Archie. Let’s face it, if you’ve ever met my father, Archie Jennings, it was probably an experience. He’s unforgettable in his enthusiasm and tenacity to create, make, and grow new things as well as his BIG generous heart and kind spirit to lend a helping hand. A Farmer. A Father. A Coach. He has a very special way with words that cannot be replicated and reflect a sharp and probing mind as well as a demanding philosopher that isn’t quite settled with the ‘way things are’ or other people’s expectations. The Archman, as we sometimes call him, isn’t afraid to ask the tough questions. The kind of questions that will make you question yourself and what your doing to make a contribution to this world. He’s got a big appetite for food, farming, and life, and his big belly laughs will make you roll around on the ground along with him in laughter.
Today, he turns 76 years old! He was a WWII baby born in 1945 in Evansville, West Virginia. He’s the oldest of three brothers that lost their father early on in life (he was only 8). My dad started sorting coal at the mine when he was only 10, and knew at an early age he wanted to grow things. There’s so many stories to share, and yet he’s the first person to want to listen to your story and find a way that it connects back some way with his own. Because after all, we’re all connected one way or another. In 1979, with my mother (Mattie) and two little babies in tow, my father launched the ultimate dream and adventure of his lifetime by starting the Jennings Family Farm in Nashville, Michigan. I, Virginia, the third born daughter, sat down for a little Q & A for his 76th birthday. Happy Birthday, Daddy!
Interview with Archie Jennings, in His Own Words, April 5, 2021
Question (Q) with Virginia (V): I’m here with the Archman, April 5th, 2021. He’s looking a little ornery.
(BIG BELLY LAUGHS)
Archie (A) Response: Not a little ornery,…damned ornery!
(BIG LAUGH)
V: So we are going to do a little interview. I did this with mother, and this will not be the last time I do this because I want to collect stories from you guys, but this is a start. Okay. Let’s begin.
V: How long have you been farming?
A:….(sigh)…does ‘Forever’ count? I’ve been harvesting forever.
V: Do you remember what your first crop was?
A: Personal first crop, and brothers, we harvested May Apple roots when we were little. We heard there was money in it. Every year, we pulled May apple roots, dried them, and never sold them.
(BELLY LAUGHS BY ALL)
V: What did people use May apple roots for?
A: Ohhh they had value, I guess, for minerals and vitamins like I take. We used it for thinkin’ we was gonna have money.
V: What’s the first crop you actually got paid for?
A: Sweet corn. …. BLACKBERRIES! Blackberries. Blackberries…. I was wrong. It was blackberries. You could get 50 cents a gallon for blackberries in the 50s (1950s). When people didn’t have no money, the old people would pay up for blackberries. That was the first crop. That was a WIIIIILD Crop. That’s what that song wild mountain berries is all about.
(BELLY LAUGHS)
V: I’m imagining that was also a joint venture with your brothers?
A: Well,…cousins too. When it got to be blackberry time, everyone went to the thicket. The kids especially.
V: What’s your favorite part about farming?
A: My favorite part about farming is not having to work for ‘The Man.’ Period.
V: What’s your least favorite part about farming?
A: I haven’t run into that yet.
V: In all the years farming, what are you most proud of?
A: Oh….I don’t know. Still farming, and there ain’t too many people pissed at me. Actually, I don’t know whether anyone’s really pissed at me.
V: I doubt it. If you could do one thing differently (related to farming stuff), what would it be?
A: …I don’t think a damn thing. I ain’t a Dreamer. I’m a Doer.
V: Is there anything else you’d like to share?
A: If I could have preached, I would have preached about the consolidation or the … When I was a kid, they were always having problems with railroads being only one railroad, and all that monopolizing. They had Taft-Hartley Laws and things that kept that down. Well, we don’t live in a free society. You have to have, as Paul Harvey has said, to be free people, you have to be responsible. You can’t want what your neighbor has. You gotta be happy with what you got and do with what you got.
And when everyone started wanting what their neighbor has, and finding that that’s alright,…well it ain’t alright. And that’s why we only have a few farmers today versus millions of them seventy years ago. That’s my thought for the day!
V: Well, can we talk about that a little more? You guys started this farm in 1979, but you’ve been farming forever and have seen so many changes.
A: All the consolidation, the consolidation of the layers (egg layers) was sometime in the mid-50s. I remember talking to guys talking about how one morning they’d woken up and all the farmers that had eggs become of less value because great big chicken houses had started.
And the hogs, more less, finished in the 90s (1990s). And the Dairy has been a rapid consolidation for the last 30-35 years probably. And, uh, that’s why you don’t have any Main Street anymore.
This stuff of delivering…(shaking his head). I have a friend that says she has the truck that delivers that stuff (Amazon) stop at her house every damn day. Amazon delivers for a two dollar item. People, this don’t work, and I’m a dumb son of a B—-. …(pause…Virginia laughs)…That’s how it is. If you can have your dreams of a truck pulling up, let me tell you, it’ll cost ya. One of these days, it will cost. …..(pause)… Cuz one day, they ain’t gonna pull up no more.
V: That’s a really good point.
A: When you’re a slave eating only beans. If they think cows cause a lot of bad air, wait til everyone starts eating only beans. (laughs) You got it here, firsthand, and this ain’t Paul Harvey.
V: How would you change the food and farming system?
A: I wouldn’t let BIG Money people into it, but it’s too late. It’s all too late. It will all be something, but it won’t be what we thought it was going to be…
You sow what you reap.
V: Okay, to be continued. But for now one more question and then your favorites. Do you have any plans for retirement?
A: When they throw that handful of dirt down. They say ‘The Old Boy’s Retired!’
(Belly laugh)
V: Now for favorite things. What’s your Favorite Season of the Year:
A: I like winter less. So, the rest of it, the other three. Or in Michigan, the other six months. (laugh)
V: You’ve grown so many crops over the years, do you have a favorite you like to grow?
A: No.
V: Favorite to eat?
A: …..pause….Oh.. edible things we grew, I never mind eating any of them. Beef is my favorite meat. Milk is my favorite drink. So, I don’t know.
V: Isn’t buckwheat your favorite row crop?
A: Well, it’s what does me good.
V: We always kept a good garden. What things that come out of the garden do you look forward to the most?
A: Onions and lettuce, tomatoes,…then green beans. And, I like a little squash, but I don’t need a ton of it. Peas are good for me.
V: What about favorite farm tool?
A: Well, I started out loading manure with a pitchfork and a five gallon bucket. ..And uh, the skid loader has really improved that. And, a vacuum tank manure spreader. We used to dip manure pits with a 5 gallon bucket. Your mother went under the crates, or the nursery pig crates and they’d be $hitting on her while she’d be getting the $hit to me so I could dump it in the spreader. But, that’s just things you have to do when you’re a farmer.
We bought a skid loader 40 year ago, and it’s still running this morning. Headed for the rock bar!
V: Last one. What are your favorite types of memories from the farm?
A: (LAUGHING) Making that last damn mortgage payment, what else could it be!? That covers it people!!
(BIG BELLY LAUGHS!)
V: Thank you!
A: YEP.
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