Cotton Pickin’

When I was a child, the county schools had a completely different schedule from the city schools. They began the school year a little earlier - late summer, really - but they got out for a few weeks in the fall for “cotton pickin”. That was a time when the children of farm families helped in the fields. I grew up in town so I can’t relate first hand how it was all done, but MH knows all about it. He did a little picking by hand before the modern cotton picker was a common sight on farms around here. In later years the children’s work looked a little more fun. The machinery picked the cotton, a suction apparatus removed the cotton from the picker and deposited it in a cotton trailer, and the children’s job was to “tromp the cotton”. I never got to do that but I did observe it. Then the trailers full of cotton were hauled to the gin behind a pick-up truck.

The procedure has changed over the years with a few major changes coming fairly recently. Now you have to give me a little latitude when I use terms like "years" and recently". I guess these terms are relative - I'm nearly 60 in case you need to know my point of reference when I use terms like these. On with the story at hand... I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of cotton bales. Well, we don’t see bales anymore. And the farmers used to pick a field twice, but they only pick once now. The farmer who works my ground started on the field around my house yesterday and he is finishing up as I am writing this. I guess I can tell the story in pictures better than I can say it with words.

This is not a bird, nor a plane - it is a Deere! If you click to enlarge, you can get a better look at the farmer. He can pick late into the night if he needs to as this beast has lights on it. And it is air conditioned. Farming is not quite the miserable job that it once was, but I have always likened it to going to Vegas. You are gambling on the weather, the markets, pests, and all sorts of things. Farming is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for the lazy. MH decided at a pretty young age that he'd find another way to earn his living.



This is what you can't see in the previous picture. The apparatus shown here routes the cotton stalks into the area where the machinery takes the cotton off the plant. These yellow things are called "headers".







These are called modules. What I could not get a good photo of is the machinery that forms the modules. That equipment was sitting at the far edge of the field and was partially obscured by a bit of a ridge. The module formers are large bright yellow pieces of equipment that resemble complicated looking cotton trailers. These module formers pack the cotton tightly and then shove the module of cotton out the end. The modules of cotton sit in the field until the Gin is ready for it. The farmer uses spray paint to put his name and a number on each module.

Actually, these modules are not my cotton. My cotton modules are sitting way back in the field where the module formers are. These modules belong to the farmer who works the ground across the road, but you get the idea. I counted 11 modules in my field and my farmer wasn't finished picking yet. My field is larger than the field these modules were picked from, but my crop and probable yield looked a lot better before the picking started. We'll see what the quality is when it goes to the Gin. You never know....




Another field hand was following a few rows behind the picker with the bush hog. He is cutting the stalks. Soon my field will be bare. We'll probably plant something different on this field next year. I hope it is not corn. I don't like corn beside my house.


I'll take you to Edwards Gin in another day or so. They work 24/7 this time of the year.