WORTH REPEATING 



Farm Grown Christmas Gifts 



WE GROW our Christmas presents 

 right here on the farm. The garden, 

 the cornfield, the orchard, the 

 woods each contribute something 

 toward our; Christmas giving. We 

 even call on Rhoda, our best Jersey 

 cow, and the purebred leghorn hens. 



It was just three years ago that 

 we first tried this "home-grown" 

 giving plan. That year the drought 

 got most of the corn and the early 

 frost took the lest. There wasn't a 

 cent for extra spending. When 

 Christmas came we had to give just 

 what we had, or nothing at all. We 

 wrapped up everything loose, chick- 

 ens, canned fruit, bulbs, flower seed, 

 pumpkins, feathers, nuts and apples. 

 Such a collection! But it turned out 

 to be the merriest Christmas we 

 ever had. 



A box of finest Winesap apples we 

 packed for a sister in town. Each 

 apple was wrapped in pale green tis- 

 sue paper and wore a Christmas 

 seal. An apple Santa Claus was the 

 final touch. A bright red apple 

 formed his well filled coat. The 

 head, a ball of tightly wrapped cot- 

 ton, was fastenea on with a tooth- 

 pick. The legs and arms were also 

 toothpicks cotton wrapped. The 

 white fur belt and beard were strips 

 of cotton held with paste. The fea- 

 tures were embroidered with 

 colored thread 



UNIQUE CHRISTMAS APPLES 

 Last year we found a better way to 

 send greetings with apples. In the 

 summer when the Jonathans were 

 still green we tried this stunt. Out 

 of wrapping paper we cut letters to 

 spell the words "Merry Christmas," 

 forming the letters just big enough 

 for the two words to fit around an 

 apple. These cut out letters were 

 carried to the orchard, and with 

 rubber cement we fastened a greet- 

 ing on more than two dozen apples 

 hanging on what we call our "Mer- 

 ry Christmas" tree. As the sun col- 

 ors the fruit the protected part un- 

 der the letters remains a soft green 

 At apple pickmg time, the letters 

 were removed, and there was the 

 Christmas greeting, plain to read. 

 Several Merry Christmas apples are 

 packed on the top layer of each gift 

 box. "How is it done?" Curious 

 friends wrote immediately to in- 

 quire. But we kept our secret. It 

 was such fun to near their crazy 

 guesses and we want to repeat the 

 idea next year. 



That same year I gave a dozen 

 eggs to each of two town friends. I 



Mrs. Clement Haskin 



chose the largest, whitest eggs in 

 the lay, and stamped on each a 

 Christmas seal before packing in a 

 holly paper carton. To a favorite 

 little niece who lives in Chicago 

 we sent a large box of even-sized 

 ears of popcorn. One of the ears I 

 dressed like a doll in red and green 

 paper using shucks for the arms 

 and a bit of cob for the head. This 

 corn doll was fastened to the lid of 

 the holly-covered box. 



GIFTS FROM CORN HUSKS 

 Corn shucks are another farm prod- 

 uct I turn into gifts. I braid them 

 into baskets, bags, sets of table doi- 

 lies and rugs. Field corn gives the 

 best colored and strongest shucks. 

 Sweet corn is paler and not nearly 

 so durable. Any age shuck is all 

 right to use with the exception of 

 the green ones. I tear off the outer 

 coarse-grained leaves and use only 

 the soft-textured creamy ones in- 

 side. They are finer fibered &. more 

 pliable and take the dye better, too. 

 After sorting out a quantity of 

 these inner leaves, I cut off all the 

 thick stubby ends with scissors. 



The shuck leaves without the 

 hard part measure from five to nine 

 inches. The braids may be of any 

 width. Wide braids are best for rugs 

 and baskets as they work up quick- 

 ly while narrow braids are effective 

 for table mats, bags and hats. Corn 

 shucks take dye beautifully, but no 

 dye shade can equal their own 

 natural sunburn-yellow. 



Did you ever burn pine cones on 

 the open grate? They give a color- 

 ful dancing flame and a pungent 

 piny odor. For our first "home- 

 grown" Christmas the children 

 gathered several gunny sacks full of 

 cones which we sent to friends for 

 their fire on Christmas Eve. From 

 plain green cloth I cut letters to 

 spell a Christmas greeting and ap- 

 pliqued them to the sacks. In the 

 center of each bag of cones we 

 packed a small pine log on which 

 my husband carved the words 

 "Your Yuletide Log." 



When I make jams and jellies 

 one jar is always set aside for the 

 Christmas shelf. By the holidays I 

 usually have ten or fifteen choice 

 glasses. With green sealing wax I 

 write a Merry Christmas across 

 each paraffin cover and pack the 

 jars in small corrugated paper con- 

 tainers. 



Even my neighbors who have 

 their cellars filled with home-made 



THE PlANTSMAN 



28 



jams and jellies enjoy a treat of 

 some unusual flavor. My quince 

 honey, for instance and sunshine 

 preserves are neighoorhood favorites 

 so I usually give a jar of one or the 

 other of these. 



Christmas at our house without a 

 few chewy popcorn balls just isn't 

 Christmas. We make the balls the 

 old-fashioned way stirring the corn 

 into molasses candy or taffy. When 

 no more com can be added to the 

 mixture it is set aside a few minutes 

 to get cool enough to handle before 

 forming into balls. Before the balls 

 are quite cool they are rolled in 

 freshly-popped corn. 



A great deal of fun is had by wrap- 

 ping little gifts in waxed paper and 

 placing them in the center of the 

 balls. Last year we inserted a loop of 

 silver thread through some of the 

 balls so that they could be slipped 

 over the branches to help decorate 

 our tree. 



For a young cousin who is fond of 

 collecting pretty stones my little son 

 has been saving every small pebble 

 he could find that was unusual in 

 shape or coloring. He has a great 

 collection now, more than 100, with 

 a special box made to send them in. 

 The container is a cigar box covered 

 with a plastic foundation made of 

 11/2 cups of whiting, 1 gill of clear, 

 fine, liquid glue, 3 teaspoons of lin- 

 seed oil and 3 tsps. of varnish. These 

 materials came from the hardware 

 store and cost but a few cents. The 

 ingredients were mixed in a bowl. 

 First the whiting was put in, then 

 the liquids were added in the order 

 named and stirred slowly to a velvet 

 smoothness. With my spatula, son 

 spread this over the box like frosting 

 on a cake. Then he took his pretti- 

 est stones &. stuck them into the 

 plaster, completely covering it in a 

 mosaic effect, fitting the stones to- 

 gether. 



Two years ago my son contributed 

 a gift that pleased my city brother. 

 In the pasture he found two almost 

 twin-sized stones which sparkled 

 with a thousand flecks of silica. 

 These were sent to serve as book 

 ends for his uncle's desk. 



I save duck and chicken feathers 

 and occasionally give awav enough 

 for a pair of good-sized pillows. Wo- 

 men, whether they live in town or 

 the country, appreciate such a gift. 



Selectons lepiinted from The 

 National Farm Journal, December 

 1932, Volume LVI. Number 12. »» 



