Rooted and raised in the Georgia clay

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by BRITTANY HALL

When you think of life in the south, specifically south Georgia, there’s at least one similar thought that crosses everyone’s mind, the agriculture industry.

It’s an industry that is found within our everyday life, from the peanut and cotton fields to the rows of peach trees and pecan orchards, to those home-grown watermelons and tomatoes and sweet Vidalia onions that you can only find in the back of a beat-up old pick-up truck on some downtown corner.

We embrace and cherish this natural way of living because we’ve been born and bred to show hospitable grace of using our rich Georgia soil to cultivate and feed the masses. It’s just in our roots, and the Singletary brothers know the importance of this as well as the importance of the livelihood that surrounds it all.

8-year-old Lyndon and his brothers, 7-year-old Dessie and 2-year-old Emmitt, are the sons of Guy and Jodi Singletary. Though young, they’re swiftly on their way to becoming next generation farmers as the trio is growing up on the same farm that their mother, Jodi, grew up on and that their grandparents lived on years before them.

“The farm was purchased by my grandparents, Frank and Bernice McCullough, in the 1960’s from my grandfather’s grandparents. My husband Guy and I bought the land in 2019 and feel blessed to have the land still in our family,” Jodi explained.

As part of their family tradition, the Singletarys enjoy being together, caring for the land, and accomplishing the hard work that comes with it. Together they hope that by living and raising their boys on the farm their children will learn to live by example, and the same values that were once instilled in them and those before them will be instilled in their children so that they will continue to run the farm for generations to come.

“The boys love living on the farm. They enjoy the garden- planting, watering, harvesting, and sharing the crop with family and friends. Emmitt’s favorite part of his entire day is jumping on the side by side and checking on the chickens,” Jodi said before continuing… “We currently have a small coop with chickens. The boys help feed and water them daily. They also enjoy checking to see how many eggs they lay each day and gather those.”

While others may see this side of responsibility as a chore, the brothers view it more as simply being a part of the team. It’s a responsibility that allows them to be little boys by getting their hands dirty and pitching in to help, which will follow them through life and encourage them to be good citizens.

As the boys got older, Guy and Jodi discussed the addition of livestock to the farm to instill a sense of responsibility within their children, as well as provide them with the opportunity to understand the importance and value of caring for something else. After deciding between cows, pigs, or goats and doing lots of research, the family decided that goats would be something they would all enjoy. From that, a new tradition has been in the works.

“The boys would really like to show the goats through ABGA, JABGA, and 4-H. We also hope to be able to breed, raise, and sell registered goats to others,” Guy and Jodi explained.

The Singletary brothers created a YouTube video as part of the application process in hopes to win a $2000 scholarship from Boer Goat Nation to purchase a boer goat to help start their herd of goats on the farm. To learn more about the Singletary brothers’ goal of purchasing their boer goat you can find their informative video by searching “Boer Goat Nation Scholarship-Singletary Brothers” on YouTube. Make sure to give it a view and a like!

“We are fortunate to have grown up and have been a part of a community here in Emanuel County where agriculture is a big part of everyone’s life. Many professions in our community have ties to agriculture, directly and indirectly. Our hope is to instill values in our children that can be found in many agricultural families,” the Singletarys concluded.

The family is an inspiration of what hard work can accomplish by simply putting it out into the world and sharing it with your children.