2 - The Morrisvitle and Preston Progress, Wednesday, March 27,1996
Farmers a vanishing breed in Morrisville; handful depend on crops for livelihood settlement a blow
pkoMA 4 1 1 I I.... j. _• j .. . r^nntiniiAH fr/>m nana i
Continued front page 1
Care is a familiar word to the to
bacco fanner. "It’s a delicate plant
and needs tender care and hand
ling," Upchurch explained. "No
matter the size of die farm-and
there were a number of small 5-to-
10-acre places, and others of
several hundred xres-they were
labor intensive, and families
swq)ped labor when needed." He
said the larger operations had
tenant fanners who worked on a
share basis, the owner providing
the mules and bams.
"From the middle 18(X)s to about
1960, Durham was the tobacco
town, the place where most
growers carried their crop," said
Upchurch. "Apex also had a small
A'arehouse operation, but Durham
did most of Ae work."
The Upchurch family grew some
sweet potatoes, and, like all farms
at the time, had two to three hogs
which were butchered for food.
"There were smokehouses and the
meat was canned (sealed in fmit
jars). Families had to be self-
sufficient and the children wo'e a
part of that sufficiency as soon as
they could help," he said, adding
that each farm grew some wheat (to
make flour) and oats, grain, and
com (to feed the animals).
Then came World War n and the
technology it brought with it
changed the face of agriculture
forever. "Tractors became avail
able," Upchurch said.
Tobacco plant beds were sown in
January and February, and see
dlings were transplanted in early
May, with harvesting from July to
September. "One of the first things
1 (hd as a child was to carry water
during planting, and then carry the
plants," he said. "The rows v/esc
marked and 1 would also pat the
hills to fum in each plant which
had been placed by someone with
more experience. A tool called a
handsetter was used. Today plants
are set by automatic droppers from
the back of tractors."
Omer Ferrell’s Grading Ccanpany
sign is painted on a bam across
from his sprawling white farm
house on Morrisville-Carpenter
Road where some 50 geese walk
about one of the pastures. "No, we
don’t grow geese. My wife just
likes to have than around," Ferrell
smiled.
He and his son, David, farm
about 60 acres in Carpenter these
days, a cutbadc from a half-dozen
years ago when he had 200 under
cultivation. In his sixties today,
Ferrell recalls helping in the stick
bam when he was eight or nine,
handing the tobacco leaves to a
worker who would tie them on
sticks to be dried by a wood fire.
"Later the fire was replaced by bulk
drying with huge fans and heated
air," he explained.
"Up to 1950 it was hard to get a
new tractor and a good team of
mules was highly valued," be said.
"There were thr^ mule dealers in
Creedmoor and whers in Apex, and
some farmers even bought them in
Tennessee."
Ferrell remembers the hogs and
how the meat was prepared, bow
the bcme meat was ^ted, cooking
a loin of poik, and the way sausage
was stuffed in a cotton sock and
hung in the smc^ehcHise six to eight
weeks for the best flavcx. "Life was
so different then," be said. "You
worked all week, went to church on
Sundays. Family life centered
around the community and church,”
he said.
Ferrell’s family originally settled
in a log cabin in Chatham County
whoe his grandfather bad a saw
mill from 1895 to 1900. Said Fer
rell: "Logging was good. He paid
10 cents fx a tree that was two feet
in diameter at eye level and sold it
fOT $8 per 1,000 linear feet He
bought 130 acres on Morrisville-
Carpento' Road in Morrisville to be
closer to the railroad which hauled
his wood. But when the Durham
and Southern Railroad was built, be
moved back. He kept the bouse
bae and reopened the mill as well
as a farm stcne. He died at 62 in
1933."
Ferrell said most of the big farms
split up in the 1950s, selling k) or
combining with other farms. "To
bacco had been the mainstay in
North Carolina since the country
was colonized, but farming is not
even a factor any more in North
Carolina, what with land prices and
taxes," Ferrell said. "The farmer
rolls with the punches, but he can’t
keep going." The Ferrells recently
sold 72 of their acres on Upchurch
Road to the Caiy Board of Educa
tion, which plans to buUd a high
school on the site.
As for Rickey and Garry Ed
wards, the brothers farm about 60
acres in the area of Upchurch
Deadend Road at the southern edge
of Preston Village and some in
Apex. They own about 40 of the
acres and rent the rest. Their father
still farms, but has left the area to
raise beef cattle in West Virginia.
As fifth-generation farmers, they
both started when they were about
age 5 or 6, learning their trade
We Serve:
• Breakfast • Dinner
• Sand'wiches • Platters
• Desserts
Call In Your Orders for Speedy Pickup at
Our Convenient Drive Up Window
Ask About Catering
Open M-F Chapel Hill Rd. (Hwy. 54)
6 ani-3 pm 380-9039
10 Reasons Why You Should Call Us.
0 Omaiaa.
O Qslfc “5 ttSS';i.~ni V pri* ..J
Each of my clients has th
id lifestyles. That's why I'll cusk
ASforMiiliH
O Consultaliciii.
No Payments for 90 Days.'
Coll me for ileciufe mul
your comftlimentcry consvltatum.
VISA/Ml' iit-iepieil
■ Heath 876-5111
Custom Window Treatments • Wallcovering • Carpet & Area Ri^ • Furniture • Accessories
literally from the ground
up-gatboing leaves that had fal
len, later putting them on sticks in
the bam, finally driving a tractor.
Garry feels priming (picking) the
leaves was the worst. "You had to
work the rows methodically in hot
sun and parching beat, always
working in a bent-over position as
you picked off the lower leaves on
the first go-round, later those high
er up, and finally the upper ones.
But those lower leaves were the
worst. You could hardly teeathe
by the end of a row because it was
so hot and dusty and just gasping
for breath at times made you
choke."
Garry said be recalls his father
priming tobacco all day. Today
they try to work only in the morn
ing. "Some families still share crop
as they have for 20 or 30 years,
pec^le like Maggie Jacobs, &nest
Medlin Jr., Dewey and Dough
Moduffy," he said.
Edwa^s said most of the tobacco
grown locally today goes to market
in Fuquay-Varina. Most of the sup
plies to grow it come from ci-
penter Farm Supply store, which
has been in business since 1885.
His father’s homestead was just
off Davis Drive in what is now one
of the Preston developments, and
the fann itself extended across
what is now part of the golf course
at Prestonwood Country Club,
Garry said. "I recall playing golf
there one day and of course I didn’t
recognize anything, but suddenly I
saw a credc and knew I was stand
ing on ground that used to be a
grazing field for my father’s beef
cattle. It was an eerie feeling," he
said.
When they were married, Garry
and his wife lived in one of the old
stick bams. Seven years ago they
built a spacious low-country home
near Preston Village. They have
three diildren, ages one, six and
eigbL
He said he doesn’t expect any of
their children to continue farming,
but hopes they’ll be able to experi
ence it somewhat growing up.
"That’s all I can hope for," he said.
Lee Phillips, his wife Sue, and
their four children live in a large
brick colonial home on (jood Hope
Church Road on acreage Phillips
farms and near the site which his
grandfather gave bis father. His
grandfather farmed cotton and to
bacco in Moore County before
moving to Carpenter, and gave all
of his children land for a
Today Phillips grows rye for
straw and seed, some strawberries,
and collards in the winter, but most
of the 100 acres he farms in various
areas of Wake County are in tobac
co. Brothers A1 and Bill are in
farming, but Ted, a third brother,
moved to Chicago.
"1 remembo' hanging around the
farm watching the men work, but I
was in school when the planting
and cultivation took place," be said.
PhilUps relies on tobacco as the
main crop, but decided to try a
patch of pick-your-own vegetables
a few years ago. "It did pretty good
for a while, but then taper^ off.
People don’t seem to want to pick
fresh vegetables. They’d rather buy
them at the store," he said. "They
don’t realize the difference in
fresh-picked vegetables."
So he switched to strawberries
and admits they’ve done very well.
He has several acres devoted to
strawberries on land next to his
house. "They are easier to handle,"
he said. "People don’t want to pick
butierbeans. I don’t want to, ei
ther."
Phillips doesn’t see any of his
four children, ages 18, 15, 14 and
8, farming for a livelihood. "Agri
culture in general is doomed." Phil
lips said. "It costs a lot of money,
effort and time ro farm. I’ve given
it 20 years of my life, but today
we’re faced with more constmc-
tion, housing needs and rising land
prices."
Continued from page 1
k) get into the government’s
actions against the industry, but
questioned the emphasis placed on
^acco as compared to that made
against alcohol. "Advertising on
television is one example. You
won’t find tobacco, but you won’t
have any trouble finding beer com
mercials.”
The suit was not the only "bump"
to the fanners this mon^. Citing
affidavits from former Philip
Morris employees, the Food and
Drug Administration charged the
company with controlling nicotine
levels.
Collection a link
Continued from page 1
grinders that were used in the
1800s, milk coolers, square tin
bread warmers are on shelves, and
an old black iron pot where foods
were prepared hangs in the
fireplace, just above the iron
skewers that held the meat over the
flames.
^^9 Morrisville & Preston
I he rroqress
Offices located at
The Apex Herald
616 W. Chatham St.
P.O. Box 1539
Apex, N.C. 27502
Phone (919) 362-8356
Fax (919) 362-1369
William A. Kirkland, Jr. President
James S. Sinali Publisher
Suzette Rodriguez. Editor
Kirk Kirkland Advertising Manager
Published monthly by
Kirkland Newspapers, Inc.,
1533 Hermitage Court,
Durham, NC 27707
Phone (919)489-1527
Fax (919)489-7801
Third-class postage paid at
Morrisville, NC 27560
Paintless Dent Removal
•Tree Nut Damage
• Parking Lot Dents
Hail damage erased
from Roofs. Hoods.
and Doors Without
Paintwork!
John Tracy’s
PDR
6200 C. Daimler Way, Raleigh
919-859-5225
"The AREA'S only locally owned and
operated P.D.R. Business."
lo Fftirgroundfl .Chapel I
¥nioSays A Day At
The Hospital Can*t Be Flin For
the Entire Family?
ret a first-hand look inside a firetruck
or an ambulance. And who knows?
A real medical helicopter may fly in!
■ njoy free entertainment, from
The Purple Dinosaur, Aladdin,
Bubba the Bear, a face-painting
clown and a caricature artist. Not
to mention the Fitness Bears,
McGruff the Crime Dog and
Muddy the Mudcat. There'll be
live music and free healthy snacks
for the entire family.
5 oin us to celebrate our Blossoms for
Life fund-raising event, sponsored by
the Volunteers of Western Wake
Medical Center (1:30 pm).
gjound 'em up cowpoke! All
you need for our Bike Rodeo
is your bike and a helmet.
We'll even be giving away a
new bike!
In event so fun we've been
^asked to check blood pressures
all day. Plus HDL and total
cholesterol screenings (limited
number available). You'll even
have the chance to Meet the
Doctors and ask your medical
questions. All for freel
j ring Teddy or a favorite stuffed animal in for a
checkup. Our Teddy Bear Clink will teach little
ones about emergency care and accident prevention.
ou can help welcome our latest addition—a new birthing center
that will open in the Spring of 1997. Join local dignitaries as we
break ground and celebrate bringing maternity care to Cary! The
festivities for kids and adults will start at 1:15 pm.
Stay HeaKhy Family Day
Saturday, April 20, 1996, 1-4 pm
Western Wake Medical Center
Western Wake Medical Center campus is located at the corner of Kildaire Farm and Tryon Roads, Cary.