Working with the Land

Our family often receives emails and calls regarding our rice, but at times, that conversation can turn into curious questions about our Southern way of life.  I wanted to discuss with you one Southern cultural habit, which is our tendency to name things. In the South, we have a tradition of naming everything. Names in the South carry special meanings, and we Southerners find it very important —and really second nature —to tag just about everything and everyone. The nature of the name can vary, based on how we feel toward the person or object; it can be loving, funny, and endearing, or it can be tongue-in-cheek, revealing, and sometimes sarcastic.

For example, we often name our children's middle names after their grandparents or parents. The spelling doesn’t have to match exactly; it only needs to sound similar to their namesake.   We also have a habit of calling just about anyone "sugar," "honey," "babe," or “sweetheart”. 

When calling out someone’s name from across the room, it can be drawn out so creatively that it becomes an art form. My loving grandmother always called me by my middle name, Suzanne. When she called me, it sounded more like "Sue-zi-anne." After all, why use just two syllables when you can extend it to three?

All our farm animals have names too—cows, bulls, goats, chickens, rabbits, peacocks, and turtles, mostly named by our grandchildren. Our rescued Golden Retriever is named Maggie (I initially thought she was an Irish Setter and wanted to give her an Irish name). In hindsight, we probably should have named her Penny, as she shines like a new penny.

One of the many interesting aspects of farming in the South is that we name our fields, too.  Just to share a few, we have the Good Friday, Thursday, Wednesday, and Tuesday fields, alongside the sand-blown field, boat ramp, cattle pasture, horse pasture, pig field, and crazy field. 

Our family also named our rice "Nature’s Blend" because it was grown in the field as a blend. It was completely accidental, but we believe that God always has a plan. Our Nature’s Blend rice is one example of this.

Instead of fighting against unexpected outcomes, we have learned through regenerative farming practices that working with nature is the best approach.

I hope this gives you insight into our everyday Southern way of life, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Until next time…

Blessings,

Robin