Parker’s Home Garden – Rickie Parker

0:00:00	Introduction
0:00:10	Background and how he started gardening
0:00:43	Gardening alone since his family passed
0:01:10	Crops he grows
0:01:41	Size of the garden
0:01:57	Considering expanding the garden
0:02:32	Giving away produce instead of selling
0:02:48	Sustainable farming practices
0:03:28	Managing soil health
0:04:58	Dealing with deer
0:05:44	Use of pesticides
0:06:07	Selling produce and farmers markets
0:06:29	Gardening traditions learned from his mother
0:07:35	How his garden has changed over time / climate change
0:09:36	Biggest challenges: getting steady rain
0:12:08	Dry growing seasons
0:13:33	Community gardening involvement
0:13:47	How often he gives away crops
0:15:17	History of the land he farms
0:17:26	Cost of maintaining the garden
0:18:32	Working with other local gardeners
0:20:17	Passing gardening knowledge to his granddaughter
0:20:57	Opportunities for Black farmers
0:21:28	Self-sustainability and buying from the grocery store
0:22:06	Stories from the garden
0:27:17	Wishing more young people gardened
0:28:35	Neighborhood development and loss of fruit trees
0:29:34	Encouraging younger generations to garden
0:30:53	Future of the land
0:32:27	Advice for new farmers
0:33:46	Cooking with his own crops

Makayla Brooks 00:00:00
This is Michaela Brooks sitting with Ricky Parker on November 23rd, 2024. Do you mind introducing yourself?

Rickie Parker 00:00:10
My name is Ricky B. Parker. I’m 62 years old and I’m from Albemarle North Carolina.

Makayla Brooks 00:00:20
Can you tell me a little bit about your background and how you started gardening?

Rickie Parker 00:00:24
Well, the garden that I’m in now, I’ve been in there ever since I was about seven years old. So, started with my mother, Kizzy Parker, and from then on that’s where I watched her. That’s where I learned to do all my garden trades from my mother.

Makayla Brooks 00:00:43
Sorry so you’ve been doing it since you were seven?

Rickie Parker 00:00:46
Since I was seven years old, yes.

Makayla Brooks 00:00:47
Okay,

Rickie Parker 00:00:48
because when we, back then as we was coming up as kids, we always had to. Help out with the chores around the house, you know, the day kids get paid to do chores. We had to get out there just doing.

Makayla Brooks 00:01:02
Is it just you doing it now?

Rickie Parker 00:01:04
Just me, as far as, you know, my family just made it, it’s been four years.

Makayla Brooks 00:01:10
What types of crops do you grow?

Rickie Parker 00:01:13
Well, at the present moment, I got collards, cabbage and greens. And during the summertime, I plant watermelon, cantaloupe, corn, okra, strained beans, sweet potatoes, and did I say cucumbers? Yeah. And and sometime white potatoes, depending on if I can get them in the ground earlier, you know.

Makayla Brooks 00:01:41
Is it a large plot garden?

Rickie Parker 00:01:43
It’s, I probably got about nine rows, probably about say 25, 30 yards long, you know, so pretty good size garden.

Makayla Brooks 00:01:57
Have you considered doing it on a larger scale?

Rickie Parker 00:02:00
No cause it, that’s a lot of work involved. My nine rows, I can I done got used to those nine. I can adjust to, you know, giving out product people. Cause I, what I like to do, I like to bless people. I’m a blessing, man. I like to take. stuff that I grow and give them out to the people that took care of me when I was a little boy. You know, so I got certain people I just take stuff to and, you know, if I leave it on their door, outside door handle they know it came from me, you know, so I just like to be a blessing to

Makayla Brooks 00:02:32
people. Do you sell?

Rickie Parker 00:02:34
Do I sell? No, I don’t sell, Just people that I grew up with, I just give it to them, you know. I get blessed by blessing others.

Makayla Brooks 00:02:48
I know larger farms use like more sustainable farming practices like no till and cover cropping. I’ve been told that it doesn’t work for small farms. Do you do anything specific for your crops?

Rickie Parker 00:03:02
Mostly what I try to, when I, You know, like, when I started in springtime, I liked to turn my dirt over. So, you know, I like to get down in there, get that dirt that’s down in there, good and rich, and get it to the top. So that way it helps your plants, cause your plants are growing by the roots. The roots are the whole base of your plant. Without no good root system, the plant ain’t going nowhere.

Makayla Brooks 00:03:28
How do you manage soil health? Like you just mentioned, how do you manage soil health and water conservation on your smaller crops?

Rickie Parker 00:03:36
What do you mean?

Makayla Brooks 00:03:38
Is there anything, like any specific

Rickie Parker 00:03:40
Like adding fertilizer or anything? Oh yeah. Once I get everything turned over, you know, and everything, all the grass and stuff dies out in you know. And go back there, go back and till it down. Then I usually put fertilizer and lime in the soil. Get that pH level up. So, you know, I got a little instrument that I put down in the soil. To give me, to test the soil. See, what exactly do I need? Do I need more fertilizer? Do I need more sun? Sunlight or whatever, I use that 10 10 10 don’t know the 10 10 10 represents, but that’s what I use And I always like to get me some Pellet line, back in the day, mama used to get that line that be in the bag. like powder farm line and throw it over the garden.

Makayla Brooks 00:04:33
But I get the pellet size and put it in my spreader and spread it out in the garden. Then I’ll go back and till it up. Tilted up in there, you know, and you kind of want to, when you plant in a garden, you kind of want to plant it about the time it’s going to seem like it’s going to rain, Have you had any issues with like wildlife, like deer or other animals? Yes.

Rickie Parker 00:04:58
Yes. Right now, a couple of years ago, the deers were just, I’d go over there every day and check on my garden and see if the sweet potato plants been pulled up. You know, they be my aides and things. Come find out, it’s a deal, so. I gotta I got a fence around it now, and I got a fence about this high, and I got a rope going around the top of it, and I tied a plastic bag to get some grocery stuff on that rope. So what it does, when the wind blows and makes that noise, it’ll deter the deer, you know, they won’t, they think it’s somebody out there, you know, that noise just deterred them, they ain’t had no more trouble out here since I did that.

Makayla Brooks 00:05:44
Do you, have you used insecticides?

Rickie Parker 00:05:47
Nah, I don’t never do dust.

Makayla Brooks 00:05:50
don’t

Rickie Parker 00:05:50
But I don’t think I will. I will use that that dust. 7 10 dust. It’s, you know, like bugs eating you, put that dust on. Yeah, I will use that, but this ordinary set size, nah.

Makayla Brooks 00:06:07
Would you consider selling? No.

Rickie Parker 00:06:09
I mean if I had it like that somebody wanted to buy something, I probably would.

Makayla Brooks 00:06:14
So you’ve never done like any farmer’s markets?

Rickie Parker
No. I’ll tell you I’m a giver.

Makayla Brooks
How Do you have any specific traditions pertaining to your mom’s learning, you said you learned it from your mother, so, did she teach you anything else?

Rickie Parker 00:06:29
Well, I was sitting there watching her and she taught me, you know, a couple of things I still do to this day is, when I make a roll, I got a roll, I got a roll now, you know, it’s a roll, but before I got that, I always used to take the corner. of a hole, the corner of it, and then just drag it down in the dirt and make, and then after I make my row whatever I plant, put my seeds in there, then maybe I might come back with some fertilizer in, inside, you know, and then depending on if it’s plants that I just make one specific hole for, I would put some water in After I put the fertilizer stuff in there, put some water in it, put the plant in there, and then just cover it up. But when I got a long row, what I usually do is I take my feet and just push the dirt side to side, left and right, all the way down till I cover my hole, I mean, the row up. And that’s the way my mama used to do it back in the day.

Makayla Brooks 00:07:30
Have you so what’s the difference between your garden then and now?

Rickie Parker 00:07:35
Well, now? Yeah. It’s got climate change. A lot of, like I said, when I was coming up in the evening time and summertime, we always got an afternoon shower. And now, you know, it might go two, three weeks without even getting any rain. but coming up, my momma never used the water hose, you know, she might have used the water hose in the beginning to pour some water in the pot and put it in the hole. But as far as just having to go out there with a water hose and keep your garden watered, she never did have to do that. And that’s a lot big difference now cause, I got a trash can back on the deck back there full of rainwater, you know, and so I try to use that rainwater on them instead of, you know, using a hose, but sometimes, you know, it’s necessary. I just got to water my garden. And thanks to the neighbors on what my garden is. A guy named DeJuan Spencer, his daddy Howard Spencer, you know, stayed right beside me on Richardson Street. He let me water my garden anytime I needed, you know, and I asked him, I said, well, you know, I’ll help you out on your water bill, you know, need some money once a month to help pay for me using your water. And his response was, we’ll cross that line when we get to it. God rest his soul, he died last year and but now, you know, his wife still lets me, you know, whenever I need the water, you know, I don’t try to take advantage of people. When I need the water, I go over there and just cut the water on, the water that holds. I’m in Water my garden, and I’m good to go, you know, plus too, you know, I give them stuff too out here, out in the garden too, so.

Makayla Brooks 00:09:32
What are the biggest challenges that you had concerning your fishing garden?

Rickie Parker 00:09:36
Well, the biggest challenge would be getting rain, a steady rain, cause like I sayI ain’t fortunate enough to where I could, run soaker hoses out there. Soaker hoses got holes in it. And the water come out real slow and it soaks the dirt. ButI find that not getting enough rain each year, cause sometimes, it can go, months and months without even getting any rain, And then by the time it get rain. And if you don’t, doing the dry spells like that, the hot spells, if you don’t keep your plants watered, then they’re going to wither away, you know, they’re going to die out. So that sign will kill them, you know, sign good for them too, but sign will kill them for not getting enough water. Like I said, the life of your plants is your roots. You get to keep your roots watered, you’ll be all right, but without getting no water to the root. You can find yourself, you know, I, I done been trying to plant some green beans for the last two, three years. They’ll come on in, but they won’t fill out. You know, they still be flat, you know, grain means puff out, but they’d be flat like chewing gum. They’d be flat, you know? And I just been trying to scratch my head and figure out what, you know, what’s going on. So the first year I planted, the first year that I did go back and start gardening, I’ve been gardening over 20 years now. When I find out too, you know, by growing stuff now, you want kind of natural stuff to eat. Then all this stuff that they give me now, you know, and like I said, you know, I’ll try to grow stuff that I can eat. Can, because I can too, can put back for a rainy day, you know, that’s one good thing. My mother did teach me, you know, taught me how to can and she can a lot of stuff. You know, like I said, we had to pick corn, suck corn, snap green beans, and whatever else was needed, you had to do, you know, it wasn’t no, I’m not going to do it. Back then, mothers didn’t play. Your grandma didn’t play either.

Makayla Brooks 00:12:03
Did you have any dry seasons like years that

Rickie Parker 00:12:08
Yeah, I had plenty. Matter of fact last year was one of the summertime plant, They didn’t do too good, but my winter stuff did good, cause you get more rain, and in the winter, you know, get more like dew in the wintertime than you will in the summer, but my winter crop, it did good last year cause some of my plants, I was able, like collards, you know, instead of pulling the whole collar out of the ground, what you do, you go and Take scissors and cut the individual leaves. So that way, you still got the base plant. And what’s going to happen is it’s going to regenerate. And more more collards. So with some of the plants last year, I was able to generate three times off of it. You know, just cut the leaves, then come back, cut them again. Somebody told me about that maybe about four or five years ago. And, like I say, if you don’t know if anything works, the best thing to do is to try it. That’s the only one you’re going to find out, is to try it. So, I tried it, and it worked out fine, so that’s what I do now. because I’m going to pick next week, I’m just going to cut the leaves, Them generate and hopefully I’ll get another back, probably around about January,

Makayla Brooks 00:13:27
have you participated in community gardening projects or have you let anyone.

Rickie Parker 00:13:33
No, I’ve never been in the community gardening things, I’m just a person that plants and gives to the people that need it.

Makayla Brooks 00:13:47
How often do you send out crops to people?

Rickie Parker 00:13:51
Well, it all depends on, what I got at the time. Especially now, I got at least four people that just from college too. One of them, the one lady I was talking about, Howard Spencer Wife, and my pastor. I always keep my pastor with some stuff, you know. And I like to take Mr. Orrin Parker, my cousin Orrin down here, taking some stuff. a lot of those people that I do take stuff back to, when I was a little boy, you know, I used to go down Mr. Owen’s house and with Kevin Parker and his mother, cause I knew on Sunday, no matter what, she gonna have some chicken. And we had chicken every Sunday. And like I said, when I start gardening and everything I used to take them for stuff by there too, you know. Tell them I appreciate, you know, what they did for me, you know, because you don’t realize that The impact that people could have on you as a kid Everybody was kind of your mama because if you did something out of the ordinary It’s gonna beat you home before you got there. So, you know, that’s why I like to say I just I just like being a blessing to people, you know, because God always blessing me You

Makayla Brooks 00:15:14
historically black farmers have faced significant barriers in agriculture. Have you encountered any challenges to access to land resources or support system?Do you farm here or somewhere else?

Rickie Parker 00:15:17
I farm out the street that I grew up on. how I got to start farming the area is, when I was seven years old, I helped my mom up until my mom passed in 1988. it was just sitting there. He had growed up, you know, roots and trees and vines and everything. So, I went and talked to my aunt, cause she owned the land. My aunt Lisa May. Talked to her, I told her I was gonna clean it up and start gardening. She told me, go head on, man. Since then, ever since then, I’ve been I keep it clean and keep gardening every year, but like I said, my first year that I started gardening was probably one of my best years I had. Cause like I said back in the day, your parents, they would pull so much stuff out of them gardens. I mean, people just need, you have foot tools. Full of string beans, literally, you know, you can you some stuff then you were able to give stuff away to people, you know, to help because everybody can’t get out there and farm, you know, I’m just a blessing for a few people around here, I like, I just like to give stuff, you know, and then say, if you was to come by, if I’m out there, you come out, you know, let’s talk to them and you say, I sure would like to have one on tomato. You probably live more than one , you know, because like I say, by you blessing other people, that’ll bring that blessing back to you. I don’t do stuff to receive nothing. I just do it because in my heart, a lot of people don’t do stuff on their heart no more. if you bring somebody here, say, man, can you help me pick these few limbs up? they gonna want some pay. back in the day we used to help each other by the heart, if you need some help, we’re here for you.

Makayla Brooks 00:17:20
How do you maintain your gardens if you’re not selling?

Rickie Parker 00:17:26
Oh, that’s, I mean, it don’t really cost that much to buy seed, nuts and I buy plenty, a lot In the summertime I buy a lot of, well, I buy a lot of plants. I go up to the place up here on 73, Georgia’s Farm, Plant Farm. So you get everything wholesale. You know, you get 6 plants, about 2. 50. So, that’s what I do. You know, plants, you know, I buy a lot of plants and seeds. I spend less than 5 on seeds. Cause seeds don’t, they don’t cost that much. But you know, going out, like your Walmart or Lowe’s, buying those individual plants. them plants cost you about five dollars for one plant. Five dollars for one plant, I can get twelve plants at the farmer’s platfarm for that price. I can get, I have twelve plants.

Makayla Brooks 00:18:27
Are there, do you sometimes work with other people when it comes to your farm? I know you mentioned that there’s not a lot around here.

Rickie Parker 00:18:32
Nah, I don’t, you know, only thing I do, I just we talk about stuff and you know, try to get up on some tips on something, you know, but. Like I said, you ain’t really got, well the guys that was farming, they dead now. So one of the guys lived right down the street here. And you know, there was Archie. Archie was gardening. Archie was the one that come over with the tractor, come over there and turn my dirt over for me. You know, and you got Rob McCraig down here. He was one gardener. But like I say the only person that I know in this neighborhood that’s got a garden is that McClendon man. Tim McClendon’s daddy. He’s the only one around here I know that’s got a garden beside, me. No, I ain’t seen nobody else doing it.

Makayla Brooks 00:19:22
What do you do differently than they did with the sharing exception stuff?

Rickie Parker 00:19:28
I don’t really know if I do anything different. I just try to stick to my thing. Same strategy, you know, but like I said, I did pick up the tip. I got the tip about the plastic bag from that McClendon man. Cause he, he had string tied around here, And so I said, well, let me try it. So I tried it and it worked. So, you know, sometimes I can look at other people and, if I see something that they doing, I’ll try it, you know, so the bags work and I’ve been doing it ever since.

Makayla Brooks 00:20:05
you use any modern technologies? No,

Makayla Brooks 00:20:10
Yeah. So who do you intend to pass, pass that on to anyone?

Rickie Parker 00:20:17
Well, I’ve been trying to do that with some of my grand, now my oldest granddaughter. My momma keep telling me that she won’t learn how to garden. For me, teach her how to garden, cause she like to grow stuff. But, in order for me to do that, you gotta make it upon yourself, and come to me. You want to learn how to garden. If you want to learn how to garden, just come over here to me, and we can go from there.

Makayla Brooks 00:20:49
Do you think so for black farmers specifically, what do you see as the biggest opportunities for black farmers?

Rickie Parker 00:20:57
The biggest opportunity is try to plant and grow something that you can put back in your freezer. You know, that’s the biggest thing you can do when you’re planting. if you plant something, you want to be able Get as much as you can off of it, and either you can it, or you give stuff away, to your family, friends, or whoever, So that’s a big thing to do.

Makayla Brooks 00:21:24
What else do you do with your crops? Do you are you mostly self sustainable?

Rickie Parker 00:21:28
Yeah, I mean, I go to the grocery store. We all got to go. But you know, I just try to plant stuff that I know. That I need the most of, and like I said, put it back. you can something. And go back ten years later. As long as it’s good and sealed. Just like the day you put it in there. Cause I, I had some stuff. I had opened up in 2008 or 9. Somewhere in there. So you know it’s what, 24?

Makayla Brooks 00:22:00
Do you have any specific stories like any experiences that shaped your understanding of farming?

Rickie Parker 00:22:06
that’s a good question, there. one story I can tell about the garden is I was up in the garden and I was smoking a cigarette and my mama came, , up the road and time I turned around, I put it out and when I put it out, I bent down and the worst thing I coulda did was. What I grabbed and put in my mouth to try to kill the smoke was some onions. You know, wild onions. Try to kill the smoke. And when my mama come up there, she wanted to smell my breath. And when she smelled my breath, she actually took the knife that she cut okra and stuff with, took the back end of it, and hit me in the head with it a couple times. From being on out I knew not to be trying to smoke out there in that garden. So, like I said, even my uncle used to hide his alcohol out there in the garden. Between screen beans and all that. He would go out there in the garden and mama kept realizing why he come back more happy than when he went out there So he had his stuff stashed out there. He’d go out there drinking stuff, come on back in the house. But yeah that was a good time. And one time when, you know, mama, me and mom we go, like I say, she show me how to pick stuff. I pick green beans, I show them how to pick tomatoes, you know, and when we get down to the, after we pick all that stuff, she’ll show them how to strain beans, she’ll show them how to suck the corn. You know, and it was down to making homemade ice cream, you know. My mom, she’s just one of those type of people that she lived off the land. That’s why I got all that stuff from living off the land, you know. Plants and vegetables and stuff, put them back, you know, break them out. But now I got bags of corn that I grew this summer. That’s what I’m gonna cook Thanksgiving. Corn, I’m gonna cook cabbage, I’m gonna cook turnip greens, I’m gonna call it. All that will be fresh. You know, and when I cook oxtailsI try to make me a combination soup. You know, okra, corn, tomato, put them in a jar, you know. And so when I cook my oxtail, that’s why I like to put that okra, corn, tomato in the oxtail. And then add some more stuff to it to make it right. But it’s just good to be able to do stuff like that. Cause, like I say just thinking about the thing about the McDonald’s with the onions. You go your own and you know what you got done. You know what you got in. You don’t know what, that’s why we gotta bless our stuff cause we don’t never know what we gonna get. We’ll go to the restaurant, you know what I’m saying? And then it got down to the, carrots. They was banged. Some brand, I forgot what name brand, but, you know. Growing your own stuff and putting it back, you kind of know what you got. Cause, you take the average chicken, three, four weeks, you full grown. You ready to eat. You better be, be headed and sit down and sit in the line, you know, so it’s a lot of stuff, you know, I try to, you know, I use the milk and go, that’s about, I don’t think I use, you know, on my route, you know, I use that milk and go, we just pour it in there, pour it in your watery, put your water in it, add your water to it. Cause you got a little sponge to, you know, put a spoonful in there, fill it up with water. And then just, But I find that, you know, more satisfying than trying to get all these pesticides, all these stuff to feed these plants with. Now, my nephew, now he stays in the grain barrel. Now he makes some kind of stuff look like look like, I don’t know, like a jello type stuff. So, it helps to clean you out and. Makes you, gives you more energy, you know, he makes this stuff. He sells it too. I forgot what it’s called. Seamoss? Seamoss. There you go. Seamoss? Seamoss?

Rickie Parker 00:26:46
Seamoss, yeah. I had me a, that stuff really gave me some energy. I was tearing that stuff up. I would get about two spoonful of it a day, every day. I mean, you know, they break it down to the science. You know, me? I’m just all ordinary farm, you know. I just want to put my seed in there, my fertilizer in there, add my water. And watch it grow, you know, watch it grow.

Makayla Brooks 00:27:14
Is there anything else that you’d like to share as your experience

Rickie Parker 00:27:17
I don’t think, I like to share, I just wish there were more younger people. Involved. Like I said even your dad didn’t know that when he was coming up with the boy, you can go by on every street, somebody had a garden. Somebody had some, somebody had a garden. You know, and we had fruit trees in the neighborhood. That when you walk, you can get you something to eat, get you something to eat. Even when we go to the park and go swimming, we still have to go down in the woods and pick them plums and plum trees down in there. So, you know, a lot of that, a lot of that stuff been demolished. That’s where all the plum trees was on this hill. You had something right down there in the end of Washington Lane, right there. Then you had some that could go down the street, you know, that could go through the woods where they’re building that stuff, that new hotel or whatever. You had trees all down in there. We had plenty of stuff to eat. We were coming up with peach trees, apricot trees. We know the people who had them, so we wait until it gets dusk, dark, and we go get them, you know.

Makayla Brooks 00:28:35
And then just these new buildings got built

Rickie Parker 00:28:37
Yeah. So you know, you got, either that or they, tore it down, because that’s all right. There used to be a number of pine trees right across the street right there, the whole corner. The park, he used to ride his motorcycle. Parker had a motorcycle he used to ride over there. This house right here, It’ll be right here, but I think they said that this house comes from, might’ve came up there, I don’t know, might’ve came up there, that schoolhouse up there, but I know that this house is where that, do you remember that little man that used to twirl a little, be twirling up, he’d be sitting, he was right there on this porch right here, he’d stay right here, he’d be twirling up, he’d have a little straw, like this, he’d be twirling in between his fingers, Some kind of lady, he do it, he got on a pair of overalls.

Makayla Brooks 00:29:26
I don’t know what that man’s name was. How do you think the younger generation of farmers and gardeners can be, encouraged to start gardening?

Rickie Parker 00:29:34
Well, you’re gonna have to take all This new technology away from them really. Because if you take their phone tapping and stuff away from them, they are really lost. So, you know, I can’t say what it would take for them to, they just going to have to either have that fire inside of ’em, you know, the woman do it, you know, because, you try to make. Kids do stuff that’s going to deter them from doing it. So it’s got to be a need or a want inside of them that want to do it. You know, cause if you get these kids now that want to do something like that, you know, when they come to you, you should be offer enough help to try to get them in the right direction. my granddaughter, she would come to me. She said, Papa, can you show me how to do such a set? Yeah, come on. I’ll do it. But I’m not gonna go out of my way to go find her to try to show her, you know. It’s something that she gonna have to come to me in order for me to help her. Which I will help her, you know.

Makayla Brooks 00:30:48
Would that be something that you’re worried about? no,

Rickie Parker 00:30:53
the land, my land is tied. It’s tied to a house, you know what I’m saying? It ain’t like. It was doing me no good, they bought it, I mean, took it, so however they would get it, it wasn’t doing no good because it got two houses in between them. The only thing you can do with it is build a house right there. But if she sold it then? She sold it. Ain’t nothing. I mean, she sold it she sold it. Wouldn’t be nothing I could do about it, but I’m just saying, still, the only thing they can do with it is keep it up and guarding it. I’ll put a house right there. Get about 4 rolls of corn, cause I love corn. That’s my favorite thing. I like corn and okra. And I try to get 4 rolls of corn. It didn’t do as bad as I want it to. Like I say, a lot of stuff was filling out all the way. Cause you wasn’t getting the necessary rain like you should be getting. a lot of time when you do get the rain, it become too late. So, yeah. That’s why you always try to keep the, around the plant, you always try to keep the dirt kind of loose, you know, give you roots.

Makayla Brooks 00:32:01
Yeah.

Rickie Parker 00:32:04
Should log. White people, they always out there in the morning pulling weeds. That’s what you got to do. when they start coming, you go in and cause for me, I like to see what I’m picking. I just got to see what

Makayla Brooks 00:32:20
if you could share one any kind of advice to new farmers, what would it be, in general?

Rickie Parker 00:32:27
First of all, find out what you’re gonna, what you’d like to plant. Then, once you find out what you want to plant, try to get somebody that’s like me or whoever’s been doing it for a while, And see what you need to do as far as equipping your ground, what type of fertilizer you might needand then and go from there, you know, cause it don’t hurt to go ask for help when you first start off on something, you can take what you want from whatever they give you. Take what you can, what you don’t want, just discard it, you know. Because everybody don’t like what everybody do. But like I said, you might find an idea in what he’s doing. You might, idea that you might have, then he might have the solution. Then you take what he got and put it with what you got and do what you thought you needed to do. You know, we got the same kind of blood, but we don’t eat the same kind of foods. You know, we eat differently. But still, when you take something from what they do, they can take some stuff from what we do, and incorporate it in their stuff, you know?

Makayla Brooks 00:33:44
Like what?

Rickie Parker 00:33:46
just cooking, I’ll give you an example. Ms. Shirley Crump. Y’all best have saw my cousin. She, when my kids, when I first got married, 1991. She my kids go to East Alabama High School. They came home with her. So I looked at the recipe and I said, I’m going to start trying to make me some sweet potato pie. So, I did what I had to do, baked it. Went one for nothing. So, I looked at the recipe and, I took out what I didn’t want to put in there and what she had. And, next few times I thought, make one. Cause the more you do, you know, do something, the better you’re going to be with it. You know, your first one ain’t always going to be the greatest. But once I, you know, as I start trying it, now I’m the best rotator pile man in the world. And I’m the best sweet potato pie man. I just made, I just gave my sister two. I gave Pastor one, and gave my sister two. Cause I’m gonna make four for Thanksgiving. But, I still got some of my potatoes that I grew. Sweet potatoes, I grow sweet potatoes every year. And matter of fact, I’ll show you a picture in just a moment. And, you know, I make pies now, man, it be, my pastor yesterday said, He said, boy, he said, I ain’t had it for a long time already. I said, I told him, I said, you didn’t, you don’t have to, you don’t have to hide it. You don’t have to hide it now. Cause, you know, his wife and me, they went to they went to Jamaica. They be back I think, today or tomorrow. But yeah, that’s my garden right there. See them Collards right there? See that’s where you want your roller to look like that. See how nice and clean it is? You see my fence right there, D? That’s my fence right there. Going around. I’m trying to find it. That’s some sweet potato that come out my garden.

Makayla Brooks 00:36:22
Oh, those are big.