This field is ready to pick. I saw many many fields that looked like this along the back roads of Tennessee but I didn't see any thing in the state that indicated it was being harvested.
Here's a bale of cotton. You can see the field in the background and the differences between picked and not picked (picture above). For a little perspective, my husband is 6'2" and this bale was taller than him. A bale of cotton weights just a little under 500 lbs.
Many bales close to the road.
Many bales off in the distance. There were areas where the bales were lined up for miles. Many of the bales were sitting in water and I wondered how that affected the quality of the cotton. There were actually two types of bales: the round one as seen in the pictures above and a rectangular one that I missed taking a picture of.
So, seeing all the cotton sent me down the path of what types of cotton is grown in the United States. The answer was there are two types: American Upland and Pima. Most likely the pictures above is American Upland.
I found a website that explains a little bit about the types of cotton - PimaCott.
Although cotton is grown all over the world, Supima are only grown in the United States. Check out the Authentic 50 website for more information about the types of cotton.
This is only a little bit that I found about cotton. It really is an interesting subject.
I was talking with my Dad who picked cotton as a child in Arkansas and in Arizona about his experiences. He said that the cotton was easier to pick in Arkansas. I thought that was an interesting comment given that Arkansas is most likely growing Upland Cotton and Arizona is most likely growing a Pima cotton. I'm sure he was/is completely unaware of the different types. I need to spend more time with my Dad and listen to his stories about growing up.
Hope you found this interesting!
Happy Stitching!
No comments:
Post a Comment