now for some sorghum photos!

post #54

     Last time I took photos of sorghum making was 35 years ago, with a simple film camera that let in light!  This weekend, when the call came, I took my digital self to the sorghum field, yesterday.  Then, this morning, with the fog still on, to the farm near my home where they are spending the day boiling down the juice squeezed out of the stems to make sorghum molasses.  I plan to return there later this afternoon to take some more photos, including ones of jars being filled.  I use every such opportunity to learn something about this witness photography I do.  Yesterday it was that my 70-300 mm lens, which can make things look closer together, did exactly that when four guys were cutting the stalks.  The result was that they appeared to be working too closely to each other, and with big tobacco cutting knives!  It looked unsafe -- when in reality all was fine.

    Here are some photos so far, from yesterday, and I will do a part 2 next week:

sorghum patch being cut, stalks put on a trailer for transporting to the farm

more cut stalks

the pile on the trailer gets higher!

asking me, do I want to help!!??

the tops (mostly seeds) cut off, some to be used next year, the rest left for the turkeys

     
      This week's sadness includes the death of two fine friends, both from cancers they tried their very best to tame: Jo Carson, a remarkable and visionary writer living in Johnson City, TN, and John Kelley, married to my close college friend, Liz, living in the San Francisco area.  I don't usually share any personal stuff on this blog but I can't help today wanting to acknowledge their passing, and the fact the world has been much enriched by the grace of their presence and by their courage.  
      May I suggest, please take a photo today of someone you love.  Do it every few years. 

thinking of Jo and John last night, on the lake, and of the ripples of our lives