Thursday, September 15, 2011

Driving the Farmland

Going from heavily forested country filled with lakes and rivers to a land that stretches flat for hundreds of miles can be a shock to our systems. There isn't much to do out here on the prairie except go for rides. All the roads are done in squares and rectangles, some paved, some gravel, some just plain dirt. But today our drive north of our area provided us with some sights pleasing to our eyes. Here is a field of sunflowers, one of many we saw. The petals are pretty much gone, and the sunflower heads are drooping, working hard to produce their seeds. It won't be long till they are harvested.

 We saw cornfields with dried stalks and fields where the corn had been harvested, but this one was still flourishing. I don't know if this is eating corn, or corn for seed, or just what it is used for. The ears were plentiful.

 This field looked as though it was being readied for plowing. We couldn't tell what had been growing here.

Sometimes the plowed acres are just as beautiful as the planted crops, with their varied browns against the blue and clouded sky, stretching forever. It's difficult to imagine the hours and hours the farmer must be out on his tractor, getting his fields ready for the next crop.



2 comments:

Char said...

Nice pictures! There is an area around Quincy, Washington where they put the names of the crops alongside the fields. I wish everyone would do that -- I get so frustrated trying to figure out what something is...

Ann said...

I love that about Quincy. I agree, I wish all the farmers would do that!