I told my cotton story here October 2020 on our (I have three younger siblings) 188-acre, dryland cotton farm in Willacy County, Texas. Several items need updating. Thank you for the opportunity.
For one, I forgot my childhood nickname. My 73-year-old...
I hadn’t planned a sequel about early memories of my longtime friend William Cross. It occurred to me, however, I had not mentioned two things for which he is well known — fishing and hunting. Many of us have tales...
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...
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...
In 2022, it will have been 100 years since my great grandpaw, Gotleib Voigt, moved up here from Central Texas and bought some land on the South Plains. I am the fourth generation to farm the home place.
Our family...
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...
After 32 years of crop consulting, you would think this business would run like a well-oiled machine. To the contrary, running a company with predominantly 18- to 25-year-old employees is much like running a house full of teenagers. Always...
I grew up in the little town of Ropesville, Texas, population 435, right in the middle of the “world’s largest contiguous cotton patch.”
My maternal grandfather, Jerry Green, was a gin manager. My paternal grandfather, Wilburn Chambers, was a...
Old No. 2 died last night. I found her this morning in the “boot” pasture way over by the tree line. I knew it was coming for some time now, but somehow that didn’t lessen the disappointment. She had...
