I became fascinated with growing tobacco in 1989, when my friend, Lorie would share wonderful stories with me about working alongside her granddaddy in their tobacco fields in Sevierville, Tennessee.
She was probably one of the last of my generation to work tobacco, because smoking became taboo in the early 1990’s. I remember seeing tobacco fields all over as a child, but now they are a rare sight. (Happily, you can find them if you drive about an hour north or east of Charlotte.)

I never realized how incredibly small tobacco seeds were until I tried to grow it myself. Small as the tip of a needle! I tried to direct sow the seeds last year but they never came up. This year I started the seeds indoors and was thrilled this morning when I finally saw the tiny green sprouts coming up from the dirt! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they grow big and healthy enough to transplant. What will I use it for? I don’t know- I just think the plants are pretty.

I never saw a cotton field until we moved to Texas in 1999. They grow a lot of it in East Texas, and around here in the Carolina Piedmont. It is beautiful to see a field full of cotton, ready to be harvested. I hope I didn’t plant my cotton too early; I only have three plants from the 25 seeds I planted. Not sure if it is grower error or bad seeds.

While cotton and tobacco may not be growing profusely around here – the blueberries, dahlias and roses are, and we spent all day canning blueberry jam. There isn’t anything better than fresh blueberry jam on a hot biscuit!

That’s the news from the homestead, see you next week!