| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| kydeere40744 |
Posted - Apr 21 2008 : 09:13:04 AM
I finally got my camera rip roaring and ready to roll...I posted photos from yesterday and finally some of my goodies from Nancy Jo. Go check out the blog for more. :)
~Jessica in Kentucky & Farmgirl Sisterhood #137~
Be sure to visit my blog & Crafty Clipart for some of my photographs:
http://bluegrassprincess.blogspot.com/
http://www.craftyclipart.com |
| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| kydeere40744 |
Posted - Apr 21 2008 : 11:21:22 AM
You girls are just too sweet. That photo with the little lamb was taken back almost 10 years ago - hard to imagine its been that long ago! I cut off my hair not long after that.
Lisa - Raising tobacco is a neat process. The "traditional" way of growing it is tightly in a plant bed full of plants. Kinda like a garden. When they are tall enough, you pull them out of the ground, put them on top of sacks and then haul them to the tobacco setter. Two folks will be on the back sitting and placing plants, one by one, into the setter that places the plants in the ground so many inches apart. The tractor driver has to make sure that he makes the rows straight enough so that you can get as many plants as possibly in the acres of tobacco. They grow out the field nice and tall and wide.
Later in the summer, the plants are "topped" meaning the flower bloom on top and the suckers are cut off. Not long after this, the plant starts to change colors to a bright yellow. The plant is hand cut, one by one, by a special tobacco knife. Then you spear it onto a long tobacco stick. There is a special metal tool that you can place on top of the stick to help the tobacco stalk go through. You usually put as much tobacco on a stick before moving on to the next stick.
After it is cut, a tractor & wagon along with a team of workers come along and pick up the tobacco sticks and hand them to the person on the wagon. They will stack them neatly starting from the back (there are backs of the wagons to prevent it from falling off). Then it is off to the barn where they will carefully climb the tobacco sticks up to the top of the barn and fill it in several layers down. Thus, a tobacco barn structure will look different than say a typical horse/cattle barn. Traditional Burley Tobacco will sit in the barn for a while to cure with the change of weather. It will change to a brown in color. When the moisture is just right, the tobacco is taken down a little at a time and "booked" as we call it. You basically get as much down that you know that you can strip the leaves & place in a baler to make bales. When you get it down from the rafters, you place it in piles again and place plastic over it to keep the moisture in. Then off to the market you go. The leaves can be baled in different grades (top leaf, middle leaf, bottom leaf, or all leaves, etc).
I mentioned the traditional way. Several years ago, hydroponic tobacco beds were introduced and I did a science fair project out of it. Basically they were white foam trays with a few hundred holes. You placed in them in pools of water and then a special white canvas in a hoop structure covered them. We would build our pool out of lumber & black plastic. You either had to hand seed them or make your own seeder to plant seeds tray by tray, cell by cell. In the end, these plants were easier to transplant (less bending, less time in a bed, etc). They were also a lot stronger and could withstand more weather elements.
Whew - I know that is a long explanation, but hopefully that helped you Lisa. Let me know if you have any other questions. :)
~Jessica in Kentucky & Farmgirl Sisterhood #137~
Be sure to visit my blog & Crafty Clipart for some of my photographs:
http://bluegrassprincess.blogspot.com/
http://www.craftyclipart.com |
| lisamarie508 |
Posted - Apr 21 2008 : 09:40:57 AM
I had no idea so much work went into raising tobacco. I didn't really understand a lot of it since I've never grown it. Why are the plants pulled up out of the ground and then replanted? What is topping and spearing?
Farmgirl Sister #35
"If you can not do great things, do small things in a great way." Napoleon Hill (1883-1970)
my blog: http://lisamariesbasketry.blogspot.com/
My Website:
http://www.freewebs.com/lisamariesbasketry/index.htm |
| electricdunce |
Posted - Apr 21 2008 : 09:40:09 AM
It looks like you had a wonderful time, wow it is fun to see all the treats you have on display, and the picture of you and the goat is gorgeous!
Karin
Farmgirl Sister #153
"Give me shelter from the storm" - Bob Dylan
http://moodranch.blogspot.com
http://domesticnonsense.etsy.com |
| Linder |
Posted - Apr 21 2008 : 09:31:12 AM
Jessica what a beautiful black and white picture of you on your blog page. You, my dear, are gorgeous!
"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom" |
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