Monday, June 29, 2015

A Beautiful Crop

I always think that Canola in bloom, spreading its brilliant yellow blossoms across a field, is the most beautiful crop we have here in southern Ontario.  It's blooming time is quite variable; as a cold weather crop it can be planted early, or it can survive into the fall.  But whenever it blooms, it is striking.

This is well south of the valley, seen on my trip to London the other day (when it was sunny, unlike the past two days!).

And the sky was just as beautiful as the Canola!

The field was across the road from a nice looking dairy farm in the far distance.  Canola is an oilseed crop, the oil pressed from its tiny seeds.  And the oil is both nutritious and low in saturated fats, so it's considered a healthy choice for consumers.

Canada is one of the world's top Canola producers, ranking far ahead of the United States, because Canola likes the cooler climate of the Canadian prairies.

I've thought for years that this dairy barn would make a nice picture; the yellow Canola sets it off perfectly.

Driving by, seeing just the blooms, you might think Canola was like a grain, but it's very different, a member of the Brassica family, like Cabbage, Cauliflower and Broccoli, with quite large leaves at the base.  Quite a distinctive crop when you see it growing, and a great contribution to our rural landscape when it's in bloom!

Linking to:

The Barn Collective

and

23 comments:

  1. Gorgeous golden flowers, and the building on the right hand side. are they air conditioning pipes? Looks like it has a triple eye either side.

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    1. Those are large ventilation fans, pretty typical for dairy barns around here. Newer. Barns have entire side walls that open.

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  2. Oh yes that is beautiful. Second picture is my favorite.

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  3. Beautiful photographs! I love the contrast between blue and yellow.

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  4. We grow this in the west. The fields are just flatter and bigger.

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  5. Such a dense field of beauty. The yellow Canola blossoms are so eye-catching. Lovely landscapes!

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  6. That endless yellow field is quite lovely!

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  7. It is a beautiful crop to grow for sure!

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  8. The first time that I've seen fields of Canola, what a sight. The combination of the barn and the yellow field makes for a wonderful shot. Thanks for linking up this week and I hope that you return with more in the future. Tom The Backroads Traveller

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  9. It is just beautiful.
    The only thing that comes close to it is flaxseed - same effect but in blue!

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  10. Beautiful! I love seeing wide expanses of flowers like that, and the dairy barn completes the picture perfectly. I didn't know why canola grows so much in Canada. Now I do. :-)

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  11. I love these Canola fields wherever I go. They look so nice between green fields !

    http://gattinatravels.blogspot.com/

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  12. Beautiful crops, I've never seen canola fields before.

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  13. It did make the farm setting to be perfect. I too never knew much about canola even though we use it. It is a beautiful field of yellow.

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  14. What a gorgeous landscape! Nice to know it's such a healthy crop.

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  15. you have captured the canola fields beautifully!
    we have them here as well. they seem almost fluorescent to me in color!

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  16. They are gorgeous! I was in Sweden one year at this time of summer and it was the same there - similar climate I guess.

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  17. What a beautiful crop to see growing ina large field like this! I use canola oil for cooking ;)

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  18. You are right about that barn. It looks great with the yellow flowers.

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  19. Beautiful photos of the canola fields and the one with the farm in the background is perfect. I haven't seen any canola in bloom around here yet.

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