Unlimited Possibilities

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Have you felt the heaviness lately? The challenge of remaining positive? I certainly have, and it has gotten me thinking about possibilities. Sometimes I forget that there are limitless possibilities if I only have eyes to see. That is why I seek inspiration in the movers and shakers, the ones who see possibilities, take action, live authentically from their hearts, and find joy. People have often reminded me that joy is an act of resistance. Sharing one of my favorite quotes and a woman that I

recently learned about who had a vision and made it come true. 

May you have a week of peace, love, inspiration and JOY! 

“We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference.”— Nelson Mandela 

Marie Samuella Cromer was born on November 9, 1882, in rural Abberville County, North Carolina. Her father’s pet name for her was “Beaut”, and he instilled in her confidence and ambition that were way beyond the norm for girls of that era, always encouraging critical thinking and independence. Marie graduated from Abbeville High School in 1898, then attended college in North Carolina. In 1907, after completing her coursework, she moved to the little town of Aiken in western South Carolina. She was a young rural schoolteacher and the only teacher in her school.   

Marie learned about the boys’ corn club that was transforming southern crop yields. It was the brainchild of Seaman A. Knapp, a scholar from the Midwest now working in Texas, and created the blueprint for the turn of the century U.S. Department of Agriculture and Agricultural extension services. The theory was that by training youth they could teach their families and peers more efficient methods for rural life and productivity. This inspired Marie, but she noted that his work was with men and boys. “But what are they doing for the farm girls?”  

Knapp’s lecture catalyzed Marie’s hopes of doing something bigger, sometime that would broaden the vision and self-confidence of rural girls. “I was born in the country,” she explained, “and I know something of its lonesomeness and sleepy-spiritedness. It is because I love the country and its people that I want to do something for the young girls–-to help them keep the thinking up when school is over.” 

In 1910, Marie organized a girls’ tomato club. Her girls would learn, “not simply how to grow better and more perfect tomatoes, but how to grow better and more perfect women.” Each girl in her class had one tenth of an acre, and they learned how to grow, can, and sell their produce. Her girls were not only planting seeds in the soil; they were planting seeds of independence. These clubs transformed southern society - but not from the top down. By targeting the girls, who were the most disenfranchised family members, the club movement took off and worked from the garden roots up. To recruit members, the club promised a scholarship to Winthrop College for the girl whose one-tenth of an acre was the most productive. Marie took on raising the $140 scholarship fee herself. By late 1910, forty-seven girls had enrolled in the club. The U.S. Farm Demonstration Service in Columbia noticed what she was doing and awarded the project $5,000, providing equipment and canning instructors. The girls did demonstrations throughout the county, and each can was labeled “Put up by the Girls’ Tomato Club of Aiden County” with the finishing touch of the autograph of the grower. 

During that first summer, Katie Gunter put up 512 cans of tomatoes, netting forty dollars from her plot, and won the Winthrop scholarship. Thomas Hitchcock, a wealthy New Yorker, funded the scholarship. On August 16, 1910, the U.S. Department of Agriculture appointed Marie as a special agent.

The clubs spread rapidly across the South. Girls aged nine to twenty learned practical skills: how to farm, manage money, and run their own business. One member reported harvesting 2,000 tomatoes, earning her seventy-eight dollars, the equivalent of about $2,500 today. Another young woman could deposit sixty dollars, the equivalent of about $1,800 today, in her savings account in order to fully fund her own expenses. These young women were very proud to learn new skills and put them into action. They not only learned good agricultural practices, but grew in confidence, responsibility, and financial freedom at a time when women’s opportunities were severely limited. 

In April 1912, Mare married Cecil Seigler, the superintendent of Aiken County schools. They had two children and devoted most of her time to family but still continued to help grow the clubs. Her clubs eventually evolved into the 4-H clubs, which still offer practical instruction and great social opportunities for children in rural America. In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower honored Marie for her role as founder of 4-H Clubs. 

Mare’s simple but powerful idea transformed lives and challenged societal expectations of an entire generation. The clubs illustrated that when you give girls tools, skills, and trust, the harvest reaches far beyond the field — it grows a future filled with possibility. Each basket of tomatoes proved that these young women were meaningfully contributing not only to their families but to society.  

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