Sharecropping is a system of agriculture or agricultural production in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land (e.g., 50 percent of the crop). This should not be confused with a crop fixed rent contract, in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a fixed amount of crop per unit of land (e.g., 1 ton per hectare). Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range of different situations and types of agreements that have encompassed the system.In the 70’s, for a time, I lived in Sudbrook Park, a part of Pikesville, MD. This is an old community designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead before the turn of the last century. Sudbrook Park is beautiful and historic and was a great place to live and raise children.
Two of my friends lived in Pikesville, but in different situations than I did. Joe lived in a beautiful home on land that was basically rock with a thin covering of dirt. Jack lived in an apartment. All of the older Sudbrook Park houses had a minimum of 1 ½ acres of land. These guys wanted to be farmers and I didn’t! This made a great difference.
I was an artist and teacher living in this giant old house that needed lots of TLC, and they were Doctors, an Ophthalmologist and a Veterinarian, who wanted to work with their hands in an outdoor kind of way. This was a perfect match!
They came to me with a proposal. They could work the land and I could help to reap the harvest! Such a deal!
Joe and Jack brought over a rotary tiller (no mules were involved in the making of this story) and we agreed upon a plot size. My memory tells me it was 40’x40’. It was pretty big, I know that.
They provided the labor, I provided cokes, I think, and we proceeded. They also provided the plants and the seeds required for growth, and would come over and tend the garden all summer long. We had, although my memory may be a bit dim, but I think we had tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce, carrots and about all the other veggies I can think of and we had an abundance of them. My memory also tells me that my family would go on vacation each year in the week the vegetables would cone in and I always got to pick last. If I lose my innocence for a moment, this may have been planned by them as I never did anything much to help this venture.
Since we’re all still around, I will check with them today and see if this was a trick, planned to get the best stuff!
In any case, it was a symbiotic relationship that worked just fine until we left, leaving them without a garden plot.
Two of my friends lived in Pikesville, but in different situations than I did. Joe lived in a beautiful home on land that was basically rock with a thin covering of dirt. Jack lived in an apartment. All of the older Sudbrook Park houses had a minimum of 1 ½ acres of land. These guys wanted to be farmers and I didn’t! This made a great difference.
I was an artist and teacher living in this giant old house that needed lots of TLC, and they were Doctors, an Ophthalmologist and a Veterinarian, who wanted to work with their hands in an outdoor kind of way. This was a perfect match!
They came to me with a proposal. They could work the land and I could help to reap the harvest! Such a deal!
Joe and Jack brought over a rotary tiller (no mules were involved in the making of this story) and we agreed upon a plot size. My memory tells me it was 40’x40’. It was pretty big, I know that.
They provided the labor, I provided cokes, I think, and we proceeded. They also provided the plants and the seeds required for growth, and would come over and tend the garden all summer long. We had, although my memory may be a bit dim, but I think we had tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce, carrots and about all the other veggies I can think of and we had an abundance of them. My memory also tells me that my family would go on vacation each year in the week the vegetables would cone in and I always got to pick last. If I lose my innocence for a moment, this may have been planned by them as I never did anything much to help this venture.
Since we’re all still around, I will check with them today and see if this was a trick, planned to get the best stuff!
In any case, it was a symbiotic relationship that worked just fine until we left, leaving them without a garden plot.
I do hope they found another.
Editors note: Jack just wrote to me and commented, " Best one (story) yet . If my memory serves me we did NOT plan harvest to coincide with your vacations. We had no control over nature. Unfortunately we didn’t find another plot after you moved. Our veggies have not been the same since- nothing like home grown!!!!
Editors note #2: Joe wrote to me and commented, "The story of the garden actually is richer than the one you told in the blog. You were on a sabbatical and would not return to Baltimore until July. So Jack and I volunteered to put in a garden foryou. Linda (my first wife) told us what she wanted us to plant, and insisted that it be organic.Well, it was almost organic. I borrowed a tiller from my neighbor, and we tilled about half your yard. I got a sack of dehydrated cow manure, but then saw that the analysis was 1,1,1. Basically sterile cow shit with very little in the wayof nutrients. So we tilled in the bag of cow manure, and then added about 100 lbs of 10,10,10 fertilizer. After we set the plants, we put down black plastic and then mulch to keep the weeds to a minimum.As you mentioned, the garden produced a fabulous crop.
Linda was suspicious that maybe we fudged a bit on the "organic"part, but I was a chemist before I went to medical school, and I believed the chemicals were good for the plants. I did tell her what we did, and I guess she forgave me because the veggies were so good."
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