Showing posts with label Farm Women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Farm Women. Show all posts

0
A FRUGAL HOUSE MOTHER; March 1912; Mrs. E. W., Kansas

Being a farmer's wife, we of course have no stated income, and can never tell what the amount of money will be that can be used in the home. But I always try to manage so the expense shall not exceed the income. Of course, we keep cows, and have our own milk and butter with some butter to spare to help out the grocery bill. We have a garden, but we do not always raise enough potatoes for our own use, and therefore we must buy. We try to sell enough of some other garden truck, that we have a surplus of, to pay for the potatoes. We keep chickens so that we have eggs and young chickens to use and sell. We have our meat and lard.

I have always tried to get what was needed about the house from the sale of poultry and eggs, or from garden truck. I have bought everything I have in my house with the money I made from the poultry, from a set of kitchen chairs to a $50.00 range and organ and my home is well furnished. Of course, I did not do all this in one year. We have a large family of children to clothe and send to school. I have kept them in school and last winter I put two of the eldest girls through a nine months' term in a city school, paying all their expenses from the proceeds of eggs alone.

I am obliged very often to exercise my wits in order to make a good appearance in matching up outgrown clothing for the little ones from the garments of the older ones; also in preparing food there is a great saving to be made, so that grocery bills shall not be charged at the store.

The farmer's income is very often much less than $40.00 per month and the saving and also earning pennies nearly always come from the good management of the house mother.


0
A FLORAL SHOWER; 1910

She was a dear old lady and she lived alone with her flowers and birds and a big gray cat. Everyone loved her for her gentle ways and many an act of kindness and yet when we wanted to do something for her, there seemed nothing that we could give her without hurting her pride and so bringing sorrow where we wanted to give joy. Finally the matter was settled and the result was so satisfactory that the story of it is worth passing along.

The minister's wife suggested the plan, and a score of us saw at once how feasible it seemed. We would give the dear one a floral shower, not a shower of flowers exactly, but of plants and seeds and those things which she loved. In order not to duplicate too much we gathered at the parsonage a week before the date set for the shower and when the time came we marched in a body to the dainty little house where we knew our coming would be welcome, each bearing a tiny gift that we felt could not be deemed a charity.
Not all the gifts need be enumerated but each would have proven a delight to any flower-loving heart. A dear old lady bore in triumph a lemon tree almost as tall as the little girl whose gift of a geranium slip was not discouraged. Some of us brought packets of flower seeds, rare ones which we had purchased for our own gardens but which we could duplicate. Some brought a slip from some favorite flower of our own in a pretty pot or jardiniere. Some came with seeds gathered last summer from flower bed or garden and some with a plant from the florist, burdened down with its load of blossoms. The dear old lady was delighted.

0
COUNTRY WOMEN STORIES; 1931 & 1926

Nellie Joslin Weston was a "no nonsense" farm wife who described her life plainly and honestly. Her story appeared in a magazine article published in December 1931. In part the article reads:
Mrs. Joseph (Nellie) Weston



The little shack where the Westons started so modestly has given place to a modern bungalow with hardwood floors and all the coveted conveniences. And responsibility finds time for hobbies,--tea roses, etchings, friends.
 
"I don't want to paint country life too rosy," Mrs. Weston said. "It isn't all roses...No, not even in Missouri. The most I can say is you can make a living if you're willing to work hard enough.
Mrs. Weston's Home, "Spring Branch"









"A good crop from my orchard would be 35,000 bushels (a bushel of apples is approximately 48 pounds or 22 kg.) But I do not average that by any means. Something always happens. That's where the catch comes in; something is always happening on the farm. Anybody who goes to the country thinking he is going to have a snap, is bound to be disappointed...
Of course, there are pleasant surroundings in the country. But I can't say that I am any happier here than I would be in the city. In fact--I'm lonely--desperately lonely."
"I think," she added slowly, weighing her words, "I think that wherever we go, Life is Life."

Margaret Ellis Shellenberger and her mother gave up life in the city to go back home and save the farm--a stretch of rich acres in a cuplike valley high up in the Allegheny mountains of Pennsylvania. The house is a colonial mansion of red brick, one hundred years old.
A Young Margaret Ellis
"Grandpa and Grandma simply couldn't think of leaving the old home at their age," said Mrs. Shellenberger to her visitor from The Farmer's Wife in February 1926, "so there was nothing for it but for Mother and me to come home and keep things going. Mother was very frail and I was only eleven. There were no conveniences in the house--not even running water. From the beginning I helped with whatever Mother did. The summer I was seventeen, I built every stack on the place. My brother, Edgar, was home for vacation and he and I took a turnabout in barn and field. We two cut and hauled ninety acres. The first year that Edgar went to college he ploughed fifteen acres for wheat before he left. I harrowed it alone and a neighbor helped to drill it. It was the best yield per acre of any farm around here--and we were proud!

"At first we were exiled up here in the mountains without even mail. Mother and I drove around and secured the signatures necessary for rural free delivery and telephone service. Our worst problem was roads or rather the lack of them. I had read about a road drag that was used through Missouri so talked to the road supervisor about it and he said, 'Well, if you want it done, go ahead and build a drag and supervise it.' I suppose he thought I'd never do it, but I did improve a few miles of road. After that, the same supervisor wanted me to have some hauling done. So I hired four or five teams and managed that job. I also put in a small plank bridge. I continued in the road work for a year."

0
HER SECRET OF HAPPINESS; North Dakota; 1933

Last fall we roamed the woods for wild grapes.

It was good to be alive; it was fun scrambling through the underbrush. The woods were full of the mysterious sounds of the forest. Then we heard something quite alien to all this--the cry of an infant. Curious to find the source, we made a search and discovered modern cave dwellers! There was a dugout in the hillside in which lived a family of seven, father, mother and five children from six weeks to six years of age.

The man-of-the-house talked with us a while; he had fish to sell. Presently the mother came out. She was young, astonishingly pretty, exceedingly plump, and surprisingly cheerful. On her invitation to "come in and see our house" we entered the one dark room with its table, stove, two beds, one chair, and keg of dill pickles.

The woman was not a bit apologetic, either. They couldn't afford anything better at the time. Here they had a warm place, "hole-in-the-ground" though it was. The surrounding woods supplied them with berries for jelly and sauce, dead wood for fuel, and rabbits for meat. The river gave them fish and water. Their garden patch furnished most of the other foodstuff. And the father had part-time employment on a neighboring truck garden.

The pity I first felt for the mother was soon replaced by admiration. I can see her yet as she looked when we were leaving, the baby in her arms, other little ones clinging to her, a smile on her lips and contentment,--not merely resignation,--in her eyes.

"I envy nobody, no not I.
And nobody envies me,"

she seemed to say. Since then I have often thought of her, wondering what was her secret of happiness. It's a wonderful secret that enables people who have but little, to carry on without fear or loneliness, while others who have more, are miserable, dissatisfied, fearful.





0
MY EXPERIENCE IN DRESSMAKING; Mrs. H.G.S., Tenn.; 1926

I am on the shady side of fifty and have lived on a farm forty years of that time--most of the time near a small village. In my young days, ready-to-wear garments for women were unknown to the stores of this village, so my mother taught me to make my own clothes. I began by making clothes for my dolls and soon learned to cut the garments by patterns of my own cutting. Mother encouraged me in this by giving me old garments to cut up into patterns. They could be measured to a doll more easily than a paper pattern and if they did not fit there was no particular loss. I soon learned to tell just what was wrong with my pattern so that a second or a third cutting would be exactly right. This idea has saved me both time and money, for in dressing two girls through high school many dresses in many different styles are needed. There are no patterns sold in our village so when the design for a dress has been decided on I save cost of pattern and time it would take to order it by resorting to the idea taught me by my mother.

When our oldest girl went to college last fall, she wore to travel in, a brown-and-tan plaid wool dress made from a circular cape she had worn the year before. The only cost of the dress was one dollar for a brown kid collar and cuff set that exactly matched and gave it the precise tailored look a college girl would wish.

In buying piece goods or ready-made garments, I find it economical to buy good materials for they hold color and shape better and I am sure to use a second and sometimes a third time by remaking. I plan the made over garment by studying the fashions and comparing the old garment with them. Sometimes the changes in styles are so radical that the old garment cannot be used. In that case I store it away with a few mothballs till the next season and pretty soon a design comes out by which it can be used either alone or in combination with something else.

What is worth as much to me as the money I save by my sewing, is the fact that our girls have developed habits of economy in dress for they know that one season's wear for a garment is not the end of its usefulness, and they can design and make their own clothes and remodel the old ones.

0
WHO ARE THE MASTER FARM HOMEMAKERS? part 8; 1930

Mrs George L. Renner; Sioux Falls, South Dakota:

A congregationalist but since there is no church of her denomination in the community has been superintendent of a Lutheran Sunday school 10 years. School board chairman eight years, treasurer of county farm bureau, district chairman of Federated Women's clubs. "Often I have let the kitchen floor go to write a letter to a shut-in or sick person, and I think it paid."

Mrs. Willis H. Davis; Hitchcock, South Dakota:

Came to new South Dakota farm in 1881 as a bride and pioneer farm homemaker. "A successful home is one that develops men and women of Christian character." Home library contains more than 600 books. Poultry and garden add $400-$500 a year to income.

Mrs. George H. Gallaher; Wheat, South Dakota:

"The best career for a woman is to raise a good, honorable family. Has four children, two in school and two helping farm the the home place. Active in farm women's camp, women's department at county fair and farm women's club.

"I'm sorry that we do not have some of the conveniences we would like, but we have felt that our children's education should come first." President home demonstration club, active in church work.

Mrs. J. B. Taylor; Cleveland, South Dakota:

Winner of local house dress contest, chairman school improvement committee, president women's work in the church, Sunday school teacher. Husband, wife and children are partners in 463 acre farm business.

Mrs. Hal B. Walker; Greenville, South Dakota:

"If more farm women felt that they were not neglecting a sacred duty every moment they are not doing hard work there would be more happy homes. We have every reason to be the happiest group of women. Just now our great trouble is lack of recreation. We need to get away from home occasionally, even if only for an afternoon or a day."

Mrs. W. C. Hefner; Burnsville, South Dakota:

Chief ambition is "to make good homemakers of my eight daughters and a good husband of my son. We may never give our children much of this world's material goods, but we hope to give them education and training enough to enable them to make their own way to be happy."

Mrs. Charles L. Pitzer; Martinsburg, South Dakota:

Sunday school teacher 28 years. Since husband's death has managed several farms with son-in-law's help. Home considered one of most attractive in county.

0
WHO ARE THE MASTER FARM HOMEMAKERS? part 7; 1930

Mrs. Elmina Fichter; Meadow Grove, Nebraska:

Since husband's death, 17 years ago, has managed the farm as well as her home, in recent years with sons' help. Has six children. Canned 556 quarts of vegetables, fruits and meats last year. Has attractive home with modern conveniences.

Mrs W. A. Wickersham; Filley, Nebraska:

“It does children good to share home responsibilities—keeping all business matters from them and letting them live beyond their means is no kindness.” Belongs to a national book club.

Mrs. E. H. Burke; Edmore, North Dakota:

Thinks children should be made to obey but that they will do so, usually with little trouble if put on their honor and trusted. Started homemaking on a homestead 23 years ago with $500 in the family treasury. Buildings burned once, but now she and husband have well improved 640-acre farm nearly paid for. Planted 3,000 trees on their Dakota farm.

Mrs. A. D. Cross; Park River, North Dakota:

“Success is knowing you have done your best, even if you have not reached your goal.” Publicity writer for the national W. C. T. U., edits department in her local newspaper, project leader in extension work.

Mrs. Roy Johnson; Casselton, North Dakota:

“My husband and I have always been real partners in business, parenthood and living. Together we keep accounts, take inventory, make out income tax returns, talk over purchases, discuss clothing needs, and support each other in training of the children.” Insurance guarantees children's education.

Mrs. R. A. Tomlinson; Tokio, North Dakota:

“One big advantage of farm life is that the children really get to know their father.” Member of school board five years, an officer in parent-teacher association and homemakers' club. Has good plan for improving kitchen “when we can afford it.”

Miss Laura Boerger; Irwin, Ohio:

Has helped father rear six brothers and sisters since mother's death, put the six children through high school and helped two get to college. Five of the children have been 4-H Club members and three have since been leaders. Managed to have regular religious instruction in the home, including Bible reading and children saying the Lord's prayer in unison daily. Is one of four unmarried women ever honored as Master Farm Homemakers.

Mrs. George E. Ryerson; Havana, Ohio:

Reared four children of her own, now raising a "second family" of five grandchildren. Has been sending children to school for 36 years and expects to keep on until grandchildren graduate from college. "I'm not a model housekeeper--it's been my aim to be more of a homemaker."

0
WHO ARE THE MASTER FARM HOMEMAKERS? part 6; 1930

Mrs. O. T. Osmundson; Blue Earth, Minnesota:

Makes approximately $1,200 a year by teaching music, boarding the teacher and selling poultry products. Has kept accounts ever since her marriage. Is 4-H Club leader, helped organize community club and is home project leader.

Mrs. W. O. Plocker; Blue Earth, Minnesota:

Thinks more young people would stay on the farm if homes they live in now and had more of city's conveniences, if children had a genuine share in the live stock as they grow up, “if when boys are large enough to farm they get a share of the crop” and if all feasible means of recreation are provided.

Mrs. T. S. Soine, Iron, Minnesota:

After 13 years in town moved back to farm on account of her six children. Moved to uncleared timber farm on Minnesota Iron Range, with only three horses, one cow and 40 Leghorn hens. Two children are in high school, two in college and another is graduate of medical school. Born in Norway.

Mrs. Charles E. Wirt; Lewiston, Minnesota:

A city girl who married a young farmer (just starting out for himself and in debt) against the “better” judgment of many of the neighbors and relatives. The first year most of her efforts were failures but since then she and her husband have nearly paid off the mortgage, they have improved the farm, remodeled the house, reared four children and helped build a better community. Takes time for leisure and self-development each day.

Mrs. Frank B. Fulkerson; Higginsville, Missouri:

Reared four adopted children, two of whom have graduated from college. President of school board, teaches nature study to neighborhood children, member of county farm bureau board and active in church and community club. “I think that work in varied organizations prevents a woman from getting petty after her children are grown.”

Mrs. Alfred Jones; Maryville, Missouri:

“Each child had his own money, partly earned by himself. During high school days each checked on the family bank account and the privilege was never abused.” Has attractive lawn, garden, lily pool and rose hedge. Says community service has given her life much of value.

Mrs. J. C. Longan; Sedalia, Missouri:

“Whatever success I may have had has been largely due to a sympathetic and cooperative husband.” Has had two Father-and-Son banquets in her home. Gets three hours leisure a day “by continually weighing the importance of each task and giving it no more than it deserves.” Adds from $600 to $900 to family income through poultry flock.

Mrs. R. E. Lee Utz; St. Joseph, Missouri:

Lives on 48-acre truck and fruit farm. Plans meals week in advance. Has kept accounts 12 years.
Twice president County Federation of Farm Women's clubs and president State Federation of Homemakers in 1929.

0
WHO ARE THE MASTER FARM HOMEMAKERS? part 5; 1930

Mrs. James H. Cox; Hudson, Illinois:

Believes that amusement problem for farm young people can be partly solved by supplying plenty of recreation at home. Her eight children have well equipped playground, homemade horizontal bar, iron rings, swings and slides, tennis court, magazines, six musical instruments and flower garden. (a flower garden as recreation? interesting. LAH)

Mrs. Harvey N. Mooore; Carthage, Illinois:

"My husband and I discuss and plan our business together; we are both interested in the same things, so it has not been hard to understand each other. I watch the markets, same as he does, and we both plan how to sell to best advantage." Her poultry flock adds to family income.

Mrs. C. W. Couden; Muncie, Indiana:

"My family and I love the farm and would think it a hardship to live elsewhere; I am truly glad for the opportunity to raise my children on the farm. The fact that we labor without some conveniences only makes us more appreciative when we get them. I do not like the idea so prevalent just now that the farm family is an object of pity. The farmer is gradually working out his own relief through cooperation and more careful management."

Mrs. Hugh L. Brownlee; Sylvia, Kansas:

"We take the children with us as we work around the place (a 1,200-acre wheat and stock farm), thus helping create an interest in things of the farm; each child has some particular garden spot that is his own to take care of. We planted 30 forest trees last year."

Mrs. E. M. Perkins; Richmond, Kansas:

"I will think that I have been a success if the children grow up to be honorable citizens, who are public spirited, generous minded, satisfied to a certain extent, able to take care of themselves and willing to help the less fortunate."

Mrs. Roy Hamilton; Mayfield, Kentucky:

"I measure a homemaker's success by her ability to spend some time with the children, some for church and social work and some for rest and reading--a real job, I'll admit." Oldest of her three sons is state president of 4-H clubs. Her family cooperates to promote community good.

Miss E. Erin Montgomery; New Concord, Kentucky

Since death of her mother has mothered six brothers and sisters, kept family together and helped five of the children get some college education. Takes time to read and rest some each day "for the sake of the family's happiness as well as for my own health."

(This unselfish woman gets the homemaker's prize for me. LAH)

Mrs. L. B. Oldham; Owensboro, Kentucky:

"We have tried in many ways to teach children to appreciate country living. When they were young they belonged to an Audubon club. We read nature books with our children, go on hikes with them and wedge in as much recreation and amusement as can be done on a busy farm." Active in community affairs.

(I wish that I had all this advice for raising a family when all my children were young. LAH)
Older Post ►
Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )
 

Copyright 2011 FARMER'S WIFE QUILT is proudly powered by blogger.com