The Milo is Looking Good.

The first time I ever saw a field of milo was when we moved out to Kansas three years ago. Seeing as though SW Kansas has been in a drought since we've lived here meant that all the milo I've ever seen has been bad, but I knew that. What I didn't know was what a good field of milo looked like until the past few weeks. 

With all the rain we received in early August the milo is "good" but not "great" as DR described it to me. Good is better than bad.

The plants are definitely taller and the heads are much bigger than I've ever seen them.  There's nothing to complain about from what I can tell. 

I take that back. I can complain. With all this good milo DR is predicting a long harvest. Last year's harvest started in August, that's what you get when you have no rain. DR and the grain elevator is just preparing for harvest right now, it's still hasn't started but he's expecting farmers to be in the fields in the next couple weeks. DR's even thinking that harvest could last till late November or December. 

great. 

Well it is that time of year again, time of the Harvest Widow! 

August Storm - *WARNING* Pic Heavy

Friday night I was at a Pampered Chef party and when I stepped outside about 8:00 pm the sky was gorgeous with a coming summer storm. I rushed home grabbed my camera and the truck, because I can climb up on the cab of the truck and get a much better view, I rushed off on the dirt roads. 

Warning!! This post has about 21 pictures. They've been edited only slightly and are true to color. This really was how bright the colors were that night! 

I rather think the tail light one is my favorite. 

Or maybe these sunflowers are my favorite! 

I've never been out in a sky before like this one. It was magnificent and I stayed out in it until I was soaked. This, the sky so vast and powerful, is what I love about Kansas. 

Harvest

The sight of all this yellow gold is a wonderful to see in the fall.

Harvest is a hoppin' despite a devastating drought there's still quite a bit of corn coming into the DR's elevators. Of course yields have been low but not quite as bad as expected. The biggest problem so far this harvest has been moisture. Despite the drought the corn coming in is WET. I couldn't understand why until DR explained that because of the lack of rain the corn plants starting cannibalizing themselves back in the summer so that every little bit of moisture went straight to the corn. While the stalks dried out early the corn still hasn't and therefore all the elevators are drying corn continually and running out of wet space.

So harvest is going as well as can be expected. DR's exhausted. He leaves for work at 6:30 and gets home at 10:30. He's worked two weeks straight without a day off. Poor guy. Harvest is always something to look forward to but I'm always glad when it's over and this one looks like it will be over, at least the heavy rush, in a few more weeks.

There hasn't been much milo coming in yet. It might be harvested later and I don't think there was as much planted this year as there was last either. I don't know what it is about milo but I think it is beautiful to look at in the field.

Milo Pastel

A drawing inspired by this scene.

A recent pastel I did on 9x12 watercolor paper which made for an interesting surface to work on that I really enjoyed. I'll have to buy some more of this paper sometime, it has a rougher texture that what I'm used to working with. I also finally remembered to buy hairspray (a cheap fixative) for my pastels. A layer of hairspray over the drawing glues the pastels on so they won't rub off when being handled.

This is definitely one of my favorite drawings. I might even frame this one!

Photo Thursday - Milo

These shots are of a milo field at the edge of town I took a couple weeks ago. Milo leaves look a lot like corn but the plants are only about half as high. In Kansas there are three crops; wheat, corn and milo. No soybeans....which I am kind of missing being I'm from Indiana where soybeans are everywhere.

Another name for milo is grain sorghum. Milo is really the better crop for Kansas because it does well in hot, dry climates and doesn't need irrigated unlike Kansas corn. Milo grown here will go toward feeding livestock, mostly cattle in the area.

I don't pretend to know lots about milo; just what I've read and learned from DR. Since he's the manager of a Kansas grain elevator he's gotten to know this stuff first hand. I like driving by fields of milo because this plant is so hardy and well suited to its environment and it just 'looks' like it belongs here much more than corn. As an artist I have to say I'm kind of attracted to the 'flower' part of the plant. I like the texture.

...and it makes for a neat picture.