It’s tobacco harvest time. There’s an air of anticipation every minute of every day out here right now for me as I drive through the back roads and look out at the fields. The tobacco looks good – giant broad-leafed dark green plants. I wonder what a tobacco field smells like.

I’ve thought about just walking into someone’s field and checking it out, touching the plants and getting some good pictures. And I’ve gone so far as to drive deep into the country in order to do just that. I’ll find a good field and then realize that I cannot just traipse into someone’s field and start fondling their crops.

I tried to meet some farmers and go out into the fields with them as I am fascinated by seeing the tobacco harvest come in. But something in my gut says to let it go. The men who work these tobacco fields, at least the ones I’ve met in the only local bar for 20 miles in either direction, have their own culture and pace and ideas about things. I’ve met many kind souls and I’m not trying to say otherwise – it’s just that they simply don’t understand why in the world I’d want to come to the fields and see what it is they are doing. So I don’t press the issue.

And apparently, lots of illegal immigrants come here to work the fields, so if I showed up with a camera, everybody would disappear because they don’t want their pictures taken. No, you just don’t go around shooting snaps in the fields around here. So, I’m watching the tobacco harvest come in from an outsider’s perspective as I drive past in my car. One day a field I’ve been watching will be full and the next day, just bare red clay. Trucks loaded with crews amble down the back roads with sticks of tobacco leaves tied and stacked. Then they hang the tobacco up in barns to dry and smoke it.

As I drive along, I know when I’m coming up on a barn - I can smell it before I see it.

So this morning we were in town, searching for internet options. We decided to hit the drive-thru at Arby’s and ask them, my logic being that some Arby’s restaurants do have Wi-Fi. “What’s tha-a-a-t?” exclaimed the girl on the drive-thru headset. She actually thought we were trying to redeem a coupon.

There’s alot going on out here and alot of nothing all at the same time. I won second place at the Tenn-Tucky karaoke contest last week despite the fact that I haven’t had much of a voice since arriving here due to going out every night and yelling and screaming and smoking. This is tobacco country. Everybody smokes. It’s just what you do here. But Baby Got Back won me second place and $50 bucks.

We hang out alot at the local cafe where coffee is only a quarter. A quarter! Then there’s always burger night at the Truck Stop. Don’t let the name fool you, like it did me. This ‘Truck Stop’ is a tiny little restaurant with one gas pump that just happens to also offer diesel and a roof over the pumps that’s tall enough to accomodate a semi. But I’ve never seen a trucker there.

I’m finally beginning to get into a rhythm. I’ve kind of been a beer-guzzling sloth lately and catching up on sleep the past couple of weeks. But within the past few days, I’ve found out who is in charge of the barn art I’ve been seeing in Adairville and I’ve actually been commisioned to do a piece, which I’m very excited about.

It’s about the beginning of harvest time. They’re starting to cut the tobacco and hang it in the ‘baccer barns. After it hangs for a couple of days (?), then they smoke it. I’ve seen several smoking barns within the last few days. The smell of the tobacco wafts across the fields and is the herald of autumn. I’ve driven around with the hope of getting pictures, but people here are very guarded. I don’t blame them. It’s difficult to just rock up and start snapping pix.

The fresh food we’ve been getting is divine! Our neighbor Joe gives us a bag of tomatoes just about every day. Some one down at Tenn-Tucky gave us two boxes of fresh corn. Cantaloupes and peaches are in season right now . . . as well as zucchini and cucumbers.