Jones farmyard is full of life
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
The farmstead of Gary and Marilyn Jones of Peabody looks more like a picture out of a storybook than a modern agricultural enterprise.
Tucked in among tall trees and shrubs near Doyle Creek are a variety of buildings, animals, and plants.
The Joneses have a flock of sheep, a herd of goats, two llamas, numerous guineas, and some laying hens.
Sheep are the main livestock enterprise. It's lambing time, and evidence of the frisky, little creatures is everywhere. Ewes are kept in a barn and watched closely. After they lamb, they are moved to another barn, and later to a pasture lot.
It's been a good spring so far, with four sets of triplets. Some lambs are orphaned or rejected by their mothers and require hand feeding three times a day. Tails are clipped, and ewe lambs kept for breeding receive special ear tags.
Gary began raising sheep while in high school and started doing so in earnest when the couple moved to Peabody 43 years ago.
Marilyn learned how to spin wool into yarn from Katie Warkentin of Hillsboro and helped start the Hillsboro Arts and Crafts Fair. She demonstrated spinning at the fair.
Marilyn's spinning enterprise led the couple to develop an interest in different kinds of wool. During the 1970s, the Joneses traveled throughout the United States to find and accumulate 23 breeds. Spinning was popular, creating a demand for the wool.
Gary was vocational agriculture instructor at Peabody High School when he and the couple's daughter, Lynn, created an 8x11-inch booklet titled, "Breeds of Sheep." Each page has a picture, name, history, description, and wool type of a particular breed. Gary said the sturdy booklet is in its third printing of 500 copies.
After Gary retired from teaching 11 years ago, he cut the sheep flock back from 250 to 65. Spinning isn't as popular as it once was, and the wool isn't worth much on the market, but fat lambs are sold at Newton once a month.
Through cross-breeding, Gary developed a black sheep. About a year ago, the couple learned of a business out east that makes wool into blankets and yarn. They send the black wool there and sell the resulting products at their store in Peabody, Mayesville Mercantile. They also sell sheep meat at the store.
Through a neighbor friend, Marilyn Payne, Gary sells select fleeces over the Internet. They are sent to all parts of the United States. Gary estimates he sells about 50 pounds of wool in that manner every year.
Marilyn maintains a greenhouse which grows plants of all kinds. It is heated in winter by a wood-burning stove. Sheep manure is added to potting soil for fertility. Garden and bedding plants are taken to the mercantile for sale in the spring. Others are planted around the farmstead and in the Joneses garden.
Marilyn was instrumental in starting the popular Farmers' Market in Peabody. It is in its sixth year and draws people from throughout the county.
"It's not a big money maker, but we enjoy it," Marilyn said.
With all their various enterprises, there's not much room in the Joneses' yard for visitors. But once a year, the first weekend in May, they have an open house. People park on the road and are given the opportunity to roam around the farm or simply sit and enjoy the surroundings.
"It grows every year," Gary said.
People come from as far away as Wichita to savor country life. Sometimes, school groups visit the farm.
Marilyn also operates a nearby bed and breakfast, a modest home which gives visitors a taste of country life.
The Joneses are pretty well tied down to their farm year round. But once a year, they use the extra money earned from their various enterprises to take a trip. They have traveled all over the United States as well as to far-flung places such as Europe and New Zealand. They like traveling to places where sheep-raising is common.
They have been married 53 years. They were married soon after graduating from Dexter High School. Both entered Oklahoma State University and earned degrees, Gary in agricultural education, Marilyn in home economics.
After Gary taught one year at Ford and spent time in the Army, the couple moved to Peabody. Gary was vocational agriculture instructor at Peabody High School for 32 years.
The couple continues to be active in community affairs. Gary serves on the school board. Marilyn is an active member of Marion County Historical Society and edits the Peabody Historical Society newsletter.
In addition to daughter Lynn Hughes, who lives with her husband Marc in Carney, Okla., the Joneses have a son, Mike, and wife Tresa of Seneca. They have four grandchildren.
