Curtis and Melissa Bobo, Curtis having grown up in Spring Hill and Melissa in Batesville, have had their farm since 2017, which consists now of eight chicken houses, 70 head of cattle, a burgeoning pine shaving sales operation and now a garden plot where their daughter Abbie is raising 225 watermelon plants amid a diverse assortment of other crops.
Her father views the garden as a pilot project. “If we do well this year, we’re talking about expanding next year. We just didn’t want to put in too much at one time,” Curtis said.
Curtis graduated from Spring Hill High and then went to Bethel Baptist College in Jacksonville, Arkansas for his studies to become a pastor. There he met his wife, Melissa. “It was a very, very small school,” Curtis said. “There were only 20 folks there, and there were two or three in our graduating group. It was just a real local church ministry bible college. We met there, and we were very close friends all four years. Our relationship blossomed and we got married.”
When they graduated, Curtis took a job in Jacksonville, North Carolina at Grace Baptist Church where they remained for about ten years before returning home about nine years ago.
As well as being a farmer, Curtis Bobo is pastor at Grace Baptist Church, where he has been since the first Sunday in March of 2019. “This is what I told the folks at the church,” he said. “’You’ve got me for 35 more years.’” He said he counts himself extraordinarily blessed to be in his position, farming where he grew up and in charge of the church where both sets of his grandparents were original members when Grace Baptist opened in 1974.
The Bobos are working land that has been in Curtis’ family since at least the mid-1960s when his grandfather Eugene Bobo farmed there. His aunt Vickie would do so as well, then his father Curtis Sr. In 2015 Curtis Jr. and his family came home to help his father, who had had a heart transplant. It was 2017 when the chance came to buy the land, which amounts to 300 acres, and Curtis Jr. did so.
Next came expanding the house on the property from 1,600 to its now 3,600 square feet to accommodate the family of ten. The Bobos’ children range in age from two to 17, with Abbie the avid gardener and multi-instrumentalist (violin, piano, cello, guitar and banjo) being the oldest. The other children pitch in too. In ascending order of age, they are Traeger 2, Timber 5, Trace 7, Tapley 9, Chloe 12, Hali 13, Titus 16 and Abbie 17.
Curtis describes 16-year-old son Titus as “my right-hand man” and said he helps run the chicken houses, rides the tractor and fluffs the hay. Melissa said of Titus, “If dad had to leave, he could pretty much run the farm on his own, because he’s with him every day, and he’s learning it and driving everything and working everything.” He can also run the Grace Baptist Church sound booth.
Hali and Chloe are learning to crochet, while the boys like to fish in the pond in front of the house, which offers catfish and perches. But the fish are still too small to harvest quite yet. Curtis said they are strictly catch and release fisherman for now.
On the day of my visit, Curtis walked through a pasture to some woods to call the cows and they nearly instantly came out to be photographed, showing a degree of loyalty I’ve seen of few other animals. He moves his herd from one fenced-off parcel of land to another after they have eaten down the Bermuda grass, but he also cuts and stores hay. Just in front of the house and four 400-feet long poultry houses is a shining pond the cows drink from. There’s also a creek behind the house.
About a mile south the Bobos have four more poultry houses on land they bought this past September. Between one pair of them is about a 150-feet long tilled area. The soil is the color of pine bark. Here the assortment of vegetables and fruits are sprouting under Abbie Bobo’s watchful eye. Curtis said it is not the first attempt at a garden on the Bobos’ property, but they have high hopes for a harvest of carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, okra, squash, cucumber, cantaloupe and watermelons to come in a couple months.
The Bobos keep busy with farm chores and with education. Curtis said everyone takes part in working in the chicken houses and in a small business of selling pine shavings to other local farmers and landscapers. Seven of the children are still being home schooled thanks to Melissa who Curtis calls “the glue that holds us all together.” Abbie has just finished her high school equivalency. Abbie said she valued the experience of being home schooled, because she could choose to take subjects more tailored to her own interests. She especially became absorbed into classic literature and fantasy fiction.
In the future Curtis looks to continue growing chickens. “I’ve done very well with Tyson. Overall, I’ve been happy. We’ve been able to make an honest living,” he said. With the cows, he hopes to build up to 100 head. As for the children, Curtis hopes to promote to them the value of hard work and self-motivation. “I try to tell my kids I wake up and work in the morning because I want to and because nobody’s making me do it. But it needs to be done. … We just live a different life than some folks do,” he said.
The Bobos learned they were named Farm Bureau’s Hempstead County Farm Family of the Year when the bureau announced their choices for all 75 Arkansas counties May 14th. The program has been in existence since 1947. Judges will visit the Bobos’ farm and meet the family in about a week, then on June 17th announce the Farm Family of the Year for the district that includes several southwest Arkansas counties. In December, the state Farm Family of the Year will be announced, and that family will compete for the Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year.
According to Farm Bureau’s website, the family chosen for Arkansas Farm Family of the Year will be chosen based on “efficiency of production, conservation of energy and resources, leadership in agricultural and community affairs, home and farm improvement, and home and farm management.”
(Photos by Ethan Houk & Jeff Smithpeters)
