Today I was leaving my school and I noticed the tobacco field across the road. This is the same tobacco from an earlier post. I have never seen tobacco harvested. So..I turned off the road and make a U-turn. I know I'm crazy.

It was a really beautiful day and I had my camera with me. So here I go a woman on a mission. I don't even know these people. I bet they thought "who is this goofy woman out here with a camera?" I proceeded to tell this man that I have never seen tobacco harvested and that I wanted some pictures. I said that I wasn't from here and ....blah, blah, blah. This poor man didn't even speak English. Nice smile though. How funny! Anyway.

I know this isn't a very good picture because the sun is in my face. Don't know the name of the machine. I will call it The Tobacco Picker. The one middle tire goes down the middle of the row.

The tobacco ends up in the hopper on top. A side door drops open.... and the tobacco is pushed out of the hopper and onto the back on the trailer.

An empty field.

The end.

If your not from around here then you probable have not seen tobacco growing in the fields. Well I was born and raised in Missouri and all I had been around was mostly corn and beans. They plant the tobacco up on raised rows so that the soil can drain. I saw this field being planted this past spring on my way to work. It's not planted for seed but from little seedlings. I sure didn't know this. I thought it was from seed like corn and beans. I noticed when driving around the country side how pretty the little tobacco fields looked. Well not pretty to some folk but the farmer daughter inside me notices these things. Ha ha Mostly they are very clean and weed free. The soil looks very sandy. It looks like a good place for some young kids to be playing. I remember playing in my grandmothers garden. She would be weeding and I would be making roads in the fine powered dirt. Hey don't laugh. There wasn't lots to do as a kid at the grandparent's house.

Notice how the bottom leaves are gone. They "pull" the bottom leaves to harvest. About every couple of weeks or so until there is just a skinny stalk left. I will have to show you more pictures as the harvest goes along. I think this is so cool! I know, I'm nuts.