Saturday, June 14, 2008

Friday Farm Tour!

Time for a trip to the Delta!
The Morans want to show me off to the local planters.

Behind me is a cotton field.

The cotton is planted on a little hill called row. The furrow between rows is called middles. Every year the planter uses the same rows so that new plants can benefit from past nutrients.

This is upland cotton or Gossypium hirsutum. It grows best in areas of high humidity.

Friends, this is an historic year.

All over the Delta cotton fields are changing.

See this beautiful wheat field. For over a century this field yielded cotton. The owner, in planting a
different crop, has lost his rows and middles.



The plan is to plant soybeans in this field after the harvest; thus, gaining two yeilds from one field in a season.

I'm not sure what this change from fiber
source to food source says about the current economy.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maggie, I actually picked cotton as a boy in Texas. That was a short job!! Damn hard labor too.

maggie moran said...

Were your parents sharecroppers, Paul?

Susie said...

Lived on the edge of a cotton field for a few years. I'm telling you that Delta is a desolate place to be in the winter months. They need to run xanax through the public water systems in those dark months! I love visiting there, though! Now that I don't live there, I enjoy trekking through all sorts of places over there. The dead little towns are as interesting as those that are thriving in the middle of nowhere. One day I'm gonna write a short story about a party I attended there. Old family silver goblets with ice water so cold that condensation gathers on the cup. Thin lip of the cup spills the water into your mouth. So much like water from a cold cistern.It was a spiritual experience and tells you all you need to know about the old Delta money. Even water is worthy of a silver goblet. Cool!

Diane said...

I come from a line of sugar beet farmers, but that line ended before I was recruited into the fields!

Love the bust in all the photos.

maggie moran said...

Wow, Susie! I'm ready to read that short story!

I was thinking we need to go to a ghost town, but which one is the closest? High Cotton mentions Rodney, and I guess in a way Crenshaw qualifies, but I'm unsure. I heard Money is one, too. Can you help?

How interesting Diane! Was your family in Callie or another part of the US?

ricklibrarian said...

Cool photos, Maggie.

maggie moran said...

Thanks Rick! Hope to see you in Anaheim! The Librarian in Black was here at the MSU Web 2.0 program and she mentioned the Thomas Ford Memorial Library in her presentation. Isn't that you?!? :)