Saturday 12 March 2011

just around the corner.....


Driving past this tantalising scene, 'where they
 spin cotton thread', created another diversion.
It was lunch time and very quiet.   We were
warmly welcomed and invited to look around.



It was only the beginning of the process.
Huge piles of dried cotton bolls ready for 
processing.  The cotton is grown locally, and
organically, on a small scale.  I am guessing
that this small  plant is owned by a
farmers' co-operative.



At the end of the yard a building housing five
cotton gins.  Very clean and almost lint free.
Having seen documentaries of huge scale
plants, this was very heartening.

The cotton bolls are dried, put into the gins
 to separate the fibres from the seeds and
any other impurities.   In a very dark corner a
machine, which could be heard rather than
seen, clanked away making cotton seed oil
and feed for cattle from the debris removed
from the bolls.  Nothing is wasted.



The processed cotton is packed into hessian
bales, so roughly stitched I wonder how easy
it is keeping the cotton in.  All ready for spinning
and weaving.  T-shirts apparently.


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