THE COTTON PICKIN' FESTIVAL

The Cotton Pickin' Festival that is an annual event at the Old Baker Farm was yesterday and again today. The Festival this year was special because the 1ooth birthday of "Mr. Earl" was celebrated. Mr. Earl was born and raised on the farm that his son, Jerry and wife Pam, now operate a Pumpkin Patch and Christmas Tree Farm. Our families have always been close and I admire the hard work that Pam and Jerry do in order to keep this farm and it's history alive. I am still in awe at the huge number of people who have never visited a farm, seen any type of farm animal, cotton, corn, or farmlife. Each day is booked with classes of children visiting. Well....yesterday was a beautiful day and I was able to be there for a short time (I kept three grandsons most of the day). I took lots of pictures but I only know how to post five at a time so I had to be selective today. This first one above is a mother and daughter selling cookbooks. I LOVE COOKBOOKS. I thought this one was pretty unique because the mother wrote all these recipes when her daughter when to college and also has some little personal notes on some. There was an article published in Southern Lady Magazine about this cookbook.
The picture above shows beautiful fall and Christmas wreaths that were made by my best friend, Jane. She is very talented and has a made some of the most beautiful arrangements.
This is my son-in-law, Shawn, who sold boiled and roasted (parched) peanuts. If you notice he had a television in his booth with satellite set up so he wouldn't miss the ballgames yesterday. I think his business went quite well--he complained last night that his back hurt because he bent over so many time dipping peanuts to sell.
My daughter, Amy, painted the cauldrons that Susie from Bienvenue showed awhile back and this was another popular item.
Kristen had a booth full of the neatest items. I made several pictures but since the number I could post on one day was limited, I chose this one. This is one of her "junk angels". It was made from old boards from a barn and various other pieces of junk. I loved it!
This Cotton Pickin' Festival proved to be a time of food, crafts, history, animals, and much more. It was a fun time for an entire family!