Riding Through the Past

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As brother Bob, wife Beth, and I approached our home town, I noticed cotton in the fields. At first I thought there were just remnants of cotton, but Bob said it hadn’t been picked yet. He knew that farmers often spray the fields with a defoliant to get the leaves out of the way. The cotton is then much, much cleaner when the machine picks it. When we were children, small country schools had cotton pickin’ time with no school for a few weeks so that students could pick cotton. We were townies, so we didn’t get that time off.

Cotton ready for picking

Bob owns a farm in the bottom (area near the Mississippi River), and we drove down gravel roads to see the man who rents the land. He lives on his adjoining farm. He offered to drive us over Bob’s land in his big pickup truck. My ears were delighted to spend time with him, because he has a true Southern accent with a country twist. He is educated and smart, but his speech is different from mine. His words and the way he puts them together would not sound right coming from me. Beth had already gotten in the back seat, and as I was going to the other side he said, “See that flat (tire)? I kin air it up right quick.”

He did “air it up” by pulling a pump over and hooking it up. It seemed just a minute or so until we were driving off. We noticed other scruffy looking trucks not in the car port and assumed they were his working farm trucks. He drove on the road for a bit and then turned right into a field and kept going. We passed a big tree, and he told us it was our dad’s favorite pecan tree. Bob and I remember picking up pecans there when we were children. He drove us around all the land he had cultivated, pointing out a low spot that was too wet to plow. Beth had seen a video his wife posted on Facebook, and she knew he had finished getting in the soy beans just a day or so before.

Driving over the fields

As we walked toward our car, I asked if I could take his photo with Bob and Beth. He readily agreed, then asked if I’d take the same thing with his phone. I thought, for once, someone didn’t object!

We drove into town and went into Walmart where his wife works. Bob called her, and she rushed out to meet us. She was laughing and said she would have recognized Bob and Beth because her husband had sent the photo to her. We had a lovely chat before leaving. It was wonderful to talk to people new to me who have the same values I do.

I did not post the photos with people’s faces, because I did not get their permission. More than likely they would have said yes. I apologize. You should have been able to see these wonderful people.

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Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

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24 thoughts on “Riding Through the Past”

  3. Thank you for sharing about Bob’s farm and your family connection with the area. I pulled up the Tennessee Google map, and it was interesting to see the bottom land, and how clearly the cultivated fields showed up. I am sure it must have been a very rewarding day, and how nice to meet two new people! There does seem to be still a lot of cotton around this part of the state still in the field also.

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      1. Yes, it is all around the northwest part of MS, and of course, all over the Delta. Most of the areas in the Delta have been picked and baled, but there are still a few fields waiting near Oxford. I seem to recall that rains delayed planting this year.

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  4. A nice trip down memory land, never seen a cotton crop except in photos, hell when I was a child I didn’t know that cotton was grown I just thought all cotton products as well at the cotton itself was made in a factory of course at some point I realise that wasn’t the case

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  5. How neat to see the tree you used to pick from! That cotton is ready for picking! I never had to do that but my mom did. She said it made your fingers bleed. It’s good they finally have machines to do that task!

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  6. Anne, how nice to take a walk down memory lane and visit your old stomping grounds. I have never seen cotton ready for picking. I do love to hear a Southern accent. I think you know I worked in the diner for five years and except for Leslie, the other waitress (and the manager’s granddaughter), everyone else was from the Deep South and they had the most delightful idioms and strong Southern accents. Many of our customers were also from the South and moved up North to work in the automobile factories, so they flocked to Carter’s to talk about “back home”.

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      1. Thank you Anne – I loved working there. I was so shy before I worked there and really liked the Southerners I worked with, along with the customers. My manager’s people were from Alabama, but the rest were a smattering of Southern states.

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  7. Very nice interesting you sharing your hometown. about Bob’s farm and your family connection with the area. So beautiful cotton field growth & ready to picking time. I picked my field, when my childhood. I like. Here’s still a lot of cotton around this part of the state still in the field also.Here lots of cotton lining & pressing Mills.

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  9. I enjoyed learning about your home town. It touched my heart reading about you both picking pecans from your Dad’s favorite pecan tree. I can tell from your writing that you have been – and still are – blessed by these “wonderful people” as you describe.

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