How High It Grows!

Classic sights around this area of North Carolina in the summer….the tall growing tobacco fields which have taken off like wild fire this se... thumbnail 1 summary

tháng 7 15, 2013

Classic sights around this area of North Carolina in the summer….the tall growing tobacco fields which have taken off like wild fire this season due to copious amounts of rain and intermittent sunshine.

This year’s crop is thriving!

I stopped on the way home from running some errands….would you believe these blooming stalks are taller than I am? And I am 5’9”!

Watching the tobacco crops each year is one of my favorite ways to mark the passing seasons. We know spring is well on the way as soon as we see the seedlings being put into the ground.

With the right weather conditions, they take hold quickly and grow throughout the summer months…really shooting up as soon as hot weather starts.

Tobacco is not an irrigated crop, it depends on mother nature to help it grow with enough rain and enough sunshine to do the job.

I admit that I have been busy (and gone) quite a bit this spring and summer….and I haven’t paid attention! I saw that these were all in bloom last night on our drive home from the cabin, and I promised myself that I would stop today and get some photos to share.

Pretty and pink!

Wouldn't these be beautiful in a bouquet? They will come and top the plants soon….and these lovely blossoms will be history.

Just look at these white puffy clouds against that North Carolina blue sky! It has rained and rained and rained so much you would have thought that we were living near Seattle. Or were in the process of growing webbed feet. I love the terrain in this area….slightly rolling and gently hilly, with rows of tobacco as far as you can see.

The harvesting won’t happen until fall, and then it happens in several stages. All of the leaves are removed by hand – not much has changed in the farming of tobacco over the centuries.

This is my world. I feel so at home here.

And every year I tell myself that it would be so nice if they would grow something that could be eaten for food or used for other purposes than this ---but this is history. This is North Carolina. The farming of tobacco is deeply rooted in this land, way back before we were more than just a handful of small colonies trying to eek out an existence.

But you know what? Tobacco does have OTHER good uses! It's being used as an organic pesticide! Read more HERE.

Centuries and so many life-times later --the tobacco still grows.