Crisp Community Is Improving Itself, 1956

By Virginia Nance, Extension home economics editor at N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the October, 1956, issue of Extension Farm-News

Community spirit paid dividends to the Crisp community in Edgecombe County in the county’s Challenge Community Development Program during 1955—but the people haven’t stopped working. They hope their efforts will pay off again in this year’s contest, according to Robert Parker, chairman of the community organization.

Of the 95 white families and 30 Negro families in the community, more than 90 per cent of them participated and reported the improvements they had made.

County Extension agents and community leaders attribute Crisp’s community spirit to several active organizations—three churches, PTA at Crisp School, Boy Scouts, the Home Demonstration Club, and an active Teen-Age Club.

In the 1955 contest year, a total of 99 home grounds were improved, Parker said. There were 40 dwellings painted, 30 out-buildings painted, 37 standard mail boxes erected, 227 rooms painted, 17 automatic water systems added, 20 additions of running water to kitchens, eight bathrooms added, eight hot water systems, 51 closets and cabinets, and 43 homes properly screened.

In addition to the monetary incentive of $7,500 provided by the Peoples Bank of Rocky Mount for both Nash and Edgecombe counties to be used in sums of $750 each per year for five years, the Crisp community went one step further. The local community offered community prizes in several areas—livestock, home garden, home grounds, interior improvement, kitchen, and field crops.

One of the individual prizes in the 1955 local contest went to Mr. and Mrs. W.E. Lovelace for interior improvement. The Lovelaces, better known to all of their friends in the Crisp community as Bill and Elise, have two children. Their son “Cap,” is 10 and daughter, Carol, is 6.

In 1955, when preparations for widening Highway 258 made it necessary to move their home, the family decided it was time to do the complete renovation job to which they had been looking forward and planning for some time.

The Lovelace home is known as the old Eagles home since it was the one in which Bill’s mother, Fannie Eagles Lovelace, and her family were reared. It was occupied by her sister, Mrs. Sallie Eagles Tolbert, until her death in 1944.

It was Miss Sallie Eagles, too, in the summer of 1912, who started the Girls Tomato Club Movement. This was the first Extension work conducted for girls and women in Edgecombe County.

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Web Jr. won the award for kitchen improvement. The Webbs have a stronger attachment to their home due to the unusual coincidence that it was built by Mrs. Webb’s grandfather and stayed in her family until it was sold to Mrs. Webb’s parents in 1938.

The entire kitchen remodeling job was done by the Webb family, who work very closely together. In order to acquire the services of a neighbor, who was a more experienced carpenter, Mr. Webb paid him by sending someone to do his farming during his absence.

The Webb’s plans for the future include moving away two rooms in the back of the house, underpinning and adding a new porch and bathroom “if,” as Mr. Webb says, “tobacco brings enough this year.”

Other local winners include Mr. and Mrs. Tommie Jones for home garden; Mr. and Mrs. B.R. Bell for field crops; James Allen for livestock; and Mr. and Mrs. E.C. Mosely and Mr. and Mrs. Ashley Gay for outstanding improvement.

Some outstanding community improvements which helped the Crisp community win the 1955 contest are the community center where many local activities take place, and improvements on several churches. The Forbes Free Will Baptist Church probably had more improvement than any other. It was a wood frame building which members brick veneered. They added new stained glass windows and graded the lawn. In the future, they plan to add shrubbery and complete the landscaping.

Because this energetic and community-minded group of people wants to make even more improvements in their community during 1956 they have adopted the following goals as minimum requirements for 1956 community awards.  The goals were set up by a county committee composed of Extension personnel and representatives from each community participating in the contest.

1.       Get at least 50 families to participate in the program, or 80 per cent of the families, whichever is greater.

2.       Have at least six communitywide educational programs on farm and home projects, such as soil testing, mailbox improvement, tobacco grading, home food supply.

3.       Have at least two organized community-wide recreational programs during the year.

4.       Sponsor at least two community projects, such as a new community building.

5.       Sponsor one community tour or participate in county farm and home tour and report the number of families represented by attendance.

6.       Have designated reporter to report community activities to local newspapers and radio stations, and to assemble newspaper clippings for the judges to use.

The Crisp community, just one of many rural communities like it in North Carolina, has already made great strides toward making a good showing in the contest again this year. Many of the required meetings have already been held and the families are deep in home and farm improvements.

Officers for the Crisp organization for 1956 are Mr. Parker, chairman; Mrs. John Eagles, secretary; Mrs. John Mosely, publicity chairman; and James Allen, vice-chairman.

County Extension personnel aiding Edgecombe communities with the Challenge Program include Mrs. Eugenia P. VanLandingham, home agent; Miss Cleo Jones, and Mrs. Nancy Lewis, assistant home agents; J.C. Powell, county agent; R.L. Hendrix, C.H. Lockhart and Charles Cone, assistant county agents.

Mecklenburg Demonstration Kitchen Updated, 1952

From the October 1952 issue of Extension Farm-News, published by the Agricultural Extension Service, State College of Agriculture and Engineering, Raleigh

About a month ago the old cabinets and equipment in the Home Demonstration Kitchen at the Mecklenburg County Court House were hauled away because everything was so old and dilapidated that it was no longer usable. Now the kitchen is equipped with modern appliances and filled with white steel cabinets according to Helen John Wright, home agent. The equipment consists of a deluxe range, a number eight refrigerator with a 50-pound freezing compartment, a chest-type freezer, a table top hot water heater, a washer and dryer, an ironer, and a cabinet model sewing machine, and the rest of the space is filled with steel cabinets and a snack bar.

A.K. Sutton Inc. of Charlotte put the equipment in without charge and will replace it as newer models are developed. Sears Roebuck and Company will put the floor down and Duke Power Company engineers will design modern lighting for the kitchen.

“For 12 years we have tried to do efficient demonstrations and other work in the Home Demonstration kitchen and now we have no reason for not having efficient demonstrations” according to the home agent.

Farm News From Across North Carolina, October 1956

From “Around the State” in the October, 1956, issue of Extension Farm-News

FORSYTH             

Woodrow Park of Clemmons, Route 2, put together a regular conglomeration of auto parts and came up with a machine that serves very well as a tobacco harvester. Forsyth County Assistant Agent W.L. Hobbs Jr. says that Park needed a harvester but he didn’t have the ready cash to get one. Undaunted, he assembled a harvester from junk parts and installed a new 8 ½ horsepower motor in it. The harvester worked so well, he plans to try building a machine to harvest his sweet potatoes.

YANCEY

Harvey Phoenix of Prices Creek section of Yancey County is using molasses to increase farm income, according to Assistant County Agent W.H. Anderson. He says Phoenix is figuring on about 200 gallons of molasses from 1.2 acres, which he will sell for about $3 per gallon. Phoenix is using an old two-roller mill drawn by a horse. He says many people come by to watch the operation, stand a little while, buy a gallon or a half of molasses, and go on their way.

GRANVILLE

“It pays to have your soil tested,” according to Granville County Agent C.V. Morgan. He says John Long, Route 4, Kittrell, cleared about 100 acres of land last year. He planted a recommended variety of hybrid corn on the land this year, and used a good high-quality fertilizer. Even by using these good practices, Morgan says, he will little more than get his seed back because of a deficiency in phosphate. Morgan says the difference between a bumper crop and practically no corn at all was a little, rather inexpensive, superphosphate.

TRANSYLVANIA

“If I get in, I’ll have to grow in,” says Buck Owen, Balsam Grove, in talking of dairying. For a number of years, Owen has been interested in adding an enterprise to his farm that would make it a full time operation. Finding the kind of enterprise that would fit his farm has not been easy. After considering several, dairying looked like the answer. With this in mind, he bought several dairy calves. Assistant Transylvania County Agent G.H. Farley says by utilizing feed that is available, Owen is now growing out the calves for his future Grade A dairy herd. He hopes to start selling milk next year.

GRANVILLE

Many farmers would be pretty happy to find oil on their land, but not Bill Gant of Granville County. He’s already had plenty of oil and now he wants to farm. Assistant County Agent W.B. Jones says that Gant was a successful oil distributor for years before buying several hundred acres of land. He’s already constructed farm ponds, seeded permanent pasture, established a herd of beef cows and hogs, and grows some tobacco. Jones emphasizes that Gant isn’t just farming for fun either. He’s making a success of it.

TYRRELL

Tyrrell County farmer W.Y. Reynolds is a successful fall gardener, reports County Agent H.H. Harris. He says apparently the secret of Reynolds’ success is he prepares and fertilizes his soil. Reynolds plants varieties of vegetables that grow well in the fall season. In spite of the hurricanes last fall, Reynolds has collards, mustard, turnip greens, and lettuce large enough to eat by the last of October. Onions were large enough for table use in November. Harris says, “One visit to his garden will convince you that he is even more successful this year.”

JONES

John Barber, a Jones County farmer from Trenton, Route 2, says he is convinced that it pays to follow recommended practices in growing tobacco. Last year Barber failed to fumigate his soil for nematodes and as a result his yield was cut considerably. Barber took no chances this year. He started his crop by planting a disease resistant variety of seed, treating his plants for blue mold control, fumigating his fields with the recommended amount of chemicals, and following soil-test recommendations in fertilizing his tobacco. His tobacco has cured well and no signs of nematodes appeared.

Negro County Agent Fletcher Barber points out that, according to the number of tobacco sticks the farmer has used this year, he feels sure that the yield will be increased considerably.

GRAHAM

Crawford Jenkins of the Stecoah section has found that hybrid corn and topdressing form quite a combination. Graham County Agent D.D. Robinson says that Jenkins topdressed his hybrid corn with 400 pounds of ammonium nitrate. He estimates his yield on this acreage at 105 bushels per acre. On the other side of the road he used open-pollinated corn, and although he fertilized it well, left off the topdressing. He estimates its yield at about 30 bushels per acre.

NORTHAMPTON

Farmers in North Carolina could take a few ideas form Northampton County farmer Julian Edwards, on the way to raise pigs, says Bruce Woodard, assistant county agent. He says Edwards has one of the largest hog farms in the state. He has 50 sows that have raised 460 pigs for an average of a little over 9 pigs per sow. Edwards has a central farrowing house that will take care of more than 40 sows at one time. Edwards attributes his success to breeding gilts of proper size, age, and condition, proper feeding practices, care of sow and pigs at farrowing time, weaning at proper age, and other good management practices.

SURRY  

There is much work involved in converting an old, run-down place into a well-managed forest plantation. “This is what Golden Baker is finding out,” states Charles Earnest, assistant county agent in Surry County.

Some months ago Baker bought a 69-acre place with about 10 acres of cultivatable land. His object was to convert it into growing trees for future high-quality lumber, and a future income for his children, explains Earnest. First of all, Baker ran into the big problem of honeysuckle control. “This he began immediately, and at a reasonable cost. As Earnest says, “He put a tank on the back of his jeep and began spraying the honeysuckle with 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T.” So far, results have been very favorable, according to Earnest.

MADISON

Making money in the beef cattle business is not the only concern of Amos Thomas, a Madison County farmer. He says the most important thing is what you do with the profits. Assistant County Agent L.V. McMahan says Thomas invested his savings from a beef cattle enterprise in a loading chute to make it easier to move cattle to market. Thomas feels he can save several hours each time he gets ready to take cattle to market. He also feels that cattle can be handled more carefully while loading on a truck. Thomas believes anyone can construct an easy place to load cattle and invites his neighbors to come by and take a look at his.

BEAUFORT

Julian Cutler of Pinetown at Everett’s Crossroads can’t see knocking himself out for no reason. That’s why he recommends centipede grass for “lazy men.” Beaufort County Agent M.P. Chestnutt says that Cutler seeded eight ounces of the grass on his lawn two years ago. Now, Cutler says he has to mow that part of his lawn only half as often as the rest of his lawn. And the good thing is that the centipede is spreading to the rest.

GASTON

Anyone desiring to see a truly beautiful young Angus bull should visit Hugh Helms of Cherryville, Route 1, says Gaston County agent Thomas Taylor. “Perfect in every detail—that’s all you can say about him,” Taylor explains.

The Helms bull is 2 years old and weighs about 1,400 pounds. Many breeders in this section have seen this bull, and all say he is “the most nearly perfect animal ever seen in these parts.” Many county agents have seen him also, several expressing the belief he is among the best in the Southeast. “I don’t know about that, but he surpasses anything we have seen around here or anywhere else,” Taylor states. Helms is now using the bull with his herd of 30 Angus cattle.

ALEXANDER

Willis Scott of Taylorsville, Route 3, is beginning to realize now that it pays to feed the mice in the apple orchard. Alexander County Assistant Agent Haskell L. Shealy says that last fall, Scott could have poisoned all the main runways and tunnels in his orchard in half a day. But he didn’t and he’s losing some of his trees as the mice “feed themselves.” He plans to put out some zinc phosphide and strychnine for them to dine on this fall, however.

POLK

Can you teach a young calf to drink from a bucket? Little Janice Powell of Hickory Grove does and gets paid for it, too! Janice’s father, Fred Powell, who operates a dairy in Polk County, takes the calves away from the mother when they are about one day old. Father, Fred, and daughter, Janice, have a bargain. For each calf Janice teaches to drink from a bucket, she gets 50 cents. Janice says, “I haven’t missed one yet. Every time a calf is born, it means 50 cents for me.” Janice is a member of the Green Creek Intermediate 4-H Club and owns a 6-month-old Jersey calf.

NORTHAMPTON

Realizing the need for a balanced farm income, Doyle Taylor, Northampton County, is planning to enlarge and improve his swine enterprise. Taylor will improve his present stock by the use of better herd sires and careful selection of replacement gilts. Assistant County Agent Johnny Winston says in order to take care of additional brood sows, Taylor is seeding an additional 10 acres of ladino pasture and plans to build a central farrowing house.

Bringing Needed Items to Migrant Worker Camps, 1983

From Tar Heel Homemaker, Winter 1983

One of Wayne County Extension Homemakers’ projects for 1982 was to make hygiene kits for migrant workers who came to the county in September.

Kits made for workers staying in two camps in the county contained towels, washcloths, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap and lotions. These were carried to the camps and presented to the workers individually. During one of the visits it was discovered that bed linens and clothing were also needed, so these were included in our next visit along with blankets as the nights were beginning to be cooler.

Also, on the second trip toys were taken to the small ones. To these children it was like Christmas in September. The smiles and love that were received gave members a warm feeling and much satisfaction from helping brighten the lives of their fellow men.

The clothes were also very well received, as the children attend county schools while their parents are working in the area.

So many negative remarks have been made about conditions found at such migrant camps, however, this was not the case at the camps EH members visited. The houses were kept clean and each worker had a private room furnished with a bed. The kitchens were equipped with stoves, refrigerators, sinks and hot and cold running water. Their dining hall was spacious and screened in with tables and benches. At the time of one visit, a meal was being prepared and the aroma was so good it make taste buds savor. The baths were equipped with hot and cold water and included shower stalls.

This project proved to be one of the more rewarding projects of the year. It involved the efforts of 10 clubs.

Rural Electric Cooperatives, Bringing Power to N.C. Farms

From the Randolph Electric Membership Corporation, http://www.randolphemc.com/content/about-us. Randolph EMC’s magazine Carolina Country, is online at http://www.carolinacountry.com/.

Although nearly 90 percent of urban dwellers had electricity by the 1930s, only 10 percent of rural dwellers did. Private utility companies, who supplied electric power to most of the nation's consumers, argued that it was too expensive to string electric lines to isolated rural farmsteads. They argued that most farmers were too poor to be able to afford electricity anyway.

The Roosevelt Administration believed that if private enterprise could not supply electric power to the people, then it was the duty of the government to do so. So, in 1935 the Rural Electric Administration (REA) was created to bring electricity to rural areas like those in central North Carolina. In 1938, nine men gathered at a small gas station in downtown Asheboro to talk about building an electric cooperative themselves. They, too, believed that people in rural areas deserved the quality of life that electricity provided people in cities. As their talks continued, the men decided to form a cooperative that would bring electricity to the countryside. This business would be owned by those it served and the electricity would be distributed at a fair and reasonable cost to all who wanted it.

Those nine founders signed their names on the line to borrow $300,000 to build their new electric cooperative—Randolph Electric Membership Corporation. Today, Randolph EMC has grown to more than 31,000 consumer-members spread out over more than 4,100 miles of line in areas of Randolph, Moore, Montgomery, Chatham and Alamance counties.

In the 70-plus years that Randolph EMC has been in business, the cooperative still adheres to many of those same founding principles from the 1930s.  We are still “owned by those we serve.” Randolph EMC still operates on the basic premise of those original directors:“ To provide electrical power at an affordable cost while maintaining sound business principles.”

Health and Household Hints from Chowan Homemaker

“Helpful Hints” by Hilda Goodwin as printed in Special Memories: A collection of stories by Chowan County Extension Homemakers

Cure for:

   --Chicken Pox: Children squatted down in front of chicken house door and let chickens fly over them as they came out

   --Wasp & Bee Sting: Put some juice from chewing tobacco on the bite

   --Cuts—Tape a slice of fat salt pork on the cut to draw out infection

   --Chest Cold—Put Vicks Vapor Rub on cloth and place on chest overnight

To keep milk fresh, put in jars and put in well bucket and drop it to bottom of well.

To keep vegetables fresh overnight, hang pot up tree in cool air.

To keep sweet potatoes through winter, place potatoes in a pile of straw and then bank straw thick all over potatoes.

To make butter from cream, put cream in butter churn and hold between legs and crank by hand until it turns into butter. Then press in butter mold.

I remember molasses being made on the farm and stored in a wooden keg under shelter. It was fun to sneak the corn cob plug out and get a taste.

Edgecombe County Community Improvement, 1956

By Virginia Nance, Extension home economics editor at N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the October, 1956, issue of Extension Farm-News

Community spirit paid dividends to the Crisp community in Edgecombe County in the county’s Challenge Community Development Program during 1955—but the people haven’t stopped working. They hope their efforts will pay off again in this year’s contest, according to Robert Parker, chairman of the community organization.

Of the 95 white families and 30 Negro families in the community, more than 90 per cent of them participated and reported the improvements they had made.

County Extension agents and community leaders attribute Crisp’s community spirit to several active organizations—three churches, PTA at Crisp School, Boy Scouts, the Home Demonstration Club, and an active Teen-Age Club.

In the 1955 contest year, a total of 99 home grounds were improved, Parker said. There were 40 dwellings painted, 30 out-buildings painted, 37 standard mail boxes erected, 227 rooms painted, 17 automatic water systems added, 20 additions of running water to kitchens, eight bathrooms added, eight hot water systems, 51 closets and cabinets, and 43 homes properly screened.

In addition to the monetary incentive of $7,500 provided by the Peoples Bank of Rocky Mount for both Nash and Edgecombe counties to be used in sums of $750 each per year for five years, the Crisp community went one step further. The local community offered community prizes in several areas—livestock, home garden, home grounds, interior improvement, kitchen, and field crops.

One of the individual prizes in the 1955 local contest went to Mr. and Mrs. W.E. Lovelace for interior improvement. The Lovelaces, better known to all of their friends in the Crisp community as Bill and Elise, have two children. Their son “Cap,” is 10 and daughter, Carol, is 6.

In 1955, when preparations for widening Highway 258 made it necessary to move their home, the family decided it was time to do the complete renovation job to which they had been looking forward and planning for some time.

The Lovelace home is known as the old Eagles home since it was the one in which Bill’s mother, Fannie Eagles Lovelace, and her family were reared. It was occupied by her sister, Mrs. Sallie Eagles Tolbert, until her death in 1944.

It was Miss Sallie Eagles, too, in the summer of 1912, who started the Girls Tomato Club Movement. This was the first Extension work conducted for girls and women in Edgecombe County.

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Webb Jr. won the award for kitchen improvement. The Webbs have a stronger attachment to their home due to the unusual coincidence that it was built by Mrs. Webb’s grandfather and stayed in her family until it was sold to Mrs. Webb’s parents in 1938.

The entire kitchen remodeling job was done by the Webb family, who work very closely together. In order to acquire the services of a neighbor, who was a more experienced carpenter, Mr. Webb paid him by sending someone to do his farming during his absence.

The Webb’s plans for the future include moving away two rooms in the back of the house, underpinning and adding a new porch and bathroom “if,” as Mr. Webb says, “tobacco brings enough this year.”

Other local winners include Mr. and Mrs. Tommie Jones for home garden; Mr. and Mrs. B.R. Bell for field crops; James Allen for livestock; and Mr. and Mrs. E.C. Mosely and Mr. and Mrs. Ashley Gay for outstanding improvement.

Some outstanding community improvements which helped the Crisp community win the 1955 contest are the community center where many local activities take place, and improvements on several churches. The Forbes Free Will Baptist Church probably had more improvement than any other. It was a wood frame building which members brick veneered. They added new stained glass windows and graded the lawn. In the future, they plan to add shrubbery and complete the landscaping.

Because this energetic and community-minded group of people wants to make even more improvements in their community during 1956 they have adopted the following goals as minimum requirements for 1956 community awards.  The goals were set up by a county committee composed of Extension personnel and representatives from each community participating in the contest.

1.       Get at least 50 families to participate in the program, or 80 per cent of the families, whichever is greater.

2.       Have at least six communitywide educational programs on farm and home projects, such as soil testing, mailbox improvement, tobacco grading, home food supply.

3.       Have at least two organized community-wide recreational programs during the year.

4.       Sponsor at least two community projects, such as a new community building.

5.       Sponsor one community tour or participate in county farm and home tour and report the number of families represented by attendance.

6.       Have designated reporter to report community activities to local newspapers and radio stations, and to assemble newspaper clippings for the judges to use.

The Crisp community, just one of many rural communities like it in North Carolina, has already made great strides toward making a good showing in the contest again this year. Many of the required meetings have already been held and the families are deep in home and farm improvements.

Officers for the Crisp organization for 1956 are Mr. Parker, chairman; Mrs. John Eagles, secretary; Mrs. John Mosely, publicity chairman; and James Allen, vice-chairman.

County Extension personnel aiding Edgecombe communities with the Challenge Program include Mrs. Eugenia P. VanLandingham, home agent; Miss Cleo Jones, and Mrs. Nancy Lewis, assistant home agents; J.C. Powell, county agent; R.L. Hendrix, C.H. Lockhart and Charles Cone, assistant county agents.