Cooperative Living October 2020 - 19

The call " hot roasted peanuts " was first heard
in the late 1800s at P.T. Barnum's circus.
Desire for peanuts spread as circus wagons
traveled across the country.
that they can enjoy, " he says,
emphasizing that freshness is the
key to success.
For its off-the-beaten-path
location, Bacon's Castle Peanuts has
a wide reach. Brock says he is doing
route sales to about 125 retailers
in Virginia and North Carolina.
He'll work small markets, too, such
as a farmer's market in nearby
Williamsburg, not because of what
he makes but because of who he sees.
" I sold a lady a bag of salted, inthe-shell
peanuts at the farmer's market
on Saturday morning. She calls back
on Thursday and wanted to know
if she could get 200 bags. I said, 'Are
you putting them in a store? I can give
you a tax-exempt status.'
" She says, 'No, I'm giving them away
at my wedding on Thanksgiving Day
and they're going to be a parting gift,' "
Brock recalls with a chuckle. " You pick
up some stores where they don't have
access to good peanuts and keep going. "
Brock's product has gone to the
White House as part of a presentation
to President Reagan and overseas to
Afghanistan and Iraq as part of care
packages.
FAMILY SECRET
To the southwest, Good Earth
Peanut Co. in Skippers, near Interstate
95, also works the peanut business
from multiple angles, growing some
of its own crops, buying others from
Greensville County farmers, cooking
peanuts using a family secret and
marketing across the country.
" It's my grandmother's recipe that
she used to use when she cooked
peanuts for us, late at night when
I was a kid, " says Lindsey Vincent,
who runs the company with his wife,
Scott. " As far as I know, it's not done
by any large companies. It's a special
preparation process we put peanuts
through, so they're less oily and less
salty, and we make them crunchier. "
This year marks Good Earth's 32nd
year in business - it got its name
co-opliving.com
The peanut was not a significant agricultural
crop until the early 1900s, when the boll
weevil destroyed the South's cotton crop.
Today, peanuts are a multimillion-dollar
industry in North Carolina, South Carolina
and Virginia, and an important crop in the
southeastern United States.
when Vincent was working with a
friend to develop a logo. " I pulled up a
vine of peanuts and said, 'You know,
they come right out of the good earth.
Maybe we'll call it the Good Earth
Peanut Co.' " It took about six years
for the Vincents to transform a side
business that kept them cooking until
3 a.m. some mornings into a full-time
operation that includes an old family
warehouse.
" I just have always loved the country
and agriculture. I grew up eating
peanuts and peanut butter, " Vincent
says. " You get tired of the works
sometimes, but it's a good product and it
makes for a good way to make a living. "
COVID ERA
On the top of everyone's mind is the
COVID-19 pandemic. Vincent says it
has cost Good Earth some business -
foot traffic has been down and while
curbside delivery at the store has helped
a little, revenues are generally down.
" We have a lot of very
good and loyal customers
and that's why we're still
here, " he says. " We feel
very fortunate. "
The pandemic has led
to a shift in Wakefield
Peanut Co.'s sales mix,
Steve Laine says.
" Our store business may
have dropped off a little bit,
but we sell a lot of wildlife
Third-generation farmer
John Brock sells peanuts, and
a bit of everything else, in
his Bacon's Castle, Va., store.
October 2020 | Cooperative Living | 17
feed, " he says. " One company
in Pennsylvania was buying a
tractor-trailer load of wildlife
feed from us every month and
selling it on Amazon. A lot of
people are home and I guess
they're just feeding their animals
like crazy, " he says.
Brock also saw the pandemic
alter people's buying habits.
Some elderly people in Surry County
have felt uncomfortable going to a
grocery store, and instead shop at
Bacon's Castle Peanuts for ham hocks
and fresh eggs.
" They feel safe; they go in and
can get out. It's been very noticeable, "
he says.
Regardless, there's room for
improvement. Walton is a new Virginia
peanut cultivar developed in part by
Virginia Tech researchers. It features
better resistance to extreme weather;
commercial seed production could be
available by 2021. Twenty years ago,
the average peanut yield was about
3,000 pounds an acre; Jimmy Laine
says peanut upgrades have increased
that to 5,000 to 6,000 pounds an acre.
" With these new varieties, we
picked up at least 1,000 pounds an
acre. We weren't getting paid as much, "
he chuckles, " but it's working out
just fine. " ■
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living October 2020

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