We folks in eastern North Carolina celebrate our farm heritage
Every year since 2003, we have a big Farm Heritage Fair at the Senator Bob Martin Ag Center in Williamston, NC. Sadly, this fair happens no more, but it was fun while it did. Our “old timers” who knew how to bale hay, make cracklins and old farming techniques are no longer able to participate.
It wasn’t just about tractors. It wass about how life on the farm in eastern North Carolina used to be. Early on Saturday morning, there was a hog killing. And you can see how sausage was made on the farm up until the sixties. You would see parts of the hog you might not want to see.
My favorite part of the fair was seeing all the old equipment and tools – you could see an old peanut picker, a hay baler, old mule carts, old tobacco tools and so many tools that I had to ask the older farmers to help me understand how these tools were used. We had all these tools here on the farm and some of them are still here hanging on the barn walls.
Old Corn Sheller
And, yes, there were many farmers in coveralls and many John Deere baseball hats and some great antique tractors. I cannot see my Gentleman farmer father ever wearing a baseball hat. His hats were Dobbs and came from New York! Not a normal thing for his era. He did wear straw hats in the field.
Folks would make sausage, pick peanuts and make Cracklins – you could buy a small bag of cracklins to eat. This line for cracklins were long. You get a small paper bag with cracklins and a baked sweet potato. Good eating!
I always bought knives from one of the Ladies Aid Societies and I buy lots of honey. I swoon over the quilts and just basically hark back to my farm roots – it is a good feeling.
Each year I won several blue ribbons for my Strawberry jam and Blueberry Jam.
If you like old tools and farm equipment, this is the show for you.
FOR MORE INFORMATION call the Bob Martin Ag Center 252-792-5802
Farm Heritage Fair: December 5, 2015, Bob Martin Ag Center, Williamston, NC 27892, 9 a.m – 3 p.m.
Telephone: (252) 789-4370
GETTING THERE:
2900 NC Highway 125 South, Williamston, NC 27892
105 miles east of Raleigh, NC
103miles south of Norfolk, VA
59 miles north of New Bern, NC
4 miles northwest of Big Mill Bed & Breakfast in Williamston, NC
and don’t forget to visit us at Big Mill Bed & Breakfast in Williamston, NC 252-792-8787
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