All things cotton in Dooly County - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

All things cotton in Dooly County

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September 20, 2003

Dooly County-- Maybe you are one of the lucky who's received a cotton bale. That's right, a cotton bale. A Dooly County couple is in their third year of making the unlikely gift that's a hit from here to Germany.

From the cotton fields to the farmhouse-- that's now a factory-- thousands of cotton bales are made each year, "In our county that we are from, Dooly County, Georgia there are about 81,000 acres of cotton."

So instead of farming cotton, "After having farmed for 30 years, this is really a piece of cake compared to farming," Kenneth and Cathy Thompson are making cotton bales .

Using a hand press, they can make nine bales an hour, "We've sent four hundred to Germany." When they get the big orders, this couple will work evenings and weekends. "One of the mottos is homegrown cotton, grown in the USA." Homegrown cotton that's made by hardworking people.

The company, called High Cotton, is an off-shoot of Cathy's business Southernality. Her company sells everything cotton, from paintings to license plates.

Posted at 4:01 p.m. by melissa.kill@walb.com