|
calves, helping rake hay, serving as chief sandwich makers during combine season, clearing fields of rocks, fixing fence and basically being farm interns,” Frankie said.“ Colin, Carl and wife Claire, Grace and future husband Joel, and Victoria are the seventh generation to have the opportunity to live and work on the family farm.”
Frankie has many fun stories to tell about things that happened over the years on the farm.
“ One of my funny stories involved my father Cecil and my uncle Stona plowing corn with a riding cultivator pulled by a team of grandad’ s horses,” Frankie recalled.“ The corn field was long and narrow, so one
|
brother would start the team down a row and retreat back to a shade tree. The horses would follow the row until reaching the end, where the other brother would turn the team around and then he would likewise retreat to the shade. It worked smoothly until my grandfather caught them, and needless to say, they got a good whipping.”
Today, Frankie and Marie continue to farm 400 acres of the original farm. They began selling pumpkins on the roadside in front of their house in 1990. In 1992, Marie added a gift shop and moved farther off the highway and named the pumpkin patch and gift shop“ In The Pines.”
“ Trey and his cousin Buck Vaughan had
|
planted 500 pine trees in Frankie and Marie’ s front yard in 1983 as a 4-H project,” Frankie said.“ By 1992, the pine trees had grown tall enough to serve as a perfect setting for displaying pumpkins.”
Frankie, Marie, Trey, Malinda and Carl now operate the pumpkin patch. The entire family, including the children, Lezlie and husband Ken and Trey and wife Malinda, and grandchildren have helped in some capacity over the years with the pumpkin patch.
“ It takes a lot of work, and everyone
|
working together to make it work,” Frankie said.
When asked about his family’ s impressive legacy, Frankie is both humble and philosophical.
“ I am grateful and honored to be part of our family’ s legacy farming the land my ancestors worked during their lives,” he said.“ Luck is part of the equation, but an old saying I once heard is so true:‘ The harder you work the more luck you will have.’ I
FITCH FAMILY continued on page 11
|