Seasons on Grey County Farms

Much of the landscape around the Beaver Valley consists of farm fields, and there are definite signs of the season changing on the farms.  The grain harvest of wheat, mixed grain and barley is almost complete now; all that's left in the way of crops is the corn and soybeans.  These are actually the largest two crops in Grey County by acreage, apart from hay which dominates it all.

Corn is probably the most important cash crop, as well as important cattle feed, as Grey County has a lot of cattle farms.  In this field the farmer has chosen to plant a border of barley, which will make it easier to access the rows of corn with the combine when the time comes.

We tend to forget that corn, like all other plants, has flowers.  The tassels at the top are simply the male flowers, generating the pollen.

And the female flowers become the corn cobs once every kernel is fertilized by pollen from the corn tassels. A lot of pollen has to connect to generate a field of ripe corn!

And this year there's been more corn planted than usual, because of the high price.  And growth has been good over the summer with lots of rain.  In fact my grass, which usually turns brown by late July, is still fully green and growing!  A lot of farmers will be watching the price and hoping for a bumper crop.

The soybeans are turning too.  These are an oilseed crop, and they turn from green to yellow to orangy-brown as they ripen, ready for harvest.  Most fields are still half green, but the turning colour of the soybeans is one sign of early fall around here.

And on the slopes where moisture or nutrient stress might be a little higher, the colour has turned further, leaving it about the brightest colour in the landscape at the moment.  Tomorrow - the final hay harvest.

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