GROWING COTTON

We were 1 day late on seeing the fields of cotton harvested. All summer and fall, the land had been teeming with cotton, despite the worst drought on record in Georgia and Alabama. In some ways, it's very interesting to watch the cycle of nature swing back and forth.

Where this delicate bulb of cotton grows, once stood millions upon millions of acres of farmland filled mostly with cotton but some other crops too. But before cotton was the cash-crop of the South, this area was dense forests that had to be cleared by hand and the land cultivated by plow.

Generally, the cotton bulb spills forth from the outer shell and waits to be gathered. All this land was terraced to help with the irrigation, and all that back-breaking work was done by the slaves on the land in the 1800's. Walking through the forests even today, you can still see the shelves cut into the land to redirect water to the crops.

My husband was quite fascinated by his first experience with a cotton. The machines that pick the cotton leave much on the ground and we were able to play with the seeds. Getting the seed separated from the fibers of the cotton is quite a difficult task and can take a few minutes by (inexperienced city) hand.

My friends don't actually do any of the farming themselves, and all the land is leased out to a farmer who is responsible for tending to the crops. They will do cotton for a few years on the land and then switch to corn for a few planting seasons to let the land rebuild itself.

I really wish we had been able to see the snow white fields teeming with cotton, I was told it's a beautiful sight to see. To my husband and I, being that close to something that we could see grow and imagine being our clothes one day was a neat experience.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I got 4 new tires for my Jeep, which I desperately needed.