Down on the farm: a Bolton family farm faces the future.

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in this age of modern technology, it's hard to imagine anybody operating a family farm. But one look at the Gaddis Farms in Bolton, Mississippi, dispels any notion that the family farm is a thing of the past. Using progressive farm management methods and equipment, Ted Kendall III, his son Ted Kendall IV, and nephew Kendall Garraway, represent the fourth and fifth generations of the family to own and manage the 25,000-acre farm, which was started in 1897 and incorporated in 1937.

The elder Kendall and his wife Mary live in the main home on the farm, just off the road that winds north from the interstate. The house, built in the late 1800s, was the home of Ted's great uncle, I. L. Gaddis Jr., and his wife Pattie. In the 1920s, the Gaddises renovated the one-story structure into a two-story Spanish Eclectic home, and gave it the name Las Invernadas, which means "winter pasture." The Gaddises held parties, dances, and picnics at Las Invernadas, often opening all the double doors to make the Mississippi summer heat a bit more bearable. Guests enjoyed dancing in the parlor, while the billiard room provided a place for the men to gather. The Gaddises lived at Las Invernadas until Pattie's death in 1945.

Today, Las Invernadas is home to a more modern family, but the structure remains virtually the same. A winding driveway leads to the house, curving around an ancient twisted oak tree that once provided a place for visitors to tie up their horses. The magnolias and smaller trees Mary added have matured to blend in with their older counterparts.

The home's exterior sports the stucco that was part of the 1920s renovation, while thick soffits and beamed overhangs give a decidedly Spanish feel to the home. A terrace-like porch that runs the length of the house was a screened porch prior to the renovation, and with its bistro tables and chairs, Mary and Ted have a perfect spot for outdoor entertaining or watching the sunset.

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Mary is familiar with every nook and cranny of Las Invernadas. She and Ted have lived in the home since 1959, the year of their marriage, and have made a conscious effort to preserve the history and family influences that make their home unique. Their three children and six grandchildren have enjoyed dozens of holidays and family celebrations in the historic home. "Our grandchildren love to run around this place," Mary says of the grounds that surround the house. "It's been a great place to have a family and be a family."

The foyer provides access to all of the first-floor rooms and features the home's original pier mirror, a gigantic gilded piece that has carvings in a farm motif. The foyer is spacious, typical of older homes, and has enough nooks and crannies to hold pieces of Mary and Ted's collection of Victorian antiques.

The living room's piano is original to the 1920s house, as are several other pieces. Mary and Ted used photos taken in the 1920s to restore the Victorian chairs to their original grandeur and to reproduce other pieces in the same style as the original furnishings.

Just off the living room is an airy sunroom. The east and west walls are floor-to-ceiling windows, while the north and south walls are covered in lattice applied directly to the plaster walls, and painted a soft green. Mirrored tiles over the fireplace reflect the light, allowing the various plants to thrive as they frame the room's rattan furnishings.

The centerpiece of the dining room is the 1920s table and chairs, their wood still gleaming after eighty years of family dinners. Over the years, Mary has added a large sideboard and corner cabinet that balance the long narrow room. "I've tried to buy pieces that look like they would have been part of the original dining room." Mary has added pieces to the cut glass collection began by her side of the family and uses silver pieces original to the home. French doors on the south wall of the dining room overlook the garden and wisteria arbor, which Mary keeps trimmed "or it will take over the house!"

Though Las Invernadas remains much the same, a breakfast room and kitchen, plus an upstairs master bedroom, were improvements Mary and Ted made to the house to accommodate their family. They have transformed J. L. Gaddis's billiard room into a guest bedroom, which now features twin-sized Victorian antique spool beds instead of a pool table.

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The warm and comfortable den near the front door "is where we live," says Mary. The fireplace and hearth were moved to the north wall by Mary and Ted to separate the den from the guest bedroom. Over the fireplace is a Didon Comer painting of horses, which Mary says "captures the feeling of the farm." Two smaller paintings by Cathy Crockett flank either side of the Comer painting. Two ceramic pug dogs on the mantle belonged to Mary's mother.

Outside, on the south side of the house, is a three-hole golf course Ted built and maintains. "He enjoys working on it more than playing on it," laughs Mary. 'Each year we hold a tournament, but it takes several weeks to play since we've only got three holes."

While the history of the family farm is evident at Las Invernadas, the farm itself is a modern-day business. Gaddis Farms raises cattle, cotton, soybeans, corn, and hybrid Bermuda hay, and the family operates Gaddis and McLaurin Cotton Gin, Gaddis and McLaurin General Mercantile and Merchants & Farmers Bank. Ted III, as president and general manager of the business, oversees the entire operation, while Ted IV is the cattle manager, and Kendall manages the row crops. "Ted wakes up every morning excited and ready to face all the challenges of running this farm," smiles Mary. "He has a busy life doing many things, and he loves it."

The farm produces the feed for its 5,000 head of cattle. Large round hay bales are deposited all over the property for the cattle to feed on, and much of the corn harvested from the 1,600 corn acres goes to feed the cattle, while some corn is sold. The feed corn is ground into corn silage, which is stored in mountainous piles underneath old tires. Workers use front-end loaders to transfer the silage to trucks fitted with shoots that deliver the silage to the cattle troughs.

In the fall, the bulls are put out with the cows so they will calve in the winter, with the cattle crossbred for different qualities. Gaddis Farms owns a few "retired" quarter horses that were once vital to the working of the farm, but now enjoy a life of free of responsibility. "They don't do anything," Mary grins. "We just feed them."

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Cotton may be king in the Mississippi Delta, but it does pretty well in Bolton, too. The Gaddis and McLaurin Cotton Gin not only gins the family's cotton, but it also serves many nearby cotton farmers. The gin itself runs round-the-clock after the harvest. To find the gin, located south of the downtown Bolton area, one only needs to follow the cotton lining the streets--which Mary notes "looks like dirty snow."

Cotton is harvested into large, rectangular modules, which are delivered to the "module yard" by truck. When the gin is ready for a new cotton module, a truck picks it up and delivers it to the gin, where it is unloaded onto a conveyor belt. Each module is converted into 15-20 bales of cotton.

The gin separates the cotton into three areas. The white cotton seeds, the main cash producer in ginning, fall to the bottom of the gin where they are piped into the cotton seed house until they are sold. The "trash" is piped outside to a holding area, where it will ferment until it can be sold as garden fertilizer. The cotton is piped into the baler, where a bale is turned out every two minutes. The clean cotton is packaged for sale at a premium price, while the cotton motes--what is left after the clean cotton is selected--is baled and sold for pennies a pound.

Whether raising cattle or corn, ginning cotton or banking, the Kendalls seem to manage their diversified company with the synchronicity that comes from working with family. Keeping a family business thriving through five generations has been no small task, but the Kendalls believe their commitment to their heritage grows stronger with each generation.

"We feel a strong sense of responsibility to keep the farm together," Mary says, "and improve on it for the next generation."