My husband (Charles Arrington) worked for Buster and Jessie almost 40 years. We live over the mtn from them. They are a dying breed, best people in the world!
@@thefaceofappalachia We live on Will Arrington Road. Instead of staying straight going to Buster and Jessie’s, you turn left right above Arrington Branch Church
Melisa, thanks for watching and letting us know about your connection to the Nortons. I hope we get to meet you and your family at some point. We sure love your neck of the woods. The Nortons are truly wonderful people.
Yes, just down to earth, good folks! I spent many hot Louisiana summers, walking garden rows with my PawPaw. Snapping, and shelling peas, shocking corn, slinging small square hay bales, oh the life of a 10 year old boy!! Haha If I could go back in time, I wouldn't change a thing!
I’m in SE NC and I grew up helping in tobacco on the old harvester and I would string tobacco on a wood stick. There was 8 people working on the harvester, 4 stringing and each stringer had someone cropping and handing it to the stringer. One person driving the tractor which pulled the harvester and a trailer behind which held the sticks full of tobacco. A person was on the trailer waiting for the stringers to call STICK. The full stick was handed to that person and in exchange an empty stick was given to start all over again. Sometimes at this point a cropper would begin to collect too much tobacco in their lap waiting on the new stick and they’d have to holler WHOA which signaled to the tractor driver to stop so we could catch up. Hot and dirty work but I wouldn’t trade those memories and the opportunity to work at 12 years old for nothing in this world. Good crowd of farm hands, talking while they work or singing and laughing. It was a great time really. Such wonderful memories. ❤❤
This is amazing life,I used to work in tobacco in Tennessee,I now reside in Arizona,no one knows hard work until they have farmed....thank for you Chanel....brought back many memories
Steve, so good to hear from you. Tim is in Arizona as we speak. I have been there often. I love your neck of the woods. Thanks for watching and commenting. I hope you keep coming back. You are always welcome.
We grew tobacco for people, spent many a year working it. I would drop the tobacco sticks, spear it, drive the tractor, load it on the wagon, an then strip it in the fall. I remember the big tobacco sale, it paid for xmas, our clothes an bills. My mama raised 7 kids by herself. We all worked, would do any job to make money and loved ever minute of it.
Thanks for sharing. Their way of farming may be going but tobacco is not all gone in NC! I work on heavy equipment and know 2 farmers in Lee County, NC who each planted over 500 acres this year.
9/28/23: A little tobacco still grown in Eastern Middle Tennessee. Not much anywhere in TN. We’re beginning to see more cotton growing again in West Tennessee than I have seen in probably 50 years.
Tim & Scott, Another good one. My daddy raised tobacco like most people in the area. Buster was good friend of Nathan. They always traded work whether it was making molasses, raising tobacco, or hay . Good memories as usual. Don't stop!
What a beautiful couple, as a 55 year old man this took me back to my younger years of working in tobacco, hay, and gardening with my parents. Little did I know at the time that I was experiencing some of the best this world affords us.
Wrong color…the folks who literally built this country arent these folks…they may be good people and as a nc native i appreciate what they do…but…lets not rewrite history
@@TheAcenightcreeperwhites have been an overwhelming majority in this country from the beginning. We wouldn’t be where we are today if they sat back and let 10 percent of the population to do the work.
A great couple. They remind me of my aunt and uncle who were chicken farmers in Miss. They worked together everyday doing what they had to do to make a living.But they wouldn't have had it any other way. Good story and God Bless the Farmers. I wish the govt didn't have so much control over them .
When the tobacco was purely organic, the smoking Americans had the longest life expectancy in the world. Todays radioactive fertilizer of a crop, is no longer a remedy for chronic respiratory diseases, but actually induces them.
I grew up in southwestern Virginia in the 70s and 80s. Tobacco was king then. I performed these same tasks. Brings back memories of simpler days. It was hard work, but we did it without grumbling. Most kids today don’t have a clue about manual labor. I still live on the same farm, but no one raises tobacco anymore. Oh how times have changed 😢.
I remember taking vo ag classes at John Battle HS near Bristol VA. Part of the fundraisers for FFA came from growing tobacco on the high school grounds. How times have changed
I went to college in Danville va in the 80s. Part of our first week of freshmen welcoming we were taken to the warehouses in downtown where they dried it. Knew several people who were tobacco farmers.
Two good people, you don't know it but your way of life is honorable and is fast disappearing. Keep that farm going as long as the good Lord will allow you.
The first ten seconds made me want to cry. Many of my best childhood memories are tied to tobacco. Tobacco wasn't only a cash crop for Appalachia, but a big part of life. It was a way for folks to get enough money to climb out of debt, or have a slightly better quality of life. Many a birthday present and school outfit were bought with tobacco. It was means to an end, and now that it's gone there's been no worthy replacement. It's a bygone era.
Well said. It is a mostly bygone era and a sorely missing souce of income that almost every farm here cold count on each fall to pay the taxes and settle up on groceries and all.
Yeah, but two things... 1) it's a product that kills people and 2) they should have taken the money and progressed beyond to new crops and/or moved to locations with better opportunities, education, etc.
@@turbodog99two things- 1) Maybe read that again. It wasn't a life changing amount of money that magically transformed rags to riches, and 2) how arrogant of you to assume anything about the lives, education, and opportunities of people who barely get by working a mountain farm. Tobacco in raw form is more or less harmless until it's processed by the cigarette companies who paid educated people (chemists) to make their products more addictive. It wasn't the farmers' fault. It must be nice to armchair quarterback so much of others' lives. Go eat a Richard.
Great story! I enjoyed the description of the dying mountain tobacco farming and loved the back and forth comments of the couple. I remember watching my granddad, Ransom Teaster, who was from Madison County, taking tobacco leaves, putting molasses on them and twisting them to dry to make chewing tobacco.
I grew up in south central Kentucky and was raised in the tobacco patch. It was our way of life until the buyout when they took all the tobacco bases from farmers.
I'm from here in Central Kentucky and from a little boy my family raised tobacco and the same thing happened the buy out came and not very many people even raise it anymore, but I sure do miss those days.
“Scared of the barns” “Most of then don’t wanna man up” Disgusting, the state of our entitled and soft handed youth. We used to be the land of the free and home of the brave. Someone needs to have them boys struggle. Their softness is going to ruin society. It already is.
So much I could say and the memories I could share. They're right when they said people are scared and lazy. I'm from east Tennessee and up till about 20 years ago I made extra money working several crops , tobacco being one . I really miss the old days on the farm. I'm over 50 and you have to drive way out to find any tobacco fields. Used to be everywhere. Blessed my soul watching this. ❤
You're dead on about the 20 years ago part. I'm from the tri cities and i can remember my grandfather taking me to show me his friend's cattle farms and tobacco fields as a small boy. Sadly most small farms in East TN seem to be going to land developers anymore as nobody in the family ever want to take them over.
I love North Carolina I have family there I lived there 7 years while I raised my children there Oh to be there again! I love these country folk Thanks for sharing your life stories
In 2015 Harvard University confirmed nicotine wasn't addictive. The chemicals allowed to be added by the FDA were addictive. Nicotine is natural and actually good. Also a fantastic anti-resprory inflation treatment per the Harvard study..This crop should be worth it's weight in gold!
My Grandparents worked in Tobacco for years. Orange county NC. Still to this day I love the smell of a gold Tobacco leaf. Love the history in these videos. Thanks for sharing..
A lot of memories just came back to me. When I left home in 1988, Daddy quit raisin backer, sold the cattle, and bought a Gas heating stove! I miss that work so much. Hard work, but it builds good character. Younger generation needs a good dose of the past! That sound of the spear made me smile.
@@scottallen6062 thank you, I actually had an uncle that worked on the test farm in Waynesville back in the 80’s. Tobacco was a large part of my childhood.
I’ll never forget that smell of burley curing up in the tier rails,weren’t much money but helped daddy pay the GI farm payment and and a little left to make ole Sanny Claus slide down the chimney.
These two are so cute! Bless their hearts. Can you imagine what all they've seen and had to deal with thru the years. Wow. God bless them and may their days continue to be filled with laughter and love.
Fifty years ago when I was a soldier and stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC, we were frequently in the field on maneuvers. We would often meet tobacco farmers who would let us sleep or get out of the weather in their barns (as long as the tobacco wasn't drying). I don't think I ever met a better class of people. We would always pay for our stay by leaving 5-10 lbs of coffee when we left.
What a wonderful story and a great memory. It sounds like everyone benefitted and helped each other out. And my experinece with farmers is the same; such helpful and giving folk.
My great grandfather had 100 acres of tobacco allotment in 1936, year he died. My grandpa inherited a 1/3 of it ( 33 acres ) in 1938 after estate was settled. The “feds” had cut that 33 acres to about 12 acres by 1974. Great video of great people!
My mom's family is in Floyd county KY and my grandfather was a coal miner, as was many generations of my family, and grew tobacco. I was a butcher for 40 years and I understand being a dying breed and no one wanting to man up and work. I will be 65 Thursday, May 2nd and I am retired and still working. I sure feel at home around people like buster and Jessie and out of place in the world we live in
Happy Birthday! We were just at Buster and Jessies this morning filming them seeding trays to plant sorghum in a few weeks to be harvested this fall. Sounds like you come from a family of hard workers!
I and my little sister started working in tobacco at age 12/13 so we could buy our own school clothes in 1977 we worked harder in one summer than most children work in their hole lifetime now days. The government has taken away the right to grow food and to raise cattle on small farms now, The government taxes them so hard they can’t afford land and livestock anymore. The government wants young people to grow drugs now to stay high and drunk watching ballgames and playing video games so know one knows what the government is doing to The United States Of Mexico .
Burning plantbeds, drawing plants, pegging barefoot when it was wet, discing over acreage when the college boy came to measure, topping after a rain, priming leaf in the field, dropping sticks, housing when it was 100° in the top tier, book it down when it came into order, stripping when it was 20° and you couldn't feel your fingers. Tobacco was a hard crop. I've been there and done that. Never again. These folks deserve every penny they are paid for their crop. God bless America. 👍👍👏👏🇺🇲
Sounds like you know the drill. Yep, its a long hard season growing tobacco. Only a few continue to do it as they try to bring in a little extra money to pay the bills.Its interesting to watch all that is involved.
Susan, you have made my day. We so appreciate you spending time here and commenting on the video. I hope you have or will subscribe to the channel it really helps us to continue this tribute to the people in our area.
David, I hear ya! So glad that on occasion we meet great young folks that understand and value some of the old ways. Folks will hopefully remember before it's all gone.
He spoke of the buy outs, this was the late 90s and we sold out to. Strange that most money set aside for farmers went everywhere. I remember a headline in the paper saying $100,000 was given to the Carter Fold in Hiltons Va. why It was hard work and people were strong, wonderful memories.
My understanding is that there weren't restrictions on how the money was to be used so in North Carolina, for instance ,the legislature put it in the general fund so much of it didn't go to the farmers.
Ive read that you absorb a good amount of nicotine trough the skin just by working around tabacco, you can actually get nicotine poisoning, thats crazy.
I have done that over the years. In the still photos in the video you can get a sense of that, but I am doing that on video now. Processing the dried leaves starts in a few weeks, then to market. Hopefully we can share some of that in upcoming episodes.
Sounds like you stay busy. I just spent the day with folks making molasses and they rely solely on family and neighbors for help as its hard to find other help.
In front of my neighborhood in Fayetteville, NC there used to be a tobacco field, and a cleared lot the neighborhood kids would go to play baseball, football, smear the queer( it was the 90's) or whatever. Last time I went home it was all condo's, and kids aren't even playing outside anymore. Just a few older folks power walking or jogging occasionally....sad.
Brings back lots of memories, I use to use those tobacco sticks for my "horses" as a kid. I had a whole herd. I remember stringing up those leaves as the guys brought them in from the fields. I must have been about 8 yrs old. Shows how old I am now. We played outside and no computers invented. Barely had TV.
Connie; those are some great memories. I can see it in my minds eye. I have a walking stick someone has made recently from an old tobacco stick. Piles of them in the barns sitting unused now.
Working in tobacco in southern Ontario Canada alot of farmers would hire north Carolina farmers to come up an cure the tobacco for them they had the knowledge met alot of people from Goldsboro and rocky mt. NC
My family was in the tobacco business in S.C. and N.C. for generations both growing and tobacco auction houses. I last farmed flue cured tobacco in the late 90's. Miss it! Hard work and a way of life. Thanks to you and the Norton's for sharing.
@@scottallen6062 I grew up on a small farm in Robeson County NC near a little town called Lumber Bridge. Our Dad raised flue cured tobacco as well also soybeans, corn, cotton, wheat and peanuts. Yessir, it was hard, good work. Flue cured tobacco was harvested a few leaves from the bottom of the stalks as they began ripe and strung onto a tobacco stick and hung in a barn. When all of the rooms in the barn were filled the burners, gas or kerosene, were fired to cure the leaves of tobacco. Early flue curing was achieved by using wood heat, I remember my Dad and Uncle telling stories about filling the tobacco barns during the day and watching and feeding the fire during the night.
Your videos of the mountain people and their lifestyle are like a ray of sunlight through a window too long darkened by a world of rage, greed, hate and crime. Thank you for a pleasant alternative to the despondent daily news of life in the concrete jungle and a graphic reminder that man made the cities and God made the mountains, and you can certainly see the difference.
We apprecaite you watching and happy to hear you connect with and enjoy the videos. We love this way of life and the peo;ple we meet every week who work hard and help each other. Thanks for joining us!
How I long for days gone by. My papaw was a tobacco farmer in Yancey county, NC. I grew up handing "baccer" and the smell of a barn hanging full is unmatched. And these kind of people are the best kind.
There is a ton of food proctuion as well, apples, peaches, tomatoes, corn, beans, the full range as well as cotton in the more southern states. In the mountains of the Appalachian chain, farming is smaller in scale due to lack of flat land so its hard to compete with the agribusines of the Midwest. Here, small plots of tobacco could be tended by people who worked jobs off the farm and bring in some cash at the end of the year and most everyone in the country has a vegatable garden.
My grandfather was a depression era tobacco farmer in Reidsville, NC. My grandmother went on to work at Lorillard in Greensboro till she retired in the 90s. I remember as a kid seeing it growing in the fields of the NC piedmont. It was our states crop, and sort of a shame it’s almost gone now. I think we need to make an effort to preserve the barns while some are still standing.
Good ol' wacky tobaccy! Now that crop looks like the devil's lettuce. Look at how BIG THOSE leaves get! You'd think it's lettuce if you didn't know it was tobacco.
Crazy amount of deficiencies across every plot is why this is a dying business for these people. You could get away with uneducated farming of pretty much any crop 10-20 years ago but not anymore.
Back in the early 80’s I was in a group that would go around and contract cutting and hanging tobacco. I could sometimes cut 2 thousand sticks a day and got 7 cents a stick . Everyone wanted the top rail when hanging, we would race to the top for it , I usually won , lol .
I grew up in Lumberton NC working in the backer field as we called it and it was hard work. Them days were the golden days where you had little money but were still happy. Man I miss them day's. Not being poor, but just the way life was just so simple. Love your channel.
My kin use to farm backer, I helped on season and that was too hard a work fer me lol. Wish I'd been smoking when tobacco came from the US, I'm sure it would taste way better than the junk we get today.
We even used to have baccer here in parts of north GA when I was a kid back in the 90s/early 2000s, not a whole lot but still enough that I knew what it was and could recognize the smell. Recently went through rural kentucky because the highway was shut down and I had to take a detour and it brought me through hundreds of acres of tobacco and it just flooded me with memories
It was certinly a way of life. NC and KY were the country's largest producers in the day. Lots of folks have fond memories of the fellowship they had working together farming all sorts of crops.
The last of the baccer went away bout 15 years ago here in NW North Carolina. The barns are all still here. Most growers in this part of the mountains of NW swapped to cattle or christmas trees. My family has small pastured poultry farm. Buster mentioned about the income per acre, pastured poultry seemed to be the best for our small acreage. Expecting a hard freeze tonight 10/07/23. Winter will be here this month with the snow no doubt. Lord's giving us a break from the garden and farm. God Bless you and yours. Got a neighbor of mine, we're both in the fire department, his parents are right about 95 years old. His father cut the first power line right of way to ever enter our county. In our part of our county the electric came right about 1960. One of the last parts of the county to get electrified due to the remoteness and rugged terrain, even moreso than Jefferson and Lansing.
What great stories. The power came into these communities in late 1940s. A frind has a refrigerator bought new then that is till working! There have been lots of attempts at replacement crops, and many have gone to beef cattle but livestock is a lot of daily work, so its been tough.
i grew up in South Christian County, Kentucky. Across the road from my bedroom window view , all you could see , stretching out as far as your eye could see , were fields of tobacco. I have stripped, staked, cured , hung & taken tobacco to market to sell. Tobacco farming is bust-^ss, hard af , hot , nasty ass backbreaking work which doesnt pay a lot of money. Plus, it sucks nutrients outta the soil which requires the farner to rotate crops around the year & so tobacco farmers are usually also soybean ,corn & alfalfa farmers ....
Thanks so much for your thoughts and observations. So good to hear from you. Thanks for spending time with us as we document some of the appalachian traditions and ways. I hope you stop by often.
Tobacco and the families who cultivated/processed it, built this country... and now the government is legislating these families/businesses out of existence 😢 We owe these people a debt of gratitude. Without tobacco, the economic independence prerequisite to our very existence, would not have been.
I financed my teens in tobacco and hay, right over the hill in Barnardsville NC (Northern Buncombe Co).. .hot,hard work but I truly enjoy looking back at the experience.
Hello from Kentucky! On this side of the hill, I still run across tobacco around. But, it's real sad to watch a long tradition die out. God bless the farmers.
Farmer's Tobacco Co. of Cynthiana, Ky. produces "Kentucky's Best" brand. The non filters are comparable to the much higher priced Pall Mall non filters. The best tasting tobacco I know of. The filtered variety uses a lesser tobacco, because I have tried those as well. The same is also true of Pall Mall. Kentucky's best are only sold by Casey's stores, so very hard to find. I contacted the company and asked why I can't buy what they make in more than a few stores state wide. They are being throttled. A classic example of an excellent product being choked to death. You can buy 10 different brands of junk all over the state, but can only buy the great stuff when lucky.
I'm 45 this is what my childhood looked like,we grew five acres each year, I'm just across the mountain from you in TN,in unicoi county, sounds like our way of life sawmills, gardens, hunting, fishing
Brings back good memories. Nice to see the tradition is still going. Worked the fields in Barnardsville several times as a young guy. Sure made me understand what Hard work was! Great video and thanks for sharing 👍
I remember the days as a 5 and 6 year old getting lost in the tobacco stalks and getting yelled at, then the days as a 10 year old bundling it and hanging it taking off gloves and coats cause the itch being hot and getting all jittery from the tobacco
My husband (Charles Arrington) worked for Buster and Jessie almost 40 years. We live over the mtn from them. They are a dying breed, best people in the world!
Thats a connnection I was not aware of. Wauld that be Bee Tree or Laurel? Do you all farm today?
@@thefaceofappalachia We live on Will Arrington Road. Instead of staying straight going to Buster and Jessie’s, you turn left right above Arrington Branch Church
Melisa, thanks for watching and letting us know about your connection to the Nortons. I hope we get to meet you and your family at some point. We sure love your neck of the woods. The Nortons are truly wonderful people.
Yes, just down to earth, good folks!
I spent many hot Louisiana summers, walking garden rows with my PawPaw. Snapping, and shelling peas, shocking corn, slinging small square hay bales, oh the life of a 10 year old boy!! Haha
If I could go back in time, I wouldn't change a thing!
They'd be even more of a dying breed if they smoked their own product
I’m in SE NC and I grew up helping in tobacco on the old harvester and I would string tobacco on a wood stick. There was 8 people working on the harvester, 4 stringing and each stringer had someone cropping and handing it to the stringer. One person driving the tractor which pulled the harvester and a trailer behind which held the sticks full of tobacco. A person was on the trailer waiting for the stringers to call STICK. The full stick was handed to that person and in exchange an empty stick was given to start all over again. Sometimes at this point a cropper would begin to collect too much tobacco in their lap waiting on the new stick and they’d have to holler WHOA which signaled to the tractor driver to stop so we could catch up. Hot and dirty work but I wouldn’t trade those memories and the opportunity to work at 12 years old for nothing in this world. Good crowd of farm hands, talking while they work or singing and laughing. It was a great time really. Such wonderful memories. ❤❤
What great memories and stories. Thanks for sharing! Hard work for sure. Thanks for watching the video and sharing your thoughts.
That was a big part of my growing up,miss the way we used to do things.
Thanks for joining us and glad it brings back good memories!
This is amazing life,I used to work in tobacco in Tennessee,I now reside in Arizona,no one knows hard work until they have farmed....thank for you Chanel....brought back many memories
Steve, so good to hear from you. Tim is in Arizona as we speak. I have been there often. I love your neck of the woods. Thanks for watching and commenting. I hope you keep coming back. You are always welcome.
I miss the tobacco worms and playing tag in the barn before we hung. I can smell this video and it brings me joy. Thanks 👍
So glad it rung true with you and brought back fun memories!
We grew tobacco for people, spent many a year working it. I would drop the tobacco sticks, spear it, drive the tractor, load it on the wagon, an then strip it in the fall. I remember the big tobacco sale, it paid for xmas, our clothes an bills. My mama raised 7 kids by herself. We all worked, would do any job to make money and loved ever minute of it.
What a great story. Sounds like you worked hard and did everything related to growing and harvesting!
We still have an old tobacco barn on our property. We spent the last few years slowly replacing rotting boards, and now its lookin good.
That is great to hear. Seems like the landscape would not be the same without them. Thanks for tuning in and commenting. Keep coming back!
Before coal mines, gold mines, or the stock market, farmers were creating the wealth of this country. They should be honored on this Labor Day.
we agreee. Thanks to all you folks out there that help support them by making purchases at farmers markets and the like!
Thanks for sharing. Their way of farming may be going but tobacco is not all gone in NC! I work on heavy equipment and know 2 farmers in Lee County, NC who each planted over 500 acres this year.
That's quite the undertaking, flatter land down that way so more manageable on that scale but still a lot to manage.
I live in eastern NC. Here in my area, Pitt and surrounding counties there are still thousands of acres of tobacco grown.
Ron, thanks for your comment. Not so much here in western North Carolina.Hardly see it at all. Hope you will keep stopping by and visiting with us.
9/28/23: A little tobacco still grown in Eastern Middle Tennessee. Not much anywhere in TN. We’re beginning to see more cotton growing again in West Tennessee than I have seen in probably 50 years.
May I PLEASE come live on your farm?? I would love to help y'all!! And I have my own sleeping quarters!!
I'll pass along the offer!
ive primed my far share, hung it in the barn and tended the fire, to get it cured right, all by hand.
hello if yer out there Jerry Wayne 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Jerry. Thanks for sharing your story. We appreciate you tuning in.
Nothing easy about tobacco. Hottest days hoeing it, coldest days stripping it. Enjoyed the trip to the market with my dad.
James, glad the video brought back memories. Hope you are a subscriber to the channel and keep coming back. Hope to hear from you again.
Yes its runs the seasons from cool planting to hot to cold processing into bundles for market!
Sure would be nice when the rest of us can buy our own tobacco seeds...grow my own instead of paying these corporations that add stuff to my smoke
Soft times make soft men.
Tim & Scott, Another good one. My daddy raised tobacco like most people in the area. Buster was good friend of Nathan. They always traded work whether it was making molasses, raising tobacco, or hay . Good memories as usual. Don't stop!
It always brightens my day to hear from you and learn about the threads and connections that ran through the community. Hope to see you soon.
Tobacco is good insecticide, I use it for mites,
Tobacco barns is one of the best smells God came up with.
I agree. Even though I have never smoked, I think it, along with hay, are two of the best smells in the country.
Never too late to start!@@thefaceofappalachia
What a beautiful couple, as a 55 year old man this took me back to my younger years of working in tobacco, hay, and gardening with my parents. Little did I know at the time that I was experiencing some of the best this world affords us.
So glad to hear this brought back such nice meories. Thanks for reaching out!
these folks right hear are what built this country -salt of the earth folks for sure
That they are. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Wrong color…the folks who literally built this country arent these folks…they may be good people and as a nc native i appreciate what they do…but…lets not rewrite history
@@TheAcenightcreeper
Then stop trying to
@@TheAcenightcreeperwhites have been an overwhelming majority in this country from the beginning. We wouldn’t be where we are today if they sat back and let 10 percent of the population to do the work.
@@TheAcenightcreeperboth groups built this country.
The good days iv got Two boys this is what put them through school and taught them respect for life and how to work for a living God bless the farmers
Sounds like they had a great upbringing!
A great couple. They remind me of my aunt and uncle who were chicken farmers in Miss. They worked together everyday doing what they had to do to make a living.But they wouldn't have had it any other way. Good story and God Bless the Farmers. I wish the govt didn't have so much control over them .
When the tobacco was purely organic, the smoking Americans had the longest life expectancy in the world. Todays radioactive fertilizer of a crop, is no longer a remedy for chronic respiratory diseases, but actually induces them.
Lmao 😂
I grew up in southwestern Virginia in the 70s and 80s. Tobacco was king then. I performed these same tasks. Brings back memories of simpler days. It was hard work, but we did it without grumbling. Most kids today don’t have a clue about manual labor. I still live on the same farm, but no one raises tobacco anymore. Oh how times have changed 😢.
Yes its hard to find anyone farming tobacco today and it used to be a take it for granted sight along the roadsides here.
I remember taking vo ag classes at John Battle HS near Bristol VA. Part of the fundraisers for FFA came from growing tobacco on the high school grounds. How times have changed
I’d say I’m 10 year older, never grew tobacco but no stranger to a hoe. Young people just don’t know.
I went to college in Danville va in the 80s. Part of our first week of freshmen welcoming we were taken to the warehouses in downtown where they dried it. Knew several people who were tobacco farmers.
Grow marijuana now.
Good honest and hard working family.
Yes they are. Widely respected in their community and very involved helping others.
Thanks for your comment. They are awesome people.
👋👍🇺🇲🇨🇭🏴☠️🙂 Wasn't duke university built by tobacco company?
Government destroyed industry
.
I think you are historically correct.
You will be proud to know that here in Central PA, Northern Appalachia, tobacco grows through our valleys. Mostly the Amish doing it
Interesting to know. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Would love to see that sometime.
Thank god for the Amish, basically our human time capsules.
Two good people, you don't know it but your way of life is honorable and is fast disappearing. Keep that farm going as long as the good Lord will allow you.
Thanks for your time and comment. Please keep stopping by for a visit!
The first ten seconds made me want to cry. Many of my best childhood memories are tied to tobacco. Tobacco wasn't only a cash crop for Appalachia, but a big part of life. It was a way for folks to get enough money to climb out of debt, or have a slightly better quality of life. Many a birthday present and school outfit were bought with tobacco. It was means to an end, and now that it's gone there's been no worthy replacement. It's a bygone era.
Well said. It is a mostly bygone era and a sorely missing souce of income that almost every farm here cold count on each fall to pay the taxes and settle up on groceries and all.
Yeah, but two things... 1) it's a product that kills people and 2) they should have taken the money and progressed beyond to new crops and/or moved to locations with better opportunities, education, etc.
@@turbodog99two things- 1) Maybe read that again. It wasn't a life changing amount of money that magically transformed rags to riches, and 2) how arrogant of you to assume anything about the lives, education, and opportunities of people who barely get by working a mountain farm. Tobacco in raw form is more or less harmless until it's processed by the cigarette companies who paid educated people (chemists) to make their products more addictive. It wasn't the farmers' fault. It must be nice to armchair quarterback so much of others' lives. Go eat a Richard.
I grew up in the holler just about a mile from these two, They are great folks. Hard working people who are just as good as they come. Alan Coates
Alan;
I'll second that. They are valuable members of their communtiy.
Great story! I enjoyed the description of the dying mountain tobacco farming and loved the back and forth comments of the couple. I remember watching my granddad, Ransom Teaster, who was from Madison County, taking tobacco leaves, putting molasses on them and twisting them to dry to make chewing tobacco.
Great memories of your grandfather. Tobacco was a big deal for many folks as far as making extra income to help them survive.
Gerald, I had not heard of the chewing tobacco recipe. Thanks for that story. Great to hear from you!
I grew up in south central Kentucky and was raised in the tobacco patch. It was our way of life until the buyout when they took all the tobacco bases from farmers.
I kn ow Kentucky was second only to NC in production so both economies took a hit.
I'm from here in Central Kentucky and from a little boy my family raised tobacco and the same thing happened the buy out came and not very many people even raise it anymore, but I sure do miss those days.
when the days were young, this put tears in my eyes how I wish we were in those days again. It was hard I bet , but very fulfilling and wholesome.
Melissa. Thanks for watching. You really have to have a strong work ethic to support yourself with this way of life, for sure.
Melissa, so glad you stopped by the channel. Thanks for your comment. Please come back often and continue to let us know your thoughts.
So says all of us, when the days were young.
Not hard at all
You'd be the first one complaining
“Scared of the barns”
“Most of then don’t wanna man up”
Disgusting, the state of our entitled and soft handed youth.
We used to be the land of the free and home of the brave. Someone needs to have them boys struggle. Their softness is going to ruin society. It already is.
Once cannabis becomes fully legal, they will have a new crop to grow. Many uses for cannabis.
And it’s not disgusting like tobacco is!
So much I could say and the memories I could share. They're right when they said people are scared and lazy. I'm from east Tennessee and up till about 20 years ago I made extra money working several crops , tobacco being one . I really miss the old days on the farm. I'm over 50 and you have to drive way out to find any tobacco fields. Used to be everywhere. Blessed my soul watching this. ❤
So glad to know that you enjoyed the episode and that it relates to your life as well.
I had family from sweetwater. Your cool!
You're dead on about the 20 years ago part. I'm from the tri cities and i can remember my grandfather taking me to show me his friend's cattle farms and tobacco fields as a small boy. Sadly most small farms in East TN seem to be going to land developers anymore as nobody in the family ever want to take them over.
From East Tennessee to. Worked tobacco along the French Broad River in the Riverdale community.
I love North Carolina
I have family there
I lived there 7 years while I raised my children there
Oh to be there again!
I love these country folk
Thanks for sharing your life stories
Thanks for sharing! Glad you are enjoying the episodes!
These are two beautiful people, often make the same comment to my bride... act like you love me, that was absolutely Priceless for me.
Yes they are a special couple, married 47 years they've figured something out to still enjoy being and working together.
In 2015 Harvard University confirmed nicotine wasn't addictive. The chemicals allowed to be added by the FDA were addictive. Nicotine is natural and actually good. Also a fantastic anti-resprory inflation treatment per the Harvard study..This crop should be worth it's weight in gold!
Big corporations ruin it all . Including countries .
You’re kidding right?
@@paddyoak1 not at all!
@@TheGoodguy68 I know that natural tobacco is not as bad as
“factory tobacco “, but nicotine is an addictive poison.
They don't build em like that anymore. Amazing people!
Yes they really are. He's 73 and climbing arouind the poles in the barn like a teenager and she's always working on something!
My Grandparents worked in Tobacco for years. Orange county NC.
Still to this day I love the smell of a gold Tobacco leaf.
Love the history in these videos.
Thanks for sharing..
Thanks for sharing! Its great to hear how many people remember this from their past.
A lot of memories just came back to me. When I left home in 1988, Daddy quit raisin backer, sold the cattle, and bought a Gas heating stove! I miss that work so much. Hard work, but it builds good character. Younger generation needs a good dose of the past! That sound of the spear made me smile.
Glad this brings back good memories and thanks for sharing the story about your dad.
Doug, thanks for watching and commenting. I love that sound as well! Hope to hear from you again.
@@scottallen6062 thank you, I actually had an uncle that worked on the test farm in Waynesville back in the 80’s. Tobacco was a large part of my childhood.
I’ll never forget that smell of burley curing up in the tier rails,weren’t much money but helped daddy pay the GI farm payment and and a little left to make ole Sanny Claus slide down the chimney.
we get a dose of the past when thinking about prices
Beautiful story and people. I'm so happy I found your channel. Thank you and God bless you!
Welcome!. Glad to have you along. I hope you'll take a look at some of our other videos as well for more great folk!
These two are so cute! Bless their hearts. Can you imagine what all they've seen and had to deal with thru the years. Wow. God bless them and may their days continue to be filled with laughter and love.
They are a fun and loving couple who have worked hard together to make a great life for themselves and their children. Can't say much higher praise!
Fifty years ago when I was a soldier and stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC, we were frequently in the field on maneuvers. We would often meet tobacco farmers who would let us sleep or get out of the weather in their barns (as long as the tobacco wasn't drying). I don't think I ever met a better class of people. We would always pay for our stay by leaving 5-10 lbs of coffee when we left.
What a wonderful story and a great memory. It sounds like everyone benefitted and helped each other out. And my experinece with farmers is the same; such helpful and giving folk.
I lived 45 min from Bragg thank you for your service
My great grandfather had 100 acres of tobacco allotment in 1936, year he died. My grandpa inherited a 1/3 of it ( 33 acres ) in 1938 after estate was settled. The “feds” had cut that 33 acres to about 12 acres by 1974. Great video of great people!
Great story. Thanks for sharing and for watching!
So good to hear from you. Thanks for continuing to visit. Great to hear about your history with tobacco farming. Things sure have changed!
Fuck the government taking from us.
My mom's family is in Floyd county KY and my grandfather was a coal miner, as was many generations of my family, and grew tobacco. I was a butcher for 40 years and I understand being a dying breed and no one wanting to man up and work. I will be 65 Thursday, May 2nd and I am retired and still working. I sure feel at home around people like buster and Jessie and out of place in the world we live in
Happy Birthday! We were just at Buster and Jessies this morning filming them seeding trays to plant sorghum in a few weeks to be harvested this fall. Sounds like you come from a family of hard workers!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!! Hope all is well for you and your family
Man Up. Aw that cute
You sound rediculous
@@PNNYRFACE "rediculos" oh my goodness, you can't have bad grammar AND a bad attitude it's one or the other.
God bless you
It was made illegal to grow tobacco in Australia about 20 yrs ago. 50 gram pouch of tobacco cost $150 aud
Wow, I did not know that. Thanks for sharing.
I and my little sister started working in tobacco at age 12/13 so we could buy our own school clothes in 1977 we worked harder in one summer than most children work in their hole lifetime now days. The government has taken away the right to grow food and to raise cattle on small farms now, The government taxes them so hard they can’t afford land and livestock anymore. The government wants young people to grow drugs now to stay high and drunk watching ballgames and playing video games so know one knows what the government is doing to The United States Of Mexico .
Burning plantbeds, drawing plants, pegging barefoot when it was wet, discing over acreage when the college boy came to measure, topping after a rain, priming leaf in the field, dropping sticks, housing when it was 100° in the top tier, book it down when it came into order, stripping when it was 20° and you couldn't feel your fingers. Tobacco was a hard crop. I've been there and done that. Never again. These folks deserve every penny they are paid for their crop. God bless America.
👍👍👏👏🇺🇲
Sounds like you know the drill. Yep, its a long hard season growing tobacco. Only a few continue to do it as they try to bring in a little extra money to pay the bills.Its interesting to watch all that is involved.
❤ I just love these true Americana videos. Wonderful, hardworking folks. The last of the real builders of America.
Susan, you have made my day. We so appreciate you spending time here and commenting on the video. I hope you have or will subscribe to the channel it really helps us to continue this tribute to the people in our area.
Folks like this won’t exist much in 20 more years. They know how to work and don’t whine about it.
David, I hear ya! So glad that on occasion we meet great young folks that understand and value some of the old ways. Folks will hopefully remember before it's all gone.
He spoke of the buy outs, this was the late 90s and we sold out to. Strange that most money set aside for farmers went everywhere. I remember a headline in the paper saying $100,000 was given to the Carter Fold in Hiltons Va. why
It was hard work and people were strong, wonderful memories.
My understanding is that there weren't restrictions on how the money was to be used so in North Carolina, for instance ,the legislature put it in the general fund so much of it didn't go to the farmers.
Ive read that you absorb a good amount of nicotine trough the skin just by working around tabacco, you can actually get nicotine poisoning, thats crazy.
I deliver mail to support my farming habit.
Sounds familiar! LOL. Keep coming back. You are always welcome.
Too bad you cant follow these folks through a tobacco planting and harvesting seasons... whew that would be some more undertakin'
I have done that over the years. In the still photos in the video you can get a sense of that, but I am doing that on video now. Processing the dried leaves starts in a few weeks, then to market. Hopefully we can share some of that in upcoming episodes.
What a wonderful couple! Thanks for sharing their story.
Thanks for watching! We appreciate you and are glad you are enjoying the episodes.
Hey Darren. I am so glad you enjoyed this episode on the Nortons and tobacco. Please come back often. You are always welcome.
Great video yo make me smile. I am 68 and headed out the the fields. Help is hard to find.
Sounds like you stay busy. I just spent the day with folks making molasses and they rely solely on family and neighbors for help as its hard to find other help.
In front of my neighborhood in Fayetteville, NC there used to be a tobacco field, and a cleared lot the neighborhood kids would go to play baseball, football, smear the queer( it was the 90's) or whatever. Last time I went home it was all condo's, and kids aren't even playing outside anymore. Just a few older folks power walking or jogging occasionally....sad.
Times have changed for sure. Its nice, when I ride around, to see kids outside playing and enjoying the outdoors, for sure.
What a waste of good farm land to grow trash like tobacco .
What a lovely couple. Hard, physical work is good for the body and the soul.
They are fun to be around and claim they are taking it easy these days, but you wouldn't know it to spend the day with them!
Brings back lots of memories, I use to use those tobacco sticks for my "horses" as a kid. I had a whole herd. I remember stringing up those leaves as the guys brought them in from the fields. I must have been about 8 yrs old. Shows how old I am now. We played outside and no computers invented. Barely had TV.
Connie; those are some great memories. I can see it in my minds eye. I have a walking stick someone has made recently from an old tobacco stick. Piles of them in the barns sitting unused now.
So good to hear from you! I love your memories of your stick horses. Awesome!
A diffrerent time for sure. Glad it brought back good memories!
Working in tobacco in southern Ontario Canada alot of farmers would hire north Carolina farmers to come up an cure the tobacco for them they had the knowledge met alot of people from Goldsboro and rocky mt. NC
So where does the main supply of tobacco come from now, and could I grow it in Mississippi?
Most is grown in China, India and Brazil. I would think you could grow it in MS but not sure, you'd need to check with farm agent to be sure.
My family was in the tobacco business in S.C. and N.C. for generations both growing and tobacco auction houses. I last farmed flue cured tobacco in the late 90's. Miss it! Hard work and a way of life. Thanks to you and the Norton's for sharing.
Thanks for sharing! Sounds like you have some great memories!
Hey Frank, thanks for spending time with the video and channel. What is "flue cured" tobacco? Keep coming back. You are always welcome.
@@scottallen6062
I grew up on a small farm in Robeson County NC near a little town called Lumber Bridge. Our Dad raised flue cured tobacco as well also soybeans, corn, cotton, wheat and peanuts. Yessir, it was hard, good work.
Flue cured tobacco was harvested a few leaves from the bottom of the stalks as they began ripe and strung onto a tobacco stick and hung in a barn. When all of the rooms in the barn were filled the burners, gas or kerosene, were fired to cure the leaves of tobacco. Early flue curing was achieved by using wood heat, I remember my Dad and Uncle telling stories about filling the tobacco barns during the day and watching and feeding the fire during the night.
Great maybe you can still get a little credit for some of the cancer deaths , right??!
@@jefferyschirm4103Why do you have to come here and start your nonsense? If you don’t like it don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Your videos of the mountain people and their lifestyle are like a ray of sunlight through a window too long darkened by a world of rage, greed, hate and crime. Thank you for a pleasant alternative to the despondent daily news of life in the concrete jungle and a graphic reminder that man made the cities and God made the mountains, and you can certainly see the difference.
We apprecaite you watching and happy to hear you connect with and enjoy the videos. We love this way of life and the peo;ple we meet every week who work hard and help each other. Thanks for joining us!
We still grow a ton of tobacco in southern ontario canada. Near lake erie particularly
Good to hear from you. Thanks for watching and taking time to comment here on the channel. I have been up that way lately. Very beautiful!
Yes, fascinating reminder of a younger USA. Mules and cheap labor. Stay safe
Thanks for watching!
How I long for days gone by. My papaw was a tobacco farmer in Yancey county, NC. I grew up handing "baccer" and the smell of a barn hanging full is unmatched.
And these kind of people are the best kind.
Sounds like you have some great memories. Glad this video was meaningful to you.
Why werent people in the south more interested in growing food instead of always growing drugs and making alcohol?
There is a ton of food proctuion as well, apples, peaches, tomatoes, corn, beans, the full range as well as cotton in the more southern states. In the mountains of the Appalachian chain, farming is smaller in scale due to lack of flat land so its hard to compete with the agribusines of the Midwest. Here, small plots of tobacco could be tended by people who worked jobs off the farm and bring in some cash at the end of the year and most everyone in the country has a vegatable garden.
My grandfather was a depression era tobacco farmer in Reidsville, NC. My grandmother went on to work at Lorillard in Greensboro till she retired in the 90s. I remember as a kid seeing it growing in the fields of the NC piedmont. It was our states crop, and sort of a shame it’s almost gone now. I think we need to make an effort to preserve the barns while some are still standing.
There are efforts in some places to preserve the barns or at least document them but I agree that it would be great if more could be done.
Tobacco farms all over NC. I’m surrounded, I think Tobacco farms are doing alright.
Glad to hear its still goiung where you live. All but gone in most parts of the state, especially in western NC arounnd us.
They seem like hard working good folks
They certainly are. Be sure to check out the next video where they are making molasses.
What agreat real life story old america we once knew❤.
Thomas, thanks for watching and responding to the video.
Good ol' wacky tobaccy! Now that crop looks like the devil's lettuce. Look at how BIG THOSE leaves get! You'd think it's lettuce if you didn't know it was tobacco.
Per 2024 tabacco cost €24,14 per 50 grams in the Netherlands. Time to plant your own tabacco.
Crazy amount of deficiencies across every plot is why this is a dying business for these people. You could get away with uneducated farming of pretty much any crop 10-20 years ago but not anymore.
Modern industrial farming is an atrocity.
My family raised tobacco in Henry County Virginia
Thats a beautiful area of the country. Lots of farming. Thanks for watching.
Back in the early 80’s I was in a group that would go around and contract cutting and hanging tobacco. I could sometimes cut 2 thousand sticks a day and got 7 cents a stick . Everyone wanted the top rail when hanging, we would race to the top for it , I usually won , lol .
Thanks for sharing. What great memories. I know that was hard work but sounds like you had a good group to work with.
I grew up in Lumberton NC working in the backer field as we called it and it was hard work. Them days were the golden days where you had little money but were still happy. Man I miss them day's. Not being poor, but just the way life was just so simple. Love your channel.
Thanks so much for watching!
Lumbee from Pembroke we raised Bacca at Burnt Swamp
Every tobacco farm could grow cannabis.
My kin use to farm backer, I helped on season and that was too hard a work fer me lol. Wish I'd been smoking when tobacco came from the US, I'm sure it would taste way better than the junk we get today.
It is hard work and over a long season. Thanks for watching!
We even used to have baccer here in parts of north GA when I was a kid back in the 90s/early 2000s, not a whole lot but still enough that I knew what it was and could recognize the smell. Recently went through rural kentucky because the highway was shut down and I had to take a detour and it brought me through hundreds of acres of tobacco and it just flooded me with memories
It was certinly a way of life. NC and KY were the country's largest producers in the day. Lots of folks have fond memories of the fellowship they had working together farming all sorts of crops.
Hoss Tool grows it down in GA
The last of the baccer went away bout 15 years ago here in NW North Carolina. The barns are all still here. Most growers in this part of the mountains of NW swapped to cattle or christmas trees.
My family has small pastured poultry farm. Buster mentioned about the income per acre, pastured poultry seemed to be the best for our small acreage. Expecting a hard freeze tonight 10/07/23. Winter will be here this month with the snow no doubt. Lord's giving us a break from the garden and farm. God Bless you and yours.
Got a neighbor of mine, we're both in the fire department, his parents are right about 95 years old. His father cut the first power line right of way to ever enter our county. In our part of our county the electric came right about 1960. One of the last parts of the county to get electrified due to the remoteness and rugged terrain, even moreso than Jefferson and Lansing.
So good to hear from you! Hope you guys were ready for the freeze. Got down to 34 here last night.
What great stories. The power came into these communities in late 1940s. A frind has a refrigerator bought new then that is till working! There have been lots of attempts at replacement crops, and many have gone to beef cattle but livestock is a lot of daily work, so its been tough.
Lol id keep my tractor exaust off my dryn tobachi itll make it taste not thee bad😂🤦♂️🤦♂️
Hello I really appreciate these folks I didn't know the government had athority over growing tobacco good people 😊❤
Thanks for watching and commenting!
i grew up in South Christian County, Kentucky. Across the road from my bedroom window view , all you could see , stretching out as far as your eye could see , were fields of tobacco. I have stripped, staked, cured , hung & taken tobacco to market to sell. Tobacco farming is bust-^ss, hard af , hot , nasty ass backbreaking work which doesnt pay a lot of money. Plus, it sucks nutrients outta the soil which requires the farner to rotate crops around the year & so tobacco farmers are usually also soybean ,corn & alfalfa farmers ....
Thanks so much for your thoughts and observations. So good to hear from you. Thanks for spending time with us as we document some of the appalachian traditions and ways. I hope you stop by often.
Will this mean there will be fewer lung cancer cases. Carcinogens are a very productive agent in reducing the surplus population.
Smoking homegrown tobacco doesn't cause cancer.
One of the best memories I have is my time in the tobacco field. And the smell of cured hanging tobacco is sweet.
It is, for sure. Thanks for sharing.
@@thefaceofappalachia Thank you for the trip back in time.
As though tobacco hasn't destroyed enough lives.
Tobacco and the families who cultivated/processed it, built this country... and now the government is legislating these families/businesses out of existence 😢
We owe these people a debt of gratitude. Without tobacco, the economic independence prerequisite to our very existence, would not have been.
There was some of them rows there looked like they were 10 miles long
Yeah, Randle, I'm sure its eeems that way to them too when they do the same actions hundreds of times!
I financed my teens in tobacco and hay, right over the hill in Barnardsville NC (Northern Buncombe Co).. .hot,hard work but I truly enjoy looking back at the experience.
Thats neat. Glad the video brings back good memories!
Hello from Kentucky! On this side of the hill, I still run across tobacco around. But, it's real sad to watch a long tradition die out. God bless the farmers.
Thansk for watching and getting in touch. We certainly appreciate it.
Farmer's Tobacco Co. of Cynthiana, Ky. produces "Kentucky's Best" brand. The non filters are comparable to the much higher priced Pall Mall non filters. The best tasting tobacco I know of. The filtered variety uses a lesser tobacco, because I have tried those as well. The same is also true of Pall Mall.
Kentucky's best are only sold by Casey's stores, so very hard to find. I contacted the company and asked why I can't buy what they make in more than a few stores state wide. They are being throttled. A classic example of an excellent product being choked to death. You can buy 10 different brands of junk all over the state, but can only buy the great stuff when lucky.
If the marijuana classification changes next session; grow the other smokable.
What type of herbicide do they use?
Great video! Two of the finest people in Madison County.
We agree and glad you are enjoying the videos.
I'm 45 this is what my childhood looked like,we grew five acres each year, I'm just across the mountain from you in TN,in unicoi county, sounds like our way of life sawmills, gardens, hunting, fishing
Great to hear from you. Sounds like you got a great way of life! I especially like the hunting and fishing part......lol
Brings back good memories. Nice to see the tradition is still going. Worked the fields in Barnardsville several times as a young guy. Sure made me understand what Hard work was! Great video and thanks for sharing 👍
thanks William! Keep coming back.
Beautiful people. This country is in short supply of these kind of folks.
Agreed. Its been a pleasure to spend time with them on the tobacco crop and on the molasses making just done.
I remember the days as a 5 and 6 year old getting lost in the tobacco stalks and getting yelled at, then the days as a 10 year old bundling it and hanging it taking off gloves and coats cause the itch being hot and getting all jittery from the tobacco
Thanks for spending time with us. I'm glad the video sparked some memories. You are always welcome so please stop by often.
Here in horry county, sc as well as other surrounding counties still thousand of acres of tabacco are farmed still
That must be quite a sight!