About the Farmer

In 1958, Jackie Thomas was a senior in high school, doing his share on the family farm in Meadowview, Va.  The third of five children, Thomas learned the basics of tending the land; the family kept a vegetable garden, grew tobacco, and milked cows.  

                But when Thomas’s father died that year, he found himself thrust into the role of full-time farmer, suddenly assuming greater responsibilities than he’d ever had.

                “I pretty much just went right into full time that year,” said Thomas.  He purchased the home place ten years later, and worked for decades to continue meeting the high standards his dad had set for the farm.  “I kept sixty-five, seventy acres of tobacco until about 10 years ago,” Thomas said.  “And I milked sixty-five, seventy cows until about 1986.” 

                Having grown vegetables for his family’s own use all along, Thomas decided to transition his focus to the produce garden when he closed his tobacco business.  He expanded the acreage devoted to the garden, and made a point to increase variety to meet customers’ needs. 

                “We’ve got watermelons and canteloupes, and 6 or 7 different kinds of green beans,” he listed.  “Squash, beets, cucumbers, potatoes, onions.  And about 7 acres of sweet corn—I try to plant an acre about every 10 days to 2 weeks.  That way I have corn from the time of the first harvest all the way till the first frost.”  The first haul of corn, he expects, will come in just a few weeks.

                One key to the Thomas family’s successful shift to larger-scale produce sales has been the State Street Farmers Market in Bristol, where he has been selling for about 5 years.  Loyal customers come weekly to stock up on the farm’s goods, and sometimes to haggle.  But Thomas is quick to praise the kindness and honesty of almost every shopper he has come across. 

                “People down here are honest, I’ll tell you,” he said.  “I had one lady come up to me one Saturday and go in her pocket and say, ‘Here’s a quarter.’”  She had selected a 25-cent cucumber the week before, the customer explained, before realizing she was out of money.  “I didn’t even remember, but she came back with that quarter the next week,” Thomas said with a smile.

                  Thomas also depends on the help of his grown children and teenage grandsons, as well as two employees.  One of them is Alfredo Lopez, who has worked with the family for 11 years, and whom Thomas likes to joke about adopting into the family officially.  Thomas himself has scaled back on a lot of the heavy lifting, “but I still get out there when I can,” he said.

                Another beloved member of the Thomas Farms team is Kay, Thomas’ wife, who recently suffered a stroke and requires supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day.  “She does help us look after things as she can, but she’s not able to get out much,” he said.  On the way to her frequent doctors’ appointments, she likes him to take her down to have a look at the garden.  She misses it, and he’s glad to oblige her.

                “She’s my right arm,” he said.

                You can find Thomas Farms and many other vendors at the State Street Farmers Market , 810 State Street in Bristol, on Saturdays from 7 to 11 and Wednesdays from 3 to 7.  For more information, visit www.statestreetfarmersmarket.com.  Thomas Farms also operates a produce stand on Stonybrook Road just off Route 11 near I-81’s exit 22. 

Photo and article by Paige Campbell