Our local oil field

This is that field of colza (rape) that I told you about last week. It's in the river valley down below our house. Callie and I walk around it on our afternoon walks and have been watching it grow since late winter. Now it's in full bloom and glorious looking.

Beyond the colza field you can see a small vineyard parcel; beyond the woods is the Cher River.

Last year this field was planted in wheat. That's also a beautiful crop as it goes from deep green to brown just before harvest. But this year it's colza, grown for its seeds which are made into oil. In North America it's called canola oil.

We won't be walking this route much longer. As the grape vines around our house bud out, the growers electrify the fencing between the vineyards and the woods to help keep the deer from eating the new shoots. During the fall and winter, the fence is powered down and we can step over it to walk down through the woods. We can still get down there by walking a larger loop and that's fun to do once in a while in summer.