Patterns in Crop Rows ~ Photos by Bob Kelly

This time of the year it is a visual treat to drive out into the country, preferably on a seldom traveled road (so you can go slow and look more effectively!).  Corn and soybean rows show up nicely, the corn in particular now that its tassels are visible.  In the first image an abandoned eagle nest watches over the corn field.  The third photo is not able to show rows since the shot is showing the field broadside, but it does show how TALL the corn is right now.  It was knee high far earlier than the fourth of July, and with our warm weather and abundant rain the last two weeks, it is growing like crazy!

In some fields the rows curve due to contour farming, or to go around something in the field.  The image of the farm on the hilltop is a favorite of mine, with its curving road, the patterns of a corn, soybean, and grass pasture all interacting with one another.  In one image the oats have been cut and are lying in fat rows, ready to be combined very soon, and they lie right next to a field of corn.  The second to the last image shows a large field of oats, ripe and nearly ready to harvest, co-existing beside rows of soybeans.  The last photo has the rows in the background, but it was the foreground I wanted to emphasize.  The natural prairie grasses and wild flowers make a lovely carpet of color as you eye moves farther back to see the green crops.  Get out in the country and take a look soon, for it is changing, and soon things will look much different.

(Click in the middle of the first picture to make them larger and then click to go through all of them.)