MIDWAY — Several generations ago, Liberty County was home to rice fields across its southern and eastern portions. Now, a local farm is bringing back the rice growing tradition, one small parcel at a time.

At the R&H Ranch and Fleming Farm, a one-acre plot of land is now home to the staple, growing and ready for cultivation.

“This is the first year we’ve done it,” said Daniel Fleming Sr., the patriarch of the family running the ranch. “We planted it back in March, the last of March. I didn’t want the frost to get it.”

The last time Daniel Fleming Sr. was in a rice field, he was 7 years old, he said.

“That was 74 years ago,” he said. “The Lord put it on me to plant rice here.” 

Rosie Fleming, Daniel’s daughter-in-law, said the rice plot is part of keeping a tradition and legacy going and to show how things were done and are done. 

“He wanted to grow the rice and harvest the rice to show the youth how it was when he was young,” she said. “Not everything comes on a shelf and that’s what we want to instill to the youth. It has to be grown, it has to be harvested and it was hard. Everything doesn’t come easy. It’s not an easy task. It was not easy back then.”

Rosie Fleming pointed out that the rice culture came to America, and Liberty County, from West African slaves, who put their knowledge on how to grow and harvest the grain.

“The fields had to be flooded in order to work,” she said. “The conditions have to be right for it to happen. We had to have the right conditions for it to happen. We had to have the wet field, we had to be able to contain the water. It’s not just something you can do anywhere.”

The farm, Rosie Fleming said, sustains itself — not only do they grow rice, but there is corn for their cattle too, and the corn is milled for cattle feed. 

“I think this is only going to get bigger,” she said. “I think this will be a legacy that will continue on.”