Buslers Farm of Perrin Hollow in Blaine, Tennessee

Near Okie's Pharmacy on Hwy 11w in Blaine, turn down Indian Ridge Road, drive a spell and you will come upon signs to Busler's Farm and Perrin Hollow.


The Busler family's farm in Perrin Hollow has been a farm in continuous operation for over ninety years. In the past, tobacco was grown and cured in the barns. Today, Gary Busler offers farm fresh produce.


Right: Several signs point the way down Perrin Hollow Road to the Busler Farm.
Below: Greer Busler in his TVA Dam construction worker attire.



The following information was provided by Gary Busler from his family history written in 2007 about 90 years of farmlife at the Perrin Hollow farm: Gary Max Busler's great-grandparents Henry Clay Witt and Lu Etta Witt purchased the farm in 1917 from A.T. Perrin and wife. Using horse and mule, and a lot of hard-work, they raised all manner of things on the farm including cattle, hogs, chickens, tobacco, wheat, corn, Irish potatoes, and hay. Lu Etta canned green beans, cucumbers, blackberries, beets, apples, peaches, and made jellies. She milked the cows and made butter milk and butter. She raised the chickens and sold the eggs to peddlers. Henry fattened the hogs and around Thanksgiving would butcher them for meat, curing them with salt in the smokehouse, making country ham. He'd then use the fat to make lard and lye soap for washing clothes.


In the 1920s, a bridge was built on Perrin Road and the construction crew stayed at the farm. The men were entertained and fed by Lu Etta and Gary's mother, Mary Ruby, who was just a child then, kept them entertained as well.


Right: Mary Ruby Busler's "Trip Around the World" pattern quilt, circa the 1920s.


In the evenings, Lu Etta passed the time crocheting, knitting, and piecing quilts with patterns such as "Ocean Wave", "Butterfly", "Dutch Doll" and others. In the winter, she put out a small patch of cotton that she'd picked by hand. She'd lay in out in front of the fire to warm so the seeds would be easier to remove. Then she used two cotton cards to make a cotton bat, which is what she would use to stuff the quilts. Young Mary Ruby, learned to quilt and carried on the quilting, crocheting, and knitting traditions for many years until she was unable to any longer because her hands pained her.
In 1943, Lu Etta passed away and Gary's father Greer Busler and mother Mary Ruby (Witt) helped Henry Witt to continue with the farming. Mary Ruby and Greer had married just three years prior. Greer Busler had been in the area working on the Cherokee Dam being built by the Tennessee Valley Authority. When they took to farming, they worked with Henry Witt to milk the cows, then can and sell the cream. They grew green beans, tomatoes, and strawberries to sell at the Farmer's Market in Knoxville.


Below: Gary Busler and his mother Mary Ruby still have the helmet and lunchbox Greer Busler brought to work with him at Cherokee Dam so many years ago.



Life on the farm for Mary and Greer started out without the modern conveniences we take for granted today. Like their neighbors, they had no heating units, no hot running water, no electricity whatsoever before the TVA. They did all their cooking and heating using a wood stove. Up until 1950, they'd continued to use the horse and mule method for farming but in 1950 they purchased a Massey Harris Ferguson tractor and an Oliver flat bottom turning plow that Gary still uses to this day.


Gary and his brother Greer Allen Busler helped out on the farm. Gary went to school to learn to be a mechanic and worked at Rice Oldsmobile in Knoxville. In the mid-eighties, Gary began working as a mechanic at the Busler farm, cooperatively working on the farm with his father. In later years, he and his brother Greer began to concentrate solely on selling fresh produce from the farm and now sells okra, beans, corn, potatoes, watermelons, cantaloupes, tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, and more off the Busler farm in Perrin Hollow and also at the Morristown Farmer's Market. Family farms have become a less common than they used to be. When the elders retire, the younger generations are not always so eager to take it up and instead, may sell the farm to a housing development. Nearby the Busler Farm are two newly developed riverfront subdivisions. One (River's Edge Landing) is unusual in that it's being developed with landing strips and hangars for private airplanes. River Stone subdivision is even closer. If these subdivisions fill with residents, Gary's farm fresh produce may find a more stable customer base. Farming has its ups and downs, especially when faced with droughts or rising gas prices but Gary is proud to carry on the traditions that his great grandfather started over ninety years ago.


The Busler Farm is located at 2785 Perrin Hollow Road, Blaine, TN 37709. Phone: (865) 933-1483

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