Osage Orange Tree

The other day we took what has become an almost weekly trip around the town and country side of Carrollton and Carroll County Kentucky. We went up on General Butler State Park and stopped by a tree we had passed dozens of time and never stopped at. After walking up to the tree we found what we took to be unusual fruit laying under it. Very large, about the size of a large grapefruit. Pale yellow-green they looked like a mass of worms or maybe brains. (Not that I have ever actually seen brains.) The leaves were small tree leaves, nothing special about them, the bark of the truck was ribbed and rough. So when I got home the first thing I did was get on the computer and see if I could find it. I found out it was an Osage Orange. And not eatable. At least not for people. It did say that it is sometimes eaten by deer. Of course as everyone knows deer can eat a lot of plants that people and even other hoofed animals can't. The Osage orange is native to the United States and was found mostly in Texas but has been planted lots of other places. Native Americans like the wood for making bows and spears as it is hard but bends easily. Of course with the shape and look of the fruit or seed pod there are all kinds of nick names for this tree. Some are Monkey Brains and Horse Apples. (For those that don't know horse poop is sometimes called horse apples but as much as I have been around horses I have never seen any horse poop this big.) Some of the information said this tree makes a good hedge to keep deer our of gardens but I like it better as a large tree. 

On part of our drive we stopped at Point Park by the Ohio River.

Nice clouds by some large fields.

 

After the Harvest

This was one of the fields that were full of soy beans yesterday when they were harvested. Sure is nice to be able to see across the field again.

Ziva checking out the field and smelling for mice and other rodents that are out there.

As good as that harvester seems to be at getting the soy beans out of the shells it does seem to loose quite a few. This is a picture of a few that got left behind.

This red tree is across the field and I have been trying to figure out what kind of tree it is. Maybe I'll be able to walk over there some time and see it closer. 

 

Harvesting Soy Beans

A crew came out over the past few days and harvested the soy beans that are in the fields around us. I hope they didn't mind that I took some photos. I find it very interesting. So many people that live in cities have no idea of the work involved in farming which is where we get all of our food. The soy beans were planted in the spring and I have watched them growing all summer and now into the fall. These are photos of the harvesting. It is amazing that they can make a big machine like this that can cut the whole plant then separate the beans from the leaves and stem. The leaves. stems and hulls are discarded by the machine to go back into the soil as a mulch. 

This photo is of the dried you bean plants right before harvesting.

The beans being sent from the harvester into a waiting truck. I guess from the truck will take the soy beans to a silo near by until they are bought by a company that will process them into a food product.