“Marketing Sidelines”
by Cornelia C. Morris, Extension Economist in Food Conservation and Marketing
at N.C. State College, as published in the May, 1936 issue of Carolina Co-operator
There are so many things that women can do to make money
these days some one has said that it is almost a privilege to be out of a job.
This may be true of the gifted woman who has many talents at her finger tips,
but what I am asked are the chances of success for the woman who knows just a
little about this and that and who has no special talent of any kind to
recommend her.
It is from women like this that I get letters almost daily
asking what they can do to earn money and still stay at home. My answer is that
there are many enterprises to choose from and there are many demands for
homemade articles provided that high standards are maintained.
The woman in the country is especially blessed as she has at
her very door the means to satisfy this demand and at the same time can build
up for herself an enterprise that will yield a steady income if she is willing
to devote her time to it.
In selecting a business for herself, a woman turns naturally
to the work she likes best and finds congenial employment in doing one thing
well rather than giving half-hearted interest to a number of things for which
she is unfitted. One woman likes to cook, another likes to sew. Then there is
the woman who has a flair for growing flowers, herbs, and vegetables.
There is an increasing demand for crafts, and good baskets,
rugs, and brooms made of native materials find ready sale in the gift shops.
Buttons and buckles made of maple and applewood and buttons made of black
walnuts and other nuts make lovely accessories for sweaters and knitted suits.
One ingenious girl in western North Carolina, Josephine
Price of Rutherford County, uses rye straw for weaving table mats, hot dish
mats, and fans. The bright golden color of the straw makes these articles very
attractive and desirable.
Hooked rugs and braided rugs sell well if the colors are
pleasing and the designs good. If they are made of wool, they bring better
prices. Whether they are made of cotton or wool, the colors should be fast and
the work so well done the rugs can stand frequent washings.
The woman who likes to cook can begin now to make strawberry
jam for sale. Later in the season she can make blackberry and peach jam, tomato
ketchup and chili sauce.
If she cannot leave home to sell her products on the curb
market, she can establish a small roadside market near by if she lives on a
well-traveled highway. Motorists like to stop at these roadside markets and buy
fresh eggs, fruits, vegetables, and flowers, and the woman who is keen enough
to make good ginger bread and serve it with ice-cold buttermilk to her
customers can soon have a substantial bank account. In apple season cider is a
favorite beverage and motorists will take a jug or jar home with them. The
pomace left from cider making can be used for apple jelly. The thrifty
housewife wastes noting.
Honeysuckle and oak splits make beautiful baskets and who
can resist a lovely basket? The old shapes are the best sellers—melon-shaped
baskets and egg baskets like your grandmothers used.
North Carolina has a wealth of material at every farm house
door and there is a growing tendency today to revert to the old handicrafts of
Colonial days—wool, cotton, and flax are woven into exquisite coverlets, wall
hangings, and rugs; and looms and spinning wheels are quite the vogue again!
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