The Cotton Patch

Have you ever had to 'chop, pick or pull' cotton? If you were raised on a farm in West TN, and over the age of 50, I'd just bet the answer to that question would be, "Yes"! That was one job I hated to do as a young girl. I can remember 'riding' on my momma's cotton sack, as she picked cotton and dragged the sack packed with cotton down the rows, to the cotton trailer, parked at the end of the row. (I was only about 3 or 4 years old.) That is where the cotton was lifted up to a pea scale, which was attached to the trailer, and weighed. There was different size pea's, which was a heavy bell shaped weight, moved from side to side for the correct weight. There would be a green cotton bole in the bottom of one corner of your cotton sack. A piece of baling wire was wrapped around the bole, then looped around. Therefore, the wire  from the bottom and the shoulder strap at the top, was brought together to hang it on to the cotton scale. If you were really good at "pickin' cotton", and packed your sack well, you could easily get 150 pounds of cotton in your sack. When I became 6 years old, momma made me my very own cotton sack. (Thrill-thrill)  She made it on her Singer treadle sewing machine, from the cloth of a 25 pound bag of flour, which then was purchased in a cloth sack. It was about the size of a standard pillow case. I could get approx 7 to 8 pounds of cotton in it.
School would be out for 6 weeks in the summer for "cotton chopping". Then we went back to school until fall arrived, and we would be out for another 6 weeks for "cotton picking". The final stage of the harvest was to strip the cotton stalks by "pulling cotton". That would be done by pulling the entire boles and cotton.
My daddy would pull the trailer to the cotton gin, which was about 4 miles from the cotton patch, with either a team of mules or the little 8-N Ford tractor. I remember riding on the cotton and playing in it. Momma would always tell daddy, "Don't let her go to sleep in there, and get sucked up at the gin."
Those were the good old days, so much like the Amish live their daily lives today.

These photo's show the cotton field of my next door neighbor. Modern technology has changed the way cotton is picked and baled today. Needless to say, the Amish have to get English farmers to get the cotton ready for market, but they do still plant and maintain the cotton crop with mules and horse drawn farm equipment.

Thanks for reading my "Trip Down Memory Lane".

Amish Scholars

Here you will see six of the 30 scholars that attend the little one room Amish school in our community. If you notice, only 1 has on shoes, and it was a cool, windy 49 degree when I took this photo this morning. They only have 2 more miles to walk from here.
The older children, especially the boys, always have a 'contest' every fall, to see who can go the longest without wearing shoes to school. It can become quiet interesting when it gets down to the final 2 or 3.
If the weather gets unfavorable with heavy rains, sleet, snow, etc., I will always pick them up for a ride to school or will be there to bring them to their homes in the late afternoon. They like that, and so do I!!

Hand Made Amish Dolls

My Amish friend across the road from me has offered to make these dolls to sell. When I posted a photo of one on 'Whoopie Pie Book Club' a few days ago, replies kept pouring in..."I want one". I asked Kathy if she would make a few for my new friends, and she agreed. The large one is approx. 14 inches tall, and the baby one is approx. 8 inches tall. It is an Amish custom, all little girls get the small one on their 1st birthday. After age 2, they get the larger one. The response has been overwhelming, so I cant promise how long it will take her to make them. 

Today, I walk in the local post office with these 2 dolls, and inquired about postage.

 Lg 14"= $3.63 /Sm 8"= $2.95 /One of each size= $3.97 

She is going to charge $11.00 for the small doll and

 $19.00 for the large one. 

Her mailing address is:

KATHY YODER
2070 HIGHWAY 219
HUNTINGDON, TN 38344

New Amish Home

This is the newest Amish home in our community. Irvin and Rose Yoder put in countless hours building their dream home. For almost 2 years, each spare minute went into the labor and love of their house. The smaller house to the left was their original home during the construction of the larger one. They have 3 children, ages 2, 4 & 6. It is so beautiful on the inside and out.

Working the fields

It's that time of year again, plowing the fields! Four horses, one mule, and two Amish men should have this job done in no time at all. As you can tell from the picture, it was time for a bit of R&R for all of them.

As often as I see the horse drawn equipment at work, I could watch for hours. Being raised on a farm, it brings back a lot of childhood memories for me.

This is the Amish Cemetery in our community.

Rosser, TN Amish School

The photo at the top of the Blog is our little one room Amish School House. There are 30 scholars that attend 1st through 8th grade. This is Miss Wilma Yoder's second year as the 'one and only' teacher. The Amish still practice in 'paddling' the scholars if they misbehave.  Of course, they have no electricity or indoor plumbing. There is an outhouse out behind the school. All of their lessons are done during school hours, so there is never any homework. The main reason for this is because they have to do their chores as soon as they get out of school, as well as before walking to school in the mornings. Several of the scholars walk as far as 5 miles to and from school, in all kinds of weather.