On my way down a few days ago I saw the most beautiful fields of cotton. It was getting dusky outside, and too dark to really get good pictures so I told myself that I would stop on my way back up here today.
Being a quilter, and having cotton be such a necessary essential part of my life, I was thrilled to see this beautiful field in all its splendor with the white cloud like tufts of cotton ready for harvest.
Glory Be!!
It's a great day to be in southern Georgia where the temperature is a balmy 75° as I send this message :-)
Wow ... what a great picture! Thanks for taking the time to stop and share ... travel safe! Linda
ReplyDeleteWow! Being from Wisconsin, I've never see a cotton field before; quite the sight.
ReplyDeleteThat is really cool. Was there anyone around when you stopped your car for a sample and picture? Kinda like driving past vineyards and getting a bunch of grapes. lol I'm from Wisconsin too and have never seen this sight. So harvest time must be in November. I wonder why they haven't harvested it yet. Does it have to get drier or bigger? You wonder why the cost of cotton quilting fabric prices are going up so much. Thanks for showing us this.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn, my husband grows cotton in central Texas, and the price of cotton is way down from last year. When the price of fabric started going up so much, I said that I didn't mind because at least we were getting some of the profit. Not particularly so now.
DeleteBonnie, we were just at (south) Myrtle Beach last week. We saw cotton fields as well on the way. Some had been harvested, and some were waiting for harvest. Those looked like snow.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn, the farmers in my part of South Carolina are still harvesting their cotton. They defoliate it (treat it with a chemical to make the leaves drop off) then harvest. Apparently it doesn't spoil unless there's a bunch of rain or wind, and this is our dry time of year. Equipment is hugely expensive, so they just harvest each field as they can.
ReplyDeleteIn the second picture it looks like Bonnie didn't remove the boll from the plant, and walking to the edge of the field to take her photo would not have harmed anything.
Cheers!
Carolyn, the most likely reason that the cotton hasn't been harvested is time. The farmers that grow cotton usually have acres and acres (and acres) to harvest and get to the gin. Like a quilter who can't finish 10 projects at once, neither can they harvest all the cotton the moment it is ready. Luckily, it doesn't tend to spoil. ;-)
ReplyDeleteOh my Memories...
ReplyDelete50 years ago and a fall spent with grandparents in Mississippi...
Picked some cotton in our cousins field...
Stickey...prikley... stuff...Pick a bag of cotton without gloves and it takes a bit to heal the hands of the city kids...
But I also remember the lunch of fired chicken 6 differnet vegtables, corn bread and 3 pies!
Fascinating sight, Bonnie.
ReplyDeleteWe lived north of Tallahssee for 6 years and I always enjoyed the drive north through the ripe cotton field in November~
ReplyDeleteMy late mother-in-law (born 1927) was born into a family of 22 children...yes, that's not a typo! Her whole family were migrant workers and they worked at that job until her father died. By then the kids were mostly grown and on their own. As children though, they picked cotton, strawberries, peaches, avocados, and other crops. They stayed mostly in the Salinas, CA area. My mother in law HATED picking cotton. No gloves to protect her hands, just backbreaking work. They were paid only pennies a bushel. She told me she also hated picking peaches, as the peach fuzz is irritating to the skin after picking them for a while. MY MIL told me after all that hard work, she appreciated food and where it came from.
ReplyDeleteI have picked cotton and it isn't fun. the big tractors cost a small fortune but faster. Lovely field. I spin and that is really fun to spin cotton. can you imagine carding cotton to put in a quilt..hand carding is hard on the wrist. they did what they had to do to make a quilt and I am so glad we can buy batting. Thanks for the pic's. great memories
ReplyDeleteIt looks so soft, such a disappointment to realize it is hard and scratchy. Thanks, I too have never seen cotton in the field.
ReplyDeleteActually, I think the cotton itself is soft, it's the "boll" (???) that it grows inside of then then opens that is sharp and prickly ... someone correct me if I'm wrong. There are also little seeds stuck in the cotton that need to be "ginned" out before it can be processed for anything else. Man ... my teacher in grade school would have been proud that I remembered that! LOL Linda
DeleteGreat now I Have that song stuck in my head! Walking in high cotton old times that are not forgotten ... that will be stuck there ALL day! LOL
ReplyDelete"Oh Those Cotton Fields" sounds like a good name for a quilt to me! Goes right along with "Roll, Roll Cotton Bowl".
ReplyDeleteOops, must have football games on the brain. Should be cotton boll!
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ReplyDeleteI was driving thru Albany on way to Clearwater Fl last Thanksgiving and we stopped at a pecan shop and they let us pick some cotton to bring home with us. I have it laying on the shelf in my quilt shop.
ReplyDeletePaula in KY
Thanks for stopping to get some pictures for us. It looks like a field of clouds!
ReplyDeleteWhen I have time, I love to not only read your posts, but all the comments too! all of you are very informative.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have seen cotton fields, I didn't know all that work went into it. It gives me a deeper appreciation for our tools. (like batting!)
I would love to see this. Thanks so much for posting the pictures!
ReplyDeleteMakes me miss living in the south!
ReplyDeleteit's balmy here too....all of 36....LOL
ReplyDeleteHow fun! I have never seen anything like it, and probably never will, in my life! Amazing to see how cotton looks when it's in it's raw form!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. It is an amazing process!
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine grows cotton in Arkansas, he gave another friend so e stalks after they opened up...she used it and decorated it for Christmas and called it her "Cotton Pickin Christmas Tree". I tried growing some when my kids were little but it didn't bloom.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bonnie for sharing...
How beautiful! Yes, it is a wonderful reminder of the source of so much of our enjoyment.
ReplyDeleteSaw a great license plate today and made me think of all of us crazy quilters/sewers:
"Sew wat"!!!! Loved it!
I saw my first cotton field when I was in South Caroling recently. I was impressed.
ReplyDeleteHere you see potato fields and blueberry plains.
Ramona from Maine
I grpw cotton plants in sunny patch flowerbed where nothing else would grow. I pick the cotton and use it for stuffing for small projects. Very organic and very free. Cotton farmers will give you a handful of seeds if you ask.
ReplyDeleteWHERE in Ga. were you, Bonnie. We grew about 5000 acres of cotton in South Ga before moving to East Tennessee. I literally had it in my backyard and I used the hard "burrs" (the woody part that holds the soft white fluffy cotton) to make jewelry.. Seeing that cotton in your hand was a true trip down memory lane.
ReplyDeleteThe touch, the feel of cotton... just drove by some on my way home from Gastonia this weekend.
ReplyDeleteCotton fields are truly beautiful sights and they do look like fluffy snow and clouds. We saw some being harvested just this afternoon. Every time we drive by, we sing "When I was a little bitty baby, my mama would rock me in the cradle in them old cotton fields back home . . . . ." ☺
ReplyDeleteReminds me of when you were looking for some cotton when you were working on the "Roll, Roll..." quilt...That is a beautiful scene...
ReplyDeleteBonnie,
ReplyDeleteAt breakfast yesterday I had a conversation with my husband about where the cotton that is in the material I buy comes from. I suggested Egypt, Turkey, etc. and maybe Afganistan. We both didn't know, but just assumed that it NEVER comes from the U.S. now. Then I explained the printing and dying all happen in Asia and then the finished product is sent by boat to the U.S. All this talk was by way of explaining why you can't just call up and have another bolt printed and sent in case you didn't buy enough of something and needed more of one particular print. Boy, was I wrong - your pics show a pretty good field of cotton. Wonder if we get any material here in the US from that cotton? Or is it for some other use than quilting fabric????
Libby