Nov 14, 2014

Cotton Pickin Friends and Wreath

I mentioned to my sister Gwen that I loved her cotton wreath.  She and her daughter Beth made it and it is very pretty.  They gave me the wreath for my birthday among other pretty gifts.  Cotton has been the theme of my posts here and at dolly's designs, so today I share the wreath and some childhood friends picking cotton..Yesterday I even picked a few pods myself for the first time.  Come on inside....



 You can see the cotton field in front of the house reflected in the windows...

I should know better than to tell them I really like something it just might land on my doorstep (literally)  I had gone for the day with my children.  We had a great birthday celebration there and when I returned home I found loads of gifts on my porch.  I added a burlap rough bow today..After all burlap and cotton go together that's for sure.



They did a great job on the wreath didn't they?




I'd like for you to meet three of my childhood friends.  Margaret, Jimmie and Leon.


I would go spend the night with Margaret and enjoyed it so much.  She and I were in school together.  They lived on a huge farm complete with crops and farm animals.  They had to get up so very early to get in the eggs feed the animals, milk the cows.  Sometimes they had to go out and work early in the fields before they ever went off to school. 
I can remember thinking gosh they have to be so tired to do all of this before we even get off to school. Their mother was such a great cook and when we would get home from school we would have some of the best food!  I remember her cream puffs and french fries the most!  She was a dear woman and friends with my Grandma & Grandpa Goodson.  I did enjoy being with that wonderful family, and love them till today.


I have never picked cotton before so yesterday morning I went out to the field in front of the house and picked a handful. So I'll share more photos for you to see just how pretty cotton really is. 









The cotton falling down like ringlets



 I had to pick the ringlets



























Leaving you today with a cotton song I like!









4 comments:

  1. Gorgeous wreath!
    My mom picked cotton for many years. She was a migrant worker and has the fondest memories.
    What beautiful memories you and your friends have to treasure.

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    1. Thank you so much Marissa! Oh, I'll bet your mom could tell some stories. I had family members that picked also but I never did. We worked in tobacco a lot back then..I didn't like that much, but have fond memories of people working, talking together. That was fun. Always good to hear from you!

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    2. Will they come harvest the field soon? I assume they use equipment there now, don't they? They used to grow tobacco in Missouri, my mom remembers going to the barns where it was hung to dry. We had a scientist friend that worked for the Danforth Center (Monsanto) gave us some tobacco seed: Missouri Twist Bud and Burley. We grew it on the slope down the back of our drive and it is so pretty when it blooms. We never did dry it, seeing that we don't smoke and have nowhere to hang it.

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    3. They have harvested just about all of the cotton around us but don't seem to be in any hurry here. It will probably be soon. It is so much more prettier now in full open white...than it was in my header shots...guess I should have waited. Yes they have machinery to pick the cotton now for sure...I haven't seen many fields of tobacco only a few recently. They don't grow it here as much now for sure as they did when I was younger. I remember working that sticky stuff at my granddaddy's barn. It would always be wet in the morning when they would take a tractor with drag and many hands to harvest the tobacco. I remember the boys wanting to drive the tractor...that must have been THE job to have. I always handed a little sticky yucky bundle to the older women who would string the tobacco onto tobacco sticks. That was to be my dream job to be a stringer...lol...They stopped stringing it before I grew old enough to string...(lucky me, no I mean really lucky me) I hated working in tobacco. They would hang it in the tobacco barns to cure with heat...then take it to the pack house and the women would take off the tobacco as they called it...pull it off the sticks it was strung so it just pulled off easily. I did get to take it off the stick and actually it was fun and smelled kinda good. Then they would put it in a burlap sheet tie it up weigh it I think and take it to the tobacco market...where people auctioneers walked and bid on tobacco...the boys usually got to go to the market...but I went once or twice.
      You just brought up some memories Kathy! I've personally never grown any...

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