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Farm Art Friday: Cotton Trailers

December 12, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Farm Art Friday: Old Cotton Trailers

Cotton trailers made great play pens for my sister and me. Even when they were empty, we spent lots of time climbing into them, crawling underneath, jumping around inside. And when they were filled with cotton, oh my. Playing in a half-filled trailer of cotton always entertained us.

Today, cotton farming has evolved to round bales. Tidy. Efficient. Expensive. Cotton is baled and wrapped in protective plastic right in the field.

round cotton bales - farm art friday

And of course with these advancements in farming, old cotton trailers are becoming extinct.

Someday when I have chickens, (okay I’ll probably never have chickens but who knows), I want a coop made from a cotton trailer. Check out this one from Organic Mike in Texas. Brilliant!

Chicken Coop Cotton Trailer – Organic Mike

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Celebrating #cotton trailers on this #FarmArtFriday. @ArFB[/tweetthis]

I used to work in the cotton fields a lot when I was young. There were a lot of African Americans working out there. A lot of Mexicans – the blacks and the whites and the Mexicans, all out there singing, and it was like an opera in the cotton fields, and I can still hear it in the music that I write and play today. – Willie Nelson

Musical Pairing:

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Cotton Fields

Filed Under: Farm Tagged With: cotton, farming, Mississippi County, Mississippi Delta, Wilson Arkansas

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Comments

  1. Barbara Tate says

    December 12, 2014 at 8:50 am

    Great idea for a chicken coop, old cotton trailer. One rule of thumb: When hauling cotton to the gin, you never pass another cotton trailer. Our friends from “the valley” (That would be in Texas.) didn’t know this when they first started bringing their pickers to Mississippi County to pick cotton. They soon learned. Made some great “cotton-pickin’ friends” from that wild bunch.

  2. Colene and Tom says

    December 12, 2014 at 10:30 am

    Loved it! Loved the blog, loved the chicken video, and loved the musical pairing. A great way to pep us up this morning. There must be another blog in there somewhere regarding Barbara’s comment about never passing another cotton trailer.


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 25, 2025
  • Sunday Letter: May 4, 2025
  • Sunday Letter: Rainy Day Edition
  • Spiderwort: my love-hate relationship
  • Sunday Letter: March 23, 2025

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