Strange Family Folklore
Strange Family Folklore
Family-Grown Tobacco
In this episode, I interview my Cousin Thel Strange and his daughter, Angie Wade. Cousin Thel is the 10th child of Jessie Strange, who is the 2nd child of my Great Grandfather Jesse Strange.
My great grandfather, Jesse Strange, was born a slave and freed in his 20s. His 12 children were born free, and referred to as "The First Freeborn Generation." In this podcast series, I interview Jessee Strange's descendants in order to document our stories. This is Strange Family Folklore.
In this episode, I interview my Cousin Thel Strange and his daughter, Angie Wade. Cousin Thel is the 10th child of Jessie Strange, who is the 2nd child of my Great Grandfather Jesse Strange.
Teresa Roberson
You grew up in Cascade, Virginia, right?
Thel
I growed up in the woods.
Teresa Roberson
Where in the woods?
Thel
Down below Brosville.
Teresa Roberson
Brosville High School?
Thel
That's right.
Teresa Roberson
And that's where you graduated?
Thel
I didn't finish school.
Teresa Roberson
How far did you go in school?
Thel
Sixth grade.
Teresa Roberson
What did you do then?
Thel
I had everything and they took it from me.
Teresa Roberson
Who took what from you, Cousin Thel?
Thel
The Lord.
Teresa Roberson
The law?
Thel
It was The Lord took it.
Teresa Roberson
After sixth grade, what did you do?
Thel
Oh, farm all my life.
Teresa Roberson
Which crops?
Thel
Everything you can grow.
Teresa Roberson
Well, Cousin Thel, I'm a suburbanite, so I don't know what grows when. You'd have to give me a clue.
Thel
Tobacco, corn, wheat, snaps, tomatoes. Everything.
Teresa Roberson
So, you were a farmer all your life?
Thel
All my life. Still is now.
Teresa Roberson
Oh, what do you grow now?
Thel
Everything.
Teresa Roberson
Is it all year round or certain seasons?
Thel
No, ma'am. You grow them in summertime. Winter come, it cuts off.
Teresa Roberson
And what do you do then?
Thel
Sleep. Watch snow.
Teresa Roberson
But I'd like to know about Cascade when you were a child. What were things like back then compared to now?
Thel
The same as it is now.
Teresa Roberson
I don't believe that.
Thel
Well, it just wasn't many grown people then. It won't but a few grown people. Your mom and grandaddy and two or three more and that was all. Way back. When I was 12 and 14.
Angie
Basically, we had get up four o'clock in the morning. Get ready for the tobacco fields and there weren't no ifs ands or buts about it. We get out there. Of course, I was driving a tractor. Everybody else had to get them a row.
Teresa Roberson
Okay, about how many people were there working the tobacco field?
Thel
Eight-10.
Angie
Between eight and 10. It depends on how many you had out there. Then get there. Everybody get a row and pull it to the end and lunchtime around 12. You got a Coke and a pack of nabs and back at it again.
Teresa Roberson
Now nabs are those crackers with peanut butter inside, right?
Angie
Right. Yeah, that's what you got. A Coke and a pack of nabs. Maybe oatmeal cookie, if you wanted oatmeal cookie. And then back in the field again until everything is over. At the end, you know, we'd take it back to the barn and house it. String it up and house it and then after all that then suppertime come in after you get done. So, that's how it went every day.
Teresa Roberson
But that was just during the summer months, right?
Thel
Yes.
Teresa Roberson
So, was it just your family or other relatives?
Angie
All of us.
Thel
Everybody.
Angie
Uncle Percy's kids and everybody that wanted to help. Well had to help. They put them in the tobacco field.
Percy was Cousin Thel’s older brother, the 4th child of Jessie Strange.
Thel
We won't the onliest ones, anybody was doing it.
Teresa Roberson
And about how big was the plot of land?
Thel
Three hundred acres, but we didn't have a 10, 12,14 acres.
Teresa Roberson
Again, I'm a suburbanite. So, I don't even know how tobacco is processed. I just have a general idea. So, you guys would grow it, pick it, dry it out.
Angie
You plant it? Well, you know, how you get to field, right?
Teresa Roberson
Right.
Angie
We have to go plant it. That means one person or two people plant the tobacco in the field.
Thel
Three, four of them, five of them.
Angie
Okay, well, it was about five because some people had to walk too just to catch the bad and put them back in the ground. So, you know, that's the process you start from when you planting it.
Angie
It was very interesting.
Teresa Roberson
So, a machine would plant it, but if it didn't take or didn't go into the ground than the person who was walking behind the machine...
Thel
That's right.
Angie
Yes. Basically, what it was, it's like a little feeder you holding your hand and when it come around, you slap it in, you put it in there. Then the next person put theirs in there. Sometimes, because it depends on how fast the tractor is moving. If it goes around and miss, then see you done missed that spot. You don't want to open spot between tobacco plants. So, you have to go back, if it missed a spot, you have to put it in that hole so it won't leave so much space between it. The rows was really long.
Teresa Roberson
You teaching me something. I have no idea.
Angie
It's a life-learning experience. It was interesting and fun, but I don't know if that was the worst part or, the part when pulling it was the worst. I don't know. But the only part that I enjoyed was the top pullers. You can go through there, skin it off, and keep on going.
Teresa Roberson
OK, I don't even know what you just said.
Angie
Once the tobacco has growed, and got all the way up to its pullings, and it's time for you to pull it, and I'm talking about when you're on the last, the top pullings, is where you don't have to bend as much. You just up top you skin this stalk.
Teresa Roberson
Oh, so you’re riding on the tractor.
Angie
Yeah, well when we plant it, we're riding on the tractor. We're riding on the back end of the caboose. But after you plant it all and it starts to grow, and you getting ready to pull it, the best part is the end part. When it's all said and done and just about tobacco season is over. And you just go skin and stock off. That's the best part because you know it's about to be over with
Teresa Roberson
So, how long does it take tobacco to grow from the time you plant it to the time you're harvesting it?
Thel
Three months.
Angie
Yeah, about three months.
Teresa Roberson
Okay. So, right about now is the time it would be planted?
Angie
Yep. They actually planting now. May the 15th when they start planting.
Teresa Roberson
Okay, so around August is when it's harvested?
Angie
Last of July.
Teresa Roberson
But Angie, you talk like that's in the past tense. You guys don't do that anymore?
Thel
No, ma'am, we don't.
Teresa Roberson
Now, since that was only for three months, I just want to know the growing season. So, we started with summer. What would be planted after that?
Angie
After tobacco?
Teresa Roberson
Yes.
Thel
Sow wheat after that. Get ready to sow wheat. Get the corn in. And then when it starts snowing, you sit by the fire and look at snow.
Teresa Roberson
But you'd have to harvest the wheat and the corn before that.
Thel
You harvest the wheat and corn before that.
Teresa Roberson
Okay, because nothing's growing in the winter, right? That was always my impression.
Angie
No.
Teresa Roberson
What's the earliest crops after winter like late winter, early spring that could be planted?
Angie
Salad and corn, right?
Thel
Salad and corn.
Angie
Turnip greens and corn.
Thel
Corn and turnip greens.
Teresa Roberson
No collard greens?
Thel
Yes, ma'am.
Angie
All that type of stuff. Corn, collards, salad.
Teresa Roberson
When you guys say "salad," you're talking about different varieties of leafy greens, right?
Angie
Turnip greens, collard greens. Yeah.
Thel
Yeah, all of that.
Teresa Roberson
The Californians, I think, like kale, but I didn't have kale until I was an adult.
Thel
California, you can plant it anytime.
Teresa Roberson
Yeah, their weather is...
Thel 18:26
Different from this down here.
Angie
So, they can plan all year probably.
Thel
Yup, all the year.
Angie
They can plant their stuff all year, but we can't. That's the difference between Cali and here.
Teresa Roberson
In the winter time, what did you guys do? Because farmers have to have another activity or don't they? I'm just thinking economically.
Thel
Sit back down. Sit by the fire. Hunt.
Angie
Hunt deer, rabbits, squirrel.
Teresa Roberson
Is there a market for that?
Angie
Kill pigs. Get you some sausage and fat back and all that kind of stuff.
Teresa Roberson
Oh, that's right. So, in addition to growing crops, you guys were raising livestock.
Angie
Raising pigs, raising hogs, whatever you want to call it.
Teresa Roberson
And that was a year-round thing though.
Angie
Yeah.
Thel
Yes, ma'am.
Teresa Roberson
Now, did you guys ever have like a side business where you're making sausage and you would sell that or is that meat just for the family?
Angie
Yeah. sausage.
Teresa Roberson
I know my grandmother, Mama Bea, used to have that country, well I called it "country sausage," it was like I say, I was a suburbanite.
Angie
Yeah, that's what they called it, "country sausage." It was raised in the country; so, they called it "country sausage."
Teresa Roberson
Okay, and because I'm always thinking economics, can you walk me through so after the tobacco is processed, did it have to be auctioned off?
Angie
After you done planted it, picked it, and housed it meaning you housing it in the tobacco barn. You have to let it basically cook. You have to light the barn and let it cook to where it get where you want it. When you get to a certain extent, to where it's kind of... it's green when you picking it and housing it. Then, when you put it in the barn, and you light the barn, it's going to be, when you get ready for it to come, it's going to be fresh.
Thel
You to let it…you got to yellow it.
Angie
Yeah, it's got to be yellow. I was going to say "brown." It's got to be yellow. It's got to be a certain sticky in order for people to buy it.
Teresa Roberson
Is that hanging it up so it can dry out?
Thel
That's right. Hanging it up in the barn and let it get limber.
Angie
That's what "housing" means. You hanging it. "Housing" means you hanging it in the barn.
Teresa Roberson
Well see, you guys are the experts. I'm basically going by what I've seen in the movies or something. I don't know.
Angie
Yeah, you housing it in the barn. And you know, of course, it taking manpower to do that. Somebody has to be up on top of the barn to hang the tobacco.
Thel
That's when we had all wood barn. Now we got buck barns. You know what a buck barn is?
Teresa Roberson
No, sir.
Thel
I figured. A buck barn is... they done made it, and when you pull your tobacco, and put it in racks. When you get the racks pulled, you carry it in and then you light it. Don't take long with a buck barn.
Angie
Right, easier.
Teresa Roberson
What 's a buck barn made out of?
Thel
Tin.
Teresa Roberson
That's better than the wooden barns?
Angie
Oh, yes.
Thel
It's better than a wood barn.
Teresa Roberson
I guess so 'cause that metal will heat up.
Thel
That's right. All the heat.
Teresa Roberson
Would the buyers come to the barn?
Thel 23:27
No, no, no. It's heating it like you cooking on your cook stove, baking bread.
Angie
That's another process. After the tobacco has been heated through the buck barn. Then we have to sack it. You sack it yourself. And you have to sack it around, sack it, step on it, to get it in place. And to get it in the bag, you have to tie the bag up. And once you do that, and then you have to put it on the truck or the trailer to take it off to the auction site. And that's when they buy it at the auction site.
Teresa Roberson
Okay.
Angie
That's when they buy it. You take it down and then they'll throw it out the truck and lay it on the ground. Put it in sacks. Put it on the floor. And they'll just lay it out, open it up and go in flip it over and look at it and inspect it and do all that kind of stuff. Then they put a tag on it. You'll never know what that tag is and unless you know what they doing. Once they tag it that price is your tobacco. Somebody will buy it. They goes to the highest bidder. And they'll tag it. Then, they'll give your little ticket. You go take it to the cashier and she'll write you a check. That's how it works. Simple.
Teresa Roberson
So, tobacco of course is a cash crop. That's more profitable than corn, salad.
Angie
Tobacco is a leading...
Thel
It's what you smoke.
Angie
You get your cigarettes. That's how they make their cigarettes out of the tobacco that you grow.
Teresa Roberson
That much I knew. Never been a smoker, but that much I knew.
Angie
Okay. Yeah. That's how tobacco is.
Teresa Roberson
That's really a cash crop. I'm just trying to get the general picture here. Three months to grow. What was the time to yellow it in the buck barn?
Thel
All you do is hang it up in the barn and turn it on and let it swing there. When you open that door and look at it if it's all real yellow.
Teresa Roberson
But is that a matter of hours or days?
Thel
Take about a week when you got a barn full.
Angie
'Cause it's only on 130 degrees.
Teresa Roberson
That still sounds hot.
Angie
Yes, it sounds hot. You have to check it to see how you want it. The yellow that you want it is for the people to buy it. That's basically what you're doing.
Teresa Roberson
See, the only reason I said 130 sounds hot, is that I take hot yoga, which is 105 at 45 % humidity.
Thel
A hundred thirty and it's ready to go. That’s the way you got to heat it. About 130. Get to 130, get good and warm and then it'll get limber. Then it'll start yellowing.
Teresa Roberson
So, is there a percent of humidity that it has to be as well?
Thel
Let it get up to 105 and then it'll start drying. And then you go up a little more higher. And then you see how the leaves get to curling up on them and balling up. You just let it stay there. It'll all get balled up good.
Teresa Roberson
Well, this has been very educational, especially for those of us who did not grow up to be farmers.
Angie
Right.
Thel
Right.
Teresa Roberson
Angie, how old were you when you stopped farming? Or did you really stop?
Thel
I ain't never stopped.
Angie
He ain't stopped, but I stopped because I went to school and got my education.
Teresa Roberson
I think you're a few years younger than me because I'm 50.
Angie
Yeah, I am. I'm behind you a couple of years. I went to school. I'm going to school. I ain't out in no tobacco fields. No, no, no, no, I'm gonna get my education. I'm going to school. So, that's what I did. But I did help in the evenings. You know, I had to get off the bus at the farm. I would help string tobacco because after they finished pulling it, they bring it back to the barn. I would help string it after I'd get out of school. Come from school. Change your clothes. Put on your work clothes and get up behind the stringer. And you help string the tobacco up until we finished at the end of the day. Probably got done by maybe about six or seven. Something like that. That's what we did every day. Then weekend come, you may work on Saturdays too. It just depends if we had anything to do on Saturday at the farm. We may have had a Saturday off, but more than likely we didn't.
Angie
So that was working Monday through Saturday on the farm. But yes, I went to school and I stayed in school. A lot of them didn't. I did though.
Teresa Roberson
And what did you study?
Angie
Oh, just the general studies. After graduation, I went to work. I was going to the Air Force, but when 9/11 hit that changed my mind. So, I went straight to work.
Teresa Roberson
I do appreciate you guys telling me about tobacco farming because I had no clue whatsoever. I have a new appreciation now. And Thank you so much.
Thel 36:45
You're welcome, sugar.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai