If a fair measure of a farmer is what that farmer grows, Annie Diann Caver is one heck of a farmer.
Oh, sure, she sows enough seed and feed to raise an abundance of crops and cattle – enough to feed her and her family and have plenty left over to sell at market.
Caver’s Farm in Verbena in Chilton County is not unlike many other plots of land used for farming in that part of the state. What is different is the farmer. Caver is an elderly black woman, something that has become increasingly rare in the farming community.
“She’s a unicorn,” Jessica Caver Ray says of her mother.
Caver grew up on that farm and continued farming it with her husband, Jessie, after they were married. Their four children also grew up on the farm. Caver lost Jessie 18 years ago and now she continues to work the fields alone.
Well, not exactly alone.
You see, if a farmer is known by what she grows, those four children that Annie Diann and Jessie Caver raised must also be part of the equation. The three daughters and the son have gone off to have careers and families of their own, but they return when they can to help their mother on the farm or at the market.
They speak of their mother with the kind of respect and love that makes it clear they were taught hard work and given love all their lives.
What kind of farmer is Annie Diann Caver? Take a look at what she has grown.
Annie Diann Caver is producing great things at Caver’s Farm in Chilton County, Alabama from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)
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