85-year-old relishes chance to share crops
Green Thumbs
East Buffalo – What started out as a hobby for Hugh Darold Orr has turned into a full-time job.
For the past 25 years of retirement, Orr has enjoyed planting a garden or two and watching it grow. He shares with neighbors and friends.
This season, he has five gardens that keep him working well over 40 hours a week.
His workday begins at 6 a.m., when he goes out to harvest ready crops before the sun gets too hot. He can be found picking beans, shucking corn, cutting okra, pulling squash or picking ripe tomatoes from the vine.
His favorite crop happens to be watermelon. Orr is hoping for a good crop this year – as last year, they got about the size of a football before a blight hit them and killed them.
Like most farmers, Orr staggers his crops so they will come in at different times. In turn, he can harvest them and keep a crop coming in until fall.
Orr is hopeful for more rain. He is currently watering his tomatoes and corn in one of the gardens with a sprinkler system.
Gardening is always a gamble. Too much or too little rain, hungry critters and disease are some of the challenges a farmer faces.
Last year, he experienced an unexpected challenge when his garden was visited by robbers that came in at night and picked about nine bushel of beans – before vanishing without a trace. His garden wasn’t the only one on East Buffalo that was robbed: several neighbors also had beans taken at night.
Orr takes his produce to the Graham County Farmers Market on Saturdays, where visitors can purchase fresh, ripe vegetables each week.
At the age of 85, he has learned many lessons in the garden.
“I do my part, and God does His. He expects us to do what we can,” Orr said.