Cotton Harvest & Pumpkin Hollow...

Hi, everyone!

 

I can't believe how this week has flown by!

 I was going to come home from Vulture Fest and get SO much done...by Tuesday!

Typical, for me...;^)

A while back when I did the post on cotton and its pretty blossoms (click here for that post),

I promised I would do another post at harvest, so here it is...

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About a month ago, the farmers started having their cotton fields defoliated.

Sprayed with chemicals by crop-duster...

(they look like stunt
pilots in their bright yellow planes, with all their scary dives and climbs!)

This causes the leaves to dry up and fall off the plants,

 leaving just the brown stems and the cotton bolls...

It also causes distress for those who suffer with allergies and sinus problems...:^(



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Pretty, fluffy bolls!

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I found this pamphlet from 1953...she looks pretty pleased with the cotton, doesn't she?

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And, this vintage (undated) post card...cotton used to be baled and wrapped in burlap.

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The farmers in the fields near our house got theirs baled early...(I missed most of it) ~

They are still using rectangular bales.

They got them out of the fields quickly this year,

but some years they don't, and there is quite a bit of it wasted...

If it rains, it gets wet and muddy on the bottom, and when it is finally hauled to the gin,

there are big piles of cotton left where it had been sitting...

It looks like drifts of snow...

that never melts!

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Lots of farmers, however, are switching to round bales...

The baler wraps them in plastic all around...much cleaner, less waste.

You can't tell, but these are BIG...probably 7-8ft in diameter.

I took these photos just south of Sikeston on our way to Pumpkin Hollow yesterday afternoon.

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You can get a better idea of the scale in this photo.

The farmer is hauling a bale by tractor,

 lining them up neatly to be picked up later for ginning.

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Here's the amazing machine that picks six rows of cotton at a time,

then forms it into a bale and wraps it in plastic...

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Bales waiting to be ginned...this cotton gin is near Campbell, Missouri ~

I had to take two photos to get all the bales that were lined up!

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This was just a weedy little cotton patch...but it looked so picturesque, with the faded red barn...

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Now we've arrived at Pumpkin Hollow, in Piggott, Arkansas...this is the line-up of greeters!

It's about an hour away, and I knew we wouldn't have much time to look before sunset...

The sun so low in the sky made for some pleasing photos, though!

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Pumpkins and more pumpkins...

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They also have chickens and sweet baby goats...(you can see some way in the back)...

We just came for gourds, though, and didn't take the "Haunted Tour", so I didn't get baby goat photos...:^(

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Isn't this just the wartiest pumpkin you've ever seen?

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The gourds hang from arbors...so interesting!

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They also had a pretty little fish pond...

I could have just sat on a rock and watched them...

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Do you see the bees in the centers of these sunflowers??

I was afraid to get closer, lest I disturb them!


I really liked how the sun was shining though the petals...

they just glowed!

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Weathered faces...

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Here is what I came for, though...dried gourds, from last year...

Not so pretty now..but look at all that potential...hundreds and hundreds of Fairy Houses!

They need to sit out in the elements all winter in order to dry inside,

 and to let the waxy coating on the outside dry as well...

Then the gourds can be soaked in warm water and the outsides scrubbed clean.



Although they are only open in the fall for Halloween festivities and pumpkins,

the dried gourds are available year-round.

Well worth the trip if you are anywhere in the area!



Click here for their website...



Pumpkin Hollow 

671 CR 336

Piggott, Arkansas 72454

 

I'll be posting about Vulture Fest later this evening!