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Former President Jimmy Carter'ss full name is actually, James Earl Carter, Jr. He was born on October 1, 1924. The former president grew up on a 360-acre farm just outside of Plains, Georgia. The Carter family moved to the farm in 1928 when Jimmy was four years old. Their home had no electricity or indoor plumbing. Today, his boyhood home is open for tours and is part of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in Plains.
The Carter family grew peanuts, cotton and sugar cane as cash crops. In addition they also grew corn, watermelons, wheat,rye, oats and raised livestock.
In his book, An Hour Before Daylight, President Carter writes about growing up during the Great Depression. He states, "From as early in March until as late in October as weather and my parents permitted, I never wore shoes. Running, sliding, walking through mud puddles, and sinking up to my ankles in the plowed fields gave life a new dimension. I enjoyed this sense of liberation on the farm, until we boys began wearing shoes to church and school, when we were thirteen years old and entered the seventh grade. Many of the men who lived and worked on the farms went barefoot all their lives, except on cold winter days. There is no doubt that this habit alone helped to create a sense of intimacy with the earth."...

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