Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Nutts Named Clark County Farm Family

Dewey and Pearl Nutt were named Clark County's Farm Family of the Year for 1997.

The Amity couple live on a farm that has been in the Nutt family since 194, when Nutt's father purchased 80 acres.

Since then, the farm has been expanded as Dewey bought another 140 acres and leases 260 more giving the Nutt's a total of 480 acres.

As the only child, he inherited the original 80 acres when his parents died.

Nutt worked in the cinnabar mines for a while during his teenage years, was also in the U.S. Navy and worked on the railroad for a time.

Once off the railroad crew, Nutt went to Marion, Indiana where he worked for a few years as a shipping and receiving clerk.

He returned to Amity in 1953 to build his first chicken house. This was also the year his father passed away. Nutt's mother died in 1966. However, he continued building chicken houses until he had seven.

Now, the Nutt farm has both livestock and poultry, with about 120 head of cows and calves. The calves are sold in the fall.

Six of the chicken houses are laying houses, with Keith Smith picking up the eggs three times a week. The litter is used for fertilizer on the pastures if needed, otherwise, Nutt trades it for hay for his cattle. He said Smith also furnishes all the medication as needed to control diseases in the chickens.

Nutt has also built a compost pit, utilizing the chicken compost to dispose of dead birds.

Along with the livestock and poultry on the farm, Nutt has about 30 acres of woodlands, leaving 450 acres for pastureland.

The Nutt farm has not computerized as yet, with Dewey using a general ledger bookkeeping system for his records.

The family also utilizes two systems for water, both city supplied water and wells. The city water is used when the wells dry up, he said.

In addition, the Nutts make use of a generator to keep things going when the electricity goes out. They also have cool cells for each chicken house to keep the birds cool.

The family has always promoted eating fruits, vegetables and meats. As a family, the Nutts discuss their problems as a group, always stressing moral and Christian values.

Nutt's wife, Pearl, enjoys growing a garden each year. She cans various vegetables to store for winter use.

She also has a flower garden she likes working in, and takes care of all the mowing and weedeating done in the yard.

The Nutts have two living children, with two sons, Michael and Travis, having passed away. However, Ricky, who also lives in Amity, works in the log woods where he has two skidders and employs a cutter.

His and his wife, Charlotte, have two children, Kelli Mount and Jon Nutt, along with one grandchild, Justin Nutt, Jon's son.

Their daughter, Christine Perkins, lives in Carlisle with her family. Her husband, Bobby, and she, have three children, Kim, Clark and Stewart.

Christine is a nurse working in a nursing home in Carlisle.

Their son Travis, left behind one son, Ryan, who has two daughters, Lexie Nutt and Brandi Wilson. Wilson also has a daughter, Skyler.

As a family, the Nutts like to take a vacation together once a year, just to relax and get away from the farm for a week or two.

Dewey enjoys rabbit hunting, and while he's in the woods, Pearl is gathering the papers for the accountants in preparation for tax season.