Thursday, November 6, 2008

The Smog of Smoking Tobacco

Smog generally refers to smoke and fog. You combine the two words and smog works best. Smog is the only word to describe a recent morning in Woodlawn. We had been smelling something really awful all night and into the morning when it dawned on me the smoky smell was from Mr. C's tobacco barn. You could feel it in the air and see it everywhere. The smog is not a pleasant smell, though I guess it could be described as a pleasant picture. The mistiness can remind one of foggy mornings in the mountains, or of socked in valleys in California. Your choice.

Normally the smell of tobacco smoke would not be a big deal. This particular morning the smog hung heavy because the air was so still and the dewpoint and temperature were very close together, setting up the right conditions for this tobacco smoke smog to invade all areas of the home and garden. The cows don't seem to mind it though. They are busy giving birth to many calves. It is such a joy watching these babies romp, smog or not I am glad to have a farmer as a neighbor.

in the garden....

Don't forget to tune in tomorrow for a rip roaring belly laugh to start off a good weekend.

25 comments:

  1. Baby calves are so funny as they race about the fields, kicking up their hooves! I hope your tobacco smog lifts soon :)

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  2. Smog really creates a pretty picture at times. This is one of them!

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  3. Gee, it would almost be as if you were smoking yourself! Is pretty though.

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  4. Tina,

    This very familiar tobacco country scene (and scent) made me think of my childhood in St LOuis! One of my favorite memory smells came from the Wonder Bread bakery towers. The delicious scent was released each night as they baked breads. They have since capped off the towers because of pollution. It was a good smell but harmful to the environment...

    Gail

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  5. It is a pretty photo. So glad he is sharing his tobacco with everyone including non-smokers. Considering the price of cigarettes, it would be much cheaper to just sit around his barn;)

    Calves are fun to watch. Learning to use those new legs.
    Marnie

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  6. Wow that's rough. Why do they burn the tobacco?

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  7. Hi Tina, having lived in Southern California I know smog. I think it is better now than we lived there mid eighties. It was so thick on some days the kids as school could not play outside at recess, smog alert! I didn't know they smoked the leaves to cure them. Offspring Chickenpoet's inlaw raise tobacco and it has to hang in the barn for a long time and has a sweet smell. Baby calfs...how wonderful.

    Frances

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  8. Oh they smoke the tobacco to cure it. Very interesting.

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  9. Neat picture, but uggg, I would HATE having to smell it.

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  10. Good morning all! I think I am finally getting the hang of Blotanical and the blog. How long has it taken? I am doing them both at the same time if you can imagine. So finally I am back to my blog. Yeah!

    Cindy, It was a bit yucky there for a while. The calves are a treat. One of my dogs is bigger than them. So funny to watch them together.

    Linda, Thanks! It reminds me of mist but so much stinky smoke.

    Dawn, They actually smoke the tobacco. The fire is underneath. That smell is from whatever they are burning to make the smoke. Not wood I don't think. It is stinky whatever it is:(

    Gail, Yes a very familiar scene here. One I never tire of. I would love to smell fresh baked bread all night. What a GREAT memory.

    Marnie, Yes it is a stinky thing for sure. I think this type of curing is called dark smoked tobacco? Not sure as I am not familiar with tobacco at all. It is a neat process. The calves are great. So fresh and innocent, not like their seasoned parents.

    John, Welcome to our blog! Love your gardening in Vegas. You are a trooper! The farmer here is actually smoking the tobacco. It is a process for curing it. A very common sight in this area. I think each area of the south has its specialized kind of tobacco and blends and so on. The smoking is but one way to make tobacco special, if you can ever consider something you poison yourself with special. But I digress. Thanks for stopping by.

    Frances, I wasn't sure if I could compare the smog to California having never lived or visited there, but I've seen it on TV enough to know it must be the same. The whole area was overcast with this pall on this morning. A yucky, yucky smell! The cows and calves are so sweet.

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  11. Does this classify as second-hand smoke?:) One of the side-effects of living in farming country is the smell; livestock can create their own "interesting" aromas. My dad raised dairy cows when I was young, and I often got to feed the little calves. They are so much fun to watch; thanks for bringing back those memories, Tina.

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  12. Yes, my question is the same as Roses' above me. Does this mean you might as well be smoking? My word. The ways tobacco affects our lives. Never considered this one.
    Brenda

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  13. Even though the smell may be unpleasant it does make for a pretty picture of your neighbor's farm. I would love to live next door to a farmer. :)

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  14. It does make for a pretty photo and the calf watching makes up for the smell, I guess.

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  15. Rose, I would surely say secondhand smoke indeed. You are so witty:) I just love it. The calves are doing fine and I'll have some pictures up before too long. I am glad the photos and words evoked some old memories.

    Brenda, Yes-bad bad bad tobacco! It is a scourge, but wait a minute, this is a garden blog, back to positive things. The smell was so awful even Jimmy noticed it.

    Racquel, I think it is pretty too. This is one of those times you do not want a smell-a-vision on the computer. Living next door to Mr. C. is great. I get to enjoy all the lovely views, aromas:@, and the animals. He's a pretty good neighbor too-nice and quiet and I rarely see him:)

    Yup Mom, I just love the animals. Normally the smell is not an issue but this morning and night it was awful. I'll keep him as a neighbor any day though. Funny when we first looked at this house, we had no idea a farm was back there as we could not even see the pond through all the weeds, trees and junk.

    ttyl Garden is calling.....

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  16. I dont smoke nor do I like the smell of cigarettes since I quit smoking back in 93... But I enjoy the smell of a tobacco barn smoking. It is not like a cigarette at all but a sweet tobacco smell instead. There must have been something going wrong on this day. I think they use sawdust to do the smoking so maybe some bad dust he got somewhere he should not have. Or maybe he was burning his trash like some crazy people down here in GA do! lol....

    Tina, you know how crazy we are about animals, I would have the baby cows up to the fence rubbing them and giving them treats! lol. Do they make cow treats???

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  17. Now that is second hand smoke.

    I just noticed that you saw a black bear in a tree, cool capture and nice fall photos as well.

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  18. Tina, smog or fog, it made for a great photo opp. Thanks for sharing.

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  19. Hi, Tina--I agree that it's a neat shot. Some of us--Raquel, Les, Jeff, probably Cameron--woke up to the smell of smoke for almost a month this summer, when the marshes in NC were on fire. It was often so acrid that my eyes would water. Anyway, I hope you didn't inhale TOO much. And I prefer smoke to city smog any day--you can always see and smell smoke--smog is often invisible with no odor--so you don't know to take cover. Can't wait to see pictures of the calves!

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  20. Tina, when you get to our neck of the woods, maybe you will be lucky enough to get a good whiff of the Paper Mill... lol now that is a smell to talk about.... Funny thing, my mom loves the Paper mill smell as it reminds her of her childhood home in Louisiana. A bit icky to me though…

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  21. Smoking tobacco in barns--that's a sign of Fall. I don't mind that smell, it's the cigarette smoke I don't like. Yes, paper mills are awful, but none of it can beat the smell where they make dog food. It caused me to loose 20 lbs. It always hit about dinner time. Couldn't eat. Dogs would even bury their noses to keep from smelling it. In my estimation there is nothing worse.

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  22. O, I love the smell. I dare say I will miss it when they finally stop growing it. We dont smoke or anything, but I sure love the smell from the tobacco barns.

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