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Real neighbors
Although I didn’t grow up or live on a farm, I would like to share this story about Carteret County farmers with you and your readers.
Poor, hungry and living in a shack near some tobacco farmers is how we grew up in Carteret County. One of the farmers also had a small vegetable field for his personal use. With a quarter or dollar in hand, we pulled a small wagon to the vegetable farmer’s home and asked him if we could buy some vegetables. He scratched his head, looked at my brothers and me, saw the wagon and then told us to get as many cabbage heads and string beans as we wanted.
The next year those tobacco fields near the house turned into vegetable fields. We ate a lot of potatoes, corn, cabbage and string beans, and sometimes we didn’t pay the farmers for what we took.
Many years later, I went back to those farmers and confessed, apologized, asked for their forgiveness and told them I wanted to pay for the vegetables. They talked among themselves, looked at me, and then smiled. One of them stood up and said, “Linda, have you ever wondered why we planted vegetables near your home and not tobacco? We knew about your family’s situation, and we wanted to make sure you children got your bellies full.”
Linda Thompson
Havelock, Carteret-Craven Electric
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