Tobacco Barns and Porch Decor

Sep 30, 2012

This past weekend marked the arrival of my favorite time of year. I am a fall fan for sure and have been enjoying everything I possibly can about preparing for this time of year.

A few weeks ago I went in search of something new to use for my front porch décor at the house. While on the hunt, I came across a bunch of tobacco baskets and knew instantly I would use one as the anchor for my new display.

One of my favorite harbingers of this season is when the barns used for smoking tobacco start emitting their seasonal scents. I am sure there are many non-natives who have a story about seeing a smoking barn and wondering if they should dial 9-1-1. I know I took pause when I first saw one; a quick call to a “local” allayed my fears.

Smoking season is here again and I adore scent that fills the air. In fact, my favorite scented candle is called Bergamot Tobacco, which sounds a little off-putting if you are not familiar with the intoxicating scent of tobacco being smoked in preparation for sale.

After procuring several of these baskets, I became a little more curious about the process, so I called a friend, Anne Head, whose family has been in the tobacco business for many years; she gave me the low down. After harvesting the tobacco, leaf-by-leaf, farmers then tie the leaves together in bunches, hang them from sticks and place the filled sticks in the tiers of the tobacco barn. The farmers then commence to smoking/curing the tobacco to achieve the golden brown color. Tobacco baskets are no longer used, but would have been—at this point—loaded with the smoked leaves and taken to market.

As they are no longer employed for their intended use, folks have been finding alternative uses for them since the late 70s. I, naturally, look at them for their decorative qualities. They are attractive works of basketry art in and of themselves, but it is rare that I can leave a surface unadorned.

I immediately thought of my antique pitch fork, which I found on one of my flea marketing excursions in Germany, as the perfect accent for my developing fall front porch display. Unfortunately, it was one of those tools/toys my son found irresistible as he was reenacting the mob scene from Beauty and the Beast or later, the battle scene at the end of Braveheart; which is likely why I found it in pieces on a hill in our backyard. Plan B—find another pitch fork.

Another fall arrangement I’ve fallen in love with is one that Patty Stinnett encouraged me to try. She found our inspirational picture on Pinterest (yup—I’m talking about Pinterest again); it involved turning a vintage floor lamp into a planter. As I have entirely too many dysfunctional vintage floor lamps—I decided to try this project.

I used a floor lamp that had a place for a center bulb and three arms for additional lights. I then altered a hanging wire basket so it would slide down and rest on the arms. I used a coconut shell liner and then added my plants. The inspiration picture showed the planter filled with gorgeous succulents, but I was using my planters to decorate for a fall themed function, so I used mums with ornamental kales and cabbages. I also added an aqua-colored canning jar in the center in order to add candlelight to my floor lamp planter. I used plastic tie-wraps to secure the baskets to the arms of the lamp. They are a little tippy, so I don’t think this is something I would recommend this project for a house full of little ones or frisky pets. I will, however, be adding one of these to the display on my front porch. Once again I am sorry I don’t have a picture of the finished product, but I promise to add it to the blog.

I hope you are enjoying the smell of tobacco smoke, the sight of mums popping-up everywhere and, of course, the cooler temperatures. I’ll have a few more ideas to share next week.