touch or What Club Work Means to N.C. Farm Women” by Jane S. McKimmon in the November, 1936, Carolina Co-Operator

Rural Electrification

The Vance County Grange and Home Demonstration Clubs are going after electric current for the farm home this year. At the beginning of 1936 there was only one rural electric line in the county and already two more have been constructed and five other lines approved.

Sometimes a landlord feels that he cannot wire the farm house even if his tenant is willing to pay for the current but this does not apply to most of them.

The head of one farm family said: “We are getting too old to make a change in our way of living now.” But when he saw what electric conveniences did for his neighbor, he changed his mind.

After Mrs. J.E. Gill of Vance County had her electric current for two weeks, she told the home agent to tell every woman in the county to sign up for an electric line and to buy an electric churn the next morning after they get it. “Why,” she said, “I turn mine on when I sit down to breakfast and when I have finished eating the butter is ready to take out of the churn. I also have lights, a refrigerator, and an iron, and I feel that the drudgery of my home is already much lessened.

“The money that I used to spend for ice in the summer more than pays all my electricity bills for the entire season.”

Husband Fills Gap in Edgecombe County

Sometimes a husband steps into the breach and helps in times of household stress.

Mr. Joe Bradley of Edgecombe County canned vegetables to feed his family of 12 this winter. His wife is taking care of his invalid mother and has no time to give to canning, and the oldest daughter is only 10 years old.

Mr. Bradley went to the home agent’s office and asked her how to can corn. He was a good pupil and took his canning bulletin home and began to use it. He was sold on the idea of using a steam pressure canner and a sealer. “They save time,” he said, and he learned how to use them when one of the neighboring club women, a canning leader, visited his home and showed him the use of her pressure canner, and when the home agent loaned him a can sealer in addition, he was all ready to do a good job of canning.

Two weeks later Mr. Bradley returned the sealer to the home agent and reported that he had canned 505 quarts of a variety of vegetables and fruit. In fact, he proudly exhibited 10 different kinds of canned products to help provide balanced meals for the family.

Braswell Tenants Get-Together, 1940

By F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, as published in The Southern Planter, November 1940 issue

As each of the tenants came through the pasture gate, he was given a small strip of colored paper to put on his clothes where it could be seen easily. The colors were red, green, yellow and blue; and down in the pasture under the shade of great trees were four different sets of tables with the same four colors. The person with the red color was supposed to pass down the line by the table marked with red and get his plate filled with barbecue, slaw, corn bread, Brunswick stew, pickle and mashed Irish potatoes. The same system applied to the people with the other colors.

Since early the night before, over 1,500 pounds of fine pig meat had been simmering over hot, hardwood coals. For hours Brunswick stew had been bubbling in iron wash pots. A special pot of pigs’ feet and ears had been cooking and smelling as only a good Negro cook can make them smell. Three hundred pounds of cabbage had been cut into slaw. Corn bread from home-grown meal and loaf bread from the Rocky Mount bakery were there in abundance. Barrels of ice water were set at convenient places under the trees, and there was plenty of lemonade made in the colors that marked the different tables.

Farm Leaders Speak

There was joy on the Braswell Company Farms. Manager Tom Pearsall was having his annual August farm dinner for tenants on the plantation. Since early morning they had been coming in wagon, cart, automobile, on horseback and on foot. By one o’clock about 1,100 had assembled. The pasture had been trimmed up for the occasion, and there was a person at the gate to direct the tenants to suitable parking places. Under a group of trees, a state had been built and decorated with pines. Seats were provided for about half the crowd.

At 11 o’clock Tom called the meeting to order. In a brief welcoming address he talked sympathetic common sense to willing hearers. “Some of you,” he said, “have gone up the hill since we met in this pasture one year ago. Some of you have not done as well as you could have done. But I want all of you to have a good time today and at the same time to learn something about better farming.” He then pointed out certain marks of progress on the Braswell Farms and also directed attention to certain failures.

F.D. Wharton, Negro farm agent of Edgecombe County, was introduced as the presiding officer; and talks were made by John W. Mitchell, Negro State agent in Extension Work, H.E. Alphin, county agent of Nash County; J.C. Powell, county agent of Edgecombe County; myself as Editor at State College; and Agnes Cogging, Negro home demonstration woman from Bertie County.

When these short talks had been made, Mr. Pearsall awarded $80 in cash prizes to those tenant families who had proved to be the best farm families on the plantation during year. They were nominated by the farm managers and were scored on the basis of live-at-home farming; good crops, well cultivated; care of workstock and livestock; good gardens; poultry flocks; plenty of fuel wood and other items. Clarence Bullock won first prize of $30 for the best farm family for the year; Littleton Arrington won second place and $20; William Boney, third and $15; Julius Cone, fourth and $10; and Mag Freeman, fifth and $5. Honorable mention went to 11 other families whose efforts had not been quite good enough to compete with the first five.

Prizes then were given to Wallace Cary, Littleton Arrington, and Martha Battle for having the three best gardens on the plantation. Willie Whitaker received a special prize because his family had canned and preserved the greatest number of fruits and vegetables for winter food. His report showed 272 quart jars on his pantry shelves. There were other prizes of overall and dollar bills for families having the best hog program, taking the best care of a milk cow and the best care of mules.

While these prizes were being awarded, the home agents of Nash and Edgecombe counties were judging samples of the canned food exhibited on a long table to one side of the speakers’ stand, and each winner of first place received a case of quart jars with rubbers. Pieces of sewing also were entered, and prizes were awarded for the best piece of sewing by a Negro woman on the place and for the best child’s dress made at home.

This was, of course, the most exciting feature of the day.

Interested, too, were the tenants as they heard Mr. Pearsall explain why each award was made. The citations in themselves were excellent fundamental lessons in better farming and rural living.

At this point, however, everything was dropped. The call to dinner sounded. For the next half-hour, little was heard above the low hum of conversation; but directly, from other there under a group of trees where color “green” was eating there came the loud guffaw of happy laughter, rolling and contagious. The inner man had been satisfied, and friends from different parts of the plantation were visiting with friends.

About 150 families

The meeting was divided after dinner, with special programs for the men, the women and the children. There were contests immediately following this short afternoon meeting; and before the shadows began to creep across the adjoining cotton field, the trek back to home farms had begun.

It has been a happy day, but it had been more than that. It was a day in which better relations had been cemented between owner and tenant. Tom Pearsall is somewhat of an idealist but he also is a hard-headed business farmer. On his comparatively young shoulders has been placed the responsibility of 15,000 acres of land belonging to the M.C. Braswell estate in Nash, Edgecombe and Halifax counties. Of this total acreage, 5,600 are in cultivated land. There are 64 different farms of which 42 are operated directly by Mr. Pearsall and 22 are rented. About 150 families operate these farms; and Mr. Pearsall knows that if he succeeds in leading these families to more profitable and self-sufficient ways of farming, he will profit to that extent.

The late M.C. Braswell was one of the largest landowners in eastern North Carolina and one of the best business men. One of his fine daughters married Thomas J. Pearsall of Rocky Mount, and to these two fell the lot of handling the farms. Tom wanted to be a lawyer and is still a member of the bar in Rocky Mount, but his increasing farm duties have pulled him away from his office to another one in Battleboro, the headquarters of the Braswell Company.

Here Mr. Pearsall operates a large store containing every commodity needed on the farm. Here also is a large fire-proof bonded warehouse where the company stores some 25,000 bags of peanuts and about 2,000 bales of cotton a season. There is a grist mill, a blacksmith shop, a grain storage and a seed warehouse. Mr. Pearsall buys over 100,000 bags of peanuts and about 7,000 bales of cotton a year from neighboring farmers. Some of the men in his employ have been with the company for more than 30 years and know all the details of the gigantic business.

Aiding Mr. Pearsall in handling the farms are T.H. LeCroy, Auburn graduate who handles the seed business in addition to the farms in Edgecombe County; H.S. Harrison, who handles the farms in Nash County; and S.L. Gaynor, general outside man, cotton buyer and supervisor of farms with resident managers.

“We have about 370 acres in tobacco, about 1,100 in cotton and some 2,000 acres in corn,” Mr. Pearsall said. “At least 1,000 acres are in peanuts and there are soybeans in every acre of corn. Usually we plant about 350 acres to small grain and all of this is covered with lespedeza. In addition about 300 acres are seeded to lespedeza each year. We also are attempting to start a balanced type of farming on the estate and have a herd of about 100 beef cattle and approximately 6,000 hogs.

“This means that every farm family has at least one brood sow, and some have more than this. We require every family to have a garden, and those in a position to handle cows are either given one or allowed to have their own. A sweet potato patch also is a requirement; and here in our community house at Brattleboro, we have monthly meetings to give instruction in handling these extra items. Motion pictures and slides are used to teach the lessons of handling livestock, and we use the specialists from State College as much as possible. The county agents in the counties where our farms are located also render us valuable service.”

Mr. Pearsall is a great believer in good seed. He not only grows the varieties recommended by the Experiment Station but he also deals in certified seeds which are recleaned, sacked and stored in his ware house at the farm headquarters. This year he is growing 900 acres of certified cotton seed and quite an acreage of improved corn for seed.

“I am pleased with the way in which our tenants are cooperating with us to live at home and to do improved farming,” he said. “Our records show that there are 233 garden plots on the farms this season comprising a total of 62 acres. The tenants also grew 1,942 bushels of Irish potatoes for home use and canned nearly 7,000 quarts of fruits and vegetables, in addition to drying about 1,500 pounds more. Most of them grow and cure their own meat and the best ones have a home supply of milk, butter, eggs and poultry.”

Mr. Pearsall would not have one think that his farms make up an earthly paradise. As on all his plantations, some tenants are cooperative and others are not; but he has noticed a distinct improvement since he began his present program more than three years ago. He is taking the tenants into his confidence and he is making living conditions as comfortable as funds will permit. Those who cooperate with him stay on the place. Those who do not are given a fair trial and are dismissed after repeated failures. It is significant that few wish to leave and many have records of service lasting over a quarter of a century. Because of this security they do not hesitate to plant legumes in the fall, to seed winter grain, to store up fuel wood, to develop pastures and herds, and to keep the ditches trimmed and the encroaching woodlands cut back from the cultivated fields.

“So far, my plan is working,” Tom said. “I believe it is the only way on a farm such as we have here.”

One who visits the Braswell Farms will agree with Mr. Pearsall, I believe, and will leave with the idea that this young man has begun a movement that will affect profoundly Southern farming in future years.

NC Extension History Briefs, 1915-1950

From various issues of Extension Farm-News

Feb. 1915—The Farmers’ Co-operative Demonstration Work is now in operation in 69 counties of the state with a County Agent in charge of this work in each county.

March 1915—The County Agent (T.J.W. Broom, one of the first agents appointed in 1907 by State Agent C.R. Hudson) reports as follows: Monday, office work, wrote eight letters, had interviews with several farmers. Tuesday, terraced 15 acres of land for Mr. A.M. Blank. Wednesday, organized a County Live Stock Association with 24 members. Thursday, visited the Demonstration plots of 6 farmers, visited Spruce Pine School. Friday, too cold and rainy to travel, saw only one farmer. Saturday, met and talked with several farmers. Several called for bulletins. Traveled by team during week 61 miles, wrote 8 official letters.

May 1915—Caswell County Agent Blankenship reports that farmers in his county are talking about corn and grass instead of tobacco. This is gratifying news. Wherever there is a good County Agent, he helps to get farmers on the right track.

November 1915—Mrs. Jane S. McKimmon, State Agent in Home Demonstration Work, reports a 12-weeks’ course in Home Economics arranged by the State Normal College at Greensboro for HD agents and some of their advancing club girls.

January 1916—North Carolina in 1915 gave, through her counties and State apportionment, more funds for home demonstration work for women and girls on the farm than any other state in the work.

June 1918—Fifteen cotton mills have made application for trained women to aid employees in canning and general food conservation.

October 1919—The cotton boll weevil has been finally traced to North Carolina, having been found in Columbus County.

June 1920—In Rockingham County Mrs. Kirkpatrick reports on her rat-killing contest with the children in one school killing 433 rats. They received one penny for four rats. One child, 8 years old, brought 159 rat tales to school.

January 1923—W. Kerr Scott, Alamance County Agent, reports that dairy schools held over Alamance last week were attended by 268 farmers. Scott said this was an unusual showing considering the condition of the roads.

April 1931—Dean I.O. Schaub cited the danger of large tobacco acreage, urging drastic reduction if growers want better prices.

June 1934—Forty-five emergency home demonstration agents have been employed to assist with the relief work and emergency canning program this summer. This will make a total of 102 agents, white and Negro, at work in 89 counties.

October 1936—R.E. Jones, Craven County agent, has been named as the first 4-H specialist to work with the state’s Negro boys and girls.

February 1937—For the first time every North Carolina county has the services of a farm demonstration agent. This record coverage of all 100 counties was made a few days ago when C.W. Overman went into Dare County as farm agent.

May 1939—Twenty-five years of Extension work among rural farms and homes in North Carolina and throughout the nation were observed on Monday, May 8, the date of the signing of the Smith-Lever Act of Congress in 1914 by President Wilson. Dr. I.O. Schaub, dean of the School of Agriculture, is director of Extension, a post he has held for the past 15 years. He succeeded Dr. B.W. Kilgore who was the first and only other Extension director in North Carolina. Last year the Extension Service reached 256,139 of the 300,967 farm families in the state.

June 1941—Seven Extension workers have already been called to Army duty. Several others who hold commissions are expecting to be called momentarily.

May 1945—It’s over over there and just as soon as our 80-some Extension workers go to work on Hirohito as they did on Hitler, we shall be able to plan some welcomes back here.

October 1950—David S. Weaver succeeded Dr. I.O. Schaub who is retiring, as Extension director, and Robert W. Shoffner takes the position of assistant director.

Tribute to Jane Simpson McKimmon, 1867-1957

Dr. Jane Simpson McKimmon

1867-1957

North Carolina, and indeed the South, can boast of no finer story of successful endeavor in promoting country home and community programs than the one recorded by Mrs. Jane S. McKimmon, who introduced and established home demonstration work in North Carolina.

Because of her work, women and girls all over rural North Carolina came into their own and have been taught to make their lives fuller, more comfortable, and more efficient through an improved standard of the country home.

A native of Raleigh, Jane S. McKimmon has received many honors and tributes for her valuable and unselfish service to North Carolina families. Among them:

She was the first woman in the United States to be awarded the “Distinguished Service Ruby by Epsilon Sigma Phi, national Extension honorary fraternity.

The State Home Economics Association is proud to claim Mrs. McKimmon as one of its founders and past presidents, as is the National Home Economics Association, which felt the influence of her fine guidance.

In 1934, our own greater University of North Carolina conferred upon her the honorary degree of LL.D., in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the education field.

One of the loveliest tributes to Mrs. McKimmon was the establishment of the Jane S. McKimmon Loan Fund by home demonstration agents in 1927. Twenty years later, Extension workers have her another honor by presenting her portrait to North Carolina State University.

Several State Governors recognized Mrs. McKimmon’s talents and named her to a number of important posts. In 1917, Governor Bickett named her Director of Home Economics to help direct the World War I food program. In 1935, Governor Ehringhaus appointed her to the board for the first state Rural Electrification Authority, of which she later was made vice chairman. Governor Hoey in 1937 and Governor Broughton in 1941 appointed her to the board of directors of the State Farmers Cooperative Exchange. The same Governors made and kept her a member of the State Council of National Defense during World War II.

Ex-Governor O. Max Gardner once said, “Mrs. McKimmon’s work has been the most outstanding contribution to the development of the state of North Carolina. She is the great home-builder of the State.”

Senator Bailey suggested the state erect a monument to Mrs. McKimmon to face Governor Vance’s on Capitol Square. In answer The Raleigh Times wrote, “Senator Bailey can rest easily. Mrs. McKimmon will have her monument because she has built it for herself. Her real monument lives in the thoughts and lives of thousands and thousands of North Carolina families.”

In 1929, Mrs. McKimmon was nominated from North Carolina for the Pictorial Review Award to the woman who made the greatest contribution in some line of social welfare. The honorable Josephus Daniels said, “Her work has been a North Carolina epic of service.”

When Dr. McKimmon took over home demonstration work in 1911, its total enrollment was 416 farm girls in 14 counties. Within 30 years the enrollment, white and Negro, in all 100 counties, had reached 75,000.

The story of the program’s growth is told in her book, When We’re Green We Grow, published in 1945.

Her work was dramatized on the National Broadcasting Company’s 30-minute weekly program, Cavalcade of America,” May, 1949.

History of Carolina Cotton Growers Cooperative Formed in 1922

The Carolina Cotton Growers Cooperative, “farmer owned, farmer controlled,” was formed in 1922. It published the Cotton Grower beginning in June 1922 and published the first edition of Carolina Cooperator in January 1935. To see a history of the organization, go to http://www.carolinascotton.com/Company/History-Of-CCGC/Chronological-History.aspx

Editor of Progressive Farmer and General Manager of Carolina Co-Operator Talk, 1935

“Fireside Chats” by M.G. Mann, General Manager, Carolina Co-Operator, November, 1935

For the past 36 years, ever since he was 19 years old, Dr. Clarence Poe has been talking and writing to and for the farmers. A farmer himself as well as an outstanding farm editor—he worked with his own hands on a farm in Chatham County till he began work on the Progressive Farmer, and still operates his “Longview” dairy, poultry, and general crops farm just outside of Raleigh—he is always active in any movement that has for its purpose a better day for agriculture. His many achievements are too numerous to list here—“Who’s Who in America” takes up three and one-half inches in telling of his accomplishments.

The Writer: Dr. Poe, we are celebrating our 14^th anniversary of the Cotton Association by publishing an anniversary number of our Carolina Co-operator. I believe you were the first man in the State to sign a membership agreement, and also the first man to deliver a bale of cotton to the association.

Dr. Poe: Yes, Mr. Mann, I am proud of this distinction. Of course, at times all of us have been disappointed in the progress of the movement, but I feel that we have been building, year after year, on a firm foundation.

The Writer: We are dedicating our 14^th anniversary number to education, for, as Dr. Frank Graham has expressed it so many times, we believe “education and cooperation must go hand in hand.”

Dr. Poe: That’s the doctrine I have always tried to preach, Mr. Mann. My visit to Denmark years ago convinced me that education and community group work, going right back to the individual farmer, are the two most important factors in the cooperative movement. Rural cooperation can’t be handed down to the farmer. It must be a growth from the ground up. By the way, Mr. Mann, what are you doing about small community groups in this State?

The Writer: Dr. Poe, in cooperation with the Vocational Teachers, we are now holding more community meetings than we have in several years. We will hold at least 75 community meetings this fall, and beginning in the spring, we will hold meetings to stress the importance of planting better cotton.

Dr. Poe: I am glad you are taking a broad view of your duty to your members—glad you are not just thinking about cotton but also urging them to grow what we call “The Three F Crops”--food, feed, and fertilizer, so that cotton can be their “clear surplus,” as Henry Grady said.

The Writer: Right! That is an important part of our program, and you know, Dr. Poe, I think you are due a great deal of credit for the success of what is generally called the “live-at-home” program in North Carolina, and the increasing interest in live stock.

Dr. Poe: Well, of course, there can be no real farm prosperity as long as our farmers send their dollars to the West for corn and hays, nor so long as we depend on crops alone to make our farms prosperous. As I have often pointed out, there are two great arms for producing farm wealth: plant production or crops and animal production or livestock, poultry, dairying. Heretofore in the South we have largely had “one-armed farming” or plant production only. We must change to “two-armed farming” or plant production plus animal production.

The Writer: I was certainly impressed, Dr. Poe, by your recent address before the State College Grange, and especially by your diagnosis of why the Grange has succeeded; where many other farm organizations have failed. You attribute this success of the Grange to the fact that it gives the women a definite part in its program and in this I heartily agree with you. If you were to ask me the greatest mistake that the Cotton Association has made during the past 14 years of its existence, I would say it was that of leaving the women out of the program. We have held hundreds upon hundreds of meetings with the men invited, but the women have been left out. But the one thing that is giving me more encouragement today is that more and more of our farm women are attending our meetings and showing a keen interest in them. And your address before the Grange certainly made a deep impression upon me, and has encouraged me to work even harder in the future than in the past, in making the farm women an integral part of our program.

Dr. Poe: Well, that’s my firm conviction. I decided years ago that if I were ever again active in a sign-up- for a farm cooperative, I would favor having contracts signed by both the man and his wife.

The Writer: We not only wish to reach the women but in fact, we have been going a little further than that, to include the boys and girls in the co-operative program through our annual essay contest.

Dr. Poe: That’s fine, Mr. Mann. Of course that fits right along with the program of the Federal Board for Vocational Education and the National Youth Administration, in which I am so much interested.

The Writer: And in my opinion these are among the most important committees that the President has appointed. They begin at the source and are building for tomorrow. It is true, isn’t it, Dr. Poe, that there are only three members on this Federal Board from the whole United States, and that you are one of the three representing agriculture.

Dr. Poe: Yes, that’s correct. Tom Browne and his associates have done such a fine work in this State that it is an especial pleasure to be able to work more closely with them.

The Writer: Before leaving I want to mention a new phase of our North Carolina Cotton Work.  The Re-purchase Pool, which was created by the Board last May, is going to enable the Cotton Association to render the service to the farmers now that you have always wanted it to render. Now, every farmer who uses the Re-purchase Pool will be in position to know just as much about his cotton as the man who buys it.

Dr. Poe: That sounds interesting, Mr. Mann. Tell me more about it.

The Writer: Any cotton producer, whether he produces one bale or many bales, may place his cotton in any of the 60-odd warehouses that hold contracts with the association, samples will be sent to Raleigh where the cotton will be graded by Government Licensed Classers, and an Advice of Grade and Staple mailed to the member. Whenever the member wants to sell his cotton, even though it is a day after he received his Advice, he can ask the Association to advise him on the best price it can get for his cotton, and he can then take his Advice and go to his local cotton buyer and offer his cotton for sale. If, for any reason, the local buyer can offer more, the member can get his cotton back and it will cost him only $1 a bale and storage at 25 cents per month for this service. Since we intend to get the Advice out promptly, any farmer can now deliver his cotton and sell it in an intelligent way.

Dr. Poe: Fine! Suppose some of my cotton was reported of extra staple length and the local mill could not use it, and you could sell it for more than I could get, would you sell this extra staple cotton and return the other to me?

The Writer: Yes, Dr. Poe. If, when you receive your Advice of Grades, you find that you have certain cotton you can sell locally to advantage, we will gladly return it to you and will sell only that which you feel we can sell to best advantage.

Boys Are Thinking, Working, and Earning, 1940

From “Carolina Farm Notes” by F.H. Jeter, Nov. 1940 issue of the Southern Planter

John Mills, a 4-H Club member of Peachland, Route 1, Anson County, needed oats to feed his baby beef but money was lacking and there were no oats left on the farm.

He noticed, however, that a nearby sawmill operator fed his mules oats and that he needed someone to look after the mules on week-ends. So John made a bargain.

He agreed to feed and water the mules each week-end if the sawmill operator would supply enough oats for the calf. When the sawmill finished its operations on that particular spot, the owner was so impressed with the good job John had done that he gave the boy enough oats to finish the calf into a first-class, finished condition.

NINE DOLLARS EXTRA

There are 220 farm boys who are making an average of about $9 a month which they are using to pay for good cows that each one owns. These boys are members of the new Dairy Production Club organized in the State since the establishment of milk receiving stations.

John A. Arey, dairy specialist, says 135 members are in the club centered about the Carnation plant at Statesville. The others are centered about the Kraft plant at West Jefferson and the Pet plant at Waynesville. These receiving stations aided the boys to secure financial aid to buy good cows, and the boys are using one of the two checks received each month to retire the loans. The milk plants have loaned cans and strainers and keep the books. The boys look after the calves.

The Preacher's Coming, 1940

From “Carolina Farm Notes” by F.H. Jeter, Nov. 1940 issue of the Southern Planter

Coy Johnson had good reason for wanting one of the mattresses being made in Surry County as a part of the surplus cotton program. The church association was to meet in the Low Gap community, and it was Mr. Johnson’s time to entertain the preacher.

Therefore, he marked this mattress request with an emphatic “urgent” because he said he wanted a good bed for the visiting cleric.

Hundreds of other farm families all over North Carolina are finding that these cotton mattresses make good beds, and if they cannot get one out of Government cotton, they learn to make them from purchased or home-grown lint.

M.A. Cauble of Gold Hill community in Rowan County expressed it well when he said, “I am going to build a table at home and make a mattress for every member of the family just as soon as I gin my cotton.”

Thankful Home Demonstration Club Members, 1940

From “Miss Current’s Column” in the November, 1940, issue of The Southern Planter. Ruth Current was North Carolina’s State Home Agent.

It is only a few days until Thanksgiving, a day known and looked forward to by most Americans as a feast day. Do you not agree with me, however, that we should see a bigger appreciation, a deeper significance and more heartfelt thankfulness for God’ goodness? This year, of all years, we have much for which to be thankful.

Thanksgiving is a time for taking inventory, a time for asking ourselves a list of questions such as these. Am I taking advantage of all the resources that I have? Am I a good neighbor? Do I cooperate with the school, the church, the (home demonstration) club? Do I do my part? Do I gossip and say unkind things? Do I value and use my time to the best advantage? Do I have faith and believe in people? What has happened this year that I can rejoice over?

I would like to see “thankful” parties held in every community in North Carolina the month of November. In the Southeastern District under the direction of Mrs. Estelle T Smith, district home agent, Harvest Festivals are being planned with a recreation program in which every person can have a part.

COMMUNITY ACTIVITES              

More and more rural women are finding afternoon teas a gracious and simple way of entertaining. Now that we are well into fall, our 100 and more home demonstration community club houses are being used. I shall be able always to recall that lovely Christmas tea given at the Halifax Community House three years ago on their Achievement Day, with its lovely candles, its holly and cedar used in artistic decoration.

“All clubs in the County substituted an afternoon tea for one of their club meetings this year,” reported Grace Holcomb, Rockingham County home agent. “I consider these a direct result of the demonstration, ‘Entertaining in the Home,’ which was given early in the year.”

“The Midway-Monroeton Club invited all of the women in the community to their tea and held it in place of a regular club meeting. Punch was served from a large wooden bowl, using a small gourd dipper. Homemade cookies were passed on large wooden platters.”

HEN PARTY IN NASH COUNTY

A big fat hen was the admission ticket to the joint club party recently held in Red Oak Club House in Nash County. The hens (tickets) were collected the door by Mrs. Dana Braswell and Miss Temple Vaughan McIntyre and will be sold, the proceeds to be added to the club treasury. Many interesting games were played, having been directed by Misses Ellen McIntyre and Iberia Roach, assistant home agent. A chicken contest was conducted and the prize went to Miss Mary Hackney for her chicken intelligence. Punch and cake were served by Mrs. Claude Deans and Mrs. George May.

How The Lord's Acre Movement Founded in Asheville Has Helped, 1940

From the Farm Journal and Farmer’s Wife, Nov. 1940 issue

Harvest had a new meaning for hundreds of county churches this fall. In Bear Wallow, N.C., it meant a new roof. At East Jewett, N.Y., it brought firewood for the winter’s services. Harvest meant paint for worn pews in Missouri and a new carpet for a Sunday School room in Northern Iowa. New cash went into the benevolent funds and added to the slender pay of the country preachers.

Cause of it all is The Lord’s Acre Movement, founded 11 years ago by the religious department of the Farmers Federation of Asheville, N.C. Quietly, its homely, practical idea has spread across the nation.

The Rev. Dumont Clarke has been the spark plug of The Lord’s Acre plan from the beginning. He traces its origin to the verse in Genesis that reads “The first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God.”

Principal fault of the old church tithe, many a country preacher has found, is that farmers transformed the gift into cash, then found that they could not spare the cash. Rev. Clarke’s idea eliminates the cash. Chicks, eggs, fruit trees, land, seed and labor instead of money, are donated directly to the church. The church sells the produce at market prices, pockets the proceeds.

Corn is the most general Lord’s Acre crop although nearly every other agricultural commodity is represented in the returns. Children like to raise chickens for the church. Women donate all the eggs their flocks lay on Sunday. Older boys and girls raise calves or pigs as their annual contribution to the church. Buddy Pace, 8, made $23 for his church at Dana, N.C., this year by cultivating a raspberry patch.

Pastors have found that The Lord’s Acre brings folks back into the church. “We ministers have been riding a white horse,” one New York pastor told a district conference this summer. “But when I take my coat off and hoe corn with my parishioners, the men have a whole lot more respect for me. By twos and threes this year, they have started coming to church again.”

The Movement is in name only. It has no field workers, no promotional campaign or drive beyond Rev. Clarke’s small office staff at Asheville. Yet last month, as Lord’s Acre came to its 11^th harvest, churches in more than 20 states were reaping benefits.

“Last year two or three churches in New York used the plan,” Rev. Clarke said. “This year there were 20 New York churches with Lord’s Acre projects. In Missouri, the number has increased from one to 25 churches.”

Home Demonstration Club News from Watauga, Clay, Perquimans, and Currituck Counties, 1952

From the January, 1953, issue of the NC Federation of Home Demonstration Clubs’ Newsletter.

WATAUGA COUNTY

Home Demonstration Club Women from all parts of the county met Friday, November 14, 1952, at the First Baptist Church for their Achievement Day Program. This is always one of the highlights of their Home Demonstration work because on this day all of the clubs review their achievement for the year.

The meeting began at 10 a.m. with Mrs. Bill Little, Home Economists for Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation, giving a very interesting one hour and half foods demonstration. A covered dish luncheon was served at 12.

The remainder of the program began at 1:15 p.m. with Mrs. A. E. Vannoy, County Council president, presiding over the meeting. The theme of the program was built around Thanksgiving. The group sang together the hymn "Faith of Our Fathers" followed by the Home Demonstration Club collect.

Rev. Joseph T. Shackford of the Boone Methodist Church gave a very inspirational Devotional followed by the hymn "Come, Ye Thankful People."

Mrs. John Miller of Deep Gap, acting secretary, gave the roll call by clubs and asked each club to give a report on their clubs activities. Each club that reported gave excellent reports on their accomplishments this past year.

Mrs. A. E. Vannoy who is County Council and District President, and Mrs. E. L. Ray, State Treasurer for State Federation of Home Demonstration Clubs, both attended the National Home Demonstration Council meeting, which was held in Raleigh, N. C. in October. This was the first time this meeting had ever been held in North Carolina. Horne Demonstration club women from 38 states were present. Mrs. Vannoy and Mrs. Ray gave a very good report on this meeting they attended in Raleigh.

All counties in the state sent gifts typical of their county to the National meeting for the visiting club women. Mrs. Vannoy was very happy to report to us that the gift from Watauga, which was a hand woven bedspread, was presented to one of the most outstanding guest at the meeting, the National president Mrs. Jennie Williams of Oklahoma. All of the club women of Watauga County were very proud of this honor. The group sang one of their club songs "Hail Club Women, Crowned Thru Service" followed by the awarding of the gavel to the Brushy Fork Horne Demonstration Club for having the most outstanding achievement for the year. This was a good record for Brushy Fork Club because they are one of the youngest clubs in the county and received the highest honor for their club achievements.

The meeting adjourned after the club members’ creed and a song, "Sing Your Way Home."

Other guests present for the meeting were Mr. Alred representative for Blue Ridge Electric Corporation, also a student teacher from Appalachian State Teachers College, Miss Mary Sue Norman who is planning to begin extension work the first of the year.

Club women from various clubs in the county were also awarded book certificates for their reading program. There were two women who received Advanced book Certificates and sixteen who received Book Review Certificates.

--Mrs. A. E. Vannoy, County Council President

CLAY COUNTY

An announcement From Mr. John H. Marris, Extension Horticultural Specialist on November 21, 1952, states that the Quall's Creek Home Demonstration Club in Clay County is second place winner in the roadside or "Model Mile" contest for this year. The Quall's Creek community, as well as the Home Demonstration Club members in that area, have worked faithfully on this project for the last year, working out their road signs, mail box names, etc., in a uniform lettering plan. Each family in the community has taken a great deal of interest in this project and are very proud of the results they have obtained.

In connection with the Reading Clubs started among the Horne Dem. Club members two years ago with the Regional Librarian, Miss Phyllis Snyder, a very outstanding club has been organized by Mrs. Peggy Zimmerman in the Quall's Creek Community. Mrs. Zimmerman started her Reading Club along the same lines as the other women, but she held her meetings on Sunday afternoons. Mrs. Zimmerman started the club with five members--all small children who lived close to her home. The total has now reached fifteen, and includes every child in her neighborhood who lives within walking distance. Whereas the other clubs only have meetings during the summer months, Peggy continues hers throughout the year, since having them on Sunday afternoons does not interfere with the school work of the children.

Mrs. Zimmerman is to be highly commended on the fine work she is doing with the Reading Club in her community.

--Mrs. Geraldine Ford, County Council Secretary

PERQUIMANS COUNTY

Mrs. P. P. Gregory, Past President of N. C. Home Demonstration Clubs, was guest speaker for the Fall Achievement Day Program held at Winfall Grammar School in Perquimans on Wednesday, November 5. She showed slides taken on her trip to Europe, since the war, and made a very interesting talk.

Mrs. John Hurdle, County Council President, presided over the meeting which opened with the group singing, "United Nations Hymn." The County Chorus, dressed in new capes, rendered special music. Belvidere Club gave the County Report of Achievements, in the form of a skit. Mrs. M. T. Griffin of Hopewell club presented the speaker.

Perfect attendance and Reading Certificates were given to those eligible to receive them. The meeting adjourned with the collect.

Following the meeting, Ballahack, Bethel, Beach Springs, Burgess, Snow Hill-White Hat, Helen Gaither, and Hopewell Clubs were hostess to a tea in the school lunchroom.

--Mrs. John Hurdle, County Council President

CURRITUCK COUNTY

The Currituck County Club women are still very enthusiastic about their Fig Booth at the State Fair and are most pleased by the favorable comments which they have heard about it.

We all feel that our long-taken-for-granted figs have really begun to come into their own since our Committee did such a fine job with the Booth.

Currituck Clubs held their Achievement Day at Coinjock on November 7th with the Poplar Branch Club as hostess. It was a very pleasant day with our Fall Flower show quite a success and the turkey luncheon most enjoyable.

Everything was in keeping with the flower theme. The afternoon speaker was a well-known Garden Club member from near-by Norfolk, Virginia, Mrs. Maynard West. She gave the women of the County many interesting tips on Dried Arrangements and how to prepare the materials for them.

Community buildings are very foremost in many Club members minds these days. With three already in use and one nearing completion, while at least two more are in the planning stage, it's no wonder!

--Daphne W. Yon, County Council President

-=-

This issue of the NC Federation of Home Demonstration Clubs’ News Letter is online at http://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/bitstream/1840.6/13/1/0001_NorthCarolinaFederationofHomeDemonstrati.pdf