industrial bean field 1-19-2013

errands took me past the bean field form last summer that is now planted in winter wheat...since i had a look at the grasses on campus i stopped to have a look at some other grasses to see how they were doing...clearly they have not found a dormant state either and, like the grasses on campus they will be exposed to the coming cold in an uninsulated fashion..while i was walking ( carefully so as not to crush the wheat...it may be industrial but it still isn't my field ) i found quite a bit of detritus...not just stems and bean pods from the last crop as you would expect, but also rather a large number of corn cobs and bits and pieces of cornstalks ( you can tell it's corn by the remains of the support roots )...i would have thought that a number of plowings of this field would have turned the remains from the corn cop of summer 2011 well under...this isn't a no-till field but perhaps the farmer is using a minimal till system to plant their fields...i will have to try to catch them in the act come spring although i am not sanguine about my ability to time the attempt correctly...perhaps i should try to find out who is farming that field and jut=st ask...i'll be taking another look at this wheat after the cold snap we're supposed to experience this coming week.