While thumbing through my collection of vintage magazines, I nearly fell off my stool when I spied this ad in an August 1929 issue of Hearth and Home.
The curative powers of radium??!! Isn’t that radioactive? Poisonous? I checked my dictionary to make sure … yep, “a highly radioactive metallic element whose decay yields radon gas and alpha rays.” But it looks like, in 1929, folks weren’t worried about a bit of radioactivity. Hey, it was apparently the cure for whatever ailed you with its “wonderful curative powers.” Ah, self-health radiation treatment. Here’s an excerpt from the text:
“The wonderful curative power of Radium has been known for years. However, the benefits of this precious, health-giving substance have in the past been only within the means of persons of wealth. Since the invention of Degnen’s Radio-Active Solar Pad, any man or woman, poor or rich, can afford this treatment which offers so much relief from suffering and disease.
Degnen’s Radio-Active Solar Pad is worn next to the body day and night. It pours a constant stream of radio-active energy into the system while you work, play or sleep, helping to build up weakened nerves and tissues to a strong, healthy condition. It creates a vigorous circulation of blood, thus removing congestion, which is the real cause of most diseases.”
The ad goes on to say that they’ll send you the “appliance” for free with the understanding that they won’t charge a cent is it “fails to give satisfactory results.” The “appliance” was apparently a belt with “several coats” of “actual radium.” The effects? I can only guess. “Thousands Have Proven the Marvelous Effects Without Risking a Penny {only their health}.”
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Mary Jo Boyd!!!
Mary Jo Boyd (Quiltsister413, #5559) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Beginner Level Scrapbooking Merit Badge!
“For the beginner level, I needed to make a scrapbook commemorating a special event for a friend. I am NOT a scrapbooker, so this is really a challenge for me. I was really inspired by the article in the Sister Issue that Joy from Farmgirl Inspirations posted. I decided to make a farmgirl scrapbook for me and my daughter for Christmas.
So I not only made the two scrapbooks, I also started a farmgirl chapter (The Faithful Farm Girls) and now have 10 members! Hello! Who would have thought. But I did have a great time making the scrapbooks and Joy’s instructions helped so much! Thank you, Sister!!
I gathered all my supplies and started cutting. I tried to use the fancy scrapbook scissors, but was having trouble keeping my lines straight. As a quilter, I am much more skilled in using a rotary cutter, so I switched out my regular blade for a scalloped blade and using my ruler and rotary cutter, cut all my pieces in record time! Farmgirl savvy!
I glued everything together and gathered all the inserts so I had places for every section. I can store my badge certificates, recipes, ideas, etc. A functional scrapbook … now that’s what I am talking about!
Our first farmgirl meeting was cancelled twice in January due to weather, but when we meet this month, I am going to demonstrate how to make the scrapbooks and even purchased the binders for each of the girls. Another member donated lots of scrapbooking supplies, so we should have a great time, and each of the girls will be on their way to earning their first badge as well!”
As wild as the winter has been across much of the country, you may still feel like you’re in deep-freeze mode, but small beacons of hope are beginning to sprout in mailboxes hither and yon …
That’s right—seed catalogs are arriving again, as faithful as Spring herself.
Who doesn’t fancy these powerful portents of the season to come (if in doubt, read my romantic ramblings on the subject). The glowing cover of a good catalog is something a soil-starved farmgirl can hang her hope on!
Feeling a little warmer already, aren’t you?
Alrighty then, let’s not waste another minute …
If you’re toying with the idea of planting an organic plot this year but are wincing at the thought of seed prices, consider applying NOW for assistance from the new Seed Fund Program sponsored by the Rodale Institute and Amy’s Kitchen.
Time is short, so don’t wait for the snow to melt!
What is it?
The Seed Fund partnership is an expansion of Rodale’s Your 2 Cents program, which unites producers, consumers, researchers, and educators to launch the next generation of organic farmers. The goal of the fund is to help new and transitioning organic farmers buy the certified organic seed they need for the 2014 growing season.
Who qualifies?
First-time and transitioning organic farmers.
How do I apply?
Get the details here.
When is the application deadline?
March 1, 2014.
Do the words
clothes rationing
send a shudder down your spine?
Before you run off to lock your closet, let me assure you that this World War II practice is not being reinstated.
Well, not yet, anyway.
But you might find (once the initial shock of the notion has faded) that you are pondering its practicality.
Hmmm …
Image courtesy of the Board of Trade, artist Donia Nachshen, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office via Wikimedia Commons
Clothes rationing was in fashion (euphemistically speaking) in the U.K. from 1941 to 1949, when manufactured commodities were limited. At first, each adult in the country received an annual allotment of 60 coupons, but as time went on, the number was reduced to 48. Kids were given an extra 10 coupons each to account for growth.
Image courtesy of Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer via Wikimedia Commons
According to the sustainable fashion hub Ecouterre, “You had to be judicious in your selections; a petticoat or slip ‘cost’ three coupons, a woolen dress eleven, and a men’s overcoat an extravagant thirteen. Even a pair of socks required at least one coupon.”
The kicker was that a coupon didn’t actually pay for anything—it simply represented permission to purchase a certain quantity with one’s own limited finances.
Image courtesy of the British government via Wikimedia Commons
Necessity, which we credit as the Mother of Invention, spurred a national movement of Make Do and Mend, of which my grandmother pitched in full bore. Men’s suits became children’s coats (I was the recipient of one of them) and worn trousers became vests. You see, my grandmother was of the era in which she showed up for work every day (after her children were raised) in a fancy hat and white gloves (required for her job) as a creator of sewing patterns in Denver, Colorado.
Image courtesy of Board of Trade, H Manly and Son Ltd, London N22, and Her Majesty’s Stationery Office via Wikimedia Commons
To advocate the idea of a “substitution and conversion” economy, the Ministry of Supply produced the following video clip that extolled the virtues of upcycling items—a patchwork dressing gown fashioned from fabric scraps and a shift sewn from old trousers.
“For the ladies, you may be reassured that all garments made in ‘make do and mend’ are entirely exclusive,” the narrator quips. “To the men, lock up your favorite old clothes before you leave home in the morning!”
So, you see, there is a grain of genuine sensibility here. After all, many of us live the “make do and mend” mantra as it is.
Would rationing be so ludicrous?
“The political situation may be less dire today, but scarcity, coupled with unfettered consumption, continues to be a problem,” asserts Ecouterre. “Inhumane demands, lax workplace standards, and routine abuse are the result of too much expendable income and too little social or moral accountability to rein in our impulses. Shopping has become something we do out of habit, boredom, or because we get a buzz from acquisition.”
I get waaaaay more revved about repurposing, how about you? And my favorite way to repurpose the wool from a man’s suit is to make a crazy quilt, held together using a variety of different embroidery stitches. Love the look! I did turn an old green wool army jacket into a purse once. But nothing I’ve done compares to the volume of re-use projects my grandmother and mother accomplished.
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
