in the middle of summer, is not at all surprising...............
if you live in Texas.
because that "snow" is actually a field full of cotton..........which is a wonderful site, especially if you are a cotton farmer...........
Not many get to see the real beauty that lies in the field. It starts off with beautiful blossoms..........
some in pink............
some in yellow.............
( I can feel an embroidery design coming on!)
then hard green balls form..........
They have the prettiest color, as well as the leaves...........
The ball then gets dry and opens up to expose the cotton inside.
It is soft and fluffy, just like a cotton ball.................
but with lots of seed inside.
a good cotton harvest is not only important to the farmers.......
it very important for all of us.
If you like to wear jeans..............
if you like cotton sheets and linens on the bed..........
if you like a good drying towel for your bath or kitchen...........
and for me...........I love cotton embroidery floss..........
this all comes from a good year of cotton growing.
How about you?
Do you have cotton fields in your area.............or perhaps wheat?
What grows in the fields of your home?
I would love to hear!
23 comments:
Corn, wheat and soybeans. Libby's green beans and pumpkin. However this year with the heat and drought, we might have done better with cotton. It did feel a little like Texas! ;D
Deb
I love to see cotton ready for picking. Years ago I lived in west Tennessee where cotton was the major crop. Here in east Tennessee corn and soybeans fill the fields. I think the flowers would make a lovely embroidery!
Have a great day!
I enjoyed seeing these stages of the cotton field, Kathleen. I never realized they had such pretty blooms before. We have mostly corn and soybeans growing here, but there is the occasional wheat field too.
We grow cattle :o) There aren't a lot of farmers where I am but there are a few fields of beans & corn.
South of me in southern Arkansas there's lots of cotton, rice, soybean, winter wheat, ect. The fields there are beautiful 7 stretch for miles.
We live in the country and there are cotton fields on all four sides. I like watching it grow, different color blooms and all that. But, there is a down side (toxic)...cotton must loose all its leaves to be harvested. A defoliate must be applied and that is done by a crop duster (small plane)and the toxic chemicals drift and drift covering everything with a thin mist. This year on one of the fields the farmer applied it with his tractor, so that cut out a lot of the wandering mist of chemicals.
The vastness of your prairie is amazing...as far as the eye can see. I like to imagine back, before man put his plow to it, when this land was a waving sea of grasses and wildflowers. But I do like my jeans...thankful there was a good crop this year.
Hi Kathleen, we do potatoes in a big way here in Maine. I love the cotton fields in the south. They seem to go on forever. If we would just use our cotton to make our jeans right here in the USA I would be happier. Much Love.
My daughter lived in Memphis for a time. We would pass cotton fields on the way there from Missouri. I always wanted to stop and get a closer look! Thanks for the photos! Most all of my dolls dresses are reproduction cottons. I love the natural fibers!
So fascinating. never thought of the flower, just the seed pod, and how hard they were to harvest.I've seen just about everything grow here in Calif., but not cotton.
or okra!
Kathleen, I loved your post about cotton plants and it brought back memories for me. As a child, I lived in the south and remember seeing the cotton fields and being fascinated with them. I would sometimes pluck off a piece of the fluffy cotton and keep it in my pocket. But I had not remembered how the flowers and buds looked, they are beautiful, too! Thanks for making me feel so nostalgic.
My grandfather grew cotton back when I was a very little girl. I remember going out into the fields to "help". Actually I mostly just was pulled along on the big, long cotton sack that was used for picking by hand back in those days. I don't think I'd ever seen a cotton flower before though. They are really pretty!
That never ceases to amaze me. How easily we take for granted that little miracle plant.
We have no cotton here-too cold. But wow, I can see spending time in that field just touching things. I truly can.
Hello Kathleen,
A friend gave me a piece of cotton picked from the Ord River Region of West Australia. We are in a farming region so the crops of canola and wheat are growing now. I am sure the farmers are hoping for a little more rain though.
Happy days.
Bev.xoxo
I feel like "home"--seeing this post! I'm sitting here, looking out the window, at our own field of white! You're right--it's beautiful to the cotton farmer. I'm so glad you showed all the stages. Wonderful!
You would think living in the south I would have seen fields of cotton... nope! So your picutres are a treat. Amazing now a plant gives us clothing. GOD is amazing.
There are a few cotton fields here on the VA eastern shore, but I haven't seen as extensive as in your photo. Fields here have corn, soybeans and tomatoes, usually.
That really must be an amazing sight to see...all that white. Around Yucaipa, it is all about the apples. Fruit is what built this town and so many others here in Southern CA. Apples, oranges, lemons etc. Sadly, not many orange groves left, but come February your nose knows;-)
Thanks for sharing Kathleen.
blessings, jill
Thank you for posting this I had never seen a cotton field before. I live in the city, always have so not a thing growing here, except cats. I feed feral cats and have 4 of my own. Mom was raised in Texas and she used to tell me about the cotton fields. Thank you for your sweet visit. Lu
Excellent post! I'm sending this post to my other Texas friend who is a cotton farmer!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
Beautiful pictures, Kathleen... we don't see any fields of cotten around here... I guess the climate and/or soil is not right for it.
We do see lots of corn and cane... and I remember years ago when you wouldn't pass a field without seeing tobacco in it. Now you hardly ever see any, because there is no money in it anymore for the small time farmers.
Thanks for posting all the info and pictures about cotton. I have seen cotton fields in traveling but never the blossoms or the pods like that. They have very pretty blossoms! We just don't grow cotton in Iowa. Nice post.
Loved this post, Kathleen. I love driving by big fields full of cotton. It's pretty neat and when the cotton pops out, there's certainly no mistaking what's in that field. Hay - just hay is what's going on here at Sand Flat Farm!
There are cotton fields here, but I haven't been out to photograph them. Can you imagine...cotton growing in the desert! :-) It makes me happy....a bit of "home." There is absolutely NOTHING prettier than cotton blossoms and cotton bolls bursting open! Love it!
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