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ARS Home Northeast Area Docs Historical Perspectives







Truck Farming in West Virginiaheadline bar By Glen Anderson, Raleigh County, West Virginia.I grew up on a farm in Raleigh County, WV.  Our parents, Jesse and Janet Anderson, raised vegetables to sell in our store in Beckley, WV, the "Pinecrest Food Market" located on Eisenhower Drive near Pinecrest Hospital (picture) .Pinecrest Food Market They rented the building that later, in the 1990's, housed the A1 Vac vacuum cleaner store.  Our Mom used a tray of coins and notes to train us children how to carefully and correctly count out change.  'The customer is always right,' was the way the store was run.We were given our work assignments the evening before, and if there was nothing that needed to be done at home we would be eager to go work for our neighbors, picking beans, chopping corn (hoeing out weeds), or cutting cabbage.  At 10 cents an hour we would try to get in a 10-hour day so we could earn one dollar.  That was 1943-1945, when I was about 12 years old.We set 3000 cabbage plants and staked and tied 500 tomato plants in 1948-49 for selling in the store (picture).Field of cabbage and tomatoesThe cinder block building under construction in the background can be seen in its 2006 form in the insert.  I had a chance to practice laying block while the chicken house was being built, but never got to be as quick or efficient as experienced workers.Chicken houseMy Mom, Mrs. Janet Anderson, is shown with sweet corn in the home garden (picture).Janet Anderson & Jab PlanterThis corn (yellow and white) was used at home and to share with neighbors.  Our sweet corn for sale was planted 6 to 8 inches apart with a  jab-planter (picture).  We limed every third year and rotated to another crop after growing sweet corn two years in a row.  For fertilizer we used cow and chicken manure and bagged fertilizer. We planted sweet corn every week for 5 or 6 weeks starting May fifth to tenth. We went through the fields when the corn was in silk with a can of mineral oil, and put some oil on the silks with a small paint brush.  We never had any earworm damage. Us three children and one or two neighbor kids picked the corn, starting the end of July or early August up until frost (about mid-September).  The fields of sweet corn used for the store were planted leaving a wide row every 10 rows.  My Dad would drive a wagon down this wide row to pick up bushel baskets we had filled with corn.  By placing the ears upright we could get in about 3 dozen ears. On Friday evening we started picking at 4 or 5 pm and early Saturday morning we took it to the store in a 1937 Chevrolet pick-up truck.  At the store we would sell 150 to 200 dozen each Saturday.  Any that we didn't sell by 8 or 9 pm we brought back home to feed the cows and hogs. We said our products were "fresher and cheaper than Krogers or A&P."In addition to sweet corn we sold tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, yellow and green (Zucchini) squash, and other produce from the farm. By 1952 both us boys were in military service, and my Dad and Mom closed the store. Historical Perspectives Narrative Index AFSRC Home


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