Friday, October 09, 2009
An Old Friendship Reborn
As a farm child, the best entertainment I remember was riding our daily bale of cotton to the gin where I loved the sights, sounds and smells of machinery turning 2000 pounds of boles into a 500 pound package of white fluff. We kids were allowed to roam the inside of the building and watch the ginning process, having enough common sense not to stick a hand or foot into the dangerous machinery. Imagine that happening today!
Recently I had the chance to tour a modern gin and see how computers and a half century of experience have revolutionized the industry. For me it was better than Las Vegas and Disneyland rolled into one. Well, maybe that is just a country assumption, as I’ve never seen (nor care to see) either one.
A life-long friend, Rex Johnson, started his ginning career 53 years ago when 100 bales could be ginned in a 12-hour shift. Today his much improved equipment and a handful of knowledgeable workers can turn out 100 bales (fully compacted) per hour. He furnishes module builders to the farmers so there is no need for trailers that have to be pulled to the gin by farm wives like me. His trucks may drive 50 miles or more to retrieve the modules, as his is the only gin in the area. In my day, each small town had at least one gin. Flomot (where we both grew up) had two.
As an added bonus to the guided tour, the richness of a reborn friendship has emerged, and in our long, pleasant visit I even learned some new things about my dad’s last years in farming. Old age can be quite an adventure!
Cora Gail Trent
www.cgtrent.com
cgtrent@att.net
Recently I had the chance to tour a modern gin and see how computers and a half century of experience have revolutionized the industry. For me it was better than Las Vegas and Disneyland rolled into one. Well, maybe that is just a country assumption, as I’ve never seen (nor care to see) either one.
A life-long friend, Rex Johnson, started his ginning career 53 years ago when 100 bales could be ginned in a 12-hour shift. Today his much improved equipment and a handful of knowledgeable workers can turn out 100 bales (fully compacted) per hour. He furnishes module builders to the farmers so there is no need for trailers that have to be pulled to the gin by farm wives like me. His trucks may drive 50 miles or more to retrieve the modules, as his is the only gin in the area. In my day, each small town had at least one gin. Flomot (where we both grew up) had two.
As an added bonus to the guided tour, the richness of a reborn friendship has emerged, and in our long, pleasant visit I even learned some new things about my dad’s last years in farming. Old age can be quite an adventure!
Cora Gail Trent
www.cgtrent.com
cgtrent@att.net
