“….. in only a couple of generations, the skills they thought were basic to one’s existence were so uncommon that they became a novelty.” Jeanette Wilson – Hominy Valley Farms – Land and Cattle
On a snowy no-school day I set off with my 9 year old son to meet Jeanette Wilson of Hominy Valley Farms Land and Cattle in Candler. A third generation farm raising natural beef cattle, pastured raised chickens and organic vegetables (some from heirloom seeds). Much snow had fallen and we were not sure we’d be able to make it up to her home at the top of the farm even with 4 wheel drive. We agreed to meet wherever we both ended up. She’d walk down the mountain and we’d drive up. It was one of those mornings that can make you love winter. A brilliant rising sun and the countryside blanketed in pastel morning light, the snap of the cold an energizing force.
We find the road just past the Kubota tractor sign. We climb the hill up towards the Wilson home, grateful for the frozen ruts forged by her husband’s tractor. We find Jeanette walking towards us boots up to her knees. We meet and decide to walk the rest of the way up to her home, snow crunching underfoot. I turn around and look out over the valley we have just climbed through. It is a postcard.
I liked Jeanette even before meeting her . Her warmth and humanity had already reached me via telephone. She carries a basket over her arm and our first stop is what I think is the chicken coop but is actually the chick incubator, where my son delights in the presence of 20 or more scurrying little yellow heat seekers. Jeanette graciously lets him hold one and I wonder if he will realize that they are destined to become dinner somewhere.
We talk about what brought Jeanette back to Hominy Valley as we walk towards her home at the top of the 90 acre farm. She and her husband Frank moved back here in 2003 as her father then in his mid-seventies had decided to step down. Now into the third generation of her family on the farm, her move back was not initially part of the grand plan. She looks wistful when mentioning her father’s advice to her decades ago — “You can pay someone to do your farming for you.” She explains that she did try to follow her father’s advice and looked for a career outside of farming, trying to study computers as he had suggested, but it did not hold her interest. She married, raised four children, they lived at Claxton Farms where her husband managed the estate, fine tuning their breeding and farming skills.
Jeanette is lucid as she explains, the work involved in keeping the farm going and talks at great length about finding the most appropriate model to make sure that it remains sustainable. The talk of family is the theme most central to our conversation. The common sense of her comments is refreshing. “ We are raising our food the way we would want our own family to experience it. I am sitting here with a farm. If I can grow enough to feed my family and more than we can use, it makes no sense not to do that.” Frank, Jeanette’s husband, has other work outside of the farm as a contractor and so I think about her choice to continue this hard work farming. Jeanette says “ I felt called to do this.”
Hominy Valley Land and Cattle, whose name includes the corn staple of generations past, does not grow corn as her ancestors did but has not eliminated that idea for the future. Jeanette’s brother also lives on this family land and he too might play a part in its future. A wise line from her website comes to mind.
“ A farm works best if it is diversified in its enterprises.”
She mentions her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Plemmons, delivering food to fine families in grand houses in Montford on market days. Having recently seen some of these old historic photos with horses and carts, I imagine the length of those days, the need to sell all of the produce at a good price and then returning to the farm only to start the process all over again. Her father’s advice starts to make sense.
I ask how she learned to farm “My Grandmother just took me on, didn’t talk me through things, just showed me. They’d see what we are doing here as logical.”
I think about our culture’s information saturation and how we too might learn more from keener observation and less talk. Our conversation turns to elders, and the practicality of their lifestyles. I can’t help but wonder,– when and how did we begin to lose the wisdom of these smart, simple ways ? I wish my own grandmothers and great grandmothers were alive now. They too grew up farming, hauling their produce to market. I have many questions for them.
I ask Jeanette what her grandparents would think of her taking over the farm .
“ I think it would be hard for them to imagine that what we do here now and what they did then were that unique. I don’t think they would have realized that in, only a couple of generations, the skills they thought were basic to one’s existence were so uncommon that they became a novelty.”
The truth of this last comment weighs on me. I think of a statistic — fewer than 2% of American’s farm for a living today. This confirms what I had suspected. Jeanette and her family are a rare breed.
She laughs as she explains her first, nervous attempts to sell her chickens at market. I think about the difficulty of establishing a price which can’t possibly take into account all of the hours really worked. They raise livestock but also grow summer and winter squash, kale, okra, swiss chard, broccoli, carrots, green onions, potatoes , spinach, sweet peppers, lettuce, salad greens and cut flowers. She repeatedly mentions her gratitude in having the full support of ASAP, the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, to lead her through the critical steps of getting set up and launched in the right direction.
Like her grandparents, Jeanette and her husband have also delivered produce weekly to certain families, leaving the goods in exchange for a check tucked in a box or some other discreet location. The trust required makes me smile.
Recently they have decided to put most of their eggs in the basket of the Western North Carolina Farmer’s Market. Beginning this spring they will have their own stand named “Loca-Motive,” a reference to local produce and the train tracks that run right through their farm, tracks that one of her sons , a local train conductor, drives his train along on certain runs. Fate or serendipity?
Next up, the chickens: “We process our own poultry. As a culture we have become so desensitized to the process. We have become too prosperous and too busy to use all the parts of an animal. My grandmother didn’t waste anything.” Of her own farming style Jeanette says “We are raising our food the way we would want our own family to experience it.” I ask about the impact of hard economic times on food choices. Her optimism shines through: “People given the right information will make the right decision and make choices within their realm of influence.” She firmly believes that demand for their products will come from a more educated consumer.
Is their farm certified organic? Jeanette admits that jumping through the USDA organic hoops is extremely challenging and the resulting prices would probably be prohibitive for their consumers. Thus, certification is not their goal at present but, for example they do not use synthetic ingredients, growth hormones, herbicides or antibiotics in their cattle feed.
It is almost noon and I regret that I must leave the warmth of the Wilson kitchen. As I say goodbye Jeanette offers me a box of the most beautiful chicken eggs I have ever seen. Pale blue, pale green, butterscotch colored eggs. Once home we gently lay them in the snow and take their pictures. Delicate, little gifts.
I email Jeanette and write half -jokingly that Martha Stewart would love these. She emails back that Martha is already a fan. The eggs come from the Araucana hen, apparently originally from Chile and thought to have been cultivated by the Araucana Indians. I begin to wonder if a few of these wouldn’t do well on Lakeshore Drive. We are planting a garden….
