“The Woman’s Touch or
What Club Work Means to Farm Women” by Jane S. McKimmon, State Home
Demonstration Agent and Assistant Director of Extension, N.C. State College,
Raleigh, as published in the Carolina Co-Operator, July, 1935
Following the recommendations of the State Board of Health,
Farm and Home Week held each year at State College has been postponed until
further notice. It was scheduled for July 29-August 2 but it seems in advisable
in the face of the existing infantile paralysis situation to bring so large a
group of people together from all parts of the state.
It is hoped that September will see the danger past and that
the farm group, usually numbering from 1,500 to 2,000, may come to State
College at that time.
The Importance of
Milk in the Diet
Milk heads the list of things every person should consume
each day because it comes nearer being a perfect food, and every person should
take from one-half to one quart daily. Perhaps you will say that a quart per
day for a child and a pint for an adult is too much with all the other foods
recommended, but see what it does and ask if you would reduce the quantity for
your husband or your child.
Milk furnishes a greater amount of calcium (lime) and
phosphorus for bones and teeth than any other known food; it provides the
growth-promoting, disease-preventing vitamins; it is an excellent tissue
builder and body repairer; and furthermore, it can be produced in any part of
North Carolina where pastures and grain can be grown to feed the cow. And the
right kind of feed is necessary. A cow has no power to manufacture in her own
body either vitamins or minerals. She gets them from the green grass, the
alfalfa, the grain, and other things that she eats, and stores them in her milk
for our benefit. We used to say, “If you would keep the baby well, give him the
milk from a stall-fed cow only.” Now we say, “If you would have the best
physical development in your child, feed him milk from a cow that has plenty of
green feed along with the dry that she may produce milk with the greatest
number of elements needed for the baby’s growth and well-being.”
An Opportunity for
Small Canning Plant
North Carolina can furnish inducements for the establishment
of small canning factories and preserve kitchens in every section of the State.
The climate is favorable for the production of vegetables, fruits, and berries
which can easily be turned into saleable products by canning or otherwise
preserving; and sea foods are plentiful in our sounds.
There are at present no large canning factories in the
State, but a number of small plants are now in operation. This number might be
multiplied and a good local trade developed or the local plants might
profitably merge for the sake of more capital, a wider market opportunity, and
better advertising facilities.
Commercial packers from northern states are today selling
watermelon rind pickles and preserves on a high class North Carolina market and
have pointed the way to a trade which North Carolina people can capture if they
recognize the opportunity. I visited a large preserving plant in Boston and
found that one of their best sellers was watermelon rind pickle made from
melons shipped from North Carolina or further South, and later I ate some of
this pickle on the table of one of our best winter resorts hotels. Why would it
not be profitable for North Carolinians to develop a market for a product that
lies right at their door?
Do you know a state that is more richly blessed with figs,
strawberries, blackberries, scuppernong grapes, apples, and peaches? These are
all excellent sellers when made into jelly, jam, preserves, and other
conserves, and our own farm women have been trained to make packs that can
compete with the best commercial product.
When berries are packed to supply northern markets there are
always many which are too ripe for shipping, but they are in prime condition
for preserves or jams as they have fully developed the flavor so necessary for
a first class product.
The same can be said of Sandhill peaches. The ripe Elbertas
make delicious jam and also an excellent sweet pickled peach.
A business opportunity is here for some one and I hope it
will be one of our own people who seizes it.
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