Mississippi Delta - grace grits and gardening

Farm Art Friday: Cotton Trailers

December 12, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

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.

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

Birthday Girl and the Memphis Queen

July 10, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Birthdays are still kinda fun to me, and I’m happy to have another one today. Soon, my mother will call and sing Happy Birthday. I’m lucky that way.

One of my most memorable birthdays was my 9th because my party included a Mississippi River boat ride on the Memphis Queen. Here we are with Nana who always posed like a model and never took a bad picture. My friend Sara, sister Staci, and I are wearing matching Memphis Queen Line berets because we are fun tourists from Arkansas.

I remember being nine years old. The beginning of the Jan Brady years…

I loved Donna Osmond. His life-sized poster covered the door of our bedroom closet.

I played with Malibu Barbie and wanted to be Nancy Drew when I grew up.

Take a look at the party picture below and let’s discuss…

(l-r) Staci, Me, Sara with Nana (Frances Johnson Creecy)

This is the BAT cave kitchen. My mother still lives in this house on the farm. Although much has changed (new floor, cabinets, etc.), the kitchen is in the same location in the house. If that room could talk…

See the expando hat rack on the wall? It now hangs on the back porch, and I’m pretty sure Momma still has at least two of those same hats.

By the time we ate cake, my Memphis Queen beret already hung on the rack. Never much of a hat person, I was over that thing.

And speaking of cake, Nana’s fresh strawberry cake (always my birthday cake choice) sat on the table in front of me, yet Staci somehow ate chocolate?

I wish Momma still had the dinette set. It’s a collector item now.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Musical Pairing:

Donny Osmond, Go Away Little Girl