Sam’s son, Paul Saunders, propagated his first boxwood in the spring of 1947. During the Great Depression three of the brothers managed to keep up the farm partnership with the assistance of dedicated helpers and sharecroppers. That kind of training and discipline has a long history going back to 1915 when Robert’s grandfather, Sam, and four of his brothers from a family of eleven children formed a partnership to share the money they made trapping rabbits. We picked peaches, potted plants, loaded trucks, dug ditches, got up hay, fed and worked cattle, and even milked a Guernsey cow daily during elementary and middle school.” I still have my first paycheck for $13.80 from the summer of 1968 when I was four years old. “As children,” Saunders recalled, “my six brothers and I composed the workforce on the farm. Cattle only find a hole in the fence when it is dark and raining.” Dinner was often at the picnic table with extra seats for friends, coworkers, and visitors. Propagating boxwood was our job and preparing the cuttings in the living room at home was acceptable. He remembered a few: “Work was part of life whether you liked it or not, no matter how late you stayed out the previous night. Growing up on a family farm as one of seven brothers was full of adventures that ran the gamut from fun to frightening. Saunders, a multi-generational farmer from Piney River, Virginia, who grows woody ornamentals, annuals, perennials, field ornamentals, grafted trees, peaches, nectarines, apples, and Asian pears, has been selected as the overall winner of the Swisher/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award for 2022. SAUNDERS NAMED 2022 SOUTHEASTERN FARMER OF THE YEAR
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