Planting Pegs

Now here's a family heirloom many might not have seen previously. It's a planting peg, or perhaps better known as a "plantin' peg". (Add a southern Virginia accent and you have it.) Planting pegs are fairly self explanatory. They were used to make the hole in the ground to plant tobacco plants or other crop. These were used by my great grandfather, Bossy Talbott and my great-great grandfather Joseph M Talbott on their tobacco farm in Halifax County, VA.

These pegs were carved from tree roots and through the years of use have become incredibly smooth. Some even still had the dirt attached! Hmmm......ancestral dirt from the tobacco fields. Now that's an heirloom!