Ivy Barn
by Amber Kresge
Title
Ivy Barn
Artist
Amber Kresge
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
In October of 2012, I took a short 3 day trip to Kentucky for my sister's wedding. While there, I used every minute of my time (when not fulfilling my wedding responsibilities) to photograph the gorgeous tobacco barns of Western Kentucky. I spent my entire time there photographing just a few of the tobacco barns near the town of Murray, Kentucky which is located in the Land Between the Lakes region. Honestly, I would need at least a month of daily photo shoots just to capture all the barns within a 30 mile radius that I would like to photograph.
This particular tobacco barn was quite the find. There is another barn across the street from this barn and it is actually the "subject" in my most spectacular sunrise photographed to date. That picture is also located in my "Western Kentucky Landscapes" album and is entitled, "Radiating Sunrise".
After taking that sunrise shot, I captured this image of this tobacco barn standing in the now harvested field, with it's doors propped open, and its crops of tobacco leaves hanging to dry from the ceiling. I loved this barn and the ivy growing up it's side. It added so much more character and made this barn so much more interesting to look at. And even though I saw quite a few tobacco barns while in Kentucky, this is the only one that I discovered that had ivy of any kind growing on it.
Kentucky Ag Facts: Tobacco
Tobacco has long been a staple crop in Kentucky. Kentucky farmers grow three types of tobacco: Burley, dark fired-cured, and dark air-cured. According to a 2005 USDA report Kentucky ranked 2nd in overall tobacco production and #1 in production of Burley tobacco.
Currently Burley tobacco is grown in 110 of Kentuckys 120 counties and accounts for 82% of all tobacco grown in the state. Its primary use is for cigarettes.
Dark fire-cured and dark air-cured tobacco production is concentrated in 20 western Kentucky counties and is used primarily in smokeless tobacco products like snuff, chewing and pipe tobacco.
Overall sales of Tobacco generated $342.5 million in cash receipts for Kentucky farmers in 2005. Sales have declined partially over the past few years with a recent report citing 2010 tobacco cash receipts for Kentucky at $331 million, sixth overall in agricultural receipts.
Tobacco is an important generator of dollars for Kentucky farmers, with over 72 counties exceeding over $1 million in production during 2005. The 2002 census of agriculture accounted for nearly 87,000 farms in Kentucky, with more than 29,000 growing tobacco.
By: Jesse Bussard
Disclaimer: The watermark on this picture will not appear when you order this image.
Uploaded
November 22nd, 2012
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