Cotton

The local farmers have been harvesting cotton lately. There are several cotton fields on the way to town so we’ve been watching their progress.

I have to admit that I find the whole farming process interesting. I grew up hearing my father's stories about "chopping cotton" on his family's sharecropping farm. It seems very familiar to me and reminds me of growing up in the San Joaquin Valley. I like the perfect rows of sameness. I like watching the big machinery in action. I think it would be fun to drive one of those big combine harvesters someday. I think the cotton plant is pretty. I like seeing the various stages of the plant's growth. I appreciate the production of something useful.

There is a cotton gin out on the highway. It amazes me that over the years, Eli Whitney’s invention hasn’t really been improved on very much. The only difference I can see is that they bale the cotton in plastic rather than burlap.

At church the other day, the preacher was commenting on the cotton fields. He reminded us of the verse, "the fields are white unto harvest," most likely referring to a crop like cotton.

Field of cotton - not quite ready to harvest

Field of cotton - ready for harvest

Harvesting equipment with a cotton trailer

Cotton plant that eluded the harvester

Huge bale waiting to go through the gin

Little bales of cotton - without the seeds

Cotton bales in plastic wrap

Meanwhile, the tractor plows under the bare cotton plants