Being on our bikes, out in the lovely rural area we enjoy not only clean air but beautiful sights of Georgia crops.
On Wednesday we spotted one huge field where they had started harvesting cotton...
Husband Pieter with his Bicycle Helmet, holding the fluffy cotton.
You also get an idea how tall this pressed wall behind him is!
That is enough cotton for LOTS OF T-SHIRTS...
This one still needed to be covered.
This is the 'Mold' where the cotton is being sucked into and compacted.
Heavy equipment is being used for this cotton harvest.
This is the mechanical cotton picker.
Behind this picker you see the bare plants, to the right there are still 4 rows for the next turn.
Okay, we did go to the same field on the other side, where the harvest still needed to begin, to show you how vast it is!
This is a screenshot of the Youtube video shown below.
Our little Toyota RAV4 with the bike rack and our two Schwinn Bikes parked alongside the road and we walk into the field.
It has been a very DRY summer, as you can hear from Pieter's footsteps through the grasses towards the cotton...
An up close view of these ripe and fluffy cotton balls.
This gives already a taste of the vast field it is being grown on...
A sea of white cotton balls as far as you can see!
Impossible to look into the low sun, that is still very strong here in Georgia!
Wednesday, October 12 at 18:07 and still 27°C or 80.6°F
Hope you enjoyed this little rural excursion with us on our Bike Route!
Interesting links:
What does a cotton plant look like?Growing cotton in the south - Interesting short video showing the plant and also its enemy the boll
Cotton Ginning Process Video I - Showing how those pressed bales are being loaded up.
Cotton Ginning Process video part 2 SilverLake Growers Gin - Showing you how it is being handled at the Cotton Gin for removing all the seeds, sticks, stems and burrs. Also the excess moisture is being removed.
Cotton Seed House Silver Lake Growers GinPart 3 - Showing you what is being done with the separated cotton seeds.
Cotton Trash and uses for it Silver LakeGrowers Gin part 4 - Showing you the waste, which is also being used as fertilizer and in compost.
Cotton Bale press, Docking, Trucking of cotton Silver LakeGrowers Gin part 5 - Seeing the end product being pressed with the use of hydraulics and loaded up as bales to be used to make clothes!
The History of Cotton | Cotton Documentary
- Documentary Films with mention of the Arab word Qutun that sounds more like the Dutch Katoen, for English Cotton... Interesting movie!
Liebe Mariette,
ReplyDeletedas ist zum Träumen.
Alles Liebe
Elisabeth
Hello Mariette, What an impressive sight is all that cotton, either in the field or compacted into a giant "bale." It seems that most of the human labor has been eliminated from the harvest. On the other hand, look what that immense labor led to before. I wonder if there is any human gleaning from the plants missed by the harvester, or whether it is just left to waste.
ReplyDelete--Jim
Dearest Jim,
DeleteNo there is no human gleaning from the plants missed by the harvester. We biked today and saw an entire strip of white where they apparently had missed an entire row. Sad to see also in general a few cotton balls remaining on the plants. Guess it would be too expensive for doing this...
Hugs and happy weekend.
Mariette
Leuk om te zien hoe ze de katoen oogsten en samenpersen, alles gemechaniseerd nu.
ReplyDeleteUma bela plantação de algodão.
ReplyDeleteUm abraço e bom fim-de-semana.
Andarilhar
wow! that's really neat! thanks for sharing these views! cotton used to be a huge crop in my area years back, but died out about 30 years ago or so. guess they either exhausted the ground or turned to more lucrative crops? still, one of the nearby towns still holds an annual 'cotton festival' each year, although no one grows it locally anymore. and their beloved old cotton gin is now being demolished.
ReplyDeleteWow, what an incredible sight! I love the view of the vast field under vast sky, and I also love the close-up of the cottons!
ReplyDeleteIt has been a very dry summer indeed. There is a small chance of rain here this weekend and I hope we get some drops.
Happy Saturday and have a great weekend!
This post was very interesting to see and read Mariette - I had no idea that it was harvested in this way. It must have been a very time consuming and hard job requiring lots of labour before the big machines were available.
ReplyDeleteThink of how much work it would have taken to harvest that cotton by hand. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteDearest Mariette,
ReplyDeleteCotton fields really do look like snow. Thanks for showing us modern day harvesting. I know it was backbreaking work to harvest before machines.
Enjoy your day............*s*
wow!! Liebe Mariette, zuerst dachte ich an eine Schneemauer mit zigtausenden kleiner Schneebälle *lach*..... Schnee in Georgia, undenkbar oder????
ReplyDeleteDanke für diesen interessanten Baumwoll-Post.
Liebe Sonntagsgrüße zu Dir
von Traudi
Liebe Traudi,
DeleteJa, besonders Schnee in unsere Gegend von Georgia ist undenkbar. Wir haben ab und zu etwas nasser Schnee für ein Paar Stunden nur. Im Norden vom Staat kann es schon viel Schnee geben aber nicht im Süden.
Eine schöne neue Woche wünsch ich dir.
Mariette
Dearest MAriette,
ReplyDeletethank you for this wonderful Cotton-Harvest-Post! Wonderful pictures and video. I love the picture, where you are standing in the cotton field :O)
Happy new week to you,
Love and husg and blessings,
Claudia xo
Dit vond ik zo'n leuke post...heel speciaal,om te 'zien' hoe ze tegenwoordig die katoen oogsten, en tot zo'n 'blok' persen.... En wat doen ze dan met die 'blokken'? worden die weer opgehaald door iemand?
ReplyDeleteBeste Marian,
DeleteHeb voor jou een reeks van videos onderaan er bij gezet. Dat beantwoord alles. Interessant om een keer te zien.
Er is ook een lelijk insect, de boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) die in het verleden hier bijna iedereen uit de katoen business heeft geforceerd.
Dit is niet de langstapelige Egyptische katoen, die wordt nu veelal in het goedkopere China gekweekt. Is echter in beperkte productie, wereldwijd, vandaar de hoge prijzen.
Liefs,
Mariette
Dank je Mariette.....dit was erg interessant om te zien, en tjee wat een machines...er komen bijna geen mensen meer aan te pas....
ReplyDelete