in the ditch between

in the ditch between

mono-crop fields and highway,

prairie grass and wildflowers

I love the deep ditches between the blacktop and the fields of corn and soybeans. Too steep to mow, they harbor prairie grasses and a parade of wildflowers. Right now, at the autumn equinox, the narrow strips are mostly bright yellow sunflowers and goldenrod, with complementary splashes of purple asters.

Harvesting has begun. Green and yellow machines like enormous grasshoppers are cutting down and scooping up the dry soybeans, raising clouds of brown dust, then disgorging the beans into hopper trucks. The field corn is still a little green, but it will soon fall to the sharp teeth of the combines. Both mono-crops are grown with heavy doses of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, so perhaps it's no wonder that wild plants thrive where they do. But insects, especially honeybees and Monarch butterflies, take a heavy hit.

fallen hickory leaf

fallen hickory leaf

scarred by insects and fungus,

yellow turning brown

Nearing the autumn equinox, warm days, cool nights. Leaves already starting to fall. Old warriors, they have endured the challenges of frost and wind, bearing the scars of battle against insects and fungus. Now they return home to the earth that nourished their birth and growth, adding to the food supply for next year's leaves.

autumn equinox

autumn equinox --

beetles browse on goldenrod

and bursting milkweed pods

Bright, sunny day, with a bit of a breeze bending the tassels of goldenrod, blowing the silken parachutes of milkweed seeds out of their pods. Gold and black beetles do double-decker duty, sipping nectar from blossoms and reproducing at the same time, while red and black beetles suck sap from ripe milkweed pods. Autumn equinox -- for one rounding of the earth around the sun, day and night share equal time. While the air balances between the last heat of summer and the first chill of winter, every living creature prepares for the long, cold darkness.