Amish Harvest in Lancaster County...Tobacco

[@jamesnicholson3658]

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

[@danhyde2656]

These Amish monocrop many hundreds of thousand of acres in the mid atlantic.

[@jamesnicholson3658]

@@danhyde2656 exactly my point, and they will trade what they have for what they need within their communities a lot of the time and get any money they need from tourists as opposed to their community members. More people need to do this

[@danhyde2656]

@@jamesnicholson3658 they are rolling in money. Buying many single family homes 1 acre or smaller out from under people. Here in york and Lancaster county's in PA. Offering up to 50k more than asking just to seal it. They have knocked on my front door and offer to buy my property.

[@fritzfxx]

Do you really want to live a pre-industrial life with no access to anything processed or from out of the area? There are so many spices, foods, and ingredients that people use on a daily basis that cannot easily be produced in their area. I'm not saying the current method is ideal, but neither is the other extreme

[@danhyde2656]

@@fritzfxx Support a family, work a job, pay a mortgage, so I don't have a homestead. But grow and raise. I can grow many pepper variety, garlic, onion, spices. Chicken, pig, hunt deer, elk, rabbit and other game. What else you need?

[@balikbayanfarmingwithdavee2484]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

I’m glad the video helped you reminisce. I had 2 purposes in mind…to show the old ways and to show the hard working Amish farmer.

[@badmoon7549]

Balikbayan Farming with Dave & Emily , I was born and raised in Johnson County and we raised Tobacco when I grew up. I live in Oregon now, but go back on occasion to visit my Brother and Sister and the rest of my family. Hearing you describe you childhood sounds just like mine. Sure brings back good memories. Thanks for your comment, it made me feel good reading your memories. Take care and God Bless.

[@jefferyschirm4103]

How many cancer deaths do you feel guilty for !!?

[@balikbayanfarmingwithdavee2484]

@@jefferyschirm4103 nope it was just a job Cash Crop But hard work that you surely would not make it.

[@2024magaman]

@@jefferyschirm4103 none, each smoker chooses to smoke. Tobacco farmers only supply what is demanded 🖕🏻

[@terrykrall]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching and commenting. Nice story. Much appreciated.

[@consueloloftis5342]

That ax is an absolute treasure

[@MrRebar15]

*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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thank you so much for watching. You were around in tobacco’s heyday. I just read that the acreage in tobacco today is like 20% of what it was when you were in school.

[@MrRebar15]

@@LancoAmish Yes its heartbreaking to see all the beautiful farmland I grew up on sold off bit by bit. There are still wonderful areas here in East Windsor Ct. God Bless & thank-you for responding it does means a lot.

[@hyloward7907]

I remember those times days I was a proud young man paying my own way.

[@dadillen5902]

In summer of 1967 I started working at my dads gas station for 50 cent a hour. We work 10 hours a day six day a week. Oh the good old days.

[@jockwoodsman]

Thanks for sharing your story. Nowadays kids don't even get summer jobs.It's a generation of soft out of shape lazy kids being raised by single "moms" who spoil them and buy them $1000 I phones!

[@ericfloyd9842]

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.

[@paulmills1705]

Yes. We grew it that way in Georgia as well. Our beds were planted a tad bit later but were always down in the woods near the creek. They were covered with cheese cloth and left until the plants were three or four inches tall. They were transferred to the field and it started all over again. I did not like working in tobacco. But the farmer always supplied refreshments and noon meal, dinner, for the hands. It was way harder than this.

[@MADuranDude777]

that what I was wondering. I thought yo had to wait for the tobacco to ripen..

[@robertgarrett3980]

Tobacco in the south is head high they seem to be wasting there time growing if cant get it any bigger than that they would plow that under down here chalk it up as a loss.

[@joeboudreault2226]

Just like us (over on PEI 1970s).

[@MrRiptonk]

Agree. We worked from the bottom of the plant on two stroke machines with our backs bent over. As the crop ripened it became relatively easy as you could either sit up high or stand as you took the higher leaves.

[@Highlander9740]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@bigkw1568]

This style of tobacco smells nothing like the flue cured tobacco we have

[@jtjones4081]

@@bigkw1568 The Amish here in Lancaster County PA also farm puppies in a disgusting way. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJTIXpeEn76na6s Who are the animals?

[@brentreid7031]

I have never smelled a barn of tobacco. Growing up and my farming experience was in dairy barn. The smell of the cattle and haylage from the silo can't be beat.

[@donarthiazi2443]

@@brentreid7031 You actually enjoy the smell of those huge mounds of cowshit? Well to each his own I guess, and I'm sure to the owner of that dairy farm that odor probably smells like money.... but Good God man pheeeew!

[@michaelgrey5105]

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.

[@eaminyashed7799]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Seems about right! 😆

[@harrykanhura4178]

Thanks for sharing that story, got a chuckle out of me as you reminded me of my grandfather saying that farming was always a losing proposition and that's why we young ones should take advantage of getting the best education we could get. Yep, hard work for sure, but I remember it fondly as I got to hear all kinds of stories about my past ancestors.

[@timmayer8723]

My uncle owned a massive dairy operation in southern Nevada years ago. He would be up by 4:00 am seven days a week and got back home around ten at night. He never took time off for any reason, not even his health. Finally after forty years of this schedule he and my aunt went on a two week vacation to California. He still got up at four AM. I'm not sure how much he relaxed, maybe not at all. Three of my cousins ran the operation while he was on 'vacation'.

[@orotewilderness2913]

Where at in southern Nevada. I know quite a lot of ranchers, my family owns n operates the bar 10 ranch, but that’s Arizona. My family lives in northern nevada

[@24revealer]

Habits are hard to change. Sounds more like a joke as the Amish are all business. They usually mark up their goods 10 percent compared to stores at 100-200 percent.

[@shaneedge3295]

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 .

[@cosmicbackwoods]

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

[@ranger894]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for sharing. Much appreciated n

[@ericfloyd9842]

We got paid by the day. My starting salary was $15 per day. By the time I left it at age 18, I was making a whopping $25 per day.

[@larryvarner3444]

I Started Working In A Tobacco Field Making $10.00 A Day. Hot Summers In South Carolina. At 13 Years Old, I Was Happy.

[@HadenoughBS2024]

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

[@ilovegoatsecks]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks so much for watching. I appreciate your time and comment.

[@alhartkopf9455]

You're talking about flue-cured tobacco. Here in NC, that's what we grew. This is Burley. One pass and the field is done. After topping, we would pull the sand lugs (the yellow/brown leaves at the bottom) then later come back and pick ever week or so from the bottom up about 3 leaves at the time and stack it on the wagon. The wagon went to the barn where it would be tied to a stick and hung in the barn to cure. Pretty involved and hard work, but I sure wish it was still around. Young'uns need to learn about work.

[@kyfarmboy6449]

@@alhartkopf9455 this is Connecticut broadleaf

[@brokenwolf67]

That ain't the way we did it in VA. And that tobbaco ain't ready to cut its not even started to yellow

[@alhartkopf9455]

@@brokenwolf67 The VA burley grows taller. Longer season. We were in the coastal plain of NC. HOT as 40 hells, flat land and sand soil.

[@wildman1088]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

You’re welcome and thank you so much for watching.

[@PlanetMojo]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

So sad.

[@jzoer392]

That's what my uncle harvey did in viroqua wisconsin !

[@PlanetMojo]

@@jzoer392 I actually learned a lot about this subject in the farming exabit at the county fair in Viroqua WI! It's just down the road from us. 😊

[@knotbumper]

Thinking about dairy, around here you need to have 2000 head to be viable.

[@loganthesaint]

It’s all part of the master plan... we will kneel to China. Government is selling land to China and top soil.

[@davidcoleman6032]

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!

[@badmoon7549]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching and commenting. The goal with this tobacco is to get leaves graded high enough for cigar wrappers and not as filler tobacco so it is shorter and handle a little differently I’m glad this triggered some good memories.

[@buffalobillcody1923]

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 ❤

[@SCfanIam100]

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

[@LancoAmish]

So many today don’t understand the physicality of labor in doing these types of chores. Thanks so much for watching.

[@garylam6233]

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

[@LancoAmish]

Thank you for watching!!

[@po4RP20361]

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.

[@LOL60345]

they do that in north korea believe it or not.

[@Andy-pr5be]

some adults too

[@imnotyourfriendbuddy1883]

I agree. Hard work, not difficult challenging work. Just hard over time. It builds character.

[@dregenius]

Don't forget most of this is all for show - their main income lately is mostly from rentier-capitalism, from buying up as many houses as possible to stop "the english" from owning homes and forcing them to perpetually rent from them. They're much like corporate landlords *except* they have no sense of building codes or fire safety, and will subject their poor tenants to some of the least efficient and most dangerous appliances and fixtures.

[@bassmith448bassist5]

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

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching. I appreciate your time greatly.

[@cpr1200r]

As they grow a killer crop.

[@FreeAmerican]

@@cpr1200r Modern rural people would be growing meth.

[@24revealer]

Bound by faith through a written contract.

[@JEJAK5396]

@@24revealer What do you mean, by contract?

[@johnmedlin5894]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching and commenting. I appreciate it.

[@joeboudreault2226]

Primed ... now there's a word I haven't heard for a while. I was a tobacco primer for 2 years in the 1970s (for those who don't know, to 'prime' means to pick the best leaves which are the bottom leaves)... they would actually spray special chemicals which made their tobacco ripen from the bottom up... week after week... Still a devilishly poisonous plant. I'm glad I never knew it again...

[@HolmansHomestead]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching and the neat comment!

[@benjaminwhite7823]

And every time we left after all the auctions were done I always had a headache from hell the tobacco we raised never really did that to me never understood it could be in the fields or barns all day and was okay but not the auction house

[@randyblackburn9765]

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

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks so much for watching. I’m pretty certain this was Pennsylvania Broadleaf…grown pretty much only in Lancaster area. They do grow a Connecticut variety also I think.

[@jameshicks4831]

I remember it 6-7 feet tall we left our out in the field for a couple day to wilt and our stick were 1X2 and we had cone spears and a tobacco knife that look like a tomahawk.

[@randyblackburn9765]

@@jameshicks4831 that’s right there were 2 types of burley cutters , the hatchet type as you used and the push knives which we used

[@kylerutherford7227]

@@jameshicks4831 Same here, used to help my uncle in Ky., year round crop.

[@TwoAcresandaMule]

@@randyblackburn9765 push knives like a roof scraper sorta?

[@JimNichols]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Love the story and how you describe the process. Last year with Covid they waited and waited and waited some more for their tobacco checks from the buyers. At one point they were ready to give up

[@stephenrobinson7945]

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.

[@AbrasiveCarl]

Not sure if they do it anymore but free meal on your birthday too at Shady Maple.

[@chrisreynolds2410]

Carl I’m offended

[@DanRudolph]

@@AbrasiveCarl still do it

[@Dan-gs3kg]

@@DanRudolph that is something to live and die for.

[@danhyde2656]

Neighboring. Not impressed.

[@oldcarolinaoutdoors-harley834]

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

[@samueljames9342]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching. I absolutely have no desire to do that type of work but am grateful to those that do it today and have done it in the past. I’ve talked with some Amish parents and the philosophy is that a child learns not only to work but learns self discipline and is less apt to enjoin in destructive behavior like illicit drugs if they just want to go to bed at the end of the day!🙂

[@24revealer]

That sounds about right. They are quite a bunch to deal with.

[@allanclose9684]

@@24revealer AND so honest ! Ha !

[@waynefaber8823]

I grew up in Minnesota my dad had 2 Acres of tobacco we had a family of 15 a built-in crew the only difference we cut the tobacco that it will put it in piles and then had a what it was called the buck and you put this lad in there and your spirited so you didn't didn't have to bend over

[@kevinbaker6168]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks so much for watching and the interesting comment. One of my goals in making these videos was to bring back memories.

[@oldamericaniron5767]

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!

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks so much for watching. It most certainly is hard work.

[@leakplugger93]

Same here. Used a tobacco axe/hatchet. Would go between two rows cutting each. Six plants in a pile and someone would come along and "stick" them onto 1x2 tobacco sticks. Then hang them on the scaffold wagons to take them to the drying barns. Then hang them and let them dry if it was Burly. Hang in a different barn and build smoldering fires under them to cure for what we called Dark Fired which was very sticky.

[@TrickleCreekFarm]

@@leakplugger93 Great memory, thanks for sharing!

[@eagleviewhd]

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

[@oldcountryman6987]

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

[@jeffclark5024]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching and commenting…appreciated.

[@claydiddy63able]

Same here, KY

[@Dave-hc6pp]

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.

[@michaelfoort2592]

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

[@JustHazardous]

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.

[@consueloloftis5342]

Great story! Never knew they grew it in Connecticut

[@Pathos312]

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.

[@eaglerider1826]

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 .

[@LancoAmish]

Neat story. All my best!

[@joeboudreault2226]

Wonderful story. I'll bet Haywood didn't smoke that stuff either...

[@terryhobdy5727]

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

[@LancoAmish]

That must have been interesting. I hope I did the harvesting part justice.

[@terryhobdy5727]

@@LancoAmish you did I'm from middle Tennessee of course we do it a little different an different Tobacco

[@scothammond5736]

Did you ever buy from the auction in paradise PA off of rt 30?

[@terryhobdy5727]

@@scothammond5736 yes I did

[@scothammond5736]

@@terryhobdy5727 that's cool man I worked there after it became a machine auction. But the cast iron bell and all the tobacco sale signage was still hanging on the walls until the day the doors closed for good

[@tonyshepherd406]

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

[@jayweston6893]

Mine as well starting about mid 1800s in south western Virginia. The family land is till there and every tobacco farmer and their family were lifetime smokers, which ended up killing many of them. Our family also raised cattle and still does.

[@BRPFan]

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!

[@nosoyono1081]

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

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching and sharing. Much appreciated.

[@michaelbrennan7148]

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.

[@gregjohnston9287]

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

[@gregjohnston9287]

And the second for filler quality. Memories, I’ll forget!

[@TwoAcresandaMule]

My granfather always graded in 5 grades.

[@marcuscicero9587]

buddy of mine got a place in Viroqua. told me that was a big tobacco producing area of Wisconsin. I was surprised cause I would never have thought tobacco was a Wisconsin crop

[@jerrylochner4810]

I helped doing Tobacco from topping to spearing it, those guys that cut it down with the tobacco axes were quick. If it rained we were told not to walk through the field cause you would get sick from the nicotine.

[@dennisolson7095]

Did the work in westby Wis. hated it as a kid

[@maryefromky]

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!

[@LancoAmish]

Thank you so much for watching and leaving the comment. What great childhood memories!

[@gwine9087]

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

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks so much for watching and commenting. It means a lot!

[@davidgraham2673]

I grew up in tobacco country....North Carolina.It was the cash crop back then. Lots of friends picked tobacco, and had tobacco rash from that work. Thankfully, I didn't have to do it. Nasty work.

[@devonstoomuch]

Tobacco, avocados, mangos, apples. all field work is absolute hell.

[@suledurham5044]

It was.....

[@glennz6686]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching and commenting. I appreciate it.

[@TREEHUGGAH1]

MUCH RESPECT and thank you for making this video

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks so much for watching.

[@oldcountryman6987]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching. It’s definitely an education in the hard work that goes into farming.

[@badmoon7549]

We always called the lathe... Bakker sticks...

[@suledurham5044]

Well alright then.....

[@commanderman_64]

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.

[@msemakweli133]

Sounds like you could give a dose of reality to the many of us who have this fancy image of farm life. I know a number of pure city folks who want to make the move, and I'm afraid they are unprepared.

[@commanderman_64]

@@msemakweli133 you are correct sir. They ant ready. Except there is more and better equipment in these days and times. IF a person cud afford the fuel and fertilizer. People make fun of farmers, but there are so many moving parts and unexpected disasters in agriculture that a person has to be a professional to succeed at it. I dread it for city people. I dread it for the people that plan to "raid" farmers in USA like they do in south Africa or Zimbabwe or any number of other countries. American farmers will mow city people down like wheat if they come raiding. Many people wonder why we ant protesting like the unarmed farmers around the world. My answer is we just waiting....and preparing for the onslaught of bonehead city people who think they can just take what they want. Nothing cud be further from the truth. Farmers buying ammo. And we will use it. And the body's that pile up are just hog feed. STAY IN THE CITYS FOLKS. GETTING EATEN ALIVE BY A HUNGRY HOG ANT A FUN WAY TO GO.

[@harrymorris9271]

I too was raised on a dairy farm in Maryland. Everything you recalled was the same for me. My father had 68 head , probably around 30 hogs, chicken, ducks, dogs and cats. Many a day I walked behind the plow with bare feet stomping clods of dirt into smaller ones. Since both my parents grew up through the Great Depression. Our garden was at least 15 acres. All had to be planted by hand, hoed , and then picked by hand. Then you could look forward to walking the fields picking up stones so it could be planted. I started working full time sun up to sundown by the age of 10. By the time I was 11 I was driving tractors and farm trucks, drivers Ed in school was a waste of time. I had been driving for 4 years by then. By 13 I knew farming was not a career choice I want to make. My father would tell me you couldn’t work in the rain. But it only rained when a hurricane brought heavy rain and wind to the area. Everything else was a sprinkle, you can work in a sprinkle. Winter time was a special time, I had to put on three different pair of jeans on so none of the holes would line up to stay warm. Two pair of work shoes, one pair of shoes for church, the sneakers were bought at Acme for $2.00 for gym class. Children today would never have survived. Looking back, it was good to see how far we have come. But my happiness now come from the thought, I’ll never have to do it again !!!!

[@loganthesaint]

Lol laughs in ranch.

[@danielroden9424]

i picked sweet corn since i was 12 and my older brothers drove tractors and milked cows since they were 9. it wasnt quite the nightmare you had so we get to look back a little more fondly. they are still helping my dad pick/sell sweet corn and tomatoes. the 6am wakeup calls arent so bad as its only during the summer and given the option to goof off or do something meaningful and productive ill take the latter. we got plenty of the former during the school year.

[@StevenCasper]

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

[@VitaKet]

There's a reason most people who grew up doing this don't do it anymore...

[@robinj.9329]

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

[@MrTonyPiscatelle]

What state was that in Robin, sounds like tobacco for cigarettes

[@fordrac1ng81]

@@MrTonyPiscatelle Shade grown tobacco is usually for cigar wrappers

[@craighamlet2863]

Funny, my grandfather cut down all the shade trees so that the ends of his rows would grow full.

[@geanitsucuneli4791]

I done when I was young back in Europe.I was getting leave by leave and stock them nice in the large basket.Go home and line them up, on the wires.Let them dry well, in the shed, then ,package them and sale them to manufacture .Was a great pleasure to help my grandparents at the farm.

[@Fultonfalcons86]

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........

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching. It’s work I can appreciate watching being done but work I have no desire to do.

[@Unit285]

I live about 4 miles from Paris, TN

[@Unit285]

@@fastbusiness Distantly related, altho my uncle also owned a country store that sells the same kind of products beside Hwy 54 about 5 miles west of Paris, his son, my first cousin, runs it now. He also owned Yoder Bro's Meat Processing right there in the same area and his son runs that now too.

[@gaitn5670]

Great! Many thanks to the hard workers and editor!

[@LancoAmish]

Thank you for watching and commenting!!

[@stukaman1162]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Steaming sterilized the ground to keep the weeds early in the process from growing. After that an herbicide or cultivating has to be done to control weed growth. It would seem to be better to cultivate but alas…cultivating ground leads to erosion which leads to stream pollution which leads to a dead Chesapeake Bay. Which would you prefer?

[@redstone1999]

@@LancoAmish Catch trenches with marsh plants captures runoff and purifies it. Collected plants and muck in dry season and composted for incorporating into soil. The trench is reseeded before wet season returns. I grow organically, so no herbicides or toxic pesticides to worry about. More work, but safer for self and nature.

[@Dan-gs3kg]

@@LancoAmish you should look into the work by folks of the Savory Institute, they know a thing or two about stopping runoff and erosion.

[@ilkathompson8669]

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

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching. The animals are treated well.

[@jda1961]

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,

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching. It hurts my back just watching them. I believe the tobacco variety mostly grown in Lancaster County is a Connecticut Broadleaf type as well as Pennsylvania Broadleaf which is pretty much exclusive to the area.

[@Reshtarc]

very short.

[@WootTootZoot]

Pennsylvania broadleaf tobacco plants are short. Makes good cigar wrappers. www.famous-smoke.com/cigaradvisor/5-things-about-pennsylvania-broadleaf-tobacco

[@doogie64]

Why not design a cutter with longer handles?

[@LancoAmish]

@@doogie64 , I’ll be asking. I’m sure it’s been discussed and there are reasons. Just not sure myself.

[@carolkagan2511]

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

[@LancoAmish]

Thank you for watching and the kind comment. Greatly appreciated.

[@Reshtarc]

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

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching. Different varieties are different heights. This is Pennsylvania broadleaf. It does get 6’ + tall but it’s topped when it begins flowering. A foot or more is broken off to concentrate the growth in the plant remaining.

[@frez777]

@@LancoAmish is this sold to large companies, or what is it used or? Locally?

[@juantaladega126]

@@LancoAmish Really great video

[@timkis64]

actually you were half your current size.thats why everything looks twice as big.

[@LancoAmish]

@@frez777, a company called Lancaster Leaf supplies cigar manufacturers around the world with wrappers and filler tobacco.

[@kdubnc1640]

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.

[@garywhelton9304]

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

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching. I bet it was difficult enough!

[@mikemurphy9563]

I grew flue cured tobacco near Delhi Ontario Canada

[@timkis64]

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

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching.

[@SlipKnotRicky]

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

[@mikeznel6048]

This guys would make you cry with a 32nd of the hard work he does. Go cry about someone else working hard on your justine beibler videos. These guys don't complain cry, they just work.

[@SlipKnotRicky]

@@mikeznel6048 I actually have harvested tobacco in Virginia, except I used a Tobacco Ax-Hatchet. You push the stalk to the side and chop it at the base, and keep moving. You see there Mike, I was being empathetic, because I know that it is very hard work...

[@AwoudeX]

@@mikeznel6048 'they just work' - yeah sure, but doing things unneccesarily the hard way is a bit of an amish thing, no? What this guy however suggested was within the bounds of amish rules. I work fields manually too at a much smaller scale, but over here we tend to do things with the right tools to make the job as easy as reasonably can be expected. It was reasonable to point that out and make a hard day of work somewhat more bearable.

[@mikeznel6048]

@@AwoudeX Maybe it's unnecessarily hard for you... People tend to be cry babies no a days... Everyone is so afraid of others doing work...

[@mikeznel6048]

@@SlipKnotRicky Well, if you knew anything about anything, you would know that longer handles would mean you have to open then further to get the cutters opened up enough. You know, simply geometry? Can you understand that? Longer handles, mechanical advantage, the further from the fulcrum, which would be the pivot point, the longer you have to travel to accomplish the equal amount of movement on the opposite end of the pivot? You couldn't figure that out before you opened your mouth? A 5 foot long handle would require you to open the handles at least 3 feet, just to open the blades... So, wouldn't that be more work then just bending over a little? Why are you so afraid of someone else doing work? Why don't you take off a few of your masks, it seems to be affecting the ability of your lungs to send oxygen to your brain....

[@pcs2511]

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

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching. Great story!!

[@shortchange26]

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

[@101trus]

You mean the oppressed women stuck in The house while their husbands have it so much easier.. oh wait

[@P61guy61]

My father in law was a share cropper in South Georgia. I wish he was alive to see this. Would love to hear how his experience compared.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching and sharing. Both are very much appreciated.

[@kevinberry3940]

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

[@truckingwithmother8119]

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]. .

[@searcy95]

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

[@LancoAmish]

Makes for a tiring day! Thanks for watching.

[@jefferycrenshaw4520]

Yep Me too around Adams 👍🏾

[@Bernie5172]

my great grand dad came to Texas Qld Australia to grow tobbaco 1880, while his Aunts family had moved to Lancaster counter USA 40 years before

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks so much for watching. Is the Aunt’s family still living in Lancaster?

[@Bernie5172]

@@LancoAmish Im not sure, family tree shows they went to Logan and Smithfield Cache in Utah AFTER Lancaster . I think they were religious Not sure which leaning they had. they were from Suffolk and Norfolk England Great Grand dad was Jonathan Raymond Wright. his aunt was Elizabeth Wright she married James Brown ,They had 2 girls that Rebeca married John Pitcher and Jane married James Ladle, those 2 families came to the USA My Daly family from Co Kerry, did the same trip and travels

[@easylooker]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@YouT-DJ]

Raised chewing tobacco in WI growing up. 5 ft tall and we used a lightweight axe. usually 13 acres. Would likely be the best workout program ever, depending on your tolerance for torture.

[@samueljames9342]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

The Amish have forged ahead by adopting something better than the “tobacco hatchet”. Either one is no picnic I bet!!

[@dclfarms6204]

I still have a scar on my leg 35 years later from a “tobacco hatchet.”

[@samueljames9342]

@@dclfarms6204 ouch, I've spiked my hand a few times but never the hatchet

[@LancoAmish]

@@strange-universe, roots are left in the ground. After the tobacco is harvested these guys will no till a cover crop on their tobacco acres. These 3 farms are now almost completely no till farming.

[@glindabeaven6805]

I worked in tobacco in Kentucky for several years .Its hard back breaking labor and its always hot when you have to cut it and put it in the barn The last time i walked out of a tobacco patch in 1982 i said i would have to be very hungry before i walked back in one again .And thankfully i have never been hungry enough again to do it

[@arthurn9237]

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

[@dalesmyth7398]

My Grandaddy raised tobacco for family use. Them harvesting that tobacco reminded me when I cut broom corn in the 60's thru the early 80's. All done by hand. I still have my Johnny knife from back then. They never made a machine to harvest broom corn either back then. Younger folks would table the broom corn, which I did that too till I started cutting it. The ladies usually bundled it, then loaded on a wagon, the mules or tractor, would pull it to the broom corn shed, and thrasher, seeds were blown out on a tarp, the rest of the corn hung in the shed to dry, and sold to middlemen that sold to broom makers. Pretty much the same as tobacco harvesting looks like.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks so much for watching and commenting!

[@oldtimefarmer3405]

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

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks so much for watching and commenting.

[@suledurham5044]

Oh that the tobacco harvesting brought back memories. When we raised tobacco, we did everything a little different. That sticky stuff that you get on your hands which is black is tobacco tar. I still remember all of that and I do not miss it. I was born and raised in Kentucky. That was a good cash crop...

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching and commenting. I appreciate both so much.

[@russelltackett4779]

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

[@dadillen5902]

You could have left off the "in tiobacco". 😯

[@Lukiel666]

My first summer job was packing and loading 12' long 100Lb boxes of siding. Second year summer job laying 80Lb concrete patio stones by hand. I was 5'6" 116 Lbs. This was 40 years ago. I got picked on a lot because I was small and weak. You can imagine what I think of Millenials. Oh and I got a 60Lb bow at 12 years old I did archery with for fun. That's 60Lbs with 3 fingers. More than I weighed at the time.

[@Cat-qz9tu]

don't need tabacco anymore, but true about phones

[@101trus]

Gen Z are actually better than millennials

[@craighamlet2863]

@@Lukiel666 If you would have grown up in tobacco, you wouldn't have to have worried about the bullies, you would literally be stronger than them all and I speak from life experience.

[@ToreyDeVaux]

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.

[@briantrout7051]

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

[@LancoAmish]

My goal is to educate natives that ‘kiss’ doesn’t belong in Lan-KASS-ter.

[@michaelfowler2359]

True. But living there it is LAN'caster ( emphasize the Lan)

[@ricksheaffer6388]

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

[@aldod3937]

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

[@briansefring4981]

Thank you so much for doing these videos!

[@LancoAmish]

Thank you for watching.

[@festus51]

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

[@toms641]

Used to be some Shaker communities long time ago that made whiskey. But none of them ever drank it.

[@williamryan7403]

They sell the crop and they do use it. Tobacco is considered a medicinal plant. It becomes carcinogenic when processing with chemicals at the manufacturer. I've seen Amish growing Cannabis too.

[@whooley8782]

I grew up around Amish folk, and yes, there are smokers amongst them.

[@rick-ps5ct]

i've seem many Amish men smoke...i think they all do....but they smoke from pipes....

[@Bygre]

They also sometimes chew.

[@koicaine1230]

Tobacco is so hard! I flat gave up on mine, they are so much work!!

[@tomslongguns443]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thomas, thanks for watching. This is Pennsylvania Broadleaf and Connecticut Broadleaf. The main goal is undamaged leaves that can be graded for cigar wrappers. They command double the price of the other leaves which go for shredded/ground tobacco. Kentucky grows for quantity as that is almost all used for filler or chew. This is quality of the leaf tobacco.

[@getchasome6230]

All they've got is time.

[@suledurham5044]

Yes in Kentucky, after you topped the the plant, was break out the top that is flowering, the plant came to around 5 feet. They did not talk about when you have to worm your plants, that is to remove those long green worms

[@joeboudreault2226]

I was astonished to see that the Amish grow tobacco. I watched this because many many years ago I worked at tobacco harvest (only to earn a few dollars - I hated the work) - but it was slightly different. In the 1970s, tobacco was grown extensively on Prince Edward Island. It was a big cash crop but ruined the land for years to come. When we harvested it, we picked only the bottom leaves from the plant each time around. We didn't cut the plants down. But it was hung in barns or drying kilns for a couple of weeks to cure. Then graded and sold to the buyers. Later, machines carried the pickers as they sat on seats between the rows and people on top packed it in bins. Kilns were heated using fuel oil. My father never grew tobacco even though he smoked cigarettes. He admitted it was a very bad habit (which eventually helped kill him). Tobacco kilns... tobacco kills... ha ha, gallows humor. Sort of like the cocaine user who hates their habit and the coca plantations... In fact, my father always said that tobacco was the most poisonous crop you could possibly plant, and it took many years to get rid of the chemicals that had left behind. That includes the herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers they had to use, with names as long as your arm which I could never pronounce ... Tobacco contains between 3,000 and 6,000 chemical ingredients. Imagine even 5 or 10% of those sticking to your lungs because one of them is tar (that's the sticky stuff). I smoked for 7 years and then gave it up out of horror for what tobacco does to the human body. Nevertheless I do love the Amish farmers everywhere for their work ethics, conservative beliefs and simple lifestyles. Amish now also farm on Prince Edward Island but they will not touch tobacco, ever. So that's my personal take on this industry, but I appreciate the video and the work to make it ... thank you!

[@LancoAmish]

Thank you so much for watching and the thoughtful comment. My dad also smoked and it killed him also but he knew it wasn’t good for him but he smoked none the less. The Amish in Lancaster County have grown tobacco as a cash crop since the 1840’s. More than a few of them smoke as well as chew. It’s a crop that has kept more than a few farmers from having to sell out to developers. It’s a crop that fits into a dairy farmer’s year being harvested before the corn is ready. Less and less acres are grown every year. There is some contention among the Amish community about growing it and some Lancaster Amish communities that have been settled outside the area have decided not to grow it.

[@joeboudreault2226]

@@LancoAmish Thank you agsin, Garden Spot. I guess it's all a matter of personal choice. God bless.

[@MommaARA]

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

[@LancoAmish]

Amanda, Lancaster county right now has literally thousands of job openings. It’s hard for business owners to get help and wages are really increasing.

[@davidgraham2673]

You would have had tobacco rash, then. I grew up in North Carolina, and many friends picked tobacco. The rash was nasty, but if you picked....you probably got it.

[@justinmurray4652]

I thought the same thing!! And now I'm 40 and can barely walk sometimes. I did alot of lifting in my welding career and now I'm paying for it. Already had a 2 disc fusion and will never be the same. It was definitely not a wise choice

[@davidgraham2673]

@@justinmurray4652 , Getting older means paying for the foolish indiscretions from our youth. I have three vertebrae fused in my neck. And thats just the start if the list. We live, and then we learn....afterwards. LOL

[@mmcdonald599]

My back hurts so much for these people. From now on I will pass a horse and buggy at 10mph and not 20. Much respect

[@MegaRiffraff]

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 .

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks so much for watching and commenting. There’s a reason a lot of Amish kids “beg” their dads not to grow it! 😂

[@reberinskime4508]

Sticky as heck wear one set of clothes cuttin cigar tobacco

[@EstelleOlivia]

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.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching. I’m glad you found it helpful!

[@forcesightknight]

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

[@christiandietz6341]

That was one tough watermelon!😁

[@clydewestmoreland314]

Brought back memories. We used tobacco knives to cut. You had to be careful, you didn't want to hit your boots. As Bob Hope said, Thanks for the memories.

[@LancoAmish]

Thanks for watching and commenting. I appreciate both greatly.

[@Helen.happy.harvest]

Wow that was very interesting to watch. Cutting the tobacco is hard work on your back bending over not easy. God bless you❤

[@LancoAmish]

Thank you very much Helen. I appreciate your time watching and commenting.

[@johnconnolly3635]

Great video. Super explanation and those men work hard

[@earlycuyler8719]

In Kentucky you had a knife and a speer, the plants were taller and you cut and speered it as you went. The sticks were skinnier and the speers smaller. We used to use a fro to split our own sticks until the saw mill started making them. In 1999 we had the buyout and tobacco went to hell.

[@theedumptruck4709]

I grew up on a dairy farm in south central Wisconsin and my family raised tobacco for bout 45yrs