Canola and Charolais




Last year the fields around my property had wheat growing in them. This year it is soybeans and canola. The canola fields have already turned green again, but while in bloom they added a huge burst of colour. It was lovely driving down the hill into the valley and seeing the various colours of different crops. The scenery is so vast that it is hard to portray in a photo or video..... much like the night sky out here.

Canola has a peculiar smell and sometimes it can be pretty strong; I guess heat, humidity and wind direction play a big role in how strongly it smells. I think it smells much like freshly picked kale.  To promote pollination farmers rent bee hives which are placed in the field, protected by electric wire to deter bears. I've seen more bear than moose around here (not counting when I am driving on Hwy 11 where I've seen several moose).

I enjoy learning about different crops and other things farming; when I was growing up I had no interest what-so-ever in these things even though I went to a country school with several classmates who belonged to the local 4H club.

My neighbour's son raises cattle on a farm just over the Quebec border. He has Charolais cows which are very large white cows. In the spring he had a cow that was giving birth when she inadvertently fell over onto the calf and broke it's leg. Rather than kill the injured calf, the farmer put a splint on the heifer's leg and now she is healed and out in the fields, although walking with a limp.

Did you know: a cow is not a cow until she has given birth?  Up until then she is a heifer. Once she has given birth to a calf, she is immediately considered a cow.

not my photo - stock photo of Charolais cow:


Ever seen a double rainbow?  I took this picture June 13th after an unofficial mini tornado rolled by. It was threatening enough to send me into the basement dragging Teaka behind me after I saw a greenish sky. Based on the pelting of stones and branches on the basement door, I somewhat expected to see my barn gone when I came out but only one tree behind my shop blew over - not a big deal since it fell into a field. And then the rainbow briefly appeared.







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