Sea of cotton

[Mike Lewis]

This year all of my neighboring farmers planted cotton, and now it's ready to be picked. I have it on all four sides; it's like I'm an island in a sea of white. Wish I had a photo from above.

[float5]

Fantastic!!

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Wish I had a photo from above.

I don't think you're missing anything without the aerial view, which tends to spread the cotton balls.
Best to shoot, like you did, from ground level, with a long lens, which compresses the view.

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

This year all of my neighboring farmers planted cotton, and now it's ready to be picked. I have it on all four sides; it's like I'm an island in a sea of white. Wish I had a photo from above.

I had to bump up a college choir singing Dixie after I looked at your photo. We used to sing it in school in the 50’s. Probably verboten now. No cotton here in Iowa just corn and beans. There are several corn songs but none I know of for soybeans. I do have a soybean joke in my campfire repertoire however. Nice picture
Iowa Dave

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Wish I had a photo from above.

How about trying a panorama, presumably using a smartphone (because they all have this feature)?

[float5]

I think something pretty close can look great. These are lily pads on the Mississippi River, Illinois, taken with a zoom.

[Red Dog]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

This year all of my neighboring farmers planted cotton.

What a great photo! This reminds me of the farm where I grew up. Cotton was our main crop. Thanks for posting!

Regards,

Fred M.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by float5

I think something pretty close can look great. These are lily pads on the Mississippi River, Illinois, taken with a zoom.

Nice photos! Now that's a lot of lily pads. You'd like Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Washington, D.C.

[Lynn L]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

This year all of my neighboring farmers planted cotton, and now it's ready to be picked. I have it on all four sides; it's like I'm an island in a sea of white. Wish I had a photo from above.

Mike curious, is cotton easier to grow than other crops they have chosen in the past? I know the quality of cotton in clothing has deteriorated over the years but that is most likely because it comes from overseas?

[wetzk]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

I had to bump up a college choir singing Dixie after I looked at your photo. We used to sing it in school in the 50’s. Probably verboten now. No cotton here in Iowa just corn and beans. There are several corn songs but none I know of for soybeans. I do have a soybean joke in my campfire repertoire however. Nice picture
Iowa Dave

Here ya go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdTE2l1FSRw

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by Lynn L

Mike curious, is cotton easier to grow than other crops they have chosen in the past? I know the quality of cotton in clothing has deteriorated over the years but that is most likely because it comes from overseas?

I don't know much about cotton as we didn't grow it when I was a kid, though my neighbors did. Cotton and peanuts are the big money crops in my county at this time, but this is market-driven (or perhaps price-support driven). A friend of mine who is a cotton farmer told me once that "long-staple" cotton is preferred for clothing, and it requires lots of ground water but not much rainwater on the leaves. So you see farms of long-staple cotton in Arizona which are irrigated. I think a lot of imported cotton also comes from arid areas that can be irrigated (e.g. Egypt, Kazakhstan). It's possible that the quality of cotton in clothing has deteriorated because various chemicals used to treat it in the past have been banned. But I'm guessing.

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by wetzk

Here ya go

Well I’ll be d...ed. That made my day. Also they make “rubber” fish baits like Mister Twister from soybeans.’The guy who rents farm ground from us is growing mostly non GMO beans now. Said there’s pretty good money in it but more work. I was out there one day and he was walking the rows and chopping nightshade. It was about 85 degrees and sunny with about 80 percent humidity. Would have dropped me in about 10 minutes. Thanks for the song.
Dave

[wetzk]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

Well I’ll be d...ed. That made my day. Also they make “rubber” fish baits like Mister Twister from soybeans.’The guy who rents farm ground from us is growing mostly non GMO beans now. Said there’s pretty good money in it but more work. I was out there one day and he was walking the rows and chopping nightshade. It was about 85 degrees and sunny with about 80 percent humidity. Would have dropped me in about 10 minutes. Thanks for the song.
Dave

I remember my grandfather hated soybeans, Said it made the rabbits taste bad. He grew wheat.

[Mike Lewis]

We grew soybeans when I was a kid, and you still see beans here and there but not as much. We also grew wheat, corn, peanuts, and sorghum for the cattle.

Now you see mostly peanuts and cotton, with some wheat here and there. Farming methods have changed in a generation, too-- "no till" farming uses equipment that I'm not familiar with, and I hardly ever see a breaking plow.

The tractors are now guided by satellite. One day when I still lived in Maryland I visited here and a neighboring farmer told me "I'm using your satellites to guide my tractors" (I worked for the U.S. DoD, which runs the GPS system). I replied that I was going to charge him rent.

[Mike Lewis]

I returned home today from a trip out of town for Thanksgiving and saw that the cotton field behind my house had been picked and baled. Within a few days a truck will come and take the bale away.