Lying Fallow

When we got back to Danville, Virginia this time the fields around our little farmhouse were lying fallow.  A couple of weeks later they were plowed as you see them here.

I love plowed fields.    The smell is marvelous after a rain or in the warming sunshine.  They are acres of hope.  I say hope, because farmers are the biggest gamblers there are.  They hope for enough rain - but not too much.  They hope for sunshine - but not too much.  They hope for a long growing season - maybe long enough for a bumper crop.  They hope for the market price to be right when they finally harvest.  It's all a gamble.  Farmers are brave men and women.


Next, along came parade of vehicles and a tractor.

What is that he's pulling behind the tractor?  Whatever it is, it's a new one on me...

Okay.  I guess what I'm seeing are baby tobacco plants being hand fed into those "cups," and I'm assuming they are then mechanically planted into the ground, then the wheels tuck the soil safely around the roots.  Who even thinks of these things?  How does one make a metal monster that will handle fragile roots, stems and leaves leaving behind neatly packed rows of crops? 








I'm sure they use this same type of equipment to plant a myriad of crops that are started in hot houses.  Isn't technology amazing?  I love it.  My grandfather would love it, for sure!!