Seed Legacy Willodean Smyth
If you were to ask Willodean Smyth about her extraordinary life, she would assure you she is just “common as dirt.” Many consider her 92 years of self-sufficient farming to be outstanding, but, to Willodean, this “lost art” is second nature.
Painting of Willodean and Kenneth Smyth by Brenda Smyth
Willodean (“Dean” or “Granny”) Smyth is a native of Searcy County, Arkansas where she has been gardening her entire life. She was born in 1930 and grew up on a farm in Harriet. Like most people in 1930s rural Arkansas, Willodean was born into an agrarian lifestyle, and, just as naturally, she inherited a seed legacy– an heirloom passion and tradition of “putting that little bitty seed in the ground and watching it grow up and producing something.” Passed on through generations, such a legacy is preserved by the sharing of heirloom seeds and made everlasting by human connection. All that Willodean’s seed legacy entails cannot be confined to words on this page or even seeds in the ground. Her legacy is growing today in the hearts, bellies, and gardens of the countless people with whom she has shared wisdom, seeds, food, and love throughout her life.
“You’ve got to love to do it and to work in it and to dig in the dirt. And you just got to stay in there. It’s hard work, but it’s so rewarding. There’s just something about putting that little bitty seed in the ground and watching it grow up and producing something. And you can put it in a jar and can it and have it in the winter time. There’s just something about it that just makes you feel good.”
– Willodean’s advice for gardeners
Willodean’s individual human story is inseparable from the ongoing story of the earth with which she is ingrained. Her seed legacy tells the story of her family, the story of her community, and the story of us.
Smyth Family (2014) photo courtesy Smyth Family
Marshall, Arkansas, the town which she calls home, has been utilized for thousands of years. Here in the Ozarks, the Buffalo River and Middle Fork of the Little Red River form an area which was ideal for use by early hunter-gatherers and, later, settlement by Native American groups.
Marshall, Arkansas graphic by Emilee Burroughs
When the United States acquired the land in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Northern Arkansas was claimed as hunting territory for the Osage Indians. In 1808, the Osage sold this land to the United States, and in 1817, a large portion, including Searcy County, was established as a reservation for Cherokee Indians, many of whom had migrated to Arkansas in the late 18th century as their homeland to the east was threatened by expanding Euro-American settlement. During this time, other Native groups, including the Shawnee and Delaware, settled the area due to contention with white settlement near Little Rock and that of the Osage and Cherokee. By the late 1820s and early 1830s, Arkansas’s central Ozarks were open to white settlement. As Cherokee Removal began in 1828, surveyors took to establishing what would become Searcy County in 1835.
Willodean’s family immigrated to Searcy County from Wayne County, Tennessee in the mid-1800s, along with many other families from the Southeastern United States. As Willodean’s father explained to her, their ancestors had depleted their land and were looking for a fresh start. Homesteading in the Ozarks provided that fresh start. They were simple yeoman farmers living off the land and growing food from seeds that had been saved for generations, handed down from grandparent to parent to child. Often, heirloom varieties like those which were being grown by Willodean’s family are recorded with national names; Thomas Jefferson grew Whippoorwill peas at Monticello and Abraham Lincoln had Cushaw squash at his boyhood home. But, it is just as legendarily historic that the Harness and Marshall families grew those seeds in Tennessee and Arkansas, handing them down to reach the hands of Willodean Smyth.
Willodean Smyth (2009) photo by John Hammer courtesy Smyth Family
Both of Willodean’s parents, Joel Sherman Marshall and Polly Harness Marshall, were raised on farms, and they raised their children the same. Growing up during the Great Depression greatly influenced Willodean’s unique experience with traditional Ozark farming and gardening. The Depression emphasized the value in being frugal and self-sufficient. Decades later, she continues to prioritize zero waste in the garden by canning foods (e.g. cinnamon rings from overripe cucumbers) and reusing containers and other materials (e.g. feed bags as garden mulch).
Willodean Smyth covering weeds w/ feed sacks (2009) photo courtesy Smyth Family
During the Depression, Willodean’s family was grateful to live in the countryside of the Ozarks. Their home sat on 160 acres of land, and they utilized it; the family produced everything they ate. As Willodean and her sister grew up, they helped feed the family by maintaining their big garden filled with potatoes, carrots, cabbage, peas, green beans, pinto beans, pumpkins, squash, and onions. Additionally, their father had a field of oat crop and corn. They raised hogs, chickens, and milk cows. And, the family foraged from the wild. From the Ozarks’ natural garden, they enjoyed poke salat, huckleberries, dewberries, and boysenberries. Many people relied on wild game, some of which was hunted to local extinction due to the Depression’s increased demand. Nonetheless, farmers of Searcy County were not desperately displaced during the Depression. As a nod to self-sufficiency, Willodean assures, “if it hadn’t been for Whippoorwill peas, people during the Depression would have starved to death.” And, despite the inevitable hard times, her family survived and, with a grateful heart, Willodean boasts that she never has gone to bed hungry a day in her life.
Willodean Smyth (right) with her mother Polly & sister Lorene photo courtesy Smyth Family
During World War II, Willodean’s father, Joel, found employment at a naval yard in Bremerton, Washington. To keep the family together, her mother, Polly, sold the farm, and they all moved to Washington for some years before returning to Marshall. Up until that point, the family had never bought seeds; they had always been traded, gifted, and saved. Willodean considers moving to Washington to be when she “lost contact” with her seeds. However, hope was not lost. Years later, she held onto memories of the seed varieties that marked her childhood and acquired them to grow and save once again. Although the seeds she grew for her children were not personally handed down from her mother, Willodean guarantees “a Whippoorwill pea is a Whippoorwill pea.”
Sunset Restaurant Sign (2023) photo by Zack McCannon
After her family’s return to Marshall in the mid-1940s, Willodean attended and graduated high school while working at the Sunset Cafe. Following graduation, she worked three more years before marrying Kenneth Smyth. Starting the year they wed, they spent 65 years gardening together. As the seasons passed, their garden grew in crops and legacies. It included seeds that Kenneth’s family had raised and saved, such as Thousand-to-One green beans and Pencil Cob corn.
Willodean Smyth holding "Thousand to One" seed photo by Lisa Christman
Willodean Smyth holding "Pencil Cob" corn seed (2023) photo by Lisa Christman
Reflecting Willodean's upbringing, they grew Whippoorwill peas, Cushaw squash, and Tennessee Red Cob corn. Since she lost connection with the seeds her family had planted at their farm, her acquisition of them seems to have been up to chance and goodwill.
Bag of "Whippoorwill" pea seed (2023) photo by Lisa Christman
Early to Willodean’s collection, her cousin, Jimmy Clark, shared some Whippoorwill peas with her as a staple for the garden. Then, one day, the Smyth’s next door neighbor, Mary Ellen Weaver, came to the Smyth’s house carrying a Cushaw squash that someone had brought her. Ellen did not know what to do with the massive squash and trusted Willodean had the answers. And she did! Although she had not seen a Cushaw squash in years and was not sure they still existed, Willodean immediately recognized the white and green striped squash as that which her mother had always grown. With Ellen’s squash, she made squash pudding and saved enough seed to keep generations of Cushaw growing in her garden.
Willodean received her Tennessee Red Cob corn seeds in the environment where many seeds, recipes, food, and stories were exchanged: Smyth’s Store. Kenneth and Willodean operated a clothing store on the Marshall town square from the 60s until 1989, during which it was a popular social space for the community. One day, Willodean was telling Ben Casto, a regular Smyth’s Store conversationalist, about the field corn her father used to grow with a “red cob and white corn.” It happened to be that Willodean was describing Tennessee Red Cob corn, which Ben grew all the time. So, he brought her two or three ears of it, and, soon enough, she was growing the corn her father had always grown.
Willodean Smyth holding Tennessee Red Cob corn seed (2023) photo by Lisa Christman
These seed varieties embarked on a long journey to land in Willodean’s collection. Not only have they passed through hands in Marshall, but they have been cultivated for hundreds of years. Whippoorwill peas are understood to have originated in Africa and been brought to the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade. In the United States, the peas were first grown as a provisional crop by people who were enslaved. During the 1800s, they gained popularity across the Southeast as farmers began rotating crops to help restore over exploited soil. Eventually, by the mid-1900s, Whippoorwill peas stopped being cultivated on a large scale. Today, they are no longer grown in large-scale in the United States, but they are commercially available in Africa for both the peas and the leaves.
Whippoorwill peas growing at Willodean's house (2023) photo by Emilee Burroughs
Cushaw squash is not thought to have traveled as far; it originated in Southern Mexico and migrated with Native Americans up to the Southern United States and the Appalachian area. Today, the squash still grows wild in Mexico and Nicaragua and thrives in the very hot and dry Southwest United States.
Cushaw squash growing at Dee Brown Memorial Garden at UCA (2023) photo by Emilee Burroughs
A sister to squash, corn is also native to the Americas. It was domesticated in southwest Mexico from a wild plant called “teosinte.” Tennessee Red Cob is an heirloom variety that dates back to some time before the turn of the 20th century. Many red cob corn developed in Tennessee, and this variety was documented and preserved by the University of Tennessee, which granted its name.
Tennessee Red Cob corn growing at Willodean’s house (2023) photo by Emilee Burroughs
In the 21st century, Willodean’s great granddaughter, Rayya Smyth, was raised alongside rows of Tennessee Red Cob corn, Cushaw squash, and Whippoorwill peas. Although decades had passed since Willodean was raised the same, she still recognized the scene. She so lovingly recalls watching little Rayya running up and down rows of corn; something so simple “just delighted that child.” In separate conversations, both Willodean and Rayya looked back fondly at the times Rayya would spend with PaPa, Kenneth Smyth, on the porch swing with a salt shaker, a tomato fresh out of the garden, and juice dripping from her elbows.
Swing and tractor at Willodean’s house (2023) photo by Emilee Burroughs
Although PaPa and Rayya were generations apart and hundreds of years from their ancestors, they remained connected by the seed legacies which were growing within each of them.
The entire family has been touched by Willodean’s love for gardening. Of her three granddaughters, each of them has reflected that passion in their own way. The oldest, Amanda, has begun container gardening and at-home hydroponics. Melissa, Rayya’s mother, has a passion for history, and she works hard to preserve family history. Working to preserve her grandmother’s seed legacy, Melissa has found herself gardening to save seed. Their youngest sister, Erin, has a passion for raising farm animals and plans to raise a large garden to sustain her family.
Melissa and Owen, Willodean’s great-grandson, standing with Tennessee Red Cob corn (2023) photo by Lisa Christman
Gardening, farming, and canning are all familiar lifestyles for the Smyth family. At the peak of Willodean’s gardening, she maintained three separate gardens throughout Marshall. It was always a family affair to get together and can everything they could. They often joke about saving the best from the garden to can, rather than eat fresh. Brenda Smyth, Willodean’s daughter-in-law, warmly recalled one year Willodean bought a big bag of dried pinto beans to can. Brenda said, “She said it didn’t take as long to get them out for supper if they were canned, but I always believed she just wanted something to can.”
Willodean’s cellar (2009) photo courtesy Smyth Family
Willodean’s seed legacy extends further than her seed collection could ever reach. However, her seed collection serves as the physical manifestation of the immense passion, wisdom, and tradition she hopes will be preserved and shared as her legacy. Like all physical history, seed collections are a responsibility to maintain, and Willodean’s seed preservation has not been without adversity. Notably, she lost connection with her seeds when her family moved to Washington. More recently, she had her seeds stored in a freezer in her basement, and the freezer's power went out without her knowledge. The melted ice ruined many of her seeds, and it has been a family effort to revive what is left of the collection.
Today, Willodean has trusted Honeycomb Seed Bank with her saved Whippoorwill pea, Cushaw squash, and Tennessee Red Cob corn seeds. With gracious trust in Honeycomb Seed, her seed legacy can be safely preserved for generations, and, as the root impetus for preservation, it can be shared with you. As for what you will get from it, Willodean hopes for nothing less than “enjoyment.”
Willodean with Tennessee Red Cob corn seeds (2023) photo by Lisa Christman & Cover of Willodean's canning recipe book (2023) photo by Emilee Burroughs
Cushaw Cookies and Cushaw Custard Pie recipes courtesy Willodean Smyth
Note from Emilee Burroughs, author of Willodean's Seed Legacy:
It has been such a privilege and joy to get to know Willodean and the Smyth family. In the topics of gardening, anthropology, and history, our conversations have been wide ranging and overflowing with wisdom. In the topic of life in general, my faith in and love for our species continues to grow. Willodean Smyth is a great reminder of her husband’s go-to saying: “There’s more good people in this world than there are bad or we wouldn’t still be standing.” She is an extraordinary ordinary person, and she has a remarkable legacy to share. For her family and everyone who wishes to learn about the seeds she has saved, I hope this seed legacy is a sweet source for the personal story behind Willodean’s cultural and ecological traditions. Whether it be by reading the story, sharing recipes, swapping seeds, or talking about gardening, the human connection fostered by seed legacies is everlasting. I am eager to see it grow.
Note from Dr. Brian C. Campbell, author of "Closest to Everlastin'": Ozark Agricultural Biodiversity and Subsistence Traditions (2010) https://southernspaces.org/2010/closest-everlastin-ozark-agricultural-biodiversity-and-subsistence-traditions/
WilloDean represents the perseverance of long-standing Ozark cultural traditions, specifically the sustenance of family with locally adapted heirloom varieties. She has demonstrated the local spirit of resiliency in her desire to maintain important lifeways that have ensured the survival of myriad early settlers to the region. What stands out as remarkable about her example is that she pursued the guardianship of regional seed varieties when many local community members were moving towards more modern ways of farming and feeding themselves. Her legacy resides in her active, purposeful conservation of both important unique genetics (agricultural biodiversity) and cultural traditions (local agroecological knowledge) that sustained her immediate family, ancestors and community members and represent a priceless component of Ozark history and culture. (July 18, 2023 Dr. Brian Campbell)