Tag Archives: overalls

While most associate Rosie the Riveter with the women who worked in the factories during World War II, there was a less well known group of women who also volunteered to help the war effort during that same period of time.

The Women’s Land Army was a band of approximately 3 million women who were recruited to work on farms, dairies, and in canneries, to help continue to provide food for the nation while the men were at war. The Women’s Land Army (WLA) placed women where help was most needed, in the Midwest, South, and South-West states. They were paid competitive wages, and proved to be just as productive workers as men. When asked by a reporter if the women would quit after they were exposed to the hard work, one farmerette responded “Would we quit? No, soldiers don’t.” Many of the women in the WLA found the work and the income satisfying and continued their employment after the war ended.

The Women’s Land Army was inspired by Rosie the Riveter, and formed after several women’s groups and the YWCA convinced congress to allow women to help with the farm labor, since food was already being rationed and it was becoming more scarce. Where ever the WLA worked they helped to stabilize local economies and they had a significant impact on workforce policies and stereotypes for future generations.

Take a few minutes to learn more about this fascinating piece of our history:

This is a 10 minute video, with really interesting information and great pictures! Watch for lots of overalls!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKXcjQhtpsg

Or if you only have 3 minutes, watch this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr1N45JGayU&sns=em

recruiting poster

An EXCELLENT free on-line book “On The Farm Front”, that is filled with letters from one farmerette’s experience in the Women’s Land Army in Ohio

http://lettersfromlandarmycamp.org/?page_id=1585

A link to one of the letters: http://lettersfromlandarmycamp.org/?page_id=1439

A picture included with a letter home. "Me thinning peaches & my boss"

Women's Land Army ID card

Like many of you Rosies have stated, one of the reasons we are motivated to grow a backyard vegetable garden is to teach our children & grandchildren about healthy food choices, the joys of getting their hands dirty, and watching something grow.

From my years of experience working as an elementary school teacher, I have found several books that have been helpful to inspire children to think more positively about vegetables and growing their own gardens.

Please share some of your favorite children’s gardening books, as well! In the meantime, I hope the following titles will provide some reading fun and good conversation for you and your family!

The Summer My Father Was Ten by Pat Brisson. A Father tells his son a story about how he damaged a neighbor’s tomato garden when he was ten, and how the neighbor taught him to garden to make amends. Has a great moral about the value of community and cooking from your garden. Ages 8+

 Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. When Miss Rumphius was a child she told her grandfather she wanted to be like him and travel the world, he told her that she also needed to find something to make the world a more beautiful place. After her travels, Miss Rumphius walks all over her town planting wild flowers, to bring beauty into her world. Every year the flowers come out and it makes everyone smile. An inspiring story for young girls. Ages 8+

Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert. The alphabet book features a wide variety of unusual fruits and vegetables, to help expose children to new foods. Beautiful pictures keep children highly engaged. Ages 3+

Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert. This popular book describes the steps involved in growing vegetables and making vegetable soup. This book fills a niche; it is a good book for getting very young kids excited about growing vegetables. It even has a recipe for making your own soup at the back! Ages 2+

Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow: A Compost Story by Linda Glaser and Shelley Rotner. A non-fiction book that introduces children to composting. Fun pictures of real children engaged in composting, encourages children to try it out at home. Ages 4+

How Groundhog’s Garden Grew by Lynne Cherry. Squirrel teaches Groundhog how to grow his own garden after he was caught nibbling on the neighbors crops. It includes a ridiculous amount of information about how to garden into this story. If you are looking for one book to read to your kids before planting your own vegetable garden, this is an excellent choice. Ages 5+

Flower Garden by Eve Bunting and Kathryn Hewitt. A rhyme about a young girl who surprises her mother by planting flowers in a flower box. A great book for young children and urban gardeners. Ages 2+

Weslandia by Paul Fleishman. An imaginative young boy plants some magical seeds that transform his yard one summer and he uses the plant to create his own civilization. Stunning colorful pictures draw children in to this wild tale. Ages 8+

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Kraus. Classic little picture book with illustrations by Crockett Johnson, well-known for Harold and the Purple Crayon. A little boy plants a carrot seed. Despite being told by his entire family that the seed won’t grow, the boy perseveres. Every day, he carefully weeds and waters the area where he planted the seed. A plant grows, and one day, the boy is rewarded with a big orange carrot. Children love this story. Ages 2+

City Green by Dyanne DiSalvo-Ryan. What happens when a diverse group of city neighbors works together to rid their street of a litter-filled vacant lot? How young Mary, Miss Rosa, and their neighbors transform the vacant lot into a community garden of flowers and vegetables makes an interesting and realistic story. Ages 6+

I have to admit… I would much rather sit around having conversations and working on projects, than take the time to clean. Unfortunately my house has always reflected those priorities, and can be an overwhelming mess of half started cleaning attempts. UNTIL… I found help on the following websites. They have broken down cleaning to quick, manageable, essential tasks that can be squeezed in on a daily basis, so I don’t have to give up any more Saturdays!

Speed Cleaning tutorials- from The Clean Team

http://www.thecleanteam.com/productdetail.cfm?id=books

Rule 1: Make Every Move Count- clean in a circular pattern, don’t make lots of annoying trips back and forth across the room

Rule 2: Use the Right Tools (keep them at hand by wearing them on an apron!)

Rule 3: Work from Top to Bottom (so you won’t have to re-clean anything)

Rule 4: If it Isn’t Dirty Don’t Clean It (mainly just clean horizontal surfaces)

Rule 5: Don’t Rinse or Wipe a Surface Until It’s Clean

Rule 6: Don’t Keep Working After It’s Clean

Rule 7: Put Your Tools Back in the Same Place or Apron Pocket Each Time

Rule 8: Keep Track of Your Time (try to keep improving your speed)

Rule 9: Use Both Hands to Clean

7 Daily Cleaning Tasks you can do to avoid weekend cleaning- from Totally Together

http://totallytogetherjournal.com/the-daily-7-for-a-highly-successful-household/

Number 1: Make Beds Right Away

Number 2: Do One Complete Load of Laundry

Number 3: Empty All Garbage Cans

Number 4: Keep Your Kitchen Sink Empty

Number 5: Clean Up After Yourself and Help Children Do the Same

Number 6: Bathroom Wipe-Down

Number 7: Before Bed 10-Minute Clean Up

The most helpful tips for me were: to always clean in a circular fashion around your house, cleaning from top to bottom, and to wear an apron with all your cleaning supplies at hand so you don’t have to waste time or backtrack. This has significantly reduced my time cleaning, which makes me much more likely to be regular about it!

Here are the supplies that both websites recommend to keep in your cleaning apron:

• 
• Sturdy canvas apron with pockets and loops. Rosies sells one that is perfect for this!
• Scrub sponges or microfiber rags
• Multipurpose cleaner in a small spray bottle, to attach to a loop in the apron
• Window cleaner in a small spray bottle, to attach to a loop in the apron
• A scraper (plastic putty knife, toothpick, or razor blade) for the caked on gunk
• Microfiber rag, for dusting

The best part is that you don’t need any fancy cleaning products, except for a good apron, and the rest can be purchased at the dollar store!

I hope this helps reduce your cleaning time as well and increases your time to work on fun projects and be with family and friends!

I found this book recently, and was drawn to it because the title matches our Rosie’s moto. The book was written by a victim of the 9/11 attacks and completed by her sisters after her death. It embodies a gusto for life and a go-getter attitude that’s pretty incredible.

The theme of giving yourself a “merit badge” for trying new and brave things keeps rattling around in my mind this week.

During a talk with a good friend, who is a new mother, she admitted that she gives herself an imaginary badge every time she is able to complete a difficult “mom mission”. She has given herself a badge for things like nursing in public for the first time, nursing while balancing on a stool, changing an explosive diaper, and getting an infant through New York City streets with too much bulky equipment. I love that she turned situations that could that cause most women to complain, into a mental badge of honor for getting through it.

A wise woman once encouraged a group of us ladies to start a “victory journal” to record all the minor and large successes that we accomplish in our lives. I only tried writing in my journal for a year, but I was surprised by how many “victories” I actually have in my everyday life once I took the time to examine them and write them down. I usually just continue to focus on my to-do list, and forget to reflect on how amazing it was to get through what I just did. I know many women will agree with me that they share this characteristic.

One thing all of us at Rosies Workwear for Women love most about our job is that we get to interact with so many inspiring and hard working women across the continent and the world! We hear from women who are doing tasks that we might never have dreamed of! Such as leading a team of dogs across Alaska, and leaving the city to start a successful organic farm. So, it makes me wonder, what amazing things we all doing that we might forget to sit back and give ourselves a merit badge for? What kinds of dreams do we still have that we would like to continue to try and reach for to earn another badge?

So, this week, please write to us about some of your victories and merit badges that you have earned recently. Take time to inspire us, and give us all ideas of things to try!

We are so proud to have had Elizabeth Layton as part of our team this past year!

Liz graduated in December from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a Communications major in Business Ag. She is currently back home in Santa Rosa looking for new opportunities to spread her talents. We loved having her as part of team Rosie and wish her
the best in all her future adventures!
We know that for us she will always take her Rosies spirit with her.  Thanks for all that you did Liz, you will be missed!

Liz  is being replaced by Katie Crawford. Katie has been a part of Rosies for 10 years, she has been a Rosies model, helped create product ideas, worked at road shows selling and now we get to have her use her unique talent for writing by taking over the blog , newsletter and face book posting. Rosies has a lot planned for 2012 and we welcome Katie’s voice to keep the Rosies community connected.

-Sharon Moore (Rosie’s founder)