Farmer Pope hangs it up

Seems like I wrote this column once before, but I promise you, this one is different. This one’s about Farmer Pope and why he’s shutting down his farm stand.

One of the delights of summertime is the availability of locally grown fresh produce. Now we all know that the tomatoes sold at any of the Fayette farm stands this week came by truck, mostly from Florida. Ours won’t be ripening until about mid-July. Still, it’s a pleasure to browse the fruits and veggies at places like Adams Farm and Nub’s on Ga. Highway 54 about halfway between Peachtree City and Fayetteville.

The best thing is that the food looks bigger and brighter than what you find in a supermarket, special effects notwithstanding, and makes for good eating while we’re waiting for the local stuff to mature.

There are other farm stands in the county, like the one on Ga. 85 Connector just entering Brooks...at least, I hope that one is still open.

But David Pope’s place, a.k.a. Farmer Pope’s, on Ebenezer Road just north of Peachtree City’s city limit, is closed.

Closed, for good, he says.

He’s done this before, several times in the last couple of years, even once earlier this year. Faithful customers (who dubbed him “Farmer Pope”) implored him to reopen, and he did.

He ran the place on the honor system, a rare arrangement these days.

You helped yourself to snap beans, yellow squash, corn on the cob, okra, ‘maters, melons, potatoes, grapes, and you could hardly wait to get home and start cooking dinner. Drop cash or a check into a box on the counter, or an IOU if you came up a little short, and be on your way.

For years it worked, and was especially convenient for us, only a couple of miles from our home.

For years it worked. Then thieves figured out how easy it was to get cash from the box on the counter and helped themselves. Or took the whole box.

David built a stouter box with a narrow metal reinforced slot, and chained and padlocked it to the counter. He installed a camera in one corner under the eaves, although most of us doubted it worked.

His poster board score cards would have been funny were they not so poignant: “June 12 thieves got $64.50.” “June 29 $18.75.” “July 7 Thank you, honest customers. Dirty thieves got $21 worth.”

By now, you see, they could no longer get the cash, but David knew exactly how much produce had been swiped.

When he threw in the towel a couple of years ago, I let my readers know about it, and they began leaving notes of sympathy and appreciation in the cash box. Some rounded up their bills a couple of dollars to try to offset the pilferage. David was touched, and gave it another go.

The thing that is so infuriating is that David is a kind, decent person, and if someone had come to him and asked for food, he’d have given it to him or her. We figured out that the thief was almost certainly a woman who lived in Peachtree City, the city with just about the highest income, in the county with just about the highest income, in the country. I’m not the only one who would have been delighted to get my hands on her.

The Popes have a long history in Fayette County. If you’re new here, I’ll betcha didn’t know David was a county commissioner who served one term beginning in 1972. There were three commissioners then; the other two were Ferrol A. Sams, Sr. (chairman) and Crawford Hewell.

(Interesting tidbit: When the commission system was put in place in the 1800s, these officials were called Inferior Court Commissioners.)

Pope is basically a farmer, however, and didn’t pursue politics. But hefting cartons of tomatoes and corn is hard work, and arthritis began to take its toll. When I saw him recently I was shocked to see how badly his back was twisted out of shape. The arthritis is in his spine, he says, and the pain is almost unendurable. Surgery would be impossible, his doctors tell him, and he can’t take more medicine.

The drought isn’t helping either. Between drought and the exertion of planting and harvesting, he hasn’t put in grocery crops in several years. His concern this year is that he can?t even raise enough grass to feed his 15 cattle. He’s having to buy feed, and it’s expensive, and without the income from the stand, he may be forced to sell off his little herd.

I wish I had a happy ending for this one, but I don’t. David misses his customers and he knows they miss him. He says that while the thievery was infuriating, he really is quitting because of his back, and I believe him.

It hurts to see a once-strong man bent low by pain as well as disenchantment with his fellow man. If Farmer Pope and his misplaced trust meant anything to you, let him know. His address is 782 Ebenezer Rd., Fayetteville 30214.

I know he’ll be glad to hear from “my good and honest customers.”

Thanks to Carolyn Cary for historic notes.