Wisdom in Council

By Jennie Curtis

“The South--where roots, place, family, and tradition are the essence of identity.”
--Social historian Carl N. Degler

Farming has been an intricate part of southern culture over many generations. Take a drive through any small rural town here in the Sandhills and be treated to a wide variety of farm stands loaded with seasonal produce grown in and around this diverse area. A well-known and highly respected member of the farming community here is Mr. John Council, owner of Council Farms in Shannon, N.C. When I shook Mr. Council’s hand for the first time, his strong confident grip transported me into a different time and place. The dark brown skin of his hand was weathered with the many seasons; each line and callus told a story of how this life had shaped him throughout his now more than 70 years. As his hand embraced mine in a gesture of warm welcome and friendship, I was filled with a great interest and appreciation for the life he had chosen and the peace of mind that it awarded him.

Born into a family of sharecroppers in Robeson County, N.C. when segregation was alive and well, he was given his first mule to farm with at the age of five. Stop and think for a few minutes back to what you possibly might have been up to at the age of five…. I think I was learning how to tie my shoes and ride a bike with training wheels. Everyday he was responsible for that animal’s welfare and the equipment that he used to farm the fields with the skill of a grown man. Education consisted of little two-room school house miles down the road that he would attend on the rainy days. He lamented that most often he was so far behind it made learning the basics difficult and that the fields always took first priority. He did eventually learn to read and write but stated, “All of the education I have ever needed was given to me by the land.” Unaware of the hardship he was suffering at the time, he spoke fondly of his childhood memories spent with his family.

When he grew old enough to step out on his own, he moved to Camden, N.J., to see what the world outside of his small county held. He met and married his wife Willie Agnes, and through hard work he was able to purchase nine acres to farm. For the next thirty-five years they farmed their small plot while raising children in a time of great economic change. Mr. Council spoke of having to take many different outside jobs to feed his family from serving as a maintenance man for company such as Sears and J.C. Penny to fixing equipment for other farmers -- truly a man of all work. Every skill that he pulled from was self-taught while working the farm. As times progressed from the days of mule and plow to tractors and gasoline, he had to gain a new set of skills. Although he spoke of having no great love for any of these outside jobs, his joy for farming kept his love for life firmly rooted in the soil that he tended everyday.

In the early 1990s, he returned to North Carolina to aid his ailing father and purchased sixty-eight acres four miles outside of Raeford, N.C., in a tiny hamlet called Shannon. Devoting himself completely to the land, he and his now extended family have spent the last sixteen years building a working farm from the ground up. Priding himself on growing vegetables and raising animals as “only God would have me,” Council Farms is as natural as it gets. Although the farm is not certified organic, every leaf, fruit, egg and slab of bacon is nurtured in a completely organic environment. Following age-old methods passed down through generations, Mr. Council is passing along this hard earned and immeasurable wisdom to his children and grandchildren before he leaves this earth. In a time when carrying on the family business is becoming extinct because so many children show a lack of interest in the history that they were raised in and around, it is a relief to find a family so committed to carrying on the family name and the great expanse of knowledge that will be used and preserved for future generations to come.

Our little piece of Southern culture can be visited at the farmers market in downtown Southern Pines. When I visited Mr. Council on a fresh, bright Saturday morning, I was treated to a view of everything that his family can produce and love he has not only for the beautiful produce, meat and eggs that his farm provides this community but to an insight into the immense joy he feels in watching his grandchildren care for a way of life that he treasures. I and many others seemed drawn to the Council’s farm booth, not because it had the greatest display or the brightest banners with modern equipment, but rather the feeling that behind the modest and well-maintained setup was a type of quality we rarely find in any supermarket, small or otherwise these day. Mr. Council was quick to say that he has no regrets for choosing this way of life; the deep roots that connect him to the land he farms are all he will ever need to be happy. As I shook his hand in a friendly farewell, I felt somehow there can be no greater wisdom to part with than that.

Work Cited

Council, John. Personal interview. 29 May 2010.

Note: Jennie Curtis prepared this paper for HUM 122 as a student in the baking and pastry arts curriculum at Sandhills Community College. She is the pastry chief at Ashten’s Restaurant in Southern Pines, NC.