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Carol Perkins: Raising tobacco was second nature here I have followed many loads of tobacco down the old Glasgow Road all the way to the warehouse and then (and only then) did I wish that load were mine. -CAROL PERKINS For the next earlier Carol Perkins column: Carol Perkins: The Pointer Sisters By Carol Sulllivan Perkins When I was a growing up, many teenage boys made a tidy sum of money working in tobacco. My brother spent season after season in a tobacco field, usually his own, and I remember him coming in from the patch, near dark, covered in dirt and grim and the only recognizable part of him were his eyes. One of my friend's brother loves to tell how his mother would send him off to the square every morning, dressed for the tobacco patch, and tell him to stand near the caution light with his other buddies and wait for a farmer to come through town looking for workers. They didn't have to wait long because farmers always needed strong, young men to cut or house or both. Most of those summer days, mothers would not know where their sons had been working until they dragged themselves home, worn out and hungry. They didn't have the energy to cause much trouble, at least during the week. Remember when schools started later so farmers could have their children to help cut tobacco? When the calendar was changed and schools started earlier, kids were given a set number of excused days for cutting the family tobacco. That wouldn't happen today. In this part of the country, raising tobacco was second nature. Although I didn't live on a farm, my grandparents' farm was like my own, so following the tobacco setter and pegging the plants that the setter dropped was a good job for me. I also rode the setter a few times, but I was a little too slow, so I was demoted to picking up plants. At the end of the day, I probably didn't get much pay, but my grandmother was waiting for all of us with a cold RC and whatever was cooking on the stove. We youngsters didn't hurt ourselves. Every farmer, of course, had a tobacco barn or two. Most of those sagged with the weight of the tobacco hanging from the rafters. Housing tobacco was the worst job, according to Guy, for obvious reasons. My uncle Russell was still climbing to the top of the barn when he was in his eighties and younger men were handing sticks up to him. The only fun I ever had around a tobacco barn was riding stick horses, climbing the tiers as far as I felt safe to climb, and jumping into bales of hay. I liked to sit on the tractor and pretend I could drive it or put my stick horse in a cattle stall and take it water. When the barn was needed for tobacco, I was gone. I have never stripped tobacco but most everyone in my family has been through this process. The lights in the barn would glow until late at night as families gathered around kerosene heaters, hurrying to get the tobacco stripped. Finally loading the final product on the back of a truck or wagon and heading for the warehouse meant a few months of reprieve until the process began all over again. I have followed many loads of tobacco down the old Glasgow Road all the way to the warehouse and then (and only then) did I wish that load were mine. As for me, I do miss driving along the highways and watching crops rise toward the sun. I can remember someone in the car always analyzing crops and making comments like, "That tobacco needs to be topped." Or "The rain sure turned that tobacco yellow early." Raising tobacco was part of our heritage and a way of life in Kentucky. For many, it is still in their blood. - Carol Perkins This story was posted on 2012-06-10 03:58:23
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Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic Carol Perkins:
Carol Perkins: The Pointer Sisters Carol Perkins: A Family Gathering with Oscar Sullivan Carol Perkins: Next to the most Carol Perkins: SCRAPPERS Carol Perkins: Thinking of Life as pieces of pie. Part II of 2 Carol Perkins; Thinking of life as pieces of pie. Part I of II Carol Perkins: What's in the Easter basket Carol Perkins: Only $29.99 Carol Perkins: At the end of the day Carol Perkins: English teachers View even more articles in topic Carol Perkins |
 
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