Buddy Miller starts his Saturdays at 2 a.m. He rises in the wee hours of the morning to get everything ready for the Red Stick Farmers Market downtown.
Though it may seem like a chore to give up sleep on the weekend, the 86-year-old doesn’t mind it. He tells me he doesn’t drink a drip of coffee to get through the day and even plans to go grocery shopping after a quick post-market rest.
“I figured if I couldn’t get up and be excited about going to work, I shouldn’t be drinking coffee to do that. I should be doing something different,” he laughs.
|
|
|
Miller hails from Waterproof, Louisiana, where he grows peaches, pears, pecans and more. His farm, Plantation Pecan Co., has thousands and thousands of bushes and trees that produce products he sells at the weekly farmers markets.
On a bright but humid Saturday, Miller greets me—not with a handshake but with a spoonful of roasted pecan pieces poured directly into my hand. Soon, Miller’s longtime friend and booth helper the Rev. Betsy Irvine is scooping a bite of pecan pie for me, too.
“Give her a bite bigger than that,” Miller generously encourages.
Miller is one of the longest participating farmers here. He says he’s been making the two-hour-plus drive to Baton Rouge almost every Saturday morning for over 20 years, and he doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.
“Where we are, there’s not a lot of people to support what we do,” he says. “We don’t have access to markets like (in Baton Rouge). This has been a wonderful market for us.”
Each week Miller sits behind his stand with a table of neatly placed pecan pouches spread in front of him. Whether shoppers are searching for whole pecans, roasted pieces or candied nuts, Miller has it in stock. He even dons a red hat that playfully reads “#Pecans” and holds his plastic spoon ready to sprinkle a sample in the hand of any passerby.
I watch him give out pecan shards, chat with customers and make a few sales. It’s clear he’s a fan favorite. With his jolly demeanor and friendly samples, how could he not be?
A quick scroll through the Red Stick Farmers Market’s Instagram and sure enough, almost every photo of Miller has plenty of comments proving even more how popular he is.
“Oh, how I love Mr. Buddy,” one commenter exclaims. Others echo, commenting, “A true gem!” and “Always enjoy visiting with him!”
Of course, Miller loves his customers just as much as they love him. In fact, he says the people at the market are one his favorite parts of participating in the weekly events.
|
|
|
“Interacting with the people here makes me feel better,” he smiles.
He jokes that the sales are good, too. breada.org
This article was originally published in the July 2023 issue of 225 magazine.