‘They thought I’d lost my mind’

ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY NICOLE ZEMA

Far-flung deployments. Endless deadlines. Mandatory overtime.

You’d think these retirees would choose to relax after years of career building. But you’ll find them in their fields and high tunnels, embracing new challenges as they transition to a “retirement career” in agriculture. Robersons find their niche in farm retirement

When passersby stop at the Botanical Bites & Provisions farm stand in Spotsylvania County, they ask Thomas and Anita Roberson what they’re growing.

“Weeds!” Thomas says. “But the vegetables keep getting in the way,” he adds jokingly.

While the Robersons pursued careers in medicine, traveling internationally with the U.S. Army, they share a farming background. Thomas grew up on an Amherst County farm, and Anita spent vacations on her grandparents’ homestead in Spotsylvania County.

“We grew what we ate year-round,” Thomas recalled. “I left at 15 and said I would never go back to farming again.”

Anita worked as a medical personnel officer, and Thomas retired from performing arterial perfusions at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. As she was commuting to Washington D.C. for federal work, he moonlighted in emergency medicine and private practice.

“When I told everyone I was going into farming, they thought I’d lost my mind,” he recalled.

Anita’s loved ones refer to her as a “girly girl.”

“You’ll be hot and sweaty,” they told her, “with dirt under your fingernails.”

Anita didn’t care. “I was in the Army! I crawled under barbed wire! I was shot at!” she said. Ultimately, her family was supportive because they liked getting vegetables. “And now they have a greater appreciation of where food comes from. Plus, farming honors our heritage.”

Their 10-acre farm produces a host of fruits and vegetables, wildflower honey and cut flowers like peonies, roses and zinnias. They display colorful bouquets that grab passing motorists’ attention, enhancing their profit stream.

“The zinnias are Thomas-proof,” Anita joked. “You cut them, and they just keep coming back.”

Virginia Farm Bureau helped them attain a value-added grant for their farm-sourced cosmetic products— moisturizing soaps, lotions, lip balms and salves. They were named the 2015 Small Farmers of the Year by the Virginia State University Small Farm Outreach Program.

The Robersons are now preparing to grow Concord grapevines.

“Farming is physical,” Thomas said. “You have to be a plumber, engineer and mechanic. There’s more to it than throwing a seed in the ground.”

But they take solace in the absence of screeching beepers or midnight emergency calls.

“We spend as much time out here as we need to,” Thomas said. “And no one tells me I can’t stop to watch The Young and the Restless.”

Retired meteorologist weathers the agricultural learning curve

The guy who shared the daily weather forecast on TV is now tuning in to hear it himself at Twin Cedars Fincastle Farm in Botetourt County.

For 40 years, farmers in Southwest Virginia relied on WDBJ Channel 7 chief meteorologist and news anchor Robin Reed for the forecast that impacted their operations.

“I would forecast three days of sunshine during hay season, but on day three, it poured,” he remembered. “I’d go to the store with my head down because that was a moneymaking proposition for the farmers. Concerts or golf tournaments get rained out too. But for farmers, it’s a different story, and I realize it’s come full circle.”

After 50 years in broadcasting, Robin and his artist wife, Teresa, are developing their own agricultural enterprise on 11 acres overlooking downtown Fincastle. He holds a seat on the Roanoke County Farm Bureau board, and is a full-time communications professor at Virginia Tech.

Watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkins and gourds have performed well at Twin Cedars. Tenant farmers are growing 400 broccoli plants on-site, sharing their knowledge and techniques.

“We’re figuring out what farming is all about,” Robin said. “Teresa is the mastermind of all this. She’s my country girl from Page County, and I’ve been an urban boy my whole life.”

Robin said his life “changed significantly” when he bought a tractor. They plan to build hoop houses to extend the growing seasons and become profitable, perhaps tapping into the local farm-to-table restaurant scene. They may expand into growing U-pick pumpkins, ornamental corn and wildflowers.

“We don’t see these as relaxation years,” Teresa said. “Retirement should be something that makes your brain and body work. It will keep you going longer if you have a passion for something.”

For Robin, retirement means the end of deadlines after an intensely schedule-driven career. But challenges still present themselves in farming.

“The flipside of success is how quickly failure can come with weather,” he lamented. “It started raining late last season. Watermelons were still sitting on the vine at 75 pounds. I hurt my back picking them up, and they tasted awful!”

Agriculture has its share of beautiful surprises too. Teresa started off planting melon seeds in egg cartons with their grandson.

“We put them down in the field and darned if they didn’t take off!” she said. “You can pick something, eat it, and say—‘Wow, I put that seed in the ground.’”

Young farmer hangs up the hose

Seth Edwards still had decades of a firefighting career ahead of him when he turned in his gear in October 2021.

The full-time lieutenant at the Franklin Fire and Rescue Department was devoting similar hours to growing peanuts, cotton and corn with his dad, Greg, at Edwards Farms in Southampton County.

Edwards managed that pace for 10 years until the pandemic demanded more overtime at the FFRD.

“I have two boys and a girl, and I was missing ballgames, dance recitals and birthdays,” he recalled. “I was a supervisor, so I had a lot of work to do all the time and never had a break. Firefighting is a very stressful job, especially when you’re a medic too.”

Edwards started as a Branchville Fire Department volunteer at age 14. He eventually earned a degree in fire science.

“I used to wake up in the morning excited to go to work,” he said. “I loved the job and helping people. But sometimes I wouldn’t see the kids for two weeks straight.”

When his dad picked up more land, Edwards wrote his resignation letter and decided to embrace the flexible side of farming.

“My daughter had three seasons of softball, and I only saw two games while working at the fire department,” he said. “Now I’ve only missed one game during harvest.”

The Edwardses are four-time peanut yield champions for the Virginia Peanut Growers Association, producing 5,970 pounds per acre on 299.2 acres in 2022. They’ve been upgrading equipment to continue operations on 1,800 acres.

Still, former colleagues ask Edwards when he’s coming back to firefighting.

“Not right now,” he said. “Even though I’ve been slammed out here, I can drop this for our kids’ milestone events. No one says, ‘We’re too short-handed!’”

Farming has its share of aggravations too.

“On bad days I say I wish I was still at the fire department,” Edwards said. “But I don’t regret the decision.”