An oil painting of tall trees with rough, weathered bark standing in a sunlit autumn grove. The ground is layered with dry, scattered leaves, their edges curling. Shadows stretch unevenly across the earth, and the branches, nearly bare, hold the last traces of the season. The brushstrokes capture a fleeting, wind-stirred stillness.

🍂 Today's haiku:

wind moves through bare limbs -
leaf-rust echoes underfoot,
a season unspooled

🎨 Inspired by Dead Leaves (1891) by Kuroda Seiki.

#Haiku #Poetry #BlueSkyPoets

Knotty, knotty nematodes
Nibbling on cucumber toes.
Severe in sand, weeds lend a hand
Rotation may not go as planned!
If it’s dry, roots will cry
As RKN makes them die.
Leaves turn yellow, plants don’t grow
If there are galls how do you know?
Sample soil when crops are out
Get a lab to make a count!

Illustrations showing a cartoon bear.

Illustrations showing a cartoon bear and a hiker.

Smokey Bear has a brother Jake
He lives in a cave at the edge of a lake
He's not known like his famous relation
But he plays a part in our nation
Jake Bear doesn't care about smoke
But he gets angry if one rule is broke
That's if campers don't do as they should
And spread pests when moving firewood

Corn rootworm says:

I like it where the corn don’t stop,
Years may change, but not the crop!
Cutting roots and dropping stalks,
This bug thinks resistance rocks!
I eat and eat and now I’m full,
The Bt trait has lost control!
Please don’t tell my farmer friend,
If he finds out, the feast might end!

Knotty, knotty nematodes
Nibbling on cucumber toes.
Severe in sand, weeds lend a hand
Rotation may not go as planned!
If it’s dry, roots will cry
As RKN makes them die.
Leaves turn yellow, plants don’t grow
If there are galls how do you know?
Sample soil when crops are out
Get a lab to make a count!

Corn rootworm says:

I like it where the corn don’t stop,
Years may change, but not the crop!
Cutting roots and dropping stalks,
This bug thinks resistance rocks!
I eat and eat and now I’m full,
The Bt trait has lost control!
Please don’t tell my farmer friend,
If he finds out, the feast might end!

Corn rootworm says:

I like it where the corn don’t stop,
Years may change, but not the crop!
Cutting roots and dropping stalks,
This bug thinks resistance rocks!
I eat and eat and now I’m full,
The Bt trait has lost control!
Please don’t tell my farmer friend,
If he finds out, the feast might end!

Corn rootworm says:

I like it where the corn don’t stop,
Years may change, but not the crop!
Cutting roots and dropping stalks,
This bug thinks resistance rocks!
I eat and eat and now I’m full,
The Bt trait has lost control!
Please don’t tell my farmer friend,
If he finds out, the feast might end!

Twas the night before tar spot when all thru the field
Not a creature was stirring to reduce corn yield
Ears were all growing their kernels with care
In hopes the combine soon would be there
The silks were nestled all snug in their beds
While visions of pollen grains danced in their heads...

Twas the night before tar spot when all thru the field
Not a creature was stirring to reduce corn yield
Ears were all growing their kernels with care
In hopes the combine soon would be there
The silks were nestled all snug in their beds
While visions of pollen grains danced in their heads...

Watermelons, pumpkins and broccoli too
Sometimes get vegetable flu
Leaves turn colors and start to look sick
While viruses spread and bacteria drip
Beans, tators and peppers too
Sometimes are eaten by an insect brood
Leaves are devoured and get holey
By larvae with guts looking like guacamole

Two monarch caterpillars on milkweed leaves.

I had a nice crop of milk-weedy stuff,
With pods full of floating white soft seedy fluff.
I was a proud Asclepius plant daddy,
‘Cuz my milkweed didn’t look chewed and ratty.
Until these striped larvae started acting so bad,
Eating my milkweed and making me sad.

ISU Monarchs: monarch.ent.iastate.edu

Two monarch caterpillars on milkweed leaves.

I had a nice crop of milk-weedy stuff,
With pods full of floating white soft seedy fluff.
I was a proud Asclepius plant daddy,
‘Cuz my milkweed didn’t look chewed and ratty.
Until these striped larvae started acting so bad,
Eating my milkweed and making me sad.

ISU Monarchs: monarch.ent.iastate.edu

Thank you!

Weeds growing between corn rows in a corn field.

Biscuits and gravy! Holy guacamole!
Weeds grow fast but crops so slowly.
A weed is a ruthless and space-stealing dude,
It hogs all the water and gobbles plant food.
Golly and crud and son of a gun!
Shucks and dagnabbit, weeds sure aren’t fun!

Crazy top creates upside down mops
Cursing the field with a flock of mohawks
Thin strappy leaves and short internodes
Leave corn ugly like grandpappy toads
Turning tassels to terrible twirls
And garrulous growths of gross green swirls.

Combine in field with sun beyond it.

Under the wide and dusky sky
Plant the seed and let it lie
Glad did it grow and gladly die
And the stems were buried by till
This be the verse you grave for me
Here he farms where he longed to be
Home is the farmer, home from the field
And the pickup home from the road

@alabamaed1.bsky.social

Illustrations showing a cartoon bear.

Illustrations showing a cartoon bear and a hiker.

Smokey Bear has a brother Jake
He lives in a cave at the edge of a lake
He's not known like his famous relation
But he plays a part in our nation
Jake Bear doesn't care about smoke
But he gets angry if one rule is broke
That's if campers don't do as they should
And spread pests when moving firewood