The corn has been harvested. The hay has been baled. The dried up corn stalks are tied to lamp posts downtown on Main Street and the square hay bales line the sides of a trailer for a hayride. Scarecrows and Jack-o-lanterns greet the shoppers as they stroll along the brick sidewalks.
But the cotton hasn’t been harvested. Not all of it anyway. It’s snowy white in the fields on my country roads. Before it’s harvested I pull to the side of the road, walk into the field and get a stalk of cotton to place in an old milk jar for a fall decoration in my living room. But I’d better hurry.
The plants are bursting with the fluffy white stuff so the big machines are getting ready to do their work. After the machines roll over the fields all that will be left will be acres and acres of flattened brown stalks which will fade into the landscape. The cotton will be baled into huge rectangles and sit there until trucks pick them up.
I drive past these fields every ordinary day unaware of all that happens there. A family’s livelihood and hard work. Not thinking about what comes from those fields will be made into tee shirts and blankets and warm cozy socks.
We were walkin’ in high cotton,
Old times there are not forgotten,
Those fertile fields are never far away.
From High Cotton by Alabama
In response to the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge Nostalgia.
mariegriffith.me 
Love that photo of the cotton balls! Looks so soft, like you could just curl up and have sweet dreams upon it….
I know. It’s like white cotton candy.
🙂
they look like little balls of cotton candy!
Yes it does.
This was great and it brought back a lot of childhood memories of my grandparents who were poor bear foot cotton farmers who thought they were living in high cotton and as it turns out in things that really matter they were.
You’re right Lyle. We could learn some important lessons from your grandparents. Learning to be grateful and content should be the first one.
As a northerner I wonder where the phrase “high cotton” comes from and what it means.
The term means “doing well” as in the cotton crop is growing well and the prices are high. The cotton farmers were in “high cotton.”
Terrific shots, Marie. I was fascinated by cotton fields the first time I saw them driving through the south.
Thank you.
Oh so pretty! And what I take for granted. Just updated my blogroll and added your great site. Appreciate your influence on the web!
Dawn you are so sweet. Thank you for your encouragement. It means more than you know.
Lovely post!
Thank you Sue. I’ve seen these cotton fields all my life!
Learning about life elswhere is what I love about blogging. Never seen cotton or heard of ‘high cotton’ Interesting read.
Thank you Jenny. I love that part of blogging too. Among many other wonderful things. I’ve learned a great deal about many things from my blogging community.