Hopkins Farm

“…five generations have worked in these fields, hunted these woods, and fished some of the same ponds.”

In 1910, Joshua and Tennessee Baines homesteaded the original 40 acres that went on to become Hopkins Farms in Harrison. They had four children, Wright, Earl, Ervie and Pink. Their eldest son, Wright, married Hattie May in 1915, and they had two children, Kenneth and Ruth. Wright and Haddie added an additional 40 acres to the farm. They raised cattle, sheep, goats and chickens, and also had a large garden.

In the 1940s, Ruth married Tony and they had a daughter, Judy. They added 80 more acres to the homestead. Ruth worked on the farm raising cattle, chickens and turkeys, and she also sold eggs. Judy married Gary A. “Hoppy” Hopkins and the couple moved into Wright and Haddie’s home on the original homestead in the early 1970s with their children Gary W., Cindy L. and Jim.

“She was known in the community as the ‘Egg Lady,’” said Gary Hopkins about his grandmother Ruth.

Today, Hopkins owns and operates Hopkins Farm with his wife Cindy (Williamson). They have two children, Marcus and Cody. The farm still raises cattle and puts up hay.

He continued, “She told us she started with six old hens that her dad gave her, and grew to 6,000 hens.”

Ruth washed, graded and put the eggs into cartons in her basement. Five days a week, she sold the eggs door-to-door and to several grocery stores in the area. She continued her egg business for 25 years, until she “slowed down” to just cattle and hogs.

“Grandma loved hay season and put up her own hay from 1970 until the late ‘90s,” Hopkins said. “Grandma Ruth was as hard a worker as anyone you would ever meet and was very particular that things were done right. She would say, ‘If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?’

“Grandma made a lot of our clothes growing up. Patched our old clothes and made a lot of quilts. She donated one every year to the fire department and was the top seller at the fall auction.

They always put out a large garden and would freeze and can their vegetables and fruit.”

Ruth modeled a good work ethic and love for the land, and displayed an enormous amount of wisdom. She, like her mother, could be found in the evenings reading the Bible and was able to quote scripture relevant to any situation.

“I loved growing up on the farm,” Hopkins said. “My grandma and great-grandma were right down the road, and who doesn’t

want to be at grandma’s? I was able to go fishing and swim at the creek with buddies. There were also plenty of chores and helping grandma was always fun. She would tell us that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.”

His grandmother often told him what it was like for her growing up on the farm.

“She told us that she started plowing the field at the age of 7,” he said. “Her family would dig around stumps until the team of horses could pull them out. They also picked up rocks from the hay meadow and stopped counting at 1,000 wagonloads.

“I always loved listening to grandma tell about how they did things when she was growing up, and how times had changed, and how tools and better equipment made things easier,” he added. “She would say sometimes the good old days were not that good. My wife and I feel blessed to have been able to have raised our boys on the same farm where five generations have worked in these fields, hunted these woods, and fished some of the same ponds.”

Gary agreed that the advancements in equipment and technology have made farming much easier now than what the generations before him experienced.

“I enjoy the sense of accomplishment when a new fence is built, a pond is dug, a little more land is cleared, the hay is up and brush hogging is done for the year,” he said. “I enjoy every part of cattle farming, although my wife might disagree when we are working cows. I especially love watching calves being born, watching them grow, and patching fence.”

The Hopkins say that they are honored to be a part of the Century Farm Program. “To us it is a chance to recognize what the generations before us started and something our grandchildren can pass on to future generations.”

Like many farmers today, Hopkins and his wife have jobs outside of farming to help pay the bills. He works for the Arkansas Department of Transportation and Cindy is a retired teacher. His advice to young people starting out in farming is: “Have a good banker and a job in town. Farm with your wife and kids. Get up early, stay up late, what you do before and after your job in town is what will make or break you.”