They gave Clifford Lee a new Chevy Silverado. They gave Gene Seigler a huge banquet. The “they” were the respective communities in which these men worked for many years. The gifts were expressions of appreciation and honor from farmers...
I love to race the freeway and country roads. I’m pretty good at it, according to me. I’m not so sure you would get that same opinion from other people who have ridden with me over the years. I...
I grew up from humble beginnings in a family of four in Northampton County, North Caro-lina, on my grandfather’s farm. We had a simple childhood, although we didn’t know it because we had plenty. My family was always big on...
So often I hear myself say, “What a wonderful life I have had.” Recently, someone said, “Tell me about it.”
I thought, what would I say? How would I describe what I have experienced in my 89 years?
And, before I...
A photo wouldn’t have done it justice, but I wish I’d tried. It was an ominous cloud, massive and peculiarly long. I left the farm just after midday on March 18 and headed toward home, going west on the Pinehurst-Hawkinsville...
Why am I thankful my husband was an independent crop consultant? Let me count the ways:
Who would have believed back in 1948 that a man in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, named Dan Logan would decide a farmer needs to know...
There it is, the old home place. Sitting at a curve of the dirt road up on the crest of the hill, waiting to catch the summer breeze before air conditioning was even thought about. Oh, what stories it...
I grew up in the Panhandle of Texas, amidst dirt, cattle, horses and blowing snow. After high school, I made the move to Lubbock, where Texas Tech University provided me with my first glimpse into the intriguing world of cotton....
My husband, Rick, and I grow cotton, corn and soybeans in the Missouri Bootheel near the small community of LaForge. It’s not a town, so some maps will show it and some won’t. Rick grew up on a farm...
I’ve written about Dude before. He’s the mongrel of unknown heritage who moved from California to Georgia over a year ago. Dude and Louise, a streetwise chihuahua, shared a house with our son, Seth, in Los Angeles. Louise and...
Everyone has their favorite expletives. When I was a child, I always laughed when the cartoon character, Charlie Brown, got frustrated and said, “rats!” He was a classy guy, not given to cussin’. It is also funny that while...
During my early childhood, the cotton on our farm as well as that of our neighbors was harvested by hand. I picked a little cotton, but not enough to pretend the hot work shaped my outlook on life. However,...
It was so ironic when I recently received an email message from Carroll Smith asking if I wanted to contribute a My Turn column for the next issue of Cotton Farming.
Suddenly it brought back memories when I was the...
The Fickleness of Love
Editor’s Note: Ray Oliver’s My Turn column was edited for space constraints in the print issue of Cotton Farming. Here is his manuscript in its entirety.
I drove up to the barn one morning a few weeks...
Growing up on a small West Tennessee cotton farm, I remember many good and bad experiences. I was born and raised in one of those big white frame two-story houses with my brother and me sleeping upstairs.
In the summertime,...
