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George
Schwartz of Elberta said he’s proud to be the third generation to farm
on his family’s land there. "My Dad had a few cows and such, but
my uncle was the big farmer to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps. I
worked with my uncle on the place when I was a young boy; and since he
and my aunt had no children the farm passed to me."
While
he may be farming the same land, Schwartz said the place has changed in
recent years. "Some of my grandfather’s barns were still standing
until Hurricane Ivan totaled them. The new barns are something I needed
to do anyway though. Today’s tractors and equipment are so much larger
than my grandfather’s that his barns were almost obsolete for my
peanut equipment."
And
George Schwartz says peanuts are his primary commodity. "I have
about 430 acres of peanuts and 60 brood cows. I also plant some corn and
brown top millet; and I cut square bales of oat and rye grass hay and
round bales of Bahia in the summer."
In
addition to baling Bahia, he also harvests the seed from the grass.
"It
takes some extra work, but there is money to be made in combining the
seed. It has such a high moisture content at first that we can’t auger
it right away. We have to shovel the seed by hand until it’s dried for
a while," he said.
Even
though Schwartz enjoys farming and is proud of what he does, he admits
he didn’t spend all his youth in the fields.
"If
I wasn’t riding the tractor, I was in the kitchen watching Mama or
Grandmama cook, so I learned a lot from the two of them. After I married
Debbie, I’d tell her every now and then she didn’t cook something
exactly the way Mama did. That would make her mad, and I’d cook some
for a while, but she fusses that I dirty up too many pots to do all the
cooking," he jokes.
His
wife Debbie works for the Elberta Farmers Cooperative and George has
prepared several meals for large groups associated with the Co-op.
"Most
of the cooking I do is for big crowds or in the winter when the farm is
pretty quiet and I can’t find much to do outside," Schwartz said.
He
also cooks for church functions and grower meetings. Steaks and baked
potatoes, as well as fried fish and hush puppies, are some of his most
common meals. But he has also gained a reputation for his whole hog.
"I
built myself a cooker from a 250 gallon propane tank. I put gas burners
in it so I could keep the temperature even and not have to worry about
wood or charcoal. It took about a week’s worth of work to finish, but
40 hours of effort got me exactly the cooker I needed," he said.
Despite
his local notoriety for hog cooking, Schwartz said it’s just a hobby
and he doesn’t want to do it all the time. Besides, he is working with
a next-generation farmer – his 5 year-old grandson, Logan.
"He
only lives a quarter of a mile down the road, so we get to spend a lot
of time with him. He’s definitely a little farm boy. He loves to see
the cows and ride the tractor. I even had a buddy seat installed just
for him on one of the tractors. Logan tells everybody that’s his
tractor and the other one is Paw-Paw’s," Schwartz said.
George
agreed to share his recipe for Whole Hog with The Co-op Pantry along
with some of his favorite family recipes.
"Stuffed
Cabbage is a family recipe that’s become sort of a New Year’s Day
tradition for us. Served with a thick slice of onion, it might be one of
the best meals I know," he said.
Kellie
Henderson is a freelance writer from Troy.
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