July 27, 2015
Fields Aren't Messy Anymore

Can someone out there please tell me why there are no longer any weeds littering the soybean fields? Row after row of plants in the bean fields thrive these days without the threat of being choked out of existence by noxious weeds and misguided corn plants.   In days past kids made a killing irradiating unwanted growth from the miles of acres of cropland. Not anymore.   Now all that meets the eye is miles of lush, neat, rows of soybean plants - minus the weeds.

It's rather beautiful, as is the rest of the landscape right now. It is positively sculpted with the corn standing tall and the beans lushly filling out the rows with deep green foliage.  

Now and then there are rivers of bare ground etched out and winding between cornfields,  forming a maze of pathways as far as the eye can see.  The colors are delightful:  blue-green, butter yellow and goldenrod.  It's a pallet almost as varied as a crayon box.

It's truly a sight to behold and one that I just don't tire of seeing.  

There's still that little matter of the missing weeds in the soybean fields.  And the hoe-wielding laborers scouring the fields.  Or the bean-spraying rig that one time carried a crew of weed zapping workers on it. What of all those things? Where did they go, and what do kids these days do to earn a living during their summer break? 

In a strange way, it's eerie.  Especially when, right in the midst of all this neatness, sits a messy field.

Straggly stray corn plants jut out of the bean field at random, resembling zombie-like creatures lurching their way across the land, arms reaching up toward the sky as they sway to and fro. The sight of it makes me smile a little.  (And want to run into the field and yank those usurpers out of the ground). But I guess that's not necessary.

These days farming has changed considerably from those few years gone by.   But one thing remains the same and that is the joy and awe I get from  watching a plant go from tiny seedling to mighty plant in nearly the blink of an eye.  (And, of course, the occasional alien plant now and then.)