Biology professors choose simple life in Effingham

EFFINGHAM, S.C. (AP) On display at Francis Marion University's Hyman Fine Arts Center this summer are dozens of handmade arrowheads, skins, bowls and firemaking tools.

Encased in glass and sitting on bare white surfaces, the primitive pieces look wholly out of place. They do, however, hint to the lifestyle of their creator, Greg Pryor.

He lives on a 100-acre parcel of land in Effingham with his wife, Tamatha Barbeau. Both are biology professors at Francis Marion.

"I teach biology, I have the homestead, and I do artwork," Pryor said in between sips of wine made on the property. "All of it is connected to nature."

The couple bought their land from a timber company, and most of it remains forested. Corn covers 20 to 30 acres. Their house, gardens, grape vines, fruit trees and outbuildings sit on a small remainder of cleared land.

"You cannot see streetlights or neighbors' houses from where we are sitting," said Pryor, wearing a long beard and overalls.

The couple is committed to growing much of their own food.

Jessie, one of their six goats, is milked twice a day. In the summer, their garden yields a variety of vegetables and herbs. Bee colonies using pollen from the couple's gardens and flowers produce honey.

"I hunt deer for red meat," Pryor said. "We have the chickens for white meat, and we go fishing for fish."

Leftovers are canned or frozen and saved for later. In the height of the growing season, Pryor estimates they go out to eat once a month. During the winter, once a week.

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Biology professors choose simple life in Effingham