My Turn

It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen cotton all my life growing up in the Desert Southwest. I just didn’t expect it to become my life. I signed up for Ag Econ 313, Economics of Futures Markets, while planning my senior year with my college adviser. It turned out to be my favorite class. And, as an aside, all the popular ... Read More »

Each fall, usually about mid-September (depending on the weather during the growing season), the cotton bolls would burst open and cotton picking would begin. White fluff began to gather on both sides of the road on our farm, particularly around the cotton gin. Mother always said every year, “My stars, it looks like snow.” And it did. It was ginning ... Read More »

The beginning of 2020 brought an end to a century of farm ownership when we sold the family farm in Eric, Oklahoma. All of the grandchildren — including me — are mostly removed from the area, and the time was right. A neighbor whose farm adjoined ours bought the property after having leased it through the years. Their farm had ... Read More »

I am a sixth-generation farmer in Bulloch County, Georgia. I operate Cromley Farms in partnership with my brother, Charley, where we grow cotton and peanuts. When pickers roll this fall, it will be the 40th crop I have taken to harvest. As Thanksgiving approaches, there are many things for which I am thankful. One of those is the friendships I ... Read More »

My father, David Fisher, was born in 1920 in Wichita County, Texas, and moved to Willacy County after serving in the U.S. Navy from 1940-1946. He was chief quarter-master on the Mahan-class USS Preston destroyer. A Japanese cruiser sent her to the bottom of the ocean off Guadalcanal Nov. 14, 1942. Dad lost more than half his shipmates. After 14.5 ... Read More »

In 1934, the Bakersfield Exchange Club sponsored a cotton picking contest with prizes. The event was held in Buttonwillow and had 30 contestants. On Oct.12, 1935, the Kern County Farm Bureau directors decided to sponsor a similar event. The committee set Oct. 25 as the contest date and selected a 40-acre cotton field belonging to W.H. Mettler near Shafter. The ... Read More »

When my mother was a young girl growing up in Leland, Mississippi, she and her sister, Babe, and their first cousin (same age), Patsy Jeanne, would get to spend a lot of time together in the summers. Momma especially liked learning to make homemade biscuits from Mammaw Black. Other fun activities included Poppa Black playing his fiddle while they danced ... Read More »