Reluctantly we left those Sandhill Cranes behind and continued on through the village of Kilsyth. We pulled into a small parking area right beside the church where my grandad used to be the minister (before I was born), to finish off our lunch and take a break off the road. As luck would have it there was a small field of soybeans not yet harvested about 20 feet away. Mrs. F.G. got out of the van to take some pictures.
At this time of year the soybean leaves had pretty well dried up and fallen off, leaving just the seedpods on the stalks, ready for harvest.
The leaves you see here are mostly Sugar Maple leaves from nearby trees, but the seedpods of the soybeans are obvious.
And this is what the seedpod and beans look like. When they are harvesting soybeans these beans are the harvest they are getting - millions and millions of them!
We drove on home after that, avoiding Owen Sound and heading straight east on Grey Road 18. This is a road we've been avoiding all summer as it was under construction. We decided to risk it and see if we could get through, and we could - so glad to have this road back, our favourite short-cut. You can see here where they built the road up considerably with those wide white shoulders of fresh boulders; it has flooded at this low spot in the past.
After that we drove past this classic farmhouse and barn high on the slopes of a drumlin. I've always thought that this home must be pretty windswept at times!
Around the corner we came upon a beautiful stand of European Larch. The native tree that you see around the edges of wetlands here is the Tamarack, but if it's in a plantation, it's undoubtedly Euopean Larch like these. It takes an expert to tell the difference.
Off in the distance to the south were what I call the Walter's Falls 'bumps'. These are isolated small bedrock hills, possibly pinnacle reefs in the Amabel Formation, along the top edge of the Niagara Escarpment, and this is my best picture of them - one of those features you have to be a long way away from to get a good picture.
Lovely scenery, and the soy beans, now i know what they look like. Seems you also have the yellow lines to indicate no passing, or limited passing if spaced lines.Down here, I often am amazed at how many drivers do not adhere to the rule, and pass regardless of any traffic coming towards them, over the brow of a hill, or around a corner, or just whizz past at an alarming over 120 kph, just to get ahead.
ReplyDeleteYou live in suck a rich and beautiful area. It must restore your soul.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos.
ReplyDeleteSoy beans are grown around here some years. Maybe next year because there has been corn the last couple of years.
Very nice drive! It is quite hilly.
ReplyDeleteAn unbelievable amount of soy Beans are grown.
ReplyDeleteLove the soy pics, and I didn't know about the larch/tamarack.
ReplyDeleteSo, you still encounter drumlins even though you're not at your uni. AFAIK there have been no drumlins in my life for a long time.
They are lovely. I've always wanted to stop and get photos of soy beans in close up!
ReplyDeleteI had to look up drumlin. I am sure that house suffers some amazing windstorms!
ReplyDeleteSoon the combines will be gathering up the soybeans; down here a lot of the corn has already been picked, but the soybeans aren't quite ready. A few years ago I watched a combine burn to a black hulk from all the dust created by harvesting soybeans that had built up around the exhaust manifold -- an expensive blaze given the price of a new combine.
ReplyDeleteNice clear crisp and sharp photos so I am guessing your smartphone may have been used. I am amazed at the photos those phones can take. I especially liked that close-up bean pod. Fields are still too wet here for farmers to get out and harvest their bean fields.
ReplyDeleteSuch lovely scenery, very nice photographs.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
My dad alternated soybeans and corn on our southern Iowa farm. As a kid I thought they were the most unusual thing my dad would grown. He had to change his canvas in the combine to collect them which was a diffrent canvas than was used for oats. I had to get to be an adult to underdstand what soybean oil was.
ReplyDeleteThe larch are lovely!
ReplyDelete