I firmly believe that farming was always intended as a small scale industry where farmers grew separate crops/raised lifestyle and trade with each other for what was needed. Technology and civilization have come a long way, but ruined the way Humanity is meant to interact with one another and nature

I also grew up in East Tenn, Raising Burley Tobacco, It was a almost 14 month crop start to finish. While we were waiting for the tobacco to cure we would already be working on the seed beds for next years crop, We would sell our tobacco in late November to early December, Plant our seeds beds just before the last frost covered in plastic till they started to sprout. Then we would remove the plastic and put down a canvas tarp. Had to keep them watered and cared for them dearly so we would have plants ready to plant. Yes we had to hoe and spray, top and sucker and spray again the crop to ensure we had the best crop possible , we used the tobacco knife or axe with a wooden handle. The cutter person would use the knife and cut the stalk and hand it to the spearer. The tobacco stick were about 5 1/2 ft or so and more square than the flat ones in this video. the tobacco spear was a round cylinder type that once you got your rhythm right would make a pop bell sound as it pierced through the stalks as we would take to sticks full of tobacco and create a teepee until the tobacco withered enough to haul to the barn to dry. I left out several details as my comment has gotten out of hand. Sorry it just brings back so many wonderful memories of what America used to be and how kids were raised in the country. I went back to east Tenn a few years ago and I could not find a single field of tobacco anywhere as to show my wife how it was when I was growing up on the farm.

I grew up in the tobacco field here in South Carolina. That's what my family did. The best smell in the world is a barn of tobacco that's about cured out.

My grandparents raised burley for 35 years on their farm in Vevay, Indiana, that was their yearly crop. They also had milk cows which was their weekly income. they raised corn for the cattle. They worked hard. I found an arrowhead in his tobacco bed one spring, still have it. Grandpa left me his tobacco axe.

*Garden Spot Acres* Started working Broadleaf Tobacco in the 60ies, 9 years old made 57cents an hour worked 85 to 100 hrs. a week. Made $ 45 to 60 a week, had enough to by school cloths & still had enough to save up for what I wanted ... as long as I maintained a B or above in school. Thanks for taking the time to bring us along. God Bless.

There was an odd old timer in the small town I grew up in. He would go to the hardware store and buy hammers for $10. He would then set up a booth selling the hammers for $5. This really confused me so one day I asked him why he was doing this. He looked at me with a wink and told me that it was better than farming.

I grew up on a tobacco farm in SC. Interesting how different our harvest technique was compared to this. Our plants were taller and we harvested leaves as they ripened instead of harvesting the whole plant. It has been 35 years and I still remember the smell of a barn full of cured tobacco.

Im so proud of these people. I think every kid in America should get a few days of this kind of labor in once a year so they can appreciate life.

In eastern Kentucky we used a knife on a handle about 18 inches long to cut the tobacco. A tobacco spear was used to put the tobacco on wood sticks about 4-5 feet long and usually made of hickory. Housing the tobacco to air cure. Back 40+ years ago, tobacco was hand stripped and tied with a tobacco leaf then placed back on the stick to press flat before taking it to market to be sold. Lot of steps and hard work. The type of tobacco we grew was for cigarettes.

I worked North Carolina tobacco in the 1980s. The plants were taller than these , and leaves were picked individually (usually the bottom 4, and upper leaves were left to grow larger, then cropped about a week later). There is no place on earth worse than a NC tobacco field in late July. Hot, humid , full of gnats and biting flies . You worked hard for that money .

I grew 45 tobacco plants on a tiny lot in the city, some in large pots, some In the ground. considering it was 105 the entire time they were growing im glad to say they did great. everyone was surprised that you could grow tobacco at home, I explained to them that almost everyone used to grow it

I grew up on a farm in the south during the 60's. I know first hand how hard working tobacco is.

Started my career in tobacco in NC at the age of 13. Started at $2.75 an hour. It starts early and runs late. It is very physically demanding work even with modern rack and box barns to fill. But it was so much fun.

I have great respect for the Amish way of life. Hard work and dedication to their faith.

Thanks for sharing I never used any of these tools but my Grandaddy had a lot of these tools in his shop . I never seen him grow tobacco but he obviously did at some point . Thanks for schooling

45 years ago I got to grow my "own" first tobacco field. At 15 I had the money to buy all the things I needed to make it happen and I was eager to make a "FORTUNE" growing a 5 acre field of tobacco..... here is the synopsis. Burn the beds in February, wait then plant the seeds to make the shoots, wait, plant the shoots, wait. HOE, fertilize, sucker, HOE, fertilize, sucker, worm, HOE, fertilize sucker, worm, top, wait. Tobacco axe cut, spear, lay, pick up and hang, wait. Dry, wait. Hand off, grade, bundle pack, wait. MARKET.... MONEY .... Feburary till December pay out, December get paid for 11 months work looking at the check I was at 15 thinking "awww hell naw." I helped my dad for years after that once but never grew it again. Tobacco was taller, like 6 ft in Tennessee, the names of the appliances used is different, but I recognized them all and good riddance to them. These guys are work horses and never get enough praise.

The Tobacco we raised in East Tennessee was a lot bigger. When I was a kid at14 - 16 it was over my head. We cut and speared at the same time. One person cut and handed it to another and they would spear. Then we would lean two of them together. Then they would sit in the field for a few days so they were wilted enough tha the leaves wouldn't beak off. Then we would hang them in the barn two to three tiers high. then it dried for several months. So many good memories.

i agree with other commenters - the tobacco i worked as a teenager was taller, maybe 3 to 4 feet high. we "topped" it by taking those flowers off, and also all the small little sucker leaves - so the larger bigger leaves got all the nutrients. that was early summer.

Every farm in our area (SW Wisconsin) grew tobacco until recently. It was the only crop that kept them in business. The government gave them a buyout about 20 years ago to quit growing tobacco, and nearly all took it - then promptly quit farming because that is where all the cash came from. Now they rent their fields to others or sold the farms altogether. The dairy is rapidly disappearing as well.

I primed a many a leaf of NC golden leaf when I was a teenager. It was my summer job, and it is hard, back breaking work. You get covered in the tobacco gum, and it takes a scouring pad to get it off of your hands. Think about the number of times the Amish have to touch the crop, it is extremely labor intensive. Hard working folks right there.

We raised tobacco years ago can remember going into the tobacco warehouse to sell it . That is where people took their tobacco to sell it. Grandpa told me when we walked in do you smell that he said that was the smell of money.

When I was a boy we raised Burley in Tennessee , it was 3 times taller and we also hung it to cure in the barn on ‘Tier ‘ rails . I’ll never forget the acrid aroma of curing burley inside the barn

Nice. I starting cutting tobacco in ‘86 at 13 yrs old. We didn’t have the loppers we used hatchets or push knives for dark fire. I would spike it holding the stick parallel to the ground with six to a stick. Then I would work the plank in the barn. Loved that time of year. Thanks guys for bringing back those memories.

Im from MN and my grandma lived in TN. I remember taking trips to Sneedville and the wonderful aroma of tobacco curing in the barn...hanging in the rafters. So beautiful in the mountains ❤

In the early 70's there was a fat kid on our football team named Haywood . He loved football but was so weak and uncoordinated he wasn't allowed to play very much . At the beginning of our junior year Haywood showed up for football practice and you could barely recognize him . His body was hard and muscular and his reflexes were lightning fast . I remember asking him what he did during the summer to achieve this and he replied that he worked at his uncle's farm picking tobacco . He also said that there were many tobacco worms which he hated although they wouldn't hurt you but his fear of them made him jump back quickly to avoid them . . He soon became our starting defensive tackle and made all district .

MUCH RESPECT and thank you for making this video

Wow awesome video! Thank-You very much! I really enjoy seeing how the Amish grow crops and harvest them. I really respect the Amish! They work very hard!

My great uncle used to plant a few rows of tobacco in his garden for his own use. My friend George had an alotment for tobacco and produced a few acres of them every year. For him it was a regular farming chore. He started out raising his plants in his green house, and then transplanting them into the field. He would tend them until the were ready to cut and hang them in his drying barn. He hired a cutting crew who he got through a labor broker. They would cut and hang the plants in his barn and later he got help to come and strip the leaves off the stalks so that he could take them to auction. As he lived near St. Joseph Mo he took his tobacco and sold it at the barn in Weston Mo, which is the only tobacco auction barn west of the Mississippi.

When I was a teenager I helped the neighbor a couple of years. We cut with some sort of a hatchet, one hand to bend the plant to the side then cut it with a hatchet with the other hand. Back breaking work even for a teenager!

I miss the tobacco culture in this region. Thanks for bringing back old memories.

Fantastic video! I sincerely hope that this way of life is preserved, reminds me very much of my childhood in the summer months. Happy days!

Thanks for video. Amazing. A few years back while visiting Lancaster PA. I saw a farmer side of hill handling looked like 6 huge horses(Clydesdale,?). It was unreal. Cart was loaded possibly with corn. Unreal. Amish know how to get the job done. Tip of the cap to their hard work.

I helped harvest tobacco for a couple summers many years ago. We used a different tool for cutting, it was more of a hatchet type thing. We would walk along pull the leaves back and chop the plant off. I cut, spear, stacked, loaded and helped hang. Wasn’t great pay and it was hard work but it was a good humbling character building experience.

After visiting a couple times in Lancaster County, I was impressed with the Amish folk and their farming techniques. They would use power equipment, but with steel wheels instead if pneumatic tires. Mules for their wagons hauling in harvested crops. Draft horses such as Clydesdales and Belgian, for pulling plows and such. A different horse altogether for their buggies. Beautiful farmland. If you have opportunity to visit the area, one restaurant you will want to visit for dinner is Shady Maple. Sight and Sound is headquartered there also. Martin guitar factory is in nearby Nazareth.

A fond memory of my childhood is the wonderful smell of tobacco leaves drying in the Amish Barns around Lancaster, PA.

Holy cow, those things are huuuuuge! Very beautiful too. I've recently gotten into the art of growing tobacco, I hadn't known it was such an elaborate endeavor but it is entirely worth it.

As a kid growing up in Connecticut, working on the tobacco farms was the first real job you could get, because of the farm labor laws they let us kids work there when you were 14, if I remember right. You had to wait until you were 16 to get any other kind of job that gave you a paycheck every week. It is very hard work. The last day of school came and we stopped riding the yellow bus and got on the green bus to go to the tobacco farm. A lot of the farm hands were Puerto Rican men at the time. We were scared of them (they were men, we were little kids). The Connecticut River valley grows some of the finest tobacco in the world. So iconic to see all the tobacco barns (I think most are gone now - I moved to Maine when I turned 18 and really haven't spent much time in CT since) No tobacco barns here in Maine. Back in the day, the high school seniors would paint their names on the barns each year. It was a thing.

Back when I worked the field, the farmer would advertise $25 an hour to cut, spike and hang tobacco. What he didn't say was that was split with everyone working. So if there was 5 on the crew it was only $5 an hour. Backbreaking 10 to 12 hour days.

my family did burley tobacco for many years on their farm in central KY, in the Bluegrass region :) we have some Amish people around too. it is extremely hard work! i was fortunate to not have to do it myself, the males in the family did that portion and we had a couple of hired hands too. i remember running through the barn as a 4 or 5 yr old little girl while the tobacco leaves dried up in the loft. my sisters and i would pretend sword fight with the tobacco sticks too, lol. this video definitely brings back a ton of great memories! i can literally smell it :) thank you so much for this video, and greetings from central Appalachia!

My ancestors raised tobacco by hand I n Virginia and Kentucky since 1640…we used to say tobacco a 13 month crop!

Brought back so many memories. I grew up in Kentucky working in tobacco. Everything from planting to hoeing to topping and suckering to cutting, hanging and stripping. It’s hard, dirty work but it was income for a lot of people who otherwise would have had none.

I remember traveling down to Kentucky. My Dads family farmed tobacco it’s definitely hard work. My uncle built a small machine that would cut the tobacco and it would stack up on a flat bead it made it so much better than cutting it by hand like they do in this video then he take the tobacco to the barn and the hole family would pluck the leaves 🍃 off the stalk and hang it on a trailer and he take it to a other barn to dry once it dried we put it in a hydraulic press and make bails ready to sell he has a really good set up for farming tobacco in Kentucky as long as The FDA stays away

Very good presentation. I'm glad to see those farmers looking like they're enjoying their work

Back breaking work. Thank you for the video.

I was a Tobacco grower and a Dealer for many years I bought hundreds of thousands of pounds in Lancaster PA

Spent most of my youth in a tobacco field in North Middle Tennessee !

Thank you so much for doing these videos!

I found a tobacco spear in an antique mall. Researching "what is it". Thank you for this clear and informative video.

I grew up in Wisconsin and worked in tobacco as a youngster. Calling raising tobacco labor intensive is exactly right - touched many times. A hoe was another tool! Had to hoe to get the weeds in the row with the plants. This was 70 years ago. We cut tobacco with a tobacco axe. Thin flat blade riveted to a light shaft. The tobacco barn was a hip roofed structure so had 4 to 5 courses to hang the tobacco on. It took several people to pass the slats to the peak. Stripping tobacco was the worst job for me. Very boring, but you had to stay alert as you graded it as you stripped. A bale form for for Binder quality leaves and

The women are at the farm house putting lunch and dinner together. You know those guys have an appetite.

Thank you for posting

Great! Many thanks to the hard workers and editor!

I grew up on a dairy farm in east Tennessee. Me and my brother milked cows TWICE a day from the time we could walk. We also put up a several thousand square bales (no round balers in those days) in spring and fall. We also had to chop silage, do a garden, slop and butcher hawgs, feed the hay, silage and baby calves by hand. We also did tobacco by hand. Not the tiny tobacco in this vid. We had the 5 or 6 foot tall tobacco (aka backer) that you cut with a tobacco knife and speared on a stick. It SUCKED. I have always hated raising tobacco and always will. I am 58 years old and started milking cows in 1st grade. I didn't have much of a childhood and smelled like silage and cow sheet when I went to school. That never went over well with the suburb kids. I wonder what a normal childhood is like? No cows to milk. No sheet to wade. No silage to wheelbarrow out in the sleet, snow, rain or heat. No square bales to stack all the way up to the barn roof. No injury's from the huge cows (still had to work w injuries and even pneumonia). No bread bags over my socks because my rubber boots were cut in various places. No waking up at 430/5 am to milk before school. No after school milking. NO TOBACCO. No boot or belt to my arse if I made a mistake. No rocks to pick up. No firewood to cut and bust. No hand milking 75/80 cows when the electric went out in winter. My childhood was a labor nightmare. I joined the Army in my teens and l laffed at all the city/suburb tough guys that whined when it rained or sleeted. Oh well, childhood is over. It sucked. Wudnt go back and do it again even if I cud.

Where I grew up, in the 1950's, we grew Shade Grown tobacco. All the fields were shaded by an over head white cloth.

Very informative..thank you, enjoyed this. Got back from Gap last night and saw the fields. I pray the animals are treated good!

Great video. Super explanation and those men work hard

People today wouldn't put their phones down long enough to work in tobacco

Give that guy some longer handles for that lopper so he can walk upright!

👍. Great footage thank you

We always called the spear points spuds and the lathes tobacco sticks. And yes, you are correct, it is labor intensive. From February when you start the beds until November when the crop is striped and sold, it is lots of work. Thanks for sharing this, for nothing else than educational purposes for those who have never seen this sort of work before.

Worked in tobacco when I was younger, hauled hay...heavy Bales like 90 lbs, so heavy strings broke all the time. Hauled tens of thousands of Bales. Used a hoe and chopped weeds out in fields during the summer and that sucked as well.

When I was a teenager some of my friends would go tobacco picking in the summer. They said it was back breaking.

I raised tobacco for 30 years and love the work, those were the good ole days…

Born in 61. When. I was a kid, I worked for tobacco farmers. Pulled it as the leaves ripened from the bottom in “primings” until later in the season we topped out the plant. As we pulled, we stcuck it under out arms until we had an arm full. The. Put it in a trailer, or sled. When everything was full, we went to the barn to string it on tobacco stick, hang them in the old log barns for curing. This was in North Carolina.

I grew up with farming tobacco in So.Md. and we used tobacco knives to cut 2 rows at a time up the field dropping them as one row then turn around dropping the next two rows on top of the first two creating a layer row (4 rows in one) before dropping sticks to spear with. I will also say that seems to be small tobacco. IMO. also i will say once you have cut tobacco, every other job you do seems a cake walk by comparison

The most revealing sentence comes at 14:50 of this video: "In the springtime, in the past, the steam tractor would be used to sterilize the field before the tobacco was planted. With the advent of chemicals, you no longer have to do that." I think if I had a choice between spraying Round-up or steam on anything I grew to kill weeds, steam would work for me, and keep my customers coming back for more because they would live longer.

Great work guys! Thanks for the narrative

Beautiful greens!

I did this for 12 years in Dellhi Ontario Canada find it was very hard work but nothing compared to this .

I did all that back in the day. Plants were 2 times that size.

More people should live and work like this. Thanks for the video.

Thanks for this detailed video! I’m reading a book that described tobacco harvesting using this process and I just couldn’t quite picture the bit with the spear.

thats the shortest variety of tobacco i have ever seen, we grew burley and it was mostly over 6 foot tall. and the way they cut it is just back breaking,

Live in southern Virginia was born and raised on a tobacco farm here we raised flu cured tobacco very labor intensive but was a good way of life

great video thanks!

Very informative Thank you!!

I worked in the Paris Tennessee tobacco fields in my teenage years and it was hard hot and dirty work Kenny Jenkins owned the fields you can spike it or cut it we mainly spiked it........

I THOUGHT THIS WAS A GREAT VIDEO MORE PEOPLE SHOULD WATCH SUCH AS THIS ESPECIALLY PEOPLE THAT ACTUALLY WORK AND NOT WHINE 👍

that arial shot reminds me of the farmland between lancaster & avondale pa.beautiful countrysides.

Super cool video!

Loppers? He's lucky, we had to use what looked like a hand made hatchet, and that spear point will puncture your hand as well if you're not careful.

I find it interesting that the Amish grow tobacco. I have never seen an Amish or Mennonite use tobacco.

I remember as a kid going to southern Indiana to Madison Indiana on the Ohio river there was a tobacco buying house and you could see inside the bundles of tobacco.One time the river had flooded and the bundle were wet and floating around inside the building. Thanks for the video hard work simple life.Us "English" have lost alot

I know these men will Never have to go to the gym!!! There Labouring In The Sun with humidity ,we have fans and A/C in the gym . There From Good Hardy STOCK & so are their work animals. Big Thanxxx for videos ! Stay Strong [ER]. .

My family has been putting up tobacco for over a hundred years and Italy I work right along pricking my fingers picking the leaves there are no hired help or illegal Mexicans to help out we are them LOL

Good video... despite the mispronunciation of "Lancaster" right out of the gate.

I’d rather watch this type of man power over the biggest of tractors planting a field. Beautiful to watch. I couldn’t imagine the beauty of the slaves working in the fields in the old days. The sight and sound of people getting it done back then would be better then a noisy tractor today. Thanks for the upload

Great video!

Doesn't matter if it is hard work if I lived there at least I would have a job.

That's the littlest tobacco I have ever saw. Here in Kentucky it's three times that size. We cut and spear at the same time. Seem like a waist of time the way they are doing it.

I am so imspired by these videos

Very cool video. Much respect for th

I would have thought an Amish guy would have had a sharper knife TBH.

If you haven't worked in tobacco you have never worked hard ! I've worked ever dirty job this country has to offer , from coal mines to saw mill chain ganging, but none of them compare to tobacco ! Always in blazing heat or early spring in cold wet weather in Kentucky or Tennessee Was the worst , Carolinas wasn't as bad , but still bad . My son has 150 acres of tobacco, but he has 17 young Mexican men who work for him almost year round, if not for them he would not be farming .

Awesome video💯👌🏽

Very cool 😎 and informative video 👍

I've tried to do this in Conway SC and Lori's SC area and trust me, it will make you respect the ppl that farm and harvest tobacco by hand. I'll never do it again.

Those look like some real lathe busters. Good job, kin.

From Lancaster' PA here born and raised old order Mennonite.Just a comment some of these farmers have 30 acres of tobacco. I also grew up on a farm and helped put away tobacco and also picked produce. Very well produced video.

I remember those days! From planting to cutting and putting on wagons then hanging to dry and stripping leaves and baling in winter time..