There are a few fields of gold,
scattered between the many of corn and soy,
that turn from their soft green hues,
warm and glowing.
And on that perfect day,
are cut, baled and stacked as straw,
the wheat already picked from the tip of each stem.
Many times I find I have missed the baling—
turn the corner to nothing more
than fading stubble where the golden stems had been.
But yesterday, I found them working.
It was, after all, that perfect day.
See more Skywatch here.
Come along in Red Canoe as she explores the quiet backwater of Ohio's State Parks and the scenic streams and rivers of the Midwest. Discover the beauty hidden beyond the water's edge, quietly waiting, past access points, often only inches deep!
Come browse my photography site, Nature Remains: nothing but a photograph, for full-page slide shows of my favorite images and opportunities to purchase them.
In Spring of 2008, I began the study of 2 vernal pools on my property as part of the Ohio Vernal Pool Partnership monitoring program.
My 2008 journal includes the first photos and findings, as I studied this fascinating wetland area just a few steps beyond my backdoor...
2009 photos and findings,
2010,... again!
Now, 4 years later, another season is just days away!
Travel beyond the Midwest has taken me to some beautiful places. Usually off the beaten track, these places are WILD!
Acadia National Park
New River Nature Festival
Olympic National Park
Pictured Rocks and the UP
Voyageurs National Park
(click on the text above each photo for a quick get-away)
A regularly appearing feature, "Have you seen..." takes a closer, more patient look at things usually not seen in a flattering light.
Take a look!
Each spring, as winter lessens its grip and days warm with the first fragrant breezes of a new season, we collect sap from our Sugar Maples and produce just enough syrup for ourselves for the coming year.
The progress of this year's backyard endeavor is illustrated here.
Summer 2008, the tiny jewel of the avian world, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, nested just feet from my front door. Pictures of her nest and the changing lives within are collected in this journal.
From life the size of a pea....
Cats that come to stay
(click on the text above each photo for stories in these collections)
40 comments:
Oh how that brings back memories. I recall the first year we lived on our farm we had wheat in the fields. After harvest we decided to put up the straw bales. I was put in charge of driving the tractor through the field as the other loaded the bales. Now you have to understand I am a city chicken at heart and this farming stuff was all new to me. I was truly a transplant. Things started out well, until I took a turn too sharp and dumped half of the load back into the field. Needless to say I was demoted from driver to loader. It was 101 in the shade and hotter than blazes. Looking out over that field of bales it seemed there was no end in sight!
These rectangular bales always conjurs up such fond memories of my childhood of playing in the haylofts during summer. Helping to feed the cattle and horses at Granddads. I look at those big round bales and they don't move me like these. However I have thought about the memories those big round bales may be making for the children now days. I hope they can nap well between the big bales and they find kittens cleverly hidden by their mommmas amongst the round bales.
I don't know if it shows clearly in enlarging these shots, but the men on the tractor and wagon are well into their older years.
I passed this field earlier in the day, after it had been cut and left to dry--knowing that that evening, they would bale and stack them onto the wagons. I returned later, camera in hand--this is one of my favorite sights. And, rather sheepishly, asked as they were working, if they minded my staying to watch and shoot.
With great smiles, they said, "Oh no, honey, you do whatcha hafta do," and climbed up onto their places as I'm sure they have for over 50 years.
I stayed quite a while, and watched them weave their trail from one row to the next, a dust cloud following them as they worked around it.
And left with a huge lump in my throat.
I haven't seen square bales in ages. (I feel so old.)
Lovely, perfect summer skies too.
as precious as gold! superb images!
Beautiful skies and a wonderful story, Nina. I worked summers on a farm during high school and to pay for college, and I remember those seemingly endless rows of cut hay waiting to be baled, loaded and moved to the barn. Fond memories now, though it was hard work. Only thing that seemed worse (at the time) was the winter work: mending fences on the top of a bare hill in below-freezing weather was a nightmare!
We haven't quite reached that point here, nor do we have that kind of fields - but we can appreciate the gold!
Thank you for sharing!
These pictures make me feel like singing "America the Beautiful".
Hey Nina,
Great photos! It does look like the perfect day!
Beautiful country setting, the bales of hay and great harvest. The skies look so summery! Love the series!
"Oh beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain..."
Love these images - a proud, rural America!
Square bales - much harder work than those huge rolls.
My post is here: Carletta’s Captures.
what a fab series of shots...and it reminds me of the corn fields in iowa...
have a wonderful weekend.
Have to agree with Carletta, the first thing I thought of was that line "Oh beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain.." Fantastic shots!
Lovely progression, wonderful photos, great words. Some of these photos remind me of the High Plains here in eastern New Mexico. Thank you for sharing.
Lovely views for sky watch friday, getting out of doors and enjoying nature is a great way of celebrating summer.
Where I live everything's rather green. Not much gold anywhere actually, but I love your shots of it even more. Beautiful against the very blue sky.
They harvested the wheat and baled the straw around here this week, too, Nina. As you say, perfect weather for it.
All: This is winter wheat, not hay. Straw is still baled in rectangular bales. While most hay for cattle is now baled in those big round bales, hay is still put up in rectangular bales for horses.
~kathi
Great set for this week. I can remember when I was a kid watching the fields being cut and the bales stacked of the wagons. I loved the smell of fresh cut hay.
What a wonderful series of photos. telling the story..
Reminds me of when I was kid and helping my Uncle and cousins with the haymaking..
Those bales are really heavy .... I had some welldeveloped arm muscles afterwards ! :-)
Glad you got to see the work in progress this year. There is a large hayfield behind our house, and I love watching the tractors come to cut. My family owned a cattle ranch in Oklahoma, so haying brings back memories to me, too.
And, I just love the smell of cut hay!
Perfect Midwestern farm photographs. I loved them all.
Lovely clouds.
Beautiful picteres!
Great!
Gr.
P-TER
Beautiful shots, even if it does make it seem like summer's flying by...as it must!
Every one of these shots is a winner!
For us grow up in the urban environment and at Far East, the closest thing we have seen is rice field. The color and the sky are all so amazing. Thanks for sharing.
Ah, I hadn't thought of those red-gold field of wheat from when I lived in the Finger Lakes such a long time ago... Thanx!
What cool shots! You have a good eye for photos!
perfect summer photos~
Looks like we both had about the same idea. Makes for great pictures. I don't know whether I like the square bales or round bales better. Thanks Joe Todd
Square hay bales are few and far between in these parts too. When we moved to the Ozarks in 1986, round bales were an oddity. Now they are the norm.
One of the craziest things I ever saw occurred well after haying season when I watched my neighbor unroll several round bales, spread the hay and then rebale it into square bales. He'd worked out some kind of deal with a fellow who wanted square bales. I don't know what the other fellow had that my neighbor wanted, but he must have wanted it really badly to go to all that extra work.
Beautiful golden photos.
Harvests and harvest skies are so beautiful, I am glad they baled it and took it under cover while the dry weather lasted. The load on the trailer left behind suums a bit too big thought.
Lovely post.
It's interesting that the colours of the sky and the fields look so good together! Is it because we remeber the scenes since we were small and it evokes good feeling?
Really like your serie of photos in this post. :)
Wonderful capture.
Happy skywatching
Lots of luv,
Ita
Breathtaking! My in-laws are from Wisconsin, and I've done some hay-bailing in my day. The colors of these snaps are just stunning...
Hay, those are great! Wonderful shots!
Great shots we usually have the round bales these days.
Hi Nina,
This is lovely. I love any kind of hay bales. I get to see golden round bales sitting quietly in green pastures with the blue sky highlighting their girth everyday when I drive down my road, I never get tired of the sight.
It's an amazing process. I watched a wild field full of grass become a mud pit today. And off went the hay. So it goes.
You must put your comment in the book, too. These photos kill me. Square bales and old balers, sigh.
can you explain SWF...
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Britney
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