The Traditional "Burn"

Our streets are lined with the most beautiful cottonwood trees.

Planted by those who came before us, more than 100 years ago. Some trees were possibly planted by our very relatives. Just the thought of that touches my heart. I imagine how it must have been for them....settling a new....very rough.....untamed.....piece of land.

The stories I have heard...and read....are sometimes sad, they knew loss all too well, and

very often stories are shared, of how hard they had to work, both the women and the men. Even though it was hard, they carefully layed out our streets, and planted cottonwood trees along the ditches. I wonder if they could have ever understood how large and majestic these trees would become.

In the Fall we watch their leaves change colors and drop to the ground.

In the Spring we welcome the green leaves.....

and the COTTON.
The COTTON falls from the trees...almost like a snow storm, and it gathers along the streets, like small snow drifts.
When The Darlings were little....and I do mean little....toddlers....

The Farmer's Mother taught them how fun it was to burn cotton. It has become and "event" in our family. When the COTTON begins to fall, the plans to burn are set into motion.

When The Darlings were small, The Farmer's Mother would walk with them up and down

the streets dropping matches and watching the cotton burn. Sometimes...if you were lucky, you would find a cattle guard filled with cotton and dropping a single match into it, would create quite a large fire. That was always fun!

So today we decided that it wouldbe a great day to burn.

The Farmer's Mother met us in the street...prepared with her own box of matches.

We began with a short class on fire safety;) Followed by a story of a COTTON burn gone wrong...and a fire that took a full week to burn out. So she suggested caution.

Next.....some instruction on finding right place to burn.....

somewhere that is loaded with cotton. She also admitted to doing a little buring on her own....

infact just yesterday afternoon. She likes a great burn!


Next....a demonstration!

How to burn successfully.

Look closely....you can see a small flame....almost as quickly as you drop the match...the flame goes out. It spreads very rapidly. I am not sure what is going on with PreShie in this pictures...a headache??? Who knows....and I especially love the expression on The Boy's face. He was sincerely having a great time! He is a bit of a "pyro."

The Farmer has tender memories of "burning" when he was a youngster...

and now The Darlings have been taught.....

Will it be something that they will teach their children????

Who knows, but I do hope so! or maybe The Farmer will have the great honor of passing

the burning ritual on to the next generation.....