Since the wind was coming from the southeast (that took a half-cup of coffee to check), I figured I'd better head southeast and check out the windmills that are being built over in Ohio.
On the way down, I couldn't help but notice how good the crops looked. It's been exceptionally wet here all spring, and planting was delayed - especially for corn. But almost everything is now planted and even the late planted crops look very good.
Here are a few photos of crops on an Amish farm in my neighborhood. All of these fields below are right next to each other and make for good diversity for good soil health and reduced pest pressure. This is a new alfalfa seeding. It grows all growing season and can be cut for hay 3 or 4 times during the season, and will produce for 3 or 4 years.
Here's a field of oats. There aren't too many oats planted - they'll probably be used to feed horses. They'll be ready to cut in a couple weeks.
The king of crops - corn. This corn looks very good. "Knee-high by the 4th of July" is the saying, but this corn will be knee-high by this Friday.
Soybeans. Looking good.
And here's the farm across the road.
Twenty miles later and I'm close to the windmills. Since it was really hazy this morning, I couldn't see how many have been built, but it's over 20 now. The plan is for 200+ windmills to eventually be built here. Oh, and this is winter wheat in the foreground. It'll be ready to harvest in another 3 weeks or so.
Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!
Bill
8 comments:
It looks like a very nice ride. Much greener than round these parts.
It's amazing how big those windmills are when you see them up close.
Happy Father's Day to you too, Bill. I got to ride with my son. What fun! The crops look great, just like around here.
Nice ride. I hope the wind held up and gave you a push home.
Nice rides...better than I am doing this year, but the 90*+ temps are taking their toll.
Interesting picture of the Amish corn. Most mechanized fields are double planted, good to see the old school single spacing, it is what I remember from the summers on my grandparents' dairy farm in Northern Iowa.
Aaron
Lovely ride -- the crops seem a lot more interesting with your commentary.
Morning rides are great! I haven't done one of them in a while. Perhaps, next weekend!
Tailwinds!
I was gonna say something about Knee High by the 4th of July but you beat me to it. ;- )
You know the nacelles on those windmills are the size of a minivan. Amazing, huh? I drove through Sweetwater, TX, a little over a year ago; they have the biggest wind farm in Texas there.... literally thousands of windmills, for miles and miles. Amazing.
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