As I promised last Friday after my discussion of experiencing agriculture on the west coast, today I've got a little post about agriculture on the east coast. Tobacco farms in Tennessee.
You might remember that at the beginning of September I headed to Tennessee to spent a few days with Cousin Swiss Mister and the family after the Southern Santa passed away. I hadn't been there for 24 hours before I got a text from Little Brother saying, "Take me a picture of a tobacco field." Apparently this loving agriculture thing is genetic.
My family lives about an hour from Nashville in the hills down a bunch of windey back roads surrounded by farmland and old barns.
(No, I didn't get car sick, thanks to my magic car sickness pills!) It was the perfect place to check out farming. So here are a couple of shots of tobacco fields in Tennessee.
You can recognize a tobacco plant buy the big green leaves.
You guys may not know this, but those old barns that you see in the south? A lot of them are tobacco barns--meaning that they are (or were) used for curing tobacco. Once tobacco is harvested, the stems (with leaves still on them) are hung from poles inside the barn. The purpose here is to dry the tobacco leaves. As drying occurs, the leaves will change color from green to yellow and then to brown.
Some farmers use heat to help with the drying process, so lots of older tobacco barns will be stained black from the smoke from fires that helped with drying. When tobacco is fire cured, it takes between 3 days and 10 weeks, depending on the type. During this time hardwood fires are continuously smoldering in the barns. Chewing tobacco is usually fire cured.
Like I said last week, agriculture is such a diverse industry that I'm constantly amazed at the different crops, techniques and farmers involved. And I'm always up for learning a little something about life on a farm elsewhere (although, I'll admit, ours remains my favorite!)
You might remember that at the beginning of September I headed to Tennessee to spent a few days with Cousin Swiss Mister and the family after the Southern Santa passed away. I hadn't been there for 24 hours before I got a text from Little Brother saying, "Take me a picture of a tobacco field." Apparently this loving agriculture thing is genetic.
My family lives about an hour from Nashville in the hills down a bunch of windey back roads surrounded by farmland and old barns.
(No, I didn't get car sick, thanks to my magic car sickness pills!) It was the perfect place to check out farming. So here are a couple of shots of tobacco fields in Tennessee.You can recognize a tobacco plant buy the big green leaves.You guys may not know this, but those old barns that you see in the south? A lot of them are tobacco barns--meaning that they are (or were) used for curing tobacco. Once tobacco is harvested, the stems (with leaves still on them) are hung from poles inside the barn. The purpose here is to dry the tobacco leaves. As drying occurs, the leaves will change color from green to yellow and then to brown.
Some farmers use heat to help with the drying process, so lots of older tobacco barns will be stained black from the smoke from fires that helped with drying. When tobacco is fire cured, it takes between 3 days and 10 weeks, depending on the type. During this time hardwood fires are continuously smoldering in the barns. Chewing tobacco is usually fire cured.Like I said last week, agriculture is such a diverse industry that I'm constantly amazed at the different crops, techniques and farmers involved. And I'm always up for learning a little something about life on a farm elsewhere (although, I'll admit, ours remains my favorite!)
3 comments:
This was very interesting! I love how there are distinct types of farming in different parts of the country. It's so cool that the generations before us figured out what would grow in their specific climates, soils, etc. and they made it work.
-College Roomie
Cool post! I sell cigars and I have been lucky to go on tours in Latin America and learn about tobacco and how cigars get made.
I remember when we went to Louisville and went and toured the tobacco fields without a guide...LOL
Flintstone
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