Cotton Process

Before I grew cotton this summer I had never seen it first hand. I live in southeast Kansas and I am told there are two cotton gins in the state. (Which is nothing compared to Alabama, Tennessee etc..) This is about as far north as you can grow it, from what I understand.

In each boll there are four of these that pull off and fluff up.

As you pull them apart you will find seeds inside. Each of the 'bumps' in the above holds a seed.

You have to pull each one out and separate the fibers.

It is a slow and relatively tedious process that took me a number of hours to do by hand.

Once I was done separating the seeds and fibers I chose to put them both into plastic bags to protect them from any pet hair, dirt etc... I was told to expect a Grey toned fiber, but instead it is a sort of creamy white.

In the left are the seeds that I will keep back for next year. On the right is all of the fiber packed into one bag. To see how much it is packed, consider that the previous image has only a very small amount outside of the bag. Think of purchased batting, once you start pulling it from the bag it's as if it is on steroids and expands up to 10 times in size.

BY GOLLY! IT'S COTTON!!!

It's finally here!!! What a great surprise when I rounded the corner of the yard I saw bits of white. Needless to say I ran for the camera. :0)



There are about 14 plants total, and each has a number of the bolls. Not enough to really make anything. Now you can all call it 'Cotton Picking Humboldt' for a reason :0)

Cotton Chronicle

Kansas Cotton - AHT Garden

Last month it was flooding, this month it is dried up and blowing away. The melons are pretty much done producing. As are the maters, green beans and cucumbers are all things of the past.

But the cotton, ahh the cotton :0)

Inside this weird 'bumb' lurks the makings of a cotton sock, sweater, or perhaps....just fluff. But I am waiting patiently.

From what I have read it should open in about a month, if the conditions are favorable.
Good page for cotton information.

Lots of gourds. Surprisingly the vines are still blooming too!

Garden - "Watch Cat"

Pumpkins look healthy and ready to pick. Too bad we didn't expect them to be at this point until at least mid September.

June 26th Update

The every expanding melon patch, I swear Jimmy Hoffa is under there. The square footage of this patch is literally nearing the same as my living room.

Green peppers forming on numerous plants

Gourd plants in need of weeding

Itty bitty Cherry Tomatoes
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Rainy weather is called for this week. This past weekend there was just the right amount here. Others in area though are complaining that their potatoes are rotting in the ground with all the rain. I dug what was left of mine out this past weekend, before the rain hit.

June 5, 2007 Update

I dug up a few of my potatoes over the weekend. They tasted wonderful!



Tomatoes are beginning to bloom, but the plants are not too large...yet.



Cotton is slowly growing.



Things are still coming up.



Buds on one of the melon plants. They are LOADED!



Something has eaten the tops off of the Sunflowers. They look as if they have been gnawed.



Bloom on another of the melon plants.



This gives you the idea of the size of one of the melon patches. The small item on the lower left is the seed package to label the area.

May 31st Update

I was out in the garden a couple of days ago and took the pics seen below. When I went out tonight I was mulching with hay to keep the weeding down and hold in some moisture. BUT, even though that was my goal and I did accomplish it, I was more amazed at the amount of growth since these images were taken.

The melon plants are twice the size as the ones seen here. Tomatoes, melons, and green beans are blooming or about to bloom. I overheard someone say they had already been eating some of their potatoes so I imagine mine are about there as well.










Lots of green!

God does make ittle green apples! May11th Update

Even though we had all that snow after the apple tree bloomed, we still have little green apples!


The last few weeks have been rain, rain and oh did I mention...rain!? So the garden has become overtaken with weeds. I considered editing this pic so you could not see them, but I am hoping we have all been there. Anyway, these are some of the melons.

A sad pic of some of the cotton coming up. Each leaf is at least two fingers wide.

This one I have been meaning to take for a long time. e live in the house my husband grew up in with his five siblings. This is a cement base on the clothes line that they all made their hand prints in, 37-38 years ago. You can barely see my husband's, as he was only 3-4 years old and kept his fingers together. He didn't like the feel of cement between them :0)

Anyway, the potatoes are still growing well, the green beans have their first small buds on them, and the tomato plants are thriving. The only thing sad is the spinach. Something is eating away at the few that are still growing. I guess it's not to late to plant a few more once I get the weeds back under control.