Market Farming

["Liz Pike" <liz AT laughingbrookfarm.com>]

> Yes, unless it's a burley variety and as far as I know there's little of
> that grown in your area.

actually alot--not much compared to what I worked down on the coast, but
more than "very little" ; ))  at least in this pocket of Stokes Co.  And
these are die-hard tobacco growers here.  I kept my mouth shut about having
any experience in it so they wouldn't rope me and force me to work the past
few weeks.  They were so hard up for labor.  And some still haven't got it
all in, and we've already had a frost.

Marie Kamphefer wrote:

>So, then I found out one had to have some kind of "rights" to sell it

Those are allotments and go with the land.  When the land is sold/auctioned,
the allotments are sold/auctioned too usually.  But not so in organic
tobacco, because the govt isn't a part of it.

>At the time, I was a smoker and wanted to grow my own, but
discovered that organic tobacco is very difficult

Not anymore trouble than any other organic crop.  Is much tobacco grown in
Missouri??

>and you need a barn or shed to hang it in etc. Anyway, I gave up.  But
something in me still wants to grow tobacco, but I don't know how.  Somebody
told me it was
just like growing tomatoes.  (??!!)

It is!!  Loves heat & humidity & air flow.  In fact, it shares a disease
with tomatoes, mosaic.  Some extension agents still claim that disease died
out many years ago, but I know for a fact that it does exist.  One field of
tobacco I scouted had every 3rd plant infected.  Backtracking discovered the
person transplanting the seedlings was smoking at the time, and the
infection came in on those cigarettes.  Old timers used to make people wash
their hands in milk to prevent infecting plants &/or spreading the
infection.

anyway, more than you ever wanted to know 'bout tobacco.  Anyone grow it for
yourselves??  make your own cigs/cigars??

Liz Pike
Laughing Brook Farm
Westfield NC