Spiking.....but this isn't a volleball move

After we cut the tobacco the next process of spiking the plants begin.

I Can't tell you enough how labor intensive a tobacco crop is. The first time we handle it we are setting tobacco in late spring, the second time it is handled is when it is cut in my previous blog post, and the third time that we now are handling it is when we are spiking it on the stick. After we have a good wilt we drop sticks to begin the spiking process. 

The stick is dropped between three plants on each side of it which equals a total of six plants that will be spiked on it. 

With one hand the guys will have the spike and the other hand they will bend over and pick up each plant spiking it on the stick making a total of six plants again on the stick and then left in the field for the next time we handle it.

Cutting time.....on the ground she goes.

August brings tobacco harvest....and normally some of the hottest weather of summer! Each plant has to be manually cut with a hatchet and laid down with ease so the leaves do not break. The slump is about all you see of our guys when cutting. You stay bent over at the waist so that you can slightly bend each plant over to cut it at it's base.

Once cut the sticks are then dropped at the groupings of plants in order to start spiking. The sun and heat wilts the plants so the plant becomes in "order" or a limp state to ensure proper readiness for spiking.

During hot weather you have to constantly watch the tobacco from sun burning. Just like you or I would burn, the leaves can burn and injure the tobacco.  

 

Not your ordinary field of wagons....

To some this May seem like a field of tobacco wagons....and yes they are....but to us it is a field of dreams.

Each wagon is pulled back and forth during harvest season to the field....to the barn and vice versa numerous times.  As they do serve a purpose....to transport our tobacco crop.....they also serve an even greater purpose....and that's a memory!!!!

Each hand that touches each wagon has a story....some It's a story of survival...others it's food on the table.

For my family, it's living the dream of working on one of Gods greatest masterpieces....this earth.  One wagon may represent being able to pay for electricity, another wagon represents being able to put food on my plate, another.... knowing that I'm able to feed 12 families beyond myself that live on this farm.  The list could go on every time I look at each wagon, because it is hours spent away from family, it is sweat shed from exhaustion, it's a playground for my children when they have to come to the field.  

And the end of each harvest they all come back empty to be put back in the barn for another year.

Farming as I have found isn't just a lifestyle....it's where you grow up....it's where you look back at how far you have come as a worker....as a family....and where you created your life!!