To Rise Above #14933

The Story

A farm field of almost ready summer wheat stands mostly yellow with a slight green cast to it. Surrounded by that solid blanket of waving wheat, a single tree sits bracketed high on the horizon like a sentinel. Way above the wheatfield, a big summer sky drapes white clouds of cotton candy fluff spackled against the blue.

In a very short time, the sun will have ripened this late June wheatfield to full amber perfection. It will be ready, then the huge machines will come to do their harvesting work in the deep summer heat, row after row, pass after pass. Dozens of truckloads of harvested summer wheat kernels will go down the narrow country roads leading away from this high remote field and off to the mill.

The single tree will still have its sky-friend, but then it will stand alone surrounded by a smooth bare field of close-cut stubble. The march of agriculture begins another cycle at that point. It never really stops. Perhaps next time the tree will have a field of tall green corn for a companion.

I also created an enjoyable horizontal version of this scene called The Wheat, The Sky #14932. For a different perspective of this huge farm field as it sits in the land, have a look at Touch Me #14934 and you’ll see this lone tree off in the distance.

Location: a farming landscape rural Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Picture and text © Andrew Dierks