Tobacco
I don't know that I have ever paid attention to what tobacco looked like after it had been harvested. I know that "harvested" isn't the term that the farmers use--they call it "primed." There are a few patches of fields that have been left for some time now (close to my home) as I took one of the pics in the middle of the summer, and the other was taken this holiday weekend. I really don't know that much about farming tobacco--I did learn everything I really want to know about it just listening to other people talk about it. They tell me how gummy your arms and hands get when you pull the leaves and stick them under your arms as you move from plant to plant. I hear how hot it gets in the field and in the barn when you hang it. Of course no one told me about how back-breaking (sorry Dave) it can be in the fields bent over for hours at a time. If anyone has a job that seems somewhat unpleasant or unrewarding, just consider the task of the tobacco farmer. Just maybe you have it a bit better than that.
posted by 007 at 11/26/2006 09:15:00 PM
5 Comments:
Working in tobacco is hard work indeed. Good pun; I'm still of the opinion that perhaps Kevin or Kristi "stepped on a crack" and somehow the karma boss got it wrong that day.......
Your thoughts?
Oooh, you are so bad. Don't be too cruel to you dear bro' ya know, I mean the shoe could be on the other foot, or something like that. Don't judge until you have walked a mile in his shoes?
i love the way tobacco smells when its cured in the barns every august and september.
smells so good for such a bad habit.
I made 1.00 per hour priming when I was a teenager.We walked the rows with long sleeve shirts on to keep to tobacco gum off of you. We got a honey bun and pepsi at break, and lunch. Then we had to stay up every third night with the barn. We did have gas burners, but you still had to monitor it and not have it fall on the burners and catch the barn on fire. I also trucked the tobacco to the barn on a sand sled pulled by a mule. Nothing like smelling the southbound end of a northbound mule to make you want to find a better job. Oh the good old days.
Kevin: I attended Durham High School, and I had classes on the front side of the main bldg, and just across the street were the tobacco warehouses, and on those warm days you could smell the aroma, which was much better than the smell of the smoke...
Old paratrooper: I feel your pain, but not like you do.
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