By Karen Parr-Moody
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – On any given day the Hooten family can be found at a corn crib that has been repurposed into a produce stand at the corner of Peachers Mill Road and Brook Hill Drive. Naturally it is called The Crib.
From this rustic stand Candy and John Hooten, along with their three small children, sell freshly-picked produce. The bounty includes tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, non-GMO corn, cabbage, peppers, tomatoes, summer squash, onions, beans, zucchini, cucumbers, watermelon and cantaloupe.
Candy is not new to selling produce. When she was five years old, her father planted more than 1,000 tomato plants, along with other vegetables. She recalls her siblings complained over the hot days spent caring for tomatoes. But they were rewarded.
Kara Hooten, age 7, helps out at The Crib./Karen Parr-Moody
“We sold the stuff out of our front yard and at the end of the year he gave my sister $1,000,” she said.
Her sister used the money to buy her first car, and she is still selling produce, operating a produce stand in nearby Guthrie, Ky.
Following in her mother’s footsteps, 7-year-old Kara helps her parents with the operation of The Crib. One a recent day she assisted in unloading the truck of its produce. (The family trucks in the produce from a group of Mennonite farmers in Kentucky.)
“Sometimes I do the cash register,” Kara said.
Candy tries to keep the stand’s prices current with those found in stores, if not less.
“We’ve got some here that cost a lot less than at the store,” she says.
The Crib is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The Hootens sell cherry tomatoes and regular tomatoes along with a cornucopia of other fruits and vegetables./Karen Parr-Moody
Karen Parr-Moody began a career as a New York journalist, working as a fashion reporter for Women’s Wear Daily, a beauty editor for Young Miss and a beauty and fashion writer for both In Style and People magazines. Regionally, she has been a writer at The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper and currently writes about arts and culture for Nashville Arts magazine each month.