Meet Paul Pima!

I guess it COULD be Pauline Pima since I really don't know if it's a girl or a boy cotton plant. (And I hope everyone knows I'm making a joke) There is a growing number of the seeds germinating so I couldn't resist taking a picture of one of this years plants. Stay tune....either Susie or I will keep posting the cotton progress.

That Was FAST!

No pictures yet but after planting the Pima cotton last Saturday afternoon, I am pleased to announce that our FIRST seedling has "crowned" this afternoon.....only 5 DAYS from planting!!!! Now, if the rest of the little buggers will just come up, life will be good....well...at least BETTER! We also soaked some of the old dark brown cotton seeds from several years ago in a "tea" of water and Miracle Grow which we read helped the germination rate on possibly non-viable seed. These were planted today so time will tell if this will work.

Cotton Seed

And last but not least, here is the bag full of Pima cotton seed. After filling the 3 flats, you can't tell I've even opened the bag! I guess the next big question to be answered is how to store them for next year to retain their viability. (I would have done these 3 postings as one post but I have YET to figure out how to place more than 1 picture in these blogs without them being stacked on top of each other and the wording doing weird things around them. Sorry!)

P.S. It's also come to my attention that in years past, people talking to themselves was viewed as "abnormal" and could get you locked up. Now a days its called blogging and people actually follow you talking to yourself! Kinda weird if you ask me!

Cotton Continues

Here are 2 of the 4 flats with the planing cells all rolled up but not yet filled. The three that I did for the Pima held 32 per flat giving us only 96 plants if they all make it. I had hoped to put in a lot more than this but with food prices going the way they are, I think I had better use the garden space for FOOD rather than fiber. I've searched for a recipe for Cotton Soup but haven't found one. (I hope you know I AM joking!)

With the growing season bearing down on us, we decided early on that this year we were going to try our hand again at white Pima cotton. A number of years ago we raised Pima and a small amount of brown cotton and after planting all colored cotton last year, thought we would try our hand with white this time. One of the biggest problems we have faced in the past is finding enough peat pots to plant all the cotton seed since cotton does NOT take to transplanting well at all. This year we are going to try this Pot Maker which uses strips of newspaper to make planting cells. In theory it sounds like a good idea but time will tell! I spent some time today with the paper cutter from our bookbinding tools making 3.5" x 12" strips of newspaper and rolling them into cute little planting pots and filling up 4 flats.....3 of white Pima and 1 flat of some very old DARK brown seeds from the first planting we did years ago. We have no idea if the brown will even germinate but we are praying that at least a few of them will since the color was so very much darker and intense a brown than either of the ones we grew last year.

Spring?

Here we are at the end of March and I THINK we may finally be seeing some signs of spring around the hills of Tennessee. I really don't care what "they" say about this winter being mild....it was NOT in this part of the country so phooey on the global warming crud. It's been some time since I posted and even longer since I emailed those few people that are considered "friends". I find it increasingly hard to put a positive spin on all the crud going on in our lives here at the farm and at work so rather than just keep passing on depressing news, I've gone silent instead. Today, however, Susie and I did spend the day getting the years cotton planted in flats so maybe getting outside and doing some work soon will help with the attitude problems that I'm having. As soon as I get the pictures shot of the flats, I will post them as well. We are really wanting to keep better notes this year on the cotton progress and outcome and PRAYING that we will not have to deal with floods again this year like we did last!

The Boy Who Cried WOLF!

No, I'm not going to tell the old story about the boy that cried wolf....this is the story about a bit of commissioned spinning that Susie recently finished. A young man from around here advertised for someone to spin some special "wool" for him which turned out to be undercoat combings from his dog which is part wolf. We met with him and looked the fiber over and Susie took the work. There were almost 6 ounces of fiber that averaged less than an inch in length which proved to be somewhat of a challenge but since Susie can spin cotton and other short staple fiber, she prevailed! Tomorrow we are meeting him in town to deliver the finished 3 skeins which he is taking to his mother to have knit into something for him to wear.