Hey farmer, why is your field smoking?

Farmers and ranchers burn their fields in the spring--on purpose! I've blogged about it a lot... Pastures Up In Flames!  My field is not on fire today, but it is smoking...check it out!

What you see rolling across the field like smoke is really pollen. This is a field of brome-- a cool season grass that we cut for hay for the cattle to eat in the winter.  It is pollinating right now and that is a good thing, because before we cut the grass, we harvest the seed.  Other farmers who want to plant a field of brome can buy the seed from a company, and where does the company get it? Other farmers, of course!

So watching the brome pollinate is actually somewhat exciting--at least for a farmer on a late spring day in Kansas! Enjoy the birds calling, the breeze blowing and the brome smoking!