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Riding with a Farmer

June 8, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

We were drivingย to church for my cousin’s wedding when Daddy pulled off the highway and stopped the truck. โ€œWhat are you doing?โ€ Momma asked, even though she knew the answer. Ridingย anywhere with a farmerย meant factoring in lots of extra time. Daddyย drove slow enough to watch cotton bolls open from the highway.

โ€œWeโ€™re gonna be late,โ€ I moaned and applied another coat of strawberry lip gloss. I hated to be late for anything, plus I was in charge of the guest book.

Daddy grabbed his hoe from the back of the truck, ambled acrossย the shallow ditch, and waded through rows of knee-high cotton. He wacked down the annoying weed wearing his new sport coat from Westbrook’s.

Momma sighed.

All the Tate girls hadย been trained to scan the horizon for johnsongrass. Teasing and waving in the breeze, theย offensive plantsย were easy to spot, a different shade of green standing taller than the crop.

Daddy had some of the cleanest fields in Mississippi County. Everyone agreed.

riding with a farmer...

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Musical Pairing:

Lord I Hope this Day is Good, Don Williams

 

Filed Under: Arkansas, Family, Farm, Memories, Writing Tagged With: cotton, Memoir, Mississippi County, Thomas Tate

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Comments

  1. angie says

    June 8, 2014 at 7:10 am

    I’m laughing a good laugh at this one, about his driving slow. I was sure to get the boys in the car for school before Thomas came by on our country gravel road. Such good memories.
    Yes, your dad had the cleanest crops in the area. We saw him many times out chopping. Clyde Barnette would be out in his fields also.
    Farming that Gumbo took a good eye for seeing what needed done & your dad had it.

    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      June 8, 2014 at 6:05 pm

      haha that’s funny Angie. Thanks for sharing!

  2. Colene says

    June 8, 2014 at 8:53 am

    Memories! Your daddy is probably smiling about your recollections.

  3. Jane Gatewood says

    June 8, 2014 at 3:20 pm

    Slow enough to watch cotton bolls open…what a remark! I sense your sigh, your eyes rolling to the heavens and the application of yet another layer of strawberry lip gloss.
    Great way of bringing in the reader.

  4. Debbie says

    June 8, 2014 at 4:39 pm

    I’m loving all of these little sneak peaks into your memoir:)

  5. Christopher Mitchell (Another Government Employee) says

    June 8, 2014 at 5:51 pm

    My Mother in Law would appreciate this. She grew up on a cotton farm. The only reason she got out of working the fields is she was the best cook out of her sisters.

    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      June 8, 2014 at 6:04 pm

      Thanks Christopher. I hope you’ll share it with her.

  6. Jamie says

    June 8, 2014 at 11:24 pm

    Charming story!

    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      June 9, 2014 at 6:53 am

      Thank you Jamie!

  7. The Geezer says

    June 9, 2014 at 6:38 am

    “Daddy drove slow enough to watch cotton bolls open from the highway.” Boy, you sure can turn a phrase!

    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      June 9, 2014 at 6:52 am

      Thank you Geezer:)

  8. Barbara Tate says

    June 10, 2014 at 10:56 am

    I really loved this blog. It brought back so many memories of riding the farm with Thomas. He did have the cleanest crops around, not just on the road, but on the back-side of the field. He took great pride in that. I couldn’t get Don Williams to sing today. Thomas really liked him; we saw him “in the valley” one year when we were visiting our “cotton-picking friends”down there. Love your writing, Momma.

  9. Sarah Shotts says

    June 12, 2014 at 10:26 pm

    Haha… I remember once my gymnastics coach was late to work because the cow’s got out of the field and were in the road and had to be herded back. That’s livin’ in the country.

  10. Dorothy Johnson says

    March 31, 2016 at 3:28 pm

    What Jane and Tom said. That’s a wonderful line.

  11. Ken johnson says

    April 2, 2016 at 11:22 am

    Talya, I love your memories about growing up in the country. It’s amazing what we forget as we get older! Ha! I also like your choices in music. Don Williams reminded me of his song from Urban Cowboy. It was about the time that movie came out that I converted to country music

    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      April 4, 2016 at 6:40 am

      Thanks, Ken! Don Williams brings back lots of memories for me.


Hi! I'm Talya Tate Boerner. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (2022)

THE THIRD ACT OF THEO GRUENE (coming 2025)

Recent Ramblings:

  • Sunday Letter: May 4, 2025
  • Sunday Letter: Rainy Day Edition
  • Spiderwort: my love-hate relationship
  • Sunday Letter: March 23, 2025
  • Sunday Letter: March 16, 2025

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