The downside of cotton
This one is a repeat; I first wore it on June 23rd. Etsy shop is TincysCorner.
Unfortunately with cotton comes the chemicals used to help the bolls open up. We locals call it all "defoliant," but it's probably a cocktail of several chemicals. Every year the air reeks of...y'all remember what bubble solution smells like? If y'all are familiar with bubble solution then you know what I mean. Defoliant smells like that, plus something else that makes my eyes and nose burn and my throat choke up. The town is full of people who are sneezing and coughing, red-nosed and bleary-eyed. If you're a newcomer to the area the effects are even worse. I once said on my doll blog that there are two things I hate about living in this area, with those two things being the fault line and the defoliant. Now granted, the fault line presents a greater risk to us all than the defoliant does, but when you're BREATHING defoliant 24/7 for a month or so, it gets kinda old. Also, the cancer rates in this area are alarmingly high. No one has ever definitively made the connection between the chemicals and the cancer, but no one doubts the two are related either!
Whatever, I see the defoliant as a small price to pay for living in the country. I still wouldn't trade living in the Bootheel for the world. Sure, there are other places I'd love to see, but Malden is home.
Home sweet home,
RagingMoon1987
Harvest season is beginning here in the Bootheel. Most of the corn has already been gathered, but there's still plenty of cotton and plenty of soybeans, and undoubtedly some peanuts in the mix. The fields are a beautiful sight to behold regardless of what's growing, but visually my favorite crop is cotton. A healthy field of cotton looks like snowfall from a distance, especially when the bolls are opening up.
Unfortunately with cotton comes the chemicals used to help the bolls open up. We locals call it all "defoliant," but it's probably a cocktail of several chemicals. Every year the air reeks of...y'all remember what bubble solution smells like? If y'all are familiar with bubble solution then you know what I mean. Defoliant smells like that, plus something else that makes my eyes and nose burn and my throat choke up. The town is full of people who are sneezing and coughing, red-nosed and bleary-eyed. If you're a newcomer to the area the effects are even worse. I once said on my doll blog that there are two things I hate about living in this area, with those two things being the fault line and the defoliant. Now granted, the fault line presents a greater risk to us all than the defoliant does, but when you're BREATHING defoliant 24/7 for a month or so, it gets kinda old. Also, the cancer rates in this area are alarmingly high. No one has ever definitively made the connection between the chemicals and the cancer, but no one doubts the two are related either!
Whatever, I see the defoliant as a small price to pay for living in the country. I still wouldn't trade living in the Bootheel for the world. Sure, there are other places I'd love to see, but Malden is home.
Home sweet home,
RagingMoon1987
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