HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



home: making 



THE WARM SCHOOL LUNCH 



A Necessity in kurai Schools 



The necessity for the thoughtful and 

 scientific care of the child seems more evi- 

 dent than ever before. For some time, 

 special care and study has been given to 

 the breeding and raising of stock, for it 

 has brought direct money value. Boys 

 and girls have a value and we are appre- 

 ciating it more. The war conditions 

 have made us see more clearly our duty 

 and the necessity of the full development 

 of the possibilities of the children of 

 today. We realize, as never before, that 

 the nation requires and needs for its 

 safety a strong defense. The childhood 

 of the nation today means the man power 

 of the generation tomorrow. 



Proper feeding of children helps to de- 

 velop good bodies and makes good citi- 

 zens proper feeding means not only 

 nourishing food, but food given at re- 

 gular times. School life of children 

 tends to interrupt the regulai'ity of feed- 

 ing, especially when the school is so sit- 

 uated as to keep the child from returning 

 home at the noon hour; and for these 

 children, the aim is to provide .some 

 means of furnishing hot nourishing food 

 at noon. 



The diet of a child should sei-ve two 

 purposes: first, it should furnish grow- 

 ing material ; second, it should give en- 

 ergy to maintain the constant activites 

 of the child. When there is an insuffi- 

 cient amount of either type of food, one 

 demand is partly supplied by the other, 

 and neither function efficiently. School 

 discipline is frequently a serious prob- 

 lem, due to the fact that pupils are tired 

 and restless, which is caused by insuffi- 

 cient food. Children often are hurried 

 off to school with little or no breakfa.st, 

 followed later by an ill-prepared and 

 scanty lunch. 



Food of the proper kind for the school 

 lunch is many times a neglected task of 

 a busy mother. One-third of the food 

 supply of the child is taken at school, 

 and for that proportion it seems that the 

 rural teacher is somewhat responsible. 

 The food taken to school may be good 

 and sufficient, in many cases, but the ; 

 condition in which it is carried, and the i 

 circumstances under which it is eaten, 

 oftentimes make the meal unfit to whet 

 the appetitie, to the extent of supplying 

 the child's needs. Aside from the nour- 

 ishment needed, the formalities of the 

 noon hour tend to bring about better 

 manners and good habits of digestion. 



To provide at school a noon meal of 

 one hot dish or more, as the case may be, 

 supplemented with a well-packed and 

 nourishing lunch from home, should be 

 the consideration during the coming 

 months. 



WHAT KIND OF SHOES 



ARE YOU WEARING? 



! It is still possible to obtain shoes of a 

 fairly good pattern in this country, 

 though it requires patience and persever- 

 ance. Such shoes .should have a low 

 broad heel (no more than three-quarters 

 of an inch high) and straight inside line, 

 a wide outward .sweep to avoid cramping 

 and pulling in the little toe, and a fle.xible 

 arch ; the shoe should lace, and be of the 

 blucher type. The toe may be pointed, 

 if so desired, but the point should be 

 straight in front of the normal great toe, 

 and not in front of the third toe, as is 

 the almost invariable custom. The army 

 .shoe is a good outline, though not entire- 

 ly ideal in other respects. The shoes 

 with which most women, and many very 

 sensible women, are at present crippling 

 and distorting their feet, are as bad phy- 

 siologically as they are hideous. 



From St. Dep't Health. 



THRIFT 



As a means of encouraging thrift the 

 Department has issued a series of eight 

 bulletins to aid the housewife. These 

 bulletins give helpful suggestions on the 

 proper apportionment of the family in- 

 come, wise purchasing of clothing, easy 

 methods of cleaning and laundering, re- 

 moval of stains, proper care of clothing, 

 method of cleansing wearing apparel. 



The Home Demonstration Agent will 

 be glad to send sets of these bulletins on 

 request. 



It might be that some interested in- 

 dividuals or organizations would send 

 into the school, hot cocoa or soup or some 

 other food and sell it or give it to the 

 children who carry their dinners. 



In some towns the mothers send a 

 home-made fireless cooker, full of hot 

 food on-the school team in the morning. 

 The cooker keeps the food hot until ready 

 to be served at noon. 



Another way and perhaps the simplest, 

 is for each child to carry some food which 

 can be heated up on the stove in the 

 school room. 



In both rural and city schools, the 

 scheme of preparing one or more warm 

 foods for sale at the noon hour, has 

 worked most sucessfully. This of course 

 requires more time and effort on the part 

 of the teacher, and some equipment. But 

 at the same time, it teaches some of the 

 first principles of cooking and their prac- 

 tical application. 



Keep in mind that the hot school lunch 

 is purely for the good of the child. 



The Home Demonstration Agent stands 

 ready to help a community or indi\iduals 

 who are interested in this problem. 



HOW TO FILL THE PICKLE JAR 



Pickles are eaten largely for thei*- 

 pleasing flavor as they have little food 

 value and may be classed as condiments. 

 If used in moderation as a relish with 

 a dinner, pickles are appetizing and may 

 help to stimulate the digestion, otherwise 

 they are not easily digested. Children 

 should never be allowed to eat pickles. 



SOME GENER.AL RULES 



1. Always use a good grade of vine- 

 gar. 



2. Always use a porcelain or agate 

 lined kettle because of the action of the 

 acid. 



3. A small portion of alum improves 

 cucumber pickles but it is considered un- 

 wholesome. 



4. Do not boil vinegar over 12 min- 

 utes as it loses its strength. 



5. Keep the pickles covered with vin- 

 egar in good, clean, glass or stone jars. 

 A few pieces of horseradish added pre- 

 vents scum from forming on the surface 

 of the vinegar. 



6. A brine made of about l c. salt to 

 1 quart of water is the proportion most 

 commonly used. Let brine come to the 

 boiling point, but do not boil. Cool be- 

 fore using. If too strong a brine is 

 used for vegetables they will soften and 

 spoil. 



7. Sterilize all utensils. 



8. Wash the cucumbers in clean cold 

 water. Do not use a vegetable brush as 

 this rubs off the litle points and makes 

 the cucumbers shrivel when soaked. 



Two vinegar mixtures for pickles are 

 as follows: 



Recipe 1 — 1 qt. vinegar, 1* tap. whole 

 black peppers, IS tsp. celery seed, IJ tsp. 

 allspice i tb. sugar, i tsp. whole cloves, 

 !J tsp. mustard seed, 15 tb. cinnamon bark 

 4' tsp. grated horseradish. 



Recipe 2 — 1 qt. vinegar, i oz. ginger, 

 1 tsp. mace, 1 oz. small onions, 1-3 oz. 

 mustard seed. 



CUCUMBER PICKLES 



Soak cucumbers in brine for 24 hours, 

 then rinse and drain them. Cover them 

 with vinegar or vinegar mixtures to 

 which has been added i tablespoonful of 

 brown sugar for each r|uart of vinegar. 

 Bring them slowly to the boiling point. 

 Pack the pickles in a jar, and cover with 

 vinegar. 



SWEET CUCUMBER PICKLES 



Soak cucumbers in brine for 24 hours. 

 Rinse, drain, and wipe them dry. Place 

 them in a kettle, and cover them with the 

 following vinegar mixture: 1 qt. vine- 

 gar, 1 cupful sugar, 8 whole cloves, 6 all- 

 spice, 6 blades mace, 8 whole black 

 peppers. 



Heat the pickles slowly to the boiling 

 point, and pack them at once. 

 CoQcluded. ou page 5 



