'What Club Work Means to North Carolina Farm Women' by Jane McKimmon, Sept. 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 September 1938 issue of the Carolina Co-operator

Homemade Clothes

Pleasing and interesting are the lovely designs for costumes and the good taste in color selection shown by many North Carolina women and girls.

Recently Johnston County staged a dress parade on the lovely lawn of the Woman’s Club in Smithfield and farm women and girls strolled across the grass in tailored sport dresses, house dresses, and colorful prints for the afternoon. Two graceful young women in long cotton evening dresses could not have been more alluring had they been fashioned in an exclusive New York house.

The most impressive thing in these reviews was the fact that every person wore her own dress. She was not a model selected for her grace and ability to show off the good points but an every day farm woman who expected to wear her dress in the house or at church, and the girl who would use her sport dress when she was out with the other young folks in the neighborhood.

Blessings of Electricity

One doesn’t realize what electricity means to the farm woman who has recently seen miles of line built in her neighborhood until he can see her getting the family meals on her electric stove instead of sweltering over her old wood range. One Caldwell County farm housewife said she just didn’t see how she and her family had ever managed without electricity. “We cook with it, freeze with it, sweep with it, do our ironing, run the washing machine, and run the radio. If you add all that up, it means I am getting a lot of rest time I never thought I would have,” she added.

Observed During Farm and Home Week

Mrs. George May of Nash County received a certificate at State College for good home demonstration work on the same day her son was married in the afternoon . . . . The Honor Class of farm women, 63 strong, coming down the aisle of Pullen Hall in a long white line with lighted candles held aloft to typify the spread of knowledge from college to farm home . . . . Mr. and Mrs. Wilkens of Benvenue Community, Nash County, rejoicing over the last payment on their community club house, the receipt for which was presented Mrs. Wilkens, president of the club, just before she left for Raleigh . . . . The proportions to which the Jane S. McKimmon loan fund has grown in its short life of 11 years and the 29 girls it has helped educate . . . . Miss Grace Frysinger, Extension speaker from Washington, as she bade farm women “see beyond the clothesline to the sky-line” . . . . The appreciation of Judge Lois Mary McBride of Pennsylvania of the democratic attitude of Governor and Mrs. Hoey as they spoke to a North Carolina audience and sat through the Thursday night program manifesting their interest and affection for the people they represent.

Canning Cuts the Food Bill

Canning is the big thing in Camden County today and farm housewives are already talking in terms of two, three, and even 400 cans of vegetables and fruits, according to Miss Mary Teeter, Home Agent.

Farmers made little money on potatoes this year and women will have to be good managers to pull through. They are depending largely on what they all know well; that home-canned fruits and vegetables will cut the food bill materially when they are used to supplement what comes from the winter garden, and they are planning to plant that garden.

Dress Up Your Salad

A new flavor for a dressing is something to be desired in these hot days when the appetite needs to be stimulated and salads have been served with the usual mayonnaise, cheese, and plain French dressing.

Wake County people are using a vinegar for salads in which garden herbs have been soaked, and when used with oil to make a French dressing, it has a delicious flavor.

The vinegar is made by putting one tablespoon of dried sage, dried tarragon, celery seed and dill seed, with one pod of red pepper, one clove of garlic and one chopped onion in a quart jar and filling the jar with vinegar.

Let the mixture stand until it is well flavored before using it in a dressing and the jar may be refilled with vinegar for a second using.

Halifax County Cook Book

Halifax County food leaders are preparing a cook book which is meant for any housewife who desires good recipes.

Two of the county food leaders, Mrs. E.W. Dickens Jr. and Mrs. Seward Dickens, met with Miss Sallie Brooks, Assistant State Nutritionist, and Mrs. Wheeler, Home Agent, to complete their plans. They hope to have the book published very soon now. Don’t forget to write to N.C. State College for your copy.