Meet Elaine Lockhart, an active 99-year-old woman who doesn’t allow her physical challenges to stop her from farming. Her discipline and health-focused lifestyle have taken her through almost a century. Elaine reminds us that agriculture is more than farming; it is health and strength, long life and prosperity. At 99, she is still farming.

Known in her community of Penniston, she has been tending to the earth for practically her entire life. Her deep connection to the soil is generational; her father worked in the city as an agriculture officer, which she says means she was “born in agriculture”.

Her personal journey as a farmer truly blossomed when she started having children, welcoming her oldest son when she was just 23 years old. Today, her sprawling family tree includes six children, 11 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.

Despite her advanced age, Lockhart maintains a fierce independence and an unbreakable work ethic. “I does everything for myself,” she explains, noting that she still cooks her own meals and manages her laundry, only stepping back from housecleaning because of the heavy furniture.

Out in her garden, she continues to cultivate a variety of crops, proudly pointing out her tomatoes, tanya, and cassava. She also surrounds herself with beauty, growing flowers—including a special plant she brought all the way from New York.

Lockhart credits her longevity to a lifetime of hard labor and a strict, homegrown diet. During her years living in New York and working in home care, she maintained her active lifestyle and completely avoided the local habit of buying takeout. “I never get into eating the kind of thing that New Yorkers eat,”

she says, emphasizing that she has always cooked for herself. She describes herself as a “hard worker” who never sits down and isn’t intimidated by difficult tasks. Today, her diet is remarkably clean, consisting entirely of fish and vegetables.

For Lockhart, the act of planting is more than just a chore; it is a life philosophy. She advocates for self-sufficiency, noting, “It’s something good that people should do because you grow your own food which is better than have to buy”.

By striving to plant everything that she uses, she continues to harvest the health, strength, and prosperity that only a lifetime in the garden can provide.