Donald Vollinger, right, idles his tractor as a field crew including Glenny Then, left of Holyoke and Vollinger's grandnephew Will Schmalz, a junior at Smith Academy, gather broadleaf tobacco plants during a Honey Pot Farm harvest at the old "Boyle Farm" in Hatfield on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018.
Donald Vollinger, right, idles his tractor as a field crew including Glenny Then, left of Holyoke and Vollinger's grandnephew Will Schmalz, a junior at Smith Academy, gather broadleaf tobacco plants during a Honey Pot Farm harvest at the old "Boyle Farm" in Hatfield on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018. Credit: STAFF PHOTO/Kevin Gutting

An eye for details

For years I have enjoyed the artistic excellence of Kevin Gutting’s photographs. What a nice to surprise to learn that he’s also a very good writer! The following sentence from his article “A Tobacco Tradition” is a good example: “The putt-putt of several colorful ‘ancient tractors’ can be heard as they hover around the perimeter of the field like so many small airplanes taxiing for take off.” I can see and hear those tractors! I’m definitely looking forward to future articles.

Denise Herzog
Easthampton