Cereal grains swelling in a ripening field of barley in Teesdale, under a thundery summer sky. Ten thousand years ago our Neolithic ancestors first cultivated cereal crops in the Fertile Crescent in the Near East, paving the way for farming systems where the many would come to depend for their staple food on the efforts of a few. A ripening wheat or barley field is such a familar sight that we tend to take the skills of the plant breeders, agronomists and farmers for granted - even though most of us are totally dependent on them.
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I really like that picture Phil.
ReplyDeletePin sharp foreground, with the out of focus background putting it into context.
And yes, agree, we take so many things for granted these days.
We have just reached the itchy season here in Lincolnshire Phil. I have heard combines at work these past two nights and that means the usual invasion of what my mother used to call thunder flies - those minute flies which get everywhere in their thousands and itch like mad. In fact the inside window ledge in the kitchen already has a coating of them.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about the thunder flies John. It's also amazing how much dust a wheat crop throws up when it's combined...
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